Past Articles by Ted Robbins
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Bill Would Put Immigration Verification System To The Test The Senate's immigration bill would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, a federal database that checks a worker's immigration status instantly. While businesses have had difficulty using the system in the past, officials say its results are now accurate 98 percent of the time. |
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Bill Would Put Immigration Verification System To The Test The Senate's immigration bill would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, a federal database that checks a worker's immigration status instantly. While businesses have had difficulty using the system in the past, officials say its results are now accurate 98 percent of the time. |
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U.S. Aims To Track Foreigners Who Arrive, But Never Leave Almost half of all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. came legally — but then overstayed their visas. In an effort to curb those "overstays," the Senate is considering a bill that mandates tracking visitors' visas when they leave the country, not just when they arrive. |
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U.S. Aims To Track Foreigners Who Arrive, But Never Leave Almost half of all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. came legally — but then overstayed their visas. In an effort to curb those "overstays," the Senate is considering a bill that mandates tracking visitors' visas when they leave the country, not just when they arrive. |
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With Budget Cuts For Ports, Produce May Perish Nogales, Ariz., is home to one of the nation's busiest ports of entry. Trucks line up for inspection before heading to grocery stores in the U.S. But the sequester is forcing the ports to make cuts, leading some to fear higher prices for food and strained relationships with foreign trading partners. |
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With Budget Cuts For Ports, Produce May Perish Nogales, Ariz., is home to one of the nation's busiest ports of entry. Trucks line up for inspection before heading to grocery stores in the U.S. But the sequester is forcing the ports to make cuts, leading some to fear higher prices for food and strained relationships with foreign trading partners. |
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U.S. Readies For Play In World Baseball Classic With baseball gone from the Olympics, the World Baseball Classic is the only international professional baseball tournament. Former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he put on a uniform again to manage the U.S. team because it's a privilege. |
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Sequester Cuts Free Some Immigration Detainees Reaction is coming in after the Obama administration's unusual move releasing immigration detainees due to budget cuts. An Arizona sheriff is blasting the sequestration gridlock for undermining the safety of local communities. Immigrant rights groups, however, say it shouldn't take a budget crisis to do what they think is right. |
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Sequester Cuts Free Some Immigration Detainees Reaction is coming in after the Obama administration's unusual move releasing immigration detainees due to budget cuts. An Arizona sheriff is blasting the sequestration gridlock for undermining the safety of local communities. Immigrant rights groups, however, say it shouldn't take a budget crisis to do what they think is right. |
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The 'Line' For Legal Immigration Is Already About 4 Million People Long In the debate over immigration, many politicians seem to agree that people now in the U.S. illegally should wait at "the back of the line" for legal residency. But the backlog in processing applications means even those already in line face decades of waiting. |
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The 'Line' For Legal Immigration Is Already About 4 Million People Long In the debate over immigration, many politicians seem to agree that people now in the U.S. illegally should wait at "the back of the line" for legal residency. But the backlog in processing applications means even those already in line face decades of waiting. |
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In Arizona, Some Retirees Caught In Never-Ending Battle With Invasive Species Rather than rest in retirement, a group of volunteers is restoring land in Arizona's Ironwood Forest National Monument to its natural habitat. Their main goal is to eliminate invasive buffelgrass, which is taking over and causing a fire hazard. It's no small task — they've removed it from the same place 40 times. |
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In Arizona, Some Retirees Caught In Never-Ending Battle With Invasive Species Rather than rest in retirement, a group of volunteers is restoring land in Arizona's Ironwood Forest National Monument to its natural habitat. Their main goal is to eliminate invasive buffelgrass, which is taking over and causing a fire hazard. It's no small task — they've removed it from the same place 40 times. |
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Fla. Tomato Growers Say Mexico Trade Deal Is Rotten For 16 years, Mexican growers have agreed not to sell tomatoes below what's called a reference price, meant to protect Florida growers from cheap Mexican tomatoes. But half of all tomatoes eaten in the U.S. come from Mexico, and Mexican growers say it's because their tomatoes taste better. |
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Fla. Tomato Growers Say Mexico Trade Deal Is Rotten For 16 years, Mexican growers have agreed not to sell tomatoes below what's called a reference price, meant to protect Florida growers from cheap Mexican tomatoes. But half of all tomatoes eaten in the U.S. come from Mexico, and Mexican growers say it's because their tomatoes taste better. |
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Fla. Tomato Growers Say Mexico Trade Deal Is Rotten For 16 years, Mexican growers have agreed not to sell tomatoes below what's called a reference price, meant to protect Florida growers from cheap Mexican tomatoes. But half of all tomatoes eaten in the U.S. come from Mexico, and Mexican growers say it's because their tomatoes taste better. |
