Andy Rooney Pulls a Dan Rather

CBSNews.com: Andy Rooney"Get Out The Vote ... If You Care"

First it was Dan Rather on "60 Minutes 2" now it's 60 Minutes' commentator Andy Rooney who doesn't have his facts straight. On the September 26, 2004 broadcast of the CBS program Rooney sought to discourage uncaring nonvoters with the following language:

"As a matter of fact, I have a message for the 100 million Americans who didn't care enough about our democracy to vote last time. Good! And, please, do us all a favor. Don't vote next time, either. If you don't care enough about the issues, I don't want you canceling out my vote with your vote.

I'd be willing to bet that it's the dumbest people among us who are least likely to vote too, and that's fine with me. I don't want anyone dumber than I am voting.

If you don't know the names of your two senators, don't vote.

If you don't read a good newspaper, don't vote.

If you're a new citizen, wait another four years until you understand English well enough to know what the candidates are talking about before you vote.

So, if you people watching tonight have some dumb friends, do yourself a favor and encourage them not to get out and vote." Emphasis added.

Rooney has crossed the line this time. Immigrants must usually wait 5 years after becoming permanent residents to apply for naturalization. They cannot become citizens without satisfying both an English proficiency test and an American government and civics exam. In most cities across the U.S. there are waiting lists for adult school classes in these subjects. I have been a guest in those classes and the students came from their jobs, many taking public transportation and skipping dinner to attend class.

Rooney also ignores the refugees who even wait longer for their opportunity for citizenship since Congress put a limit on the number of refugees each year who can become permanent residents. I invite Rooney to attend a naturalization ceremony- for these people the greatest day in their lives- and tell them they should wait and that they do not understand the issues or the candidates. These persons who have fled persecution are not "dumb". They not only understand what the candidates are saying; they appreciate that, in a democracy, we have free and contested elections.

Mr. Rooney ignores the fact that a disproportionate number of our Armed Forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are "new citizens" who have not voted before. Some, we fear, will never return to vote.

Mr. Rooney owes all these "new citizens" an apology.

-Charles Miller

Immigration News is a syndicated RSS Newsfeed written and edited by Los Angeles immigration attorney Charles Miller. Immigration News may be found as a weblog at http://www.millerlawoffices.com/news.htm and is available as an RSS Newsfeed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ImmigrationNews and Yahoo!

Reuters-Singer Deported: Is Censorship the way to combat Terrorism?

Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, will be deported for being on a DHS watchlist. Islam has alternately been critical of the 9/11 terrorists and the US war in Iraq.

Cat Stevens to be deported from U.S. Wed September 22, 2004 03:58 PM ET By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, will be deported to Britain because his activities could be "linked to terrorism," a U.S. official says. Arab-Americans and Muslims in Britain promptly voiced outrage over the treatment of Stevens, who is known as Yusuf Islam since he shelved his singing and songwriting career and became a Muslim almost three decades ago. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle said Islam was being put on the first available flight back to Britain. His Washington D.C.-bound plane was diverted on Tuesday to Bangor, Maine, after his name turned up on U.S. lists of suspected terrorists. "Why is he on the watch lists? Because of his activities that could be potentially linked to terrorism. The intelligence community has come into possession of additional information that further raises our concern," Doyle said. A law enforcement official who asked not to be identified said the United States had information that Islam, who visited the United States in May, had donated money to the militant Islamic group Hamas. Islam was denied entry to Israel in 2000 after the authorities there accused him of supporting Hamas. The former pop star denied the charges and said his charitable donations were for humanitarian causes. Among the charities he has supported are children affected by the war in Bosnia and in Iraq as well as victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks against America, which he condemned. WATCH LIST Islam was travelling with his daughter, who was allowed to stay in the United States. He was expected to be escorted on a United Airlines flight from Boston's Logan International Airport to Dulles International Airport outside Washington for a connecting flight in the late afternoon to London's Heathrow Airport. A Homeland Security official said United Airlines employees missed Islam's name on the "watch lists" in Britain and that the plane was in flight when officials found a match from the advanced passenger information sent by the airline. A leading Arab-American group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sent letters to President George W. Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge asking them to explain why Islam was barred from entering the United States. "Yusuf Islam is perhaps one of the most widely known and respected personalities in the Muslim world. He has a long history of promoting peace and reconciliation and condemning terrorism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR. Islam was the second high-profile Muslim in recent months to be barred entry to the United States. Swiss-based Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan was prevented from taking up a lecturing post at Notre Dame University in Indiana in August after the U.S. authorities revoked his visa with no explanation. CAIR said treating mainstream and moderate Muslims as terrorists sent the wrong message. "This does not help the war on terrorism, it just makes it harder," Awad told a news conference. In Britain, Muslim groups also decried the deportation of Islam, who heads a trust that oversees Muslim schools in the country. "This incident comes only to confirm the farcical and ultimately draconian standards and practices exercised by U.S. immigration authorities," said Anas Altikriti, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain. Born Steven Demetre Georgiou in July 1947 to a Swedish mother and a Greek Cypriot father, he changed his name to Cat Stevens when he entered the music world. He had a string of hits in the early 1970s including "Peace Train", "Moonshadow", "Morning has Broken" and "Wild World" before converting to Islam in 1977.

DOS Cut-offs in Third Preference Employment-Based as Early as January 2005

DOS Expects Little Forward Movement in Family-Based Classifications; Cut-offs in Third Preference Employment-Based as Early as January 2005:

Denver Post: Honolulu Immigration Court Most Generous

DenverPost.com - NATION/WORLD
Honolulu's Immigration Court leads the nation with a 66% asylum approval rate; Atlanta is the lowest rate with a mere 3.5% The Denver Post compares the major cities' courts and provides a table with the recent statistics.

U.S. visa delays take heavy toll on business: Int. Herald Tribune

U.S. visa delays take heavy toll on business: