Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Faced with huge backlogs in immigration proceedings, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement adopted a new policy last week to cancel the deportation of thousands of detained illegal immigrants. The move fits with ICE’s policy to prioritize deportation of dangerous undocumented immigrants, but it’s sure to displease pro-enforcement groups, who have accused the Obama administration of pushing for backdoor amnesty.
The memo, dated Aug. 20, encourages ICE lawyers and officers to dismiss cases of immigrants who have active citizenship applications in the system, provided they have clean criminal records.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, argued the policy is part of a wider effort to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the country, The New York Times reported Thursday.
“Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. “Unfortunately, it appears this is more evidence that the Obama administration would rather circumvent Congress and give a free pass to illegal immigrants who have already broken our law.”
Grassley has made this case about Obama and immigration before. He repeatedly pushed for the administration declare it would not push backdoor amnesty after an undated draft memo surfaced in June with suggestions for White House action on immigration.
For its part, ICE denies that the policy enacted Aug. 20 is an effort to avoid enforcing immigration laws. “This is not a backdoor amnesty,” Beth Gibson, assistant deputy director of ICE, told the New York Times. “It is really about efficient use of docket space and smart use of everybody’s scarce resources.”
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