Immigration official says agents will no longer have quotas

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today that he has ended quotas on a controversial program designed to go after illegal immigrants who have ignored deportation orders and that he planned to make more changes to the program soon.

John Morton, who took over as head of the federal agency in May, said during a meeting with reporters in Los Angeles that the program needs to do what it was created to do -- target absconders who have already had their day in court.

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Atlanta homeless shelter another victim of poor economy

The Salvation Army will not open its nearly completed homeless shelter for families because the tanking economy has left the nonprofit without money to operate it.

Maj. James Seiler, the Salvation Army’s Atlanta area commander, said donations dropped at the same time more people asked for help.

It has given out $665,000 more in emergency aid this year than last. That wiped out more than the $600,000 estimated cost to run the new shelter for its first year.

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Helping foreclosed homes, families at the same time

Habitat for Humanity does good work. To place families in homes is to build communities and to make the world a better place.

Now, in cities around the country, Habitat has turned its attention to foreclosed homes. Rather than build from scratch, Habitat refurbishes houses that have been left vacant by foreclosure. It’s a brilliant idea, again placing needy families into homes, but in the process filling empty houses and lifting the spirits (and property values) of neighborhoods.

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Small immigration victories

Last week I discussed the first of two relatively small victories in the ongoing battle against the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants. The first occurred in nearby Roswell, New Mexico and the second is national in scope.

On August 6 the Obama administration announced plans to revamp the scattered network of immigration detention centers into one centralized system designed for civil detainees. The primary motivation seems to reduce ongoing rash of needless deaths of immigrants in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or their private contractors such as the Corrections Corporation of America.

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State schools get $1.6M for homeless kids

Programs funding the education of homeless children attending public schools in Wisconsin are expanding, thanks to federal stimulus money.

Gov. Jim Doyle and State Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers announced on Monday that $1.6 million in grants have been awarded to 30 school districts across the state to provide a variety of assistance to homeless children and their families.

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More U.S. students to need free meals

WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. students who receive free and reduced-cost meals at school could soar to a 41-year high this school year, as record job losses and high unemployment push thousands more children into poverty, many for the first time.

According to projections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least 18.5 million low-income students are expected to participate in the National School Lunch Program each day during the 2009-10 school year. More than 8.5 million are expected to take advantage of the federal School Breakfast Program.

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Downturn Brings A New Face to Homelessness

PONTIAC, Mich. -- The lowest point in Lawanda Madden's life came in February, when she woke up on the floor of her friend's run-down house in this city battered by recession. She was shivering with cold. She remembers turning to her 8-year-old son, Jovon, and thinking: "How did this happen to us? How did we become homeless?"

Only 15 months before, Madden, 39, had a $35,000-a-year job, a two-bedroom apartment and a car. She was far from rich, but she could treat Jovon to the movies. She occasionally visited her sister in Chicago and bowled in a local league. She dreamed of going to law school. Then she was laid off and lost everything.

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Low-income children on brink of losing health insurance coverage as state budget cuts hit home

SACRAMENTO - Several hundred thousand low-income children face losing their health insurance beginning Oct. 1 under a decision Thursday by the state panel that oversees California's Healthy Families program.

The vote is a result of $175 million in cuts to Healthy Families as part of last month's budget-balancing package. It came despite an $81.4 million contribution to the insurance program from a statewide commission that gets money from a voter-approved tax on tobacco products to pay for early childhood efforts.

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