Current Affairs

Virginia Beach council has formed a council to run it. It is formed by the people of the area through elections. There are several districts within it and each one of them has a representative. The Virginia Beach City Government is in charge of this entire area and is involved in the running of businesses.

The council has eleven elected members. These members are expected to serve their terms. Each term is four years long and after it is over a general election is carried out. The general election is done each election year in November on the Tuesday after the very first Monday. The voting members are required to be registered as voters so that they can elect.

Each district gets a representative. The districts are as follows, Rose Hall, Kempsville, Beach, Princess Anne, Bayside, Centerville and Lynnhaven. Each gets a residing representative. There are three more members and a mayor. These three do not have to be residents of any particular district.

The council holds informal sessions before the formal ones. Agenda for each meeting is open to the members of the public and the meetings begin according to their agenda. This is what determines how long the meeting may be so they are used to set the commencement time.

Each of their meetings is cast live on cable so that anyone who is interested in watching can do so. They also air re runs for those who might have missed the sessions. This is all in a bid to make the proceedings public. For that reason everyone knows exactly what is carried out in the running of the council.

If anyone suffers from a physical, hearing or visual impairment they can be involved in the proceedings too. These people need to make the clerk in charge of it aware beforehand and the right methods are put in place. That way they also get to follow the proceedings without any problems. This is a bid to cover every member of this city equally.

Virginia Beach City Council services offer numerous services. The government is not only available to its members but also available to visitors. If anyone needs anything from them they should just go to their offices and find out about it. If it is not available at that moment the governing body will strive to get the answers and deliver it as a part of their service.

There is an ongoing debate about whether we live in a 'compensation culture'. The multitude of adverts on TV and radio reminding people they might be able to make a claim, along with the unsolicited phone calls and text messages many people receive, would suggest that there is some truth to the notion that the legal profession is being taken over by so-called 'ambulance chasers'. But, as anyone who has been seriously hurt in an accident that wasn't their fault will tell you, compensation can make a real difference, and it also provides an important means of holding those at fault to account.

Financial damages can be claimed in the event of an individual sustaining physical or psychological injury due to the negligence of another person. By enlisting the help of a lawyer, solicitor or claims assessor to determine who is responsible for their injury, the victim can claim either 'general damages' which will cover a loss of earnings and any suffering caused as a consequence, or 'special damages' which covers any financial losses incurred as a result of the injury itself (for instance, a new car after a road traffic accident).

Last year, the NHS Litigation Authority estimates it paid out 1.325 billion in compensation to victims of negligence, many of whom pursued their claims on a no win, no fee basis. As a result, lawyers raked in over 230 million in fees.

Against this background, the government has declared something of a war on the personal injury claims industry, epitomised by its promise to get rid of the no win, no fee (or conditional fee agreement) system next year. The objective, we are told, is to stop people making claims unnecessarily, and reduce the cost to the taxpayer by reducing the bill for public sector organisations like the NHS.

Unfortunately, however, the byproduct of this will be that people who don't have the financial means to fund a claim (that they have no guarantee will succeed) will not be able to go to court at all. That means that the most vulnerable members of society won't have the same access to justice in personal injury cases as those with a higher income, undermining the democratic principles on which our judicial system is supposed to be founded. It remains to be seen exactly how this change to the law will play out, but anyone interested in standing up for their rights would be well-advised to keep following this story.

The immigration laws, passed in the twentieth century, that molded the inflow of people from various countries, started with rules to deal only with numbers, and not work-related abilities. Two regulations were introduced in the 1920's that imposed quotas on people entering into the United States from other nations.

They were the Emergency Quota Act of 1917, and the Immigration Act of 1924. The former, put into law by Woodrow Wilson and an overwhelming number in Congress, prohibited entry of "undesirables" including those with mental illnesses and those under sixteen years of age who were illiterate. That regulation also introduced the requirement to read a text as a condition of citizenship.

The Bracero Program of 1942, enacted into law by Franklin Roosevelt, was a migrant worker program, enabling workers from Latin America to enter into the United States for agricultural work, only. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, added deportation to those suspected of being a Communist sympathizer. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was the first legislation to do away with quotas based on national origin, and to favor individuals with family already living here. This law additionally ended those entering under the Bracero Program, and created the first wave of illegal immigrants from Latin America, a result of the inability to enter through the worker program.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act, or IRCA, was setup to deal with the influx of illegal workers who began to enter the United States larger after the repeal of the farm worker program. The law stated that employers who knowingly hired illegal workers would be held liable. The law also established the I-9 form as a means of verifying status for working eligibility.

