Naturalized Citizens Representing Team USA at the London Olympics 2012

Approximately 38 Naturalized U.S Citizens are competing on Team USA at the Olympics. Some of the athletes to watch out in this year’s Olympics Games.
Marathon – Abdi Abdirahman birth place Hargisa Country Somalia & Meb Keflezighi birth place Asmara Country Eritrea.

Road (Road Race) – Chris Horner birth place Okinawa Country Japan.

10,000 M – Janet Bawcom birth place Kapsabet Country Kenya.

5000 M – Lopez Lomong birth place Kimotong Country Sudan & Bernard Lagat birth place Kapsabet Country Kenya.

1500 M – Leo Manzano birth place Dolores Hidalgo Country Mexico.

Archery – Khatuna Lorig birth place TIbilisi Country Republic.

Relays – Debbie Dunn birth place Ocho Rios Country Jamaica.

Running 400M, 200M – Sanya Richards R birth place Kingston Country Jamaica.

400M Hurdles – Kerron Clement birth place Port of Spain Country Trinidad.

Doubles Badminton – Howard Bach birth place Saigon Country Vietnam.

Individual & Team Dressage (Equestrian) – Jan Ebeling birth place Berlin Country Germany.

Individual & Team Eventing (Equestrian) – Philips Dutton birth place Nyguen Country Australia & Boyd Martin birth place New South Wale Country Australia.

 

Individual & Team Saber (Fencing) – Daryl Homer birth place St.Thomas Country Virgin Island & Dagmara Wozniak birth place Wroclaw Country Poland.

Individual & Team Fiol (Fencing) – Miles Chamley Watson birth place London Country England.

Hockey (Defender) – Caroline Nichols birth place Hamilton Country Bermuda.

Artistic (Gymnastics) – Danell Leyva birth place Cardenas Country Cuba.

Judo (73 Kg & 100 Kg) – Nick Delpopolo birth place Niksic Country Montene & Kyle Vashkulat birth place Kiev Country Ukraine.

 

Rowing (Eight) – Susan Francia birth place Szeged Country Hungary & Giuseppe Lanzone birth place Lima Country Peru.

Rowing (Lightweight Four) – Robin Prendes birth place Matanzas Country Cuba.

Sailing (Elliott 6m) – Anna Tunnicliffe birth place Doncaster Country England.

10M Air Pistol, Sport Pistol – Sandra Uptagrafft birth place Singapore Country Singapore.

Rapid Fire Pistol – Emil Milev birth place Sofia Country Bulgaria.

Football (Forward) – Sydney Leroux birth place Canada Los Angeles.

Synchronized Swimmer (Duet) – Mariya Koroleva birth place Yarosalvl Country Russia.

Doubles & Mixed Doubles Tennis – Liezel Huber birth place Durban Country South Africa.

Tennis (Singles) – Varvara Lepchenko birth place Tashkent Uzebekistan.

Triathlon – Manuel Huerta birth place Havana Country Cuba.

Volleyball (Setter) – Donald Suxho birth place Korce Country Albania.

Beach Volley Ball – Phil Dalhausser birth place Baden Country Switzeland.

Wrestler Freestyle (63 kg & 120 kg) – Elena Pirozhkova birth place Novokuznetsk Country Russia & Tervel Dlagnev birth place Sofia Country Bulgaria.

Swimming – Mike Alexandrov birth place Sofia Country Bulgaria.

ALL THE BEST TEAM USA.

Obama’s Deportation Plan for Illegal Could Cost $585 Million

New Immigration policy of Deferred Action which will grant young illegal immigrants work permit, and otherwise the deportation could cost more than $585 million and require hundred federal employees to process more than a million requests.

To obtain work permit, illegal immigrants must request permission to stay in country by filing a document “Request for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” and apply for work permit starting August 15.

The plans said there would be no waivers, but Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress last week that the government would grant waivers “in very deserving cases.” She said details were still being worked out. “We anticipate that this will be a fee-driven process,” Napolitano said.

Peter Boogaard, said this plans for required “preliminary documents” are still being worked out. He also mentioned tax payers amount has not been used, since fees will be collected under this program.

“By lowering the fee or waiving it altogether for illegal immigrants, those who play by the rules will face delays and large backlogs as attention is diverted to illegal immigrants,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas. “American taxpayers should not be forced to bail out illegal immigrants and President Obama’s fiscally irresponsible policies.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) estimated it could receive more than 1 million applications during the first year of the program, or more than 3,000 per day. It would cost between $467 million and $585 million to process applications in the first two years of the program, with revenues from fees paid by immigrants estimated at $484 million, according to the plans. That means the cost to the government could range from a gain of $16 million to a loss of more than $101 million.

Poverty in US Might Reach Highest Since 1960s

Poverty is spreading across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families. The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, with the factor involving how they think about the economy, academics, on election and how decision making would reflect: Official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent to 2010, for the census figure for 2011 will be released this year ahead of November election.

Several predict even 0.1 percentage of increase in poverty will increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.

“I grew up going to Hawaii every summer. Now I’m here, applying for assistance because it’s hard to make ends meet. It’s very hard to adjust,” said Laura Fritz, 27, of Wheat Ridge, Colo., describing her slide from rich to poor as she filled out aid forms at a county center. Since 2000, large swaths of Jefferson County just outside Denver have seen poverty nearly double.

Millions fall under the government aid from unemployment insurance, Medicaid, welfare and food stamp diminishes. Longer term changes in the economy such as globalization, automation, outsourcing, immigration and less unionization has pushed household income lower.

