The Windmill
Program Chairs:  Dwight Heikkila & Ed Jackson December 6, 2012
  This Week...
Holiday Luncheon
Hotel Bel Air

Upcoming...

December 20
Dark

December 27
Dark

January 8
District Breakfast
Westin LAX Hotel

December 13
Holiday Luncheon
Hotel Bel Air
 
 
 
President Dwight Heikkila welcomed everyone to the warm and friendly WVRC and turned our Bruin attention towards basketball.

Yours truly led the pledge.  Our Invocation was provided by Past President Ed Gauld.

Guests: 
Rotarian Judy Irye was visiting from the Santa Monica Club.
Shannon from the W Hotel was our Merchant Minute.

Announcements:
  • Mike Yousem announced we are on time tonight for the annualSalvation Army shopping trip and thanked all of our past and present sponsors!
  • Next week's Holiday Luncheon is at Hotel Bel Air so please RSVP online or call FYI: You've already paid so let us know if you are bringing a friend.
  • A reminder the next District Breakfast is Jan 8, the President of LMU will be speaking.
  • Please continue to consider giving to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. Our club will match contributions.  Thank you Steve and Marsha Day for leveraging your donation by three through our club and Marsha's company matching program.  Please make checks to WVRC Foundation
The W Hotel was our featured Merchant Minute today.  Shannon Montoya, Mgr of Catering and Sales, informed us that Starwood no longer owns the W and they will be renovating by next summer and will have new event space.  They currently have two restaurants, inside and out, and they are dog-friendly too!  One of the highlights she mentioned is Chill, a hybrid ice rink opening.  Kids must be five and over and she brought gift cards for our members to skate!

Before John Heidt introduced our speaker he announced Former Assemblyman Mike Feuer was in an accident and we hope he is OK.  John then provided our speaker's introduction:  For 35 years Tim Barker has specialized in the field of immigration law.  Tim is a managing partner with  Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.  His clients include leading Fortune 100 companies, in various global industries including: financial, petroleum, biotech, entertainment and accounting.  He provides strategic counseling on all matters relating to U.S. immigration and nationality law: regulation, policy and compliance.  His work on behalf of clients includes advising on the immigration consequences of mergers & acquisitions and other corporate restructurings, employment and technical compliance issues and overall immigration program management.  With 42 offices in 18 countries, Tim's firm is the largest in the world devoted exclusively to business immigration law.

Tim's interest in the immigration law started during his first semester in law school at the University of San Diego when he volunteered at the local legal aid office, handling deportation hearings.  While working and in school he helped found the Immigration Journal Law Review and the periodical Immigration Clinic.  Following graduation, Tim worked for theLegal Aid Society in San Diego as the Director of its immigration unit as well as serving as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University Of San Diego. 

In 1979 Tim moved to Los Angeles to become the Director of  Legal Services Corporation's Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles where he worked on major litigation cases throughout the country as well as setting up national training programs and meeting with congressional representatives about immigration law and policy. 

In 1984 Tim left the public sector and expanded his expertise to business related immigration matters. 

Tim is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and has been named continuously in Best Lawyers of Southern California since 2008 and he has recently learned he will be honored in Best Lawyers in America in 2013.

John also wanted to point out that the first decade of Tim's career was the penultimate sacrifice of "service above self."  John said he knows he was criticized for the work he did those ten years but thought it was amazing and showed great compassion and care. John then welcomed his friend, Tim Barker

Tim started by sharing his interest in immigration law and comprehensive immigration reform then said it is similar to his favorite quote by Mark Twain, "Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it!" Looking historically, What was the Immigration debate about?  Before 1970 it wasn't a big issue, more of a migrant laborer "cat and mouse" scenario.

The average age of a migrant worker at the time was 19-29, in the past they stayed an average of 3 years.  There were no annual country quota limits like 20,000 in Asia, Europe and the children born here could start residency application processes immediately and not wait until age 21.

