Immigration News

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Thousands of people are expected to attend another march through downtown Los Angeles tonight to urge lawmakers to make it easier for undocumented immigrants to become citizens.

The candlelight vigil and procession is part of a national "Day of Action" that follows the U.S. Senate's failure to approve federal legislation that would have provided a path to citizenship to some illegal immigrants.

Two weeks ago, more than 500,000 people jammed downtown Los Angeles to protest a House bill approved in December that would have made it a felony to be in the country illegally. That bill also would have punished clergy and others who help illegal immigrants.

Organizers said they don't expect the crowds at tonight's rally to be as big, but they didn't anticipate half a million people two weeks ago either.

 Cardinal Roger Mahony, an advocate of immigrants rights, will deliver an opening prayer and blessing at the start of the interfaith procession, which is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. with a candlelight vigil at La Placita Church, near Olvera Street. From there, demonstrators will march to Fletcher Bowron Square on the 300 block of Main Street, between Temple and Aliso streets.

Other events around Los Angeles and Orange Counties are planned today, including a rally at 4:30 p.m. in East Los Angeles outside the Los Angeles Unified School District's main office. The participants, who have been asked to wear white, are expected to join with the procession from La Placita Church.

In the San Fernando Valley, demonstrators will gather outside the Hermandad Mexicana office at 7915 Van Nuys Blvd. in Panorama City around 6:30 p.m. for a candlelight vigil followed by a procession to the Federal Building at 6230 Van Nuys Blvd. in Van Nuys. That demonstration was organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

In Orange County, a rally is scheduled to start at noon outside the Federal Building at 411 West 4th Street in Santa Ana.

Even though the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles helped organize the downtown event, Mahony will not be able to walk in the procession because he must deliver a Mass, said Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese.

"Ever since his days as a young priest with Cesar Chavez in the 1950s, he has been advocating for immigrant rights," Tamberg said of Mahony. "He believes we need an immigration system that works, meaning one that provides an orderly process for not only admitting people to this county but for dealing with people who are already here."

Senate leaders had hoped to approve a measure last week offering legal permanent residency to undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for more than five years. But the legislation failed, with only 38 votes, and Congress is now on spring break.

President Bush and others are opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants no matter how long they've been in the country, saying it would be unfair to those who try to become citizens by following the rules. Many immigrants who came to the United States legally also are opposed to granting illegal immigrants citizenship.

Community, religious and union leaders have been urging their members to attend tonight's marches. Dozens of Latino organizations plan to participate in the downtown procession, including The Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights, or CHIRLA; The Central American Resource Center, or CARECEN; and the Colombian American Citizens in Action.

Su Yon Yi, from the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, or NAKASEC, says there are many Asian-American groups also participating in the rally. The Progressive Jewish Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union and several labor unions also helped organize the event.

Los Angeles has been a hotbed of pro-immigrant activity, with some of the largest rallies in the nation. In the days following the mass rally last month, thousands of students walked out of school to protest immigration proposals they consider harsh. Those protests led to school lockdowns and a pledge from school and law enforcement officials to enforce truancy laws.

But Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other political leaders applauded the students for their activism.

[Soldier4Christ]

These protests are going on all around the nation today. There are those that are afraid that this will turn into a CIVIL WAR. While I agree that this is the largest protest the in the history of the U.S. it is not and never will be a "Civil War". A "Civil War" is a war that takes place between the citizens of a given nation. People must keep it foremost in their thoughts that the majority of these people are NOT citizens of the U.S. They are here illegally. They are legal citizens of other countries, yes I said other countries because these people are not just from Mexico even though that may be the largest portion of the protestors. We have illegal immigrants here from all around the world. Many of them are here for nefarious purposes not just for a better way of life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegal-alien advocates
play down Mexican flag
Protesters in 60 cities wave Old Glory after burning of foreign nation's symbol


Thousands of supporters of illegal aliens gathered today in protest events in over 60 cities nationwide, but most left home a symbol that has stirred controversy with many Americans: the Mexican flag.

In what is being called a "campaign for immigrants' dignity," demonstrators instead are carrying the U.S. flag, a noticeable change from previous rallies in opposition to immigration-reform legislation pending in Congress.

According to Fox News, a protester at a large rally in Phoenix, Ariz., brought a Mexican flag to the event and was asked to remove it. Spanish-language radio had advised protesters not to take Mexican flags to today's protest.