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How A Community Created A Garden From Sadness Mourners left flowers and plants after the 2011 Tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13. Instead of sending the shrines to a landfill after they were taken down, volunteers sorted through everything, replanted what they could and composted the rest. |
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Is The Border Secure Enough To Tackle The Immigration System? "Secure the borders first" has been the cry from Republicans in Congress before they'd agree to comprehensive immigration reform. That stance seems to be changing, as some experts say demanding border security first is backward. |
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Is The Border Secure Enough To Tackle The Immigration System? "Secure the borders first" has been the cry from Republicans in Congress before they'd agree to comprehensive immigration reform. That stance seems to be changing, as some experts say demanding border security first is backward. |
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Immigration Changes 'Gotta Happen This Year' Republicans and Democrats are pushing to make overhauling immigration a priority in 2013. Senator-elect Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, is expected to play a big part in any overhaul of immigration laws. |
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Manhattan Project Sites Part Of Proposed Park Congress is considering whether to turn three top-secret sites involved with creating the atomic bomb into one of the country's most unusual national parks. Critics question the need for a park that celebrates nuclear weapons. Supporters say the park would ask tough questions about lessons learned. |
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Border Killings Prompt Scrutiny Over Use Of Force In less than two years, U.S. Border Patrol agents have killed 18 Mexicans along the border — including eight people throwing rocks. Now the Department of Homeland Security is examining its policy on deadly force along the border. |
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Race For Arizona's Open Senate Seat Gets Personal For the first time in nearly a generation, Arizona voters will elect a new senator. Retiring Sen. Jon Kyl's ideological successor is Rep. Jeff Flake, a fellow Republican. But recent polls suggest Democrat Richard Carmona has a shot, and the race has become heated. |
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Young Illegal Immigrants Seek Work Permits It's been more than a month since the government began accepting requests for its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a new policy for young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children. It means that for two years they can avoid deportation and get a work permit. |
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U.S. Border Industry Grows As Immigration Slows Since 1986, the U.S. has steadily built an infrastructure on its Southern border and inland. All told, the nation has spent nearly $200 billion in today's dollars. Roughly 80,000 government workers depend on immigration enforcement, along with defense contractors large and small. NPR's Ted Robbins reports immigration is down, but there's no end in sight for the border-industrial complex. (This piece initially aired Sept. 12, 2012, on Morning Edition). |
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U.S. Grows An Industrial Complex Along The Border In today's dollars, the bill for U.S. immigration enforcement since 1986 comes to $219 billion - roughly the cost of the space shuttle program. About 80,000 government workers depend on immigration enforcement. Despite a drop in illegal immigration, the border industrial complex is here to stay. |
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Young Illegal Immigrants Seek To Avoid Deportation Young people brought to the U.S. illegally may begin applying for a deportation deferral and a two-year work permit beginning Wednesday. The Obama administration put elements of the DREAM Act into effect even though it hasn't been passed by Congress. |
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A Wild Resting Place For Gunslingers And Cowboys Many residents of the Boot Hill cemetery in Tombstone, Ariz. - including gunfighters, miners, saloon keepers and train robbers - met untimely ends. |
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Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio Grilled On Racial Profiling Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio made a court appearance Tuesday and faced questioning. Arpaio is accused of racial profiling in a civil class-action lawsuit. |
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Controversial Ariz. Sheriff's Tactics Go On Trial At issue is whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio violated the civil rights of Latino citizens and legal U.S. residents. The plaintiffs hope to prove Arpaio's department engaged in systematic racial profiling. The self-proclaimed "Toughest Sheriff in America" says he's cracking down on illegal immigration. |
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Wild Mustangs Give Patrol Horsepower On The Border The Border Patrol recently began training wild mustangs to help out along the border in southern Arizona. Horse patrols are nothing new; they allow agents to get into remote areas no vehicle can reach. But it turns out the mustangs are exceptionally well-suited for the harsh landscape. |
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Still Unimplemented, Ariz. Law Has Chilling Effect It will be weeks - maybe longer - before the one part of Arizona's immigration law the Supreme Court left standing goes into effect. A lower court has to remove its injunction before local police are required to ask about immigration status. But as NPR's Ted Robbins reports, there's already been a backlash. |
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High Court Leaves Core Of Immigration Law Intact The Supreme Court issued a mixed decision Monday on Arizona's controversial immigration law, Senate Bill 1070. While the court struck down most of the law, it let stand the provision requiring law enforcement to check the immigration status of those they detain. |
