Mar 25, 2006 - Thousands of Hispanics from across the Carolinas marched in Charlotte on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of Latinos demonstrated across the country against proposals to crack down on illegal immigrants. Organizers and police said 5,000 to 7,000 people rallied in Marshall Park, wearing white shirts, chanting in Spanish and English, and carrying signs with slogans such as "Am I Not a Human Being?" Norma Ramirez, who left Veracruz, Mexico, for South Carolina 12 years ago, said she canceled plans for a family visit in Atlanta, instead driving her children nearly three hours north to Charlotte. "As soon as I heard, we were coming," said Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant who lives in Batesburg, S.C. "Our voices must be heard. People need to see that we're united against these laws that say we're criminals to be here." -AP Read Thousands in Charlotte join nationwide immigrant rallies
Mar 5, 2006 - Illegal immigrants can qualify for mortgage loans, buy health insurance, set up checking accounts, check out library books and make monthly payments on kitchen appliances. They can sign up for phone and satellite-television service. Most of all, they purchase goods, to the tune of nearly $5 billion a year in North Carolina. Companies of all sizes are waking up to this new, legal and largely untapped business opportunity. In North Carolina, where the illegal immigrant population is climbing toward a half-million, businesses are tailoring their products and tweaking their policies to reach the newcomers. By Karin Rives Read Illegal immigration: customers; who profits, who pays?Mar 1, 2006 - As the immigrant population, both illegal and legal, grows in North Carolina and throughout the country, so too does the strain immigrants place on social service providers to make sure their basic needs such as food, housing and education are satisfied. Of all those needs, one of the most costly is health care. By Michael Easterbrook and Jean P Fisher Read Health care costly for immigrants
Feb 28, 2006 - A growing number of governors, along the border and beyond, are sharpening their complaints about the flood of immigrants pouring into their states, pushing the Bush administration and Congress for action. Republicans and Democrats alike on Sunday said they planned to bring the concerns to President Bush and his Cabinet in private meetings this week, bringing a front-line security worry of a different order than the latest Washington obsessions on ports and eavesdropping. "This is a national issue," said Democrat Janet Napolitano of Arizona, where 500,000 attempts to illegally cross the border were turned back last year -- and an untold number got through. Nationally there are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. "We're absorbing through taxpayer dollars the incarceration costs, health care costs, education costs," Napolitano said. By Robert Tanner Read Governors urge action on flood of immigrantsFeb 26, 2006 - It could be a waiter. A house painter. A construction worker. You ask a question, and the answer comes slowly, sometimes in broken English. Or maybe just a nod. Only then do you notice the guarded expression. They're hiding. Right there, in plain sight. Every day in our region, two worlds brush against one another. One legal. One not. For most, an awkward encounter is as personal as it gets. Yet, those moments belie the profound impact of an estimated 445,000 illegal immigrants now living in the Carolinas. This week, the Observer and its television news partner, WCNC, launch an extended series of stories that will explore how this migration. By Rick Thames, Editor Read Illegal Immigration's ImpactFeb 26, 2006 - Four hundred thousand strong and they keep coming, drawn by the jobs that North Carolina employers eagerly offer illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants mow our lawns, paint our homes, watch our children and cook our food for bottom wages. Doing so, they provide consumers with affordable services that people in most other industrialized countries can only dream of. But as the wave of immigration continues and the benefits grow, the costs of illegal immigration also mount and become more painful. The losers in the United States' immigration-system breakdown are numerous. They include: * Taxpayers who foot the cost of educating children of illegal immigrants. * Hospitals that serve thousands of uninsured newcomers. They absorb some of the cost but pass much of it along to their paying customers and taxpayers. * Legal blue-collar workers, whose wages are depressed by competition from immigrants willing to work for less. So far, however, the federal government has chosen to look the other way -- and many businesses are glad it has. Businesses are the biggest beneficiary of illegal immigration and are the reason unauthorized foreigners are here in the first place. By Karin Rives Read Illegal Immigration - Jobs
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