The new sensitivity comes after immigration-reform advocates yesterday burned a Mexican flag on the sidewalk in front of the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, Ariz. They carried a sign that read, "Defending American Sovereignty," the Associated Press reported.

"Anytime they take to the streets, we'll burn a Mexican flag," Laine Lawless, director of the Border Guardians and organizer of Sunday's flag burning, told AP.

Said protester Roy Warden: "We felt that when people are taking to the streets, it was an assertion of Mexican sovereignty. Today we are defending American sovereignty."

The flag burners blame the Mexican government for the uncontrolled influx of illegal aliens into the United States from south of the border.

Police in Atlanta today estimated 40,000 protesters gathered for a march, many waving U.S. flags and signs.

Carlos Carrera, a construction worker from Mexico, held a banner that read: "We are not criminals. Give us a chance for a better life."

"We would like them to let us work with dignity. We want to progress along with this country," Carrera, who said he has been in the United States for 20 years, is quoted as saying.

Later this afternoon a rally in New York City is set to get under way. A large march is also scheduled to descend on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., this afternoon.

Yesterday in Dallas, a protest rally drew between 350,000 and 500,000 people. Other rallies in 10 states drew thousands more.

As WorldNetDaily reported, one of the groups behind the protest rallies, the Mexica Movement, believe it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent," not the 12 million illegal aliens in the United States.

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Assault underscores tension as Congress weighs immigration reform


PORTLAND, Maine --Dozens of people pressing for rights for illegal immigrants gathered for a peaceful demonstration on Monday just minutes after a counter-protestor was bloodied by a teenager who hid his face with a bandanna.

The attacker, described as a Hispanic teenager, went after one of three white people carrying signs arguing that illegals have no rights, police said.

As the teen fled, the victim dropped to the pavement after being hit with something heavy that the teen had carried, possibly in a sock or a bandanna, said Portland Police Sgt. Robin Gauvin. There were no arrests as of late afternoon.

The victim, identified as Robert Gorman, 23, of Portland, was hauled away in an ambulance minutes before 200 people gathered. He was treated and released from Maine Medical Center.

"When you promote violence, you get violence," said the Rev. Virginia Maria Rincon, one of the organizers. "Our rally is about promoting a peaceful dialogue."

About 200 people gathered at Monument Square to voice support for reforms that would legalize undocumented immigrants. The rally was one of many across the country on Sunday and Monday calling for Congress to promote immigrants' rights.

One of the organizers, Portland attorney Rafael Galvez, said people won't forget how members of Congress vote. "They will be remembered for how they vote on this sensitive issue. They can be compassionate, or cruel," Galvez said.

The demonstrators of all colors carried signs and chanted. "This is our America. "This is what America looks like," Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, said through a bullhorn to the cheering crowd.

Not everyone agreed with the majority view. Jonathan Talbot of Portland said he supported the views of the man who was assaulted.

"I think we should enforce the laws we have. Then we go from there to decide what we want to do to assimilate these people into society," Talbot said. He described the Border Patrol's efforts as a "catch-and-release" program

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Sen Kennedy sees passage of immigration overhaul

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Edward Kennedy, the leading liberal voice in the U.S. Congress, on Monday likened huge rallies by immigrants across the country to the drive for civil rights by black Americans half a century ago.

And in an interview as he prepared to address a large immigrants' rights rally planned for Washington, Kennedy said he was confident a divided Congress would come together and fairly revamp the country's immigration laws.

"This is reminiscent of the civil rights movement," said Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat first elected to the Senate in 1962. "It's equal in terms of intensity and feelings among the groups."

The 74-year-old lawmaker, long seen as a crusader for America's poor and downtrodden, is helping lead a drive within both parties to overhaul U.S. immigration laws in a way that would both tighten border security and provide a way that would give most of the estimated 11.5 million to 12 million people in the United States illegally a chance for citizenship.

In exchange, they must hold jobs, pay back taxes and meet other requirements, such as showing a knowledge of English.

Critics, including labor unions opposed to a guest-worker program and conservatives fearful of lax border security, denounce the measure as amnesty that would lead to even more illegal immigration. But backers, including many employers, say immigrants, legal and illegal, are vital to the economy.

"I think we'll get an immigration law," Kennedy said in his Senate office. "The issue is not going away."

The senator expressed hope that Republican President George W. Bush, with whom he has crossed swords on a number of issues, including the Iraq war, will keep pushing for a comprehensive immigration overhaul including a new guest worker program.