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Ariz. Voters Pick Giffords' Aide To Replace Her Voters in Southern Arizona decided Tuesday who will replace former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for the remainder of her term: her former district director, Ron Barber. Giffords resigned from Congress in January to focus on recovery from injuries she suffered in a shooting in early 2011. Barber was also injured. His Republican opponent, Tucson businessman Jesse Kelly, narrowly lost to Giffords two years ago. |
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Early Voting May Decide Arizona's Special Election Voters in Southern Arizona's 8th Congressional District will decide next month who will replace former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head by a gunman during a district event. The race is between Gifford's former district director and the Republican who narrowly lost to Giffords two years ago. |
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Candidates Vying To Replace Giffords Debate In Ariz. Voters in Arizona's 8th Congressional District will decide next month who will replace former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She resigned in January, a year after she was shot in the head by a gunman. The race is between Giffords' former district director and the Republican who narrowly lost to her two years ago. |
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In Ariz. Contest, A Debate Over Government's Reach Voters in Arizona's 8th Congressional District will decide next month who will fill the seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She resigned in January, a year after she was badly injured in a shooting. One of her former aides is taking on a Tea Party candidate in the special election. |
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Some Housing Markets Rebound, But Bargains Scarce The real estate market has turned around in some parts of the U.S., but many buyers aren't seeing true bargains anymore. Investors are driving up prices, and inventory is low, especially for homes priced under $250,000. That's not great news for anyone hoping to buy an affordable house to live in. |
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A Bug's Life: Store Caters To Collectors Of Crawly Pets Ken "The Bug Guy" MacNeil, host of the Science Channel's Bugging Out, has opened a pet shop devoted to insects in Tucson, Ariz. His inventory of about 10,000 includes tarantulas, scorpions and hissing cockroaches from Madagascar, all for sale as pets. |
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Friday addressed a meeting of Republican state chairmen in Scottsdale, Ariz. - a state that President Obama's advisers believe could be within reach for Democrats. NPR's Ted Robbins reports. |
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Friday addressed a meeting of Republican state chairmen in Scottsdale, Ariz. - a state that President Obama's advisers believe could be within reach for Democrats. NPR's Ted Robbins reports. |
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Calif. Study: Nail Products Contain Toxic Chemicals A new study indicates some of the products used in nail salons, which claim to be free of certain toxic chemicals, actually contain them. Representatives of the nail care industry say the study is nonsense. Worker safety groups have long been concerned about nail salon employees who work with the products. |
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New Season, New Owners For Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers opened their home season Tuesday. The baseball team has new ownership and faces a number of challenges - including luring fans back to a stadium where a visiting Giants fan was beaten nearly to death last year. |
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Komen Struggles To Regain Footing, And Funding As the national Susan G Komen for the Cure charity deals with the fallout from the uproar over Planned Parenthood funding, the organization's local chapters are feeling an impact. The charity has seen participation drop in several of its signature fundraising Race for the Cure events since the controversy began. |
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After Ownership Drama, Dodgers Want To Play Ball After a soap opera featuring divorce, debt and a team held in the balance, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have a new owner by the end of April. But the team and its fans are ready to focus on the field. |
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Defense Contractors See Hope In Homeland Security With defense spending taking a hit, contractors are looking for new markets. The Department of Homeland Security is one of the most promising - especially border security. At a recent expo, businesses showed off their goods that might help strengthen America's borders. |
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MLS's New Spring Idea: Beckham Bends It In Tucson For Major League Soccer, spring training has meant playing exhibition games all over the continent. Until now. The league now wants to emulate baseball - and that's delighting fans in Tucson, Ariz., a city that Major League Baseball left behind. |
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29 GOP Delegates In Arizona Go To Romney Mitt Romney walloped his closest GOP rival Rick Santorum by about 20 percentage points in Tuesday's Arizona primary. Arizona was a winner-take-all contest so Romney came away with 29 delegates. |
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Improving Economy Changes Primary Race in Ariz. Arizona took the recession and the housing crisis on the chin. Now that the state's economy is starting to recover, it has Republican presidential candidates talking about other issues. |
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Minds Made Up, Retirees Watch GOP Debate Anyway Back in October, Morning Edition asked a group of Republican voters in Arizona to watch one of the debates. The group from a retirement community northwest of Tuscon was asked to do the same thing Wednesday night. |
