Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Blogging will be very light this week....

Monday, December 24, 2007

Various state immigration enforcement laws could lead to "undocumented immigrants" going to more hospitable states as well as their home countries:

While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving within the United States to avoid federal immigration raids and pro-enforcement measures passed by a patchwork of state and local authorities.

Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans and Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were arrested during coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago that netted hundreds of employees.

Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many of the families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate work, said most of the workers have left to other states, not back to Mexico.

"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to Minnesota, Atlanta, Nebraska, California."

Sunday, December 23, 2007

After the murder of a policeman by an "undocumented immigrant," Scottsdale, AZ police are now checking the immigration status of all those they apprehend and turning over to federal authorities those in this country without proper legalization. (Via Drudge)
Are the reports about the "death" of "Christian Canada" a little exaggerated? Michael Valpy attributes this "death" to 60s feminism (and Hot Air's got this story as a headline), but some recent data may trouble the fundamental assumption of Valpy's piece. Some recent polls done for Project Canada 2005 suggest instead that organized religion may be enjoying a partial upswing in Canada since 2000. According to one study, weekly religious attendance in Canada increased from 22% to 25% between 2000 and 2005--the first time the Project Canada pollsters have noticed an increase since they started keeping data in 1975. Moreover, weekly attendance amongst 15-19-year-olds increased from 18% in 1991 to 22% in 2000. Some more interesting data about religious participation (or a lack of religious participation) here.