"He has taken a lot of heat from members of his own party," Kennedy noted.

But he said Bush could score a major victory if he can persuade Congress to agree on sweeping legislation.

"It's an overarching issue of our time," Kennedy said. "It'd be a major accomplishment for him and our country."

While the United States is a nation of immigrants, there has been mounting discontent in recent years with what virtually all agree is a broken system that has allowed a rising flood of illegal immigrants.

There is widespread opposition, especially in the Hispanic community, to a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would make all illegal immigrants in the United States felons, erect a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and punish Americans who try to help illegal workers.

With hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in recent days to protest the bill, Kennedy said: "I think Republicans touched a very raw nerve when they talk about the criminalization of the undocumented."

For many illegal immigrants, making them criminals enhanced "their sense of fear and uncertainty," he added. "They want to be part of 'The American Dream' and have their children part of the dream as well."

Kennedy noted that a half a century ago, his brother, President John F. Kennedy, declared: "We are a nation of immigrants."

Senate action on a possible compromise plan collapsed last Friday amid fighting over possible amendments many feared would effectively kill the bill. Kennedy said he expects problems to be worked out once Congress returns from its two-week recess at the end of the month.

"There is a groundswell of support for this proposal that we effectively worked out in a strong bipartisan way," Kennedy said.

In Kennedy's speech prepared for Monday's rally in Washington, he invoked the memory of one of the nation's leading civil rights leaders, though no similar figurehead has emerged from the diverse Hispanic and other populations that have coalesced around the immigration issue in the massive protest rallies.

"More than four decades ago, near this place, Martin Luther King called on the nation to let freedom ring," Kennedy said. "Freedom did ring -- and freedom can ring again. It is time for Americans to lift their voices now -- in pride for our immigrant past and in pride for our immigrant future."

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Arrival of aliens ousts U.S. workers

An Alabama employment agency that sent 70 laborers and construction workers to job sites in that state in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina says the men were sent home after just two weeks on the job by employers who told them "the Mexicans had arrived" and were willing to work for less.
    Linda Swope, who operates Complete Employment Services Inc. in Mobile, Ala., told The Washington Times last week that the workers -- whom she described as U.S. citizens, residents of Alabama and predominantly black -- had been "urgently requested" by contractors hired to rebuild and clear devastated areas of the state, but were told to leave three job sites when the foreign workers showed up.
    "After Katrina, our company had 70 workers on the job the first day, but the companies decided they didn't need them anymore because the Mexicans had arrived," Mrs. Swope said. "I assure you it is not true that Americans don't want to work.
    "We had been told that 270 jobs might be available, and we could have filled every one of them with men from this area, most of whom lost their jobs because of the hurricane," she said. "When we told the guys they would not be needed, they actually cried ... and we cried with them. This is a shame."
    Mrs. Swope said employment agencies throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi faced similar problems, when thousands of men from Mexico and several Central and South American countries -- many in crowded buses and trucks -- came into the three states after Katrina, looking for employment and willing to work for less money.
    The number of foreign workers who flooded the area after the hurricane has been estimated at more than 30,000. Many of them have been identified by law-enforcement authorities and others as illegal aliens.
    The Gulf Coast Latin American Association noted in a report that whether those workers will remain after the cleanup work is completed is not clear, but the longer those jobs last, the more likely it is that the workers will settle permanently. After Hurricane Andrew hit southeastern Florida in 1992, the association said, the construction boom attracted large numbers of Hispanic immigrants to several areas, including Homestead, Fla., where the Latino population doubled during the 1990s.
    Many of the illegal aliens came into the Gulf Coast states not only from south of the border but also from California, Arizona and Texas, responding to the demand for workers. U.S. Border Patrol officials in the three states have reported an increase in the number of illegals apprehended.
    Some of the migrants who did get jobs in the Gulf states also were mistreated, records show. Two class-action lawsuits are pending in federal court in New Orleans in which thousands of migrant workers said they never were paid, although many worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week and were required to remove toxic contamination from hurricane-ravaged buildings.
    Some of the named companies were working on contracts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other government agencies.
    Government estimates put at 400,000 the number of jobs lost in the Gulf region as a result of Katrina, which displaced more than 1.5 million people, and many of those workers left the area to seek employment elsewhere because available construction, laborer and cleanup jobs in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi had been filled by foreign workers, including illegal aliens.
    President Bush last week signed the Katrina Emergency Assistance Act of 2006, which extended for 13 weeks unemployment compensation benefits to more than 140,000 residents of the Gulf states who were displaced from their jobs by Katrina. Their benefits, funded by FEMA, had expired March 4.
    Would-be employers in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, awash in cleanup and reconstruction jobs, faced little in the way of legal problems in hiring the illegal aliens after Katrina because the Department of Homeland Security temporarily suspended the sanctioning of employers who hired workers unable to document their citizenship.
    Mr. Bush also had suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires local contractors to pay "prevailing" wages, in the areas hit by Katrina to encourage reconstruction and cleanup.
    "The men we sent to jobs in Alabama were local fellows looking for work, men who needed jobs," Mrs. Swope said. "After driving 50 miles to the work sites where they had been promised $10 an hour, they discovered the employers had found substitutes who were willing to work for less."