In 1972, pre-Nixon, the thought was the hiring of undocumented immigrants caused our increase in unemployment.   In 1975 Carter tried to address a legalization program and it was met with great resistance.
Reagan in 1977 found bipartisan support for immigration reform and the Control Act of 1986 was established:  1.   Employer sanctions- no longer can hire or continue to employ and must check documents;  2.  Border security enhanced;  3.  Legalization program at that time for then 3-6 million here for:
  1. Those who have been here for over four years
  2. If they worked as migrants during a specified time
2.8 million more were legalized by 1986 Act
In 2002, we had an estimated  9.3 million illegal immigrants-- today estimated at 12 million.

Today's political climate seems to be turning  increasingly punitive.  Our esteemed speaker continued to discuss  the Secure Defense Act, theReal ID Act, and the Secure Communities Program.

He described the immigration reform efforts in 2007 and 2010 as ineffective "Thuds."   He expressed hope for reform  in 2012--there may actually be change to address the 11 million people who are here.   There is current legislation proposed and our speaker concluded that whatever you may think about this issue, the fact is there are this many people currently driving without licenses, working and having children  and asked how long do we go without addressing this population?  Do we let this fester and keep burying our heads in the sand?  Our expert encouraged us to keep pushing forward with programs!

His final comments were about the push/pull factors of immigration starting with the pull factor of employment in US to the push factor from Mexico.   He discussed the Temporary Agriculture Program as an example of problems faced with temporary Visas to work with our crops -- the bureaucracy is so slow processing Visa paperwork that the  crops are often worthless by the time the workers are processed.
Many questions and comments from members were entertained.

-YYE Aly Shoji
 

ROTARY DISTRICT 5280 LEADERSHIP 2012-13
Westwood Village
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 24114, Los Angeles, CA 90024-0114
Meets: Thursday, 12:30 PM, UCLA Faculty Center
480 Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095

 

Club President - Dwight Heikkila
(310) 820-6090
dwightah@hotmail.com

President Elect
Mark Rogo
(310) 385-3164
mark@markrogo.com

Vice-President/Club Service
Leah Vriesman
(310) 844-4224
ljvriesman@excelresearch.org

Secretary – Aly Shoji
(310) 301-3014
ashoji@support.ucla.edu

Treasurer - Don Nelson
(310) 472-9488
dncpa@adelphia.net

Past President - Ed Jackson
(800) 214-3810
bossman1983@gmail.com

Community Service - John Heidt
(310) 474-0938
jheidt@heidttores.com

International Service
Marsha Hunt
(310) 500-9828
marshahuntinc@msn.com

Vocational Service
Richard Thompson
(310) 408-2822
richardfthompson@gmail.com

New Generations Service
Jim Crane
(310) 733-6783
jamesecrane@sbcglobal.net

Rotary Foundation Chair
Steve Day
(310) 670-5013
sday@hcohn.com

Publicity/Public Relations
Mike Newman
(310) 208-7723
mnewman@dhwnlaw.com

Membership - Colby Smith
(310) 948-9198
colby.smith.dds@gmail.com

WVRC Auxiliary
Eloise Siskel
(310) 472-2509
eloisewee@aol.com

Sook Heikkila
(310) 820-6090

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
PRESIDENT:
Sakuji Tanaka

DISTRICT 5280 GOVERNOR:
Lew Bertrand


NEARBY MAKEUP SITES: Monday, Beverly Hills: BH Hotel, 9641 Sunset / Tuesday, Inglewood: Hollywood Park Casino, 3883 W. Century Blvd, Inglewood / Wednesday, Century City: Hyatt Regency Century City, in the Breeze Cafe, Culver City: Culver City Elks Club, 11160 Washington Blvd., Culver City, or  Wilshire: The Ebell, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd, LA / Friday, Santa Monica: Riviera Country Club, 1250 Capri Dr, Pacific Palisades
For information about on-line makeups,
www.recswusa.org