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An independent report released yesterday showed that the number of estimated undocumented immigrants in the United States has decreased from a year ago. The Pew Hispanic Center cited the economic downturn as a principal reason for the half a million decrease in the population. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE continues its raids, with increasing ferocity and scale. Earlier this week, over 1,150 undocumented immigrants were taken into custody across the state of California over a three week operational period. Four-hundred and twenty arrests were carried out in the Los Angeles area alone. While the issue of comprehensive immigration reform has largely fallen off the radar in this year’s presidential election, Republican candidate John McCain released a new Spanish language ad in targeted states describing Barack Obama as a Senator who killed immigration reform legislation. In response, Obama characterized McCain’s ad on immigration as “dishonest.” Rinku Sen, an immigration expert and author of the new book, “The Accidental American,” believes that a new, bolder approach is needed where labor is as free to cross boundaries as capital.

GUEST: Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center, published of Color Lines Magazine, and author of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, with her co-author Fekkak Mamdouh, co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York

Related Links

• Article in Color Lines Magazine about Accidental American