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McCain Backs Immigration Opponent in Ohio

 Republican Sen. John McCain campaigned on Tuesday for a conservative congressman who publicly disagreed with the potential 2008 presidential candidate on how to deal with illegal immigration.

Six-term Rep. Steve Chabot made it clear that while he welcomed McCain's appearance at a breakfast fundraiser, the two are on opposite sides on how to deal with the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

 "This happens to be an area where the senator and I don't agree," Chabot said after McCain attended the fundraiser for the Ohio congressman's re-election campaign. Chabot said they do agree on some issues.

Last year, Chabot voted for a House bill that would make all illegal immigrants felons and make offering them non-emergency aid or assistance a federal crime. The bill also calls for building a fence along 700 miles of the border with Mexico.

McCain favors legislation that seeks better border security, regulations on the future entry of foreign workers and allows most of the nation's illegal immigrants to eventually qualify for citizenship through a series of steps, including paying any back taxes and passing criminal background checks.

"I support the House bill," Chabot said. "I think it's a mistake for us to even consider anything like a temporary worker program, or some people call it amnesty, until we have border control."

The public disagreement between Chabot and McCain reflect the deep divisions within the Republican Party over immigration. It also highlighted the political reality that McCain, in weighing another White House bid, is reaching out to all factions of the GOP.

The Arizona senator is spending the first week of the congressional recess campaigning for House and gubernatorial candidates in New Hampshire, Arkansas, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa.

A day after massive demonstrations around the country for immigration rights, McCain said he was hopeful about the prospects for the Senate bill that he favors, arguing that the show of force underscores the need for urgent action.

"I am confident that over time we will prevail with a comprehensive approach to this issue," McCain told reporters.

The bill stalled in the Senate last week.

McCain told some 300 people at the fundraiser that immigration is a critical political issue, especially for Hispanic voters. In recent presidential elections, Republicans have made gains among Hispanic voters.

"So we better treat this issue with care, we better treat it with sensitivity, better treat it with humanity," McCain said.

Later in the day, McCain planned to travel to Cleveland to join Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a gubernatorial candidate in a GOP primary fight with Attorney General Jim Petro.

"It bolsters him with conservatives by being with Blackwell," Robert Rousseau, the Republican chairman in Lorain County, said of McCain.

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Immigrants' firing leads to protest

15 women lose jobs after attending rally; manager says they were warned

Detroit meatpacking plant said Monday that 15 immigrant women were fired last month after attending a protest for immigrant rights. He said they had been told that they would be terminated if they missed work on the day of the protest.

But the workers and an activist working on their behalf said the women were given no such assurances. If the workers knew they would have been fired for attending the March 27 rally in Detroit, they never would have skipped the morning shift, said Elena Herrada, a Detroit activist who is trying to help the women get their jobs back.

Herrada and about 20 union officials went Monday to Wolverine Packing Co. offices on Rivard to inquire about what happened. They were given a letter signed by general manager Jay Bonahoom, explaining why the workers were terminated.

Meanwhile Monday, marches were held in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and other cities to protest proposed changes in immigration rules. On Sunday, hundreds gathered at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Detroit.

Some of the Wolverine workers were undocumented, Herrada and one of the workers said, and wanted to march in the Detroit rally to show their support for immigrant rights.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly Latinos, protested legislation that would make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants. The next morning, when the women reported to work for their shifts as meat cutters, a supervisor told them to clean out their lockers and go home.

Bonahoom said that as far as Wolverine knows, the workers were documented, but an employment agency does the actual hiring. He said the workers had been told, "written and verbally," on the Friday before the protests that their attendance was mandatory on the day of the protest.

