Archive for March, 2010

Is the US Census a “deportation trap” ????

BY HAROLD G BAILEY Observer writer editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, March 29, 2010

NEW YORK, USA — The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Census Bureau have denied reports circulating here that data from the current Census exercise will be used to target undocumented immigrants, among them thousands of Jamaicans.
In the three weeks since the Census Bureau began the task of counting all residents here, fears have heightened among Jamaicans and other undocumented nationals that they could be deported if they participate in the exercise.

But in a carefully worded response to enquires from the Observer, DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said “the department has no plans to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately through raids or sweeps”.

He said the focus “is on smart, effective immigration enforcement policies that focus on those criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of the United States”.
Shelly Lowe, a Census Bureau spokeswoman, told the Observer that “all response to Census questions are confidential”. She said the Bureau “cannot share Census information with any individual, other departments of government or law enforcement agencies”.

Confirming this stance, the DHS’s Chandler said: “All the information collected by the Census Bureau is protected by law.”
And prominent Jamaica-born attorney Marlon Hill said “the law does provide protection and confidentiality in such disclosures”.

Meanwhile, Hill, who heads the Jamaica Diaspora board for the Southern United States, has urged nationals here to “take part in the census”, regardless of their immigration status, as “it will strengthen us as a force to be reckoned with”.
He said that there should be no concern on the part of undocumented Jamaicans, arguing that a correct count was needed to help determine the allocation of resources for their communities.

Still, none of the undocumented Jamaican immigrants with whom the Observer spoke was impressed with these assurances, and spoke on condition that only their first or last name be used.

Ray, a New York resident who has been here for almost a decade and remains undocumented, said he will not participate in the census. “It is just too much of a risk,” he told the Observer. Similar sentiments were expressed by Pauline, of New Jersey, and several others who refused to give even their first names.

Doctor Donna Chirico, the professor who heads the Psychology Department of York College’s City University of New York in Queens, said the fear among undocumented immigrants was “real” and posed “a deep psychological effect on their minds”.
Chirico said that given the reasons — such as economic — for many undocumented immigrants being here, it was understandable why they feared deportation, especially with the world recession still having a serious effect on many countries.

Refusal by undocumented immigrants to participate in the US census was also posing huge challenges for urban planners and lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels.
“Urban planners and planning agencies rely on the most accurate count for such developments as housing, health care and schools,” said Dr Judith DeSeana, a professor of sociology at St Johns University in Queens.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who represents New York’s 11th congressional District in Brooklyn — home to a large number of Jamaican nationals — has urged full participation by everyone.

She defended the Census Bureau, saying the agency “will uphold the law, and will not disclose any information gathered”, even as she acknowledged the fear factor. With only 35 per cent of her district participating in the 2000 census, the congresswoman has turned to the Church to help ally these fears, in hopes of boosting participation this time around.

UK Citizens face “double fines” for using Caribbean Tax Havens

LONDON, Britain, March 25, 2010 – British citizens who use offshore financial centres like those in the Caribbean to hide their money and evade taxes face a doubling of fines.

Britain’s Finance Minister Alistair Darling announced in his Budget speech yesterday that anyone deliberately concealing offshore income or gains faces a tough new penalty of up to 200 percent of their unpaid taxes.

“Whilst people are suffering hardship, it is all the more unfair that some are escaping their tax obligations,” the Chancellor of the Exchequer said.

To help identify tax avoiders, the government will sign tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with three so-called tax havens: Dominica, Grenada and Belize.

Darling’s reference to Belize, where the Conservative party’s deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft has several businesses, drew loud cheers from the government side.

Under a TIEA, UK tax investigators can get information from the co-signatory country about any person who is under scrutiny.

The tax haven crackdown is part of a wide-ranging package of anti-avoidance measures which is expected to raise £1.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) and protect tax revenues of £4 billion (US$5.9 billion) over the next three years.