Stacey Mazer of the National Association of State Budget Officers said states will be watching for poverty increases when figures are released in September as they make decisions about the Medicaid expansion. Most states generally assume poverty levels will hold mostly steady and they will hesitate if the findings show otherwise. “It’s a constant tension in the budget,” she said

Poverty is closely tied to joblessness. The analysts’ estimates 1 in 6 were poor last year. An increase of even 0.1 percentages would tie the 1983 poverty rate. Strange thing is unemployment rate improved from 9.6 percent in 2010 to 8.9 percent in 2011.

Barack Obama’s decision on Immigration Policy is Defended

Head of Homeland security is helping the decision by Obama on Immigration Reform Policy, on not deporting young immigrants who are illegal in US and obtaining Work Permit. Janet Napolitano is the third Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and is leading our nation’s collective efforts to secure our country from the threats we face – from terrorism to natural disasters.

“Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a strong and sensible manner,” Janet Napolitano said in prepared remarks submitted to the House Judiciary Committee. “But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Republican from border state Texas, has been among the harshest critics of the administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Smith mentioned he is worried about giving work permit for the illegal would harm an already struggling economy. Smith also said, many illegal might claim they entered US while at very young age so checking that factor might just tough.

Napolitano said her officials still deciding what documents is required for illegal immigrants to prove they qualify for this new immigration policy and to obtain Work Permit. These detailed documents will be available by August 1.

Serena Williams Wins her 5th Wimbledon Title

Serena Williams defeated Agnieszka Radwańska 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to win her fifth Wimbledon title. She dropped to her back on the court, later climbed to the stands hugged her mom, dad and sister Venus. Williams sister also won their double title by defeating number one seeded player Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-5, 6-4.

Both sisters have battled health issues over the last two years, with Venus having been diagnosed with an energy-sapping illness and Serena overcoming blood clots in her lungs and two operations after cutting her feet on glass in 2010.

Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Serena is of African-American heritage and youngest amongst Price’s five daughters. Venus is full sister, Yetunde, Lyndrea and Isha Price are half sisters.

Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was 10, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had allegedly heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments.

Controversial Fingerprint-Sharing Program

A computer programmer is suing the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security after finger-printing program incorrectly identified him as an Illegal Immigrant and was detained in a maximum-security prison.

When James Makowski, a Chicago-area resident who repairs computer networks for companies, pleaded guilty in December 2010 to a felony charge of selling heroin, he was sentenced to four months at a “boot camp” drug treatment program, according to DuPage County, Ill., court records.

James Makowski was born in India and adopted by American family in New Jersey when he was 4 month old. Makowski was naturalized citizen when he was 1 year old, according to his lawyer, Mark Fleming. He argues FBI and Department of Homeland Security have violated the Privacy Act of 1974.

“Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mine,” Makowski, 24, said in a telephone interview Thursday. “But if the government can detain a U.S. citizen without justification, that’s pretty outrageous. There have to be safeguards in place.”

ICE has created 24 hours hotline for US Citizens who have detained wrongly or if they are victims of crime. Record shows closer to 900,000 potential immigration violators. They say the program was partly responsible for nearly doubling the number of deportations of convicted criminals and repeat immigration violators, from 114,415 people in 2008 to 216,698 in 2011.

Independence Day Ceremony, Obama calls for Immigration Reforms

On Independence Day ceremony President Barack Obama used for the immigrants servicing in the US military became US Citizens. Obama addressed two dozen of foreign – born military personnel who became US Citizen in return of their service. Obama was wearing red tie in celebrating the July 4^th at the White House.

“What a perfect way to celebrate America’s birthday – the world’s oldest democracy – with some of our newest citizens,” Obama told the group of military members and their families, who came from countries including Mexico, Ghana, the Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Russia.

“You put on the uniform of a country that was not yet fully your own. In a time of war, some of you deployed into harm’s way. You displayed the values that we celebrate every Fourth of July – duty, responsibility, and patriotism,” Obama said.

To be enlisting in military, Immigrants must come to US legally. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused of being politically motivated in giving work permission to illegal immigrants.

San Antonio Immigrants Activists Hols “procesión de velas”

San Antonio activists will hold their second annual March for Immigrant Rights through the city’s West Side on Independence Day. Goal is to bring attention to the November election on slight softening of both Democratic and Republican on Immigration.

Participants will hold a “procesión de velas,” a Wednesday evening procession by candlelight, instead of repeating last year’s march in July’s scorching heat.

“It gives us bargaining power,” he said. “It’s finally what we’ve been hoping for. If we truly organize, we’ll have a say” in the shape of future immigration legislation.

Jamie Martinez, founder and board president of the Cesar E.Chavez said “We want comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act”. Another group Educational Foundation who involved in rally says “Immigrants are workers. They are not lazy, and they are not criminals”.

Martinez says “We are not asking for the sky. We are asking for path to citizenship. Reuniting with the family is the key and the protection of the civil and constitutional rights”.  Martinez also mentioned about how immigrants pay taxes, it accumulates up to $7 billion a year. Martinez says “This is best kept secret in America”, which clearly shows how immigrants work hard.

The march begins with a news conference at 6:30 p.m. in front of the Guadalupe Theater. Participants are encouraged to be there by 6 p.m. Congressional candidates Lloyd Doggett, running in the 35th Congressional District, and Joaquín Castro, seeking to represent the 20th, will speak. Both are Democrats.