The immediate consequence that the passing of the IRCA had on hiring practices was minimal. Employers continued hiring practices with those of unverified status, and the I-9 forms were not actively enforced. There was a move to the hiring of subcontractors as opposed to direct hiring. This allowed the employer to not have to deal with the status of the workers. Rather, the subcontracting firm was responsible for legal status of its workers. The laborer suffered a decrease in wages, as subcontractors held a portion of the worker's pay to cover overhead expenses.

The reform act known as IRCA is still in force, today. There is no real effort to verify the information supplied on the I-9 forms. When a worker is suspected of illegal status, the enforcement is largely imposed upon the laborer, and not on the employer. Immigration laws need to come into line with practice, or for stricter enforcement of statues currently in place. Having one set of laws, and a separate practice for enforcement is not a good way to control immigration.

The fourteenth amendment to the United States, adopted in 1868, grants citizenship to those born within the boundaries of this country. However, there were many instances, throughout the years, that Congress passed laws contrary to the provisions of that amendment. One of those laws became known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882.

The Chinese immigrants came mostly to the west coast of the United States. With the gold rush in San Francisco, in 1849, the total number of immigrants from China greatly increased. Most people who came during this time period were working men. There was a greater dependence on cheap labor, and also the Chinese men arrived here to be employed in various labor-intensive job capacities.

Therefore, there was no need to increase infrastructure at that time. Institutions, such as schools, did not see much of an increase because not many immigrant children came into the country at that time. Hospitals did not see much of demand for services, because most of the immigrants were healthy, working-aged men.

The act, stated specifically that "laborers skilled and unskilled utilized by mining" could well be excluded from entering the United States for an entire decade. This serious case of discrimination was almost unprecedented in laws being passed in those days by Congress. The immigrant families were faced with either breaking apart their families, or returning to China to keep the families together.

One immediate effect the passage of the law had, was which it provoked large-scale human smuggling. Since workers were denied entrance into the United States, they were smuggled in. Other unintended consequences of the law came following the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. The town hall was destroyed as well as the official records. Chinese men claimed status due to family ties to other Chinese-Americans, along with their claims could not be disproved because of the destruction of a multitude of official records.

The law was overturned by the Magnuson Act in 1943. Although the Magnuson Act granted citizenship to immigrants currently residing in the country, it denied them the ability to own land or property. This was not repealed fully until 1965.

The influence on the immigration with this act was the lesson never to allow legalized discrimination. The fallout from the passage of the bill in 1882 caused more hardship and regret than it did help any cause. While there is still much debate over what to do about the numerous individuals who currently are now living in the United States without having legal status, the lesson of this law from the nineteenth century reminds us not to pass any law discriminating against any particular nationality or race of an individual.

The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The amendment was enacted on July 9, 1868, partially for the purpose of overruling the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in 1857. The purpose of the amendment was to include the newly freed slaves and their offspring as citizens of the United States. Up until that time, slaves were not considered citizens of the states where they lived, and therefore, they could not hold citizenship in the United States.

The amendment was to insure compliance with the newly passed Civil Rights Bill of 1866, which stated in part, "people born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power are entitled to be citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude". This law was brought up twice, and was twice vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. The second time the veto was overridden by a two-thirds majority in Congress and became law. However, the law had to stand up to several court cases. Therefore, the fourteenth amendment was introduced, which could be overturned in lower courts.

The first sentence in the amendment did not produce much controversy. It announced that citizenship would be granted to one born within the boundaries of the United States. It also granted state citizenship concurrently. There was controversy, however, in the second part of the amendment. It guaranteed "due process" and "equal protection" at the state level. During the Civil War, there were contracts signed and debt incurred with states in the south whose federal government no longer existed.

This controversy caused some to think that the amendment would never pass. At issue was that the Bill of Rights limited the power of the Federal government over states, and the words in the fourteenth amendment seemed to tell the states they had to comply with rules set forth by the Federal government

The fourteenth amendment did pass, with the understanding that it did not to add any new limitations to the rights of the states. The controversy over the fourteenth amendment, today, is trying to figure out who was intended to be granted citizenship. The Civil Rights Bill of 1866 stated that citizenship was granted to those, "not subject to any foreign power". However the fourteenth amendment does not have this phrase in it.

There are now circumstances that have given rise to questions that need to be worked out is over this issue. Does the fourteenth amendment grant citizenship to those born in the United States to those who are in the United States with no legal status? To a slave in this country in the 1860's, the answer was intended to be, "yes". Was it the same intent to grant the rights to those who are entering this country without legal status, today?

On April 13, 2010, the state of Arizona enacted an immigration law where the intent was to permit state law enforcement to handle some situations with respect to immigration status. The law included the language as the federal law, however, the Constitution grants the Federal Government the authority to manage immigration. This state law has since caused a good measure of controversy.

There are problems on the subject of immigration, itself. There are legal issues that deal with the capacity of a State to oversee its own borders. There also is the concern over giving a state the legal ability to do something that the Constitution meant for the Federal Government to do.

The issues specific to Arizona have to do with the proximity to Mexico, and the large land border that they share. The southern border of Arizona is largely desert and sparsely populated. There are no sizable population centers on either side of the border for hundreds of miles. The fact that the southern border of Arizona is merely a political boundary, not following any natural land formations or rivers, makes the boundary hard to distinguish from the ground.

As a result, the region is frequently used for illegal entrance into the United States from Mexico. The extensive land area offers miles of wide open space to cross without regular supervision to safeguard the border. In the 1990's, nearly 80,000 individuals who had entered through the border illegally were determined to be residing in Arizona. By 2010, that number had increased to nearly 500,000.

The concern to the Arizona state government was the absence of action enacted by the federal law enforcement personnel. Whatever the explanations were for the scarcity of federal measures, Arizona needed to be able to assist the federal agencies in controlling immigration situations. To make this happen, they were required to have a law approved at the state level. The regulation was brought forth in the state senate as SB 1070, and became referred to as "Arizona SB 1070".

The objections to the law included a law suit by the Attorney General of the United States that ended up being heard by the Supreme Court. In a 5-3 decision, portions of the law were upheld, and other parts were reckoned to be preempted by the federal law. By preserving parts of the state law, the state law officials in Arizona can ask for legitimate documents while responding to individuals possibly breaking the law.

Ultimately, the dilemma of state rights on enforcement of immigration matters was neither strengthened nor weakened by the Supreme Court decision. Arizona law enforcers can help with immigration situations to a certain degree, and this was the original purpose of the passing the law. Creating an environment where everyone in the state is in good standing with the law will require a longer period of time to obtain.

The expression "green card" actually refers to the issuing of a permanent residence card, officially from the INS form I-151 application. The reason is took on the name "green card" is mainly because the light green background which the card possessed, specifically from 1946 through 1964, and again starting in 2010.

The holder of a permanent residence card, or green card, obtains certain rights in the United States. Among them, are the right to stay in the country indefinitely, the ability to work at any job for which they are qualified to do, and the right to obtain citizenship after a certain number of years, depending on their situation.

There are various classifications for eligibility when applying for a residency. They are sectioned into three categories. The first is the family qualification. An applicant can apply for a a residence card if they have immediate members of the family who are either citizens or have permanent residency.

There is a group of eligibility classifications that has to do with employment. If a worker can find certain work, or if an employer chooses to sponsor a worker, there are ways for applying for a permanent residency.

The final group is for refugees or asylum seekers. Each of these three categories also has quotas set on how many residents can enter in a particular year. The selection of applicants typically exceeds these quotas, and the waiting time for an applicant can be between a few weeks a number of years, depending on the sort of eligibility that the particular person is trying to use for entrance.

Other rights include the right to petition for a relative to enter the country. A resident has to pay taxes and is entitled to public assistance. One can also start paying in on the Social Security program and expect to receive advantages from that program once eligible.

Penalties also exist where one can lose their issued card. The holder must obey laws and not be convicted of any crime. If a card holder has entered the country because of relationship to a spouse, that relationship must continue for a specified period of time. Likewise, if a card hold entered under employment eligibility, the term of employment must continue for a specified period of time.

If a permanent resident takes a job in another country, their residence ends in this country. If one leaves the country and does not return for one year, they must start the process again. Finally, not paying one's taxes violates the conditions of their residency.

Many individuals want to enter the United States in a legal manner. In so doing, they're afforded certain rights and a path to citizenship. Most consider this an honorable opportunity.