They were fired "for standing up for their rights," Herrada said.

The fired workers were natives of Mexico and many had worked at the plant for several years. Most have children and are worried about supporting their families, Herrada said.

Many were employed by Minuteman Staffing. So when Wolverine wanted to fire the workers, the meatpacking company told Minuteman to let go of the workers, he said. A manager with Minuteman said he couldn't comment on the case.

But the workers say they were treated wrongly.

"It was not fair,'" said Mercedes, a 31-year-old Detroit woman who attended the rally and was fired. "We went to fight for our rights." Mercedes is undocumented and asked that her last name not be used.

"It was really unfair of a company to do that," said Edith Castillo, head of the Detroit-based Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development.

[Soldier4Christ]

Hollywood steps into the political arena again.

Tancredo spoofed on SNL

Tom Tancredo's political star has been rising along with the immigration issue, and now he's a TV star, too.

The congressman from Littleton, a leading immigration hard-liner, was featured in the leadoff skit on Saturday's broadcast of NBC's "Saturday Night Live".

Tancredo (portrayed by "SNL" cast member Jason Sudeikis) was interviewed on a pretend segment of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," where he decried the loss of jobs to illegal immigrants: "If we don't do something fast, one day we're going to have to look our children in the eyes and say, 'I'm sorry Timmy, but you're never, ever going to be able to wash dishes at a restaurant."

There was also this exchange with "Anderson Cooper" (Seth Meyers) about how to keep illegals out of the country:

Tancredo: "It's very simple. We're just going to build a 700-mile-long wall across the entire length of the Mexican border."

Cooper: "Seven hundred miles? That's a very long wall. It sounds like that might be very expensive to build."

Tancredo: "Well, you would think so, Anderson, but it's not. Now, I can't go into specifics, but suffice it to say, we found a labor force willing to get the whole job done, at about a fifth of the cost. ... They don't need health insurance, and you just pick them up in the parking lot of the Home Depot."

The real Tancredo repeated the "SNL" jokes in a lunchtime speech today at the Denver Athletic Club. When he failed to get laughs, he remarked, "You had to be there."

The "SNL" segment also featured actor Antonio Banderas, the show's host for the week, as Mexican President Vincente Fox, complaining about the problem of Americans immigrating to Mexico -- for spring break.

"You suck up our natural resources, such as tequila and rum punch," he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Newly energized, undocumented US immigrants plan more protests

 The recent unprecedented wave of demonstrations across the United States has given a new sense of empowerment to undocumented workers, who promise more dramatic protests in coming weeks.

Immigrants' rights advocates, elated by the resounding success of Monday's "National Day of Action," which drew as many as one million protesters across the United States, now are planning a national boycott which they hope will have an even greater resonance.

 Organizers are planning the May 1 "Great American Boycott," urging illegal immigrants -- who cannot vote and who have only limited political power -- to flex their economic muscle.

Protesters are being urged to refrain from shopping, and to stay away from school and work.

"We are expecting that with this national boycott we will be able to further gain some respect, dignity, and improve the lot of the immigrant community," said Javier Rodriguez, a Los Angeles-based activist who is the boycott's spokesman.

"The undocumented community (are) the people that take care of their children, the people that care of the elderly, and the sick, who serve their food, who pick their fruit and their vegetables. We are rebuilding New Orleans. ... We are everywhere," he said in a recent interview with Fox News.

The kickoff day for the strike is May 1, international "Labor Day."

"On May 1 ... those people that don't have documents and their families and their allies will show America once again that they are human beings and they are orderly."

Political observers said the recent protests of mark the coming-of-age in particular for US Hispanics -- now the largest US ethnic minority -- and will make it harder for politicians to ignore the Latino vote.

As Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, told the at a protest in Washington on Monday: "I have a message for all of the politicians in Congress and ... our president. Today we march, tomorrow we vote!"

The historic protests were meant to apply pressure on US lawmakers who are considering election-year reforms in immigration laws.

The proposed legislation runs the gamut from granting millions of undocumented immigrants the chance to become US citizens; to making illegal entry to this country a felony; to booting out illegal immigrants and erecting a fence on the southern US border, making it harder for people to enter illegally in the future.

Organizers said the newly-invigorated immigrants' rights movement also is giving a shot in the arm to tired progressive movements across the country, particularly organized labor, which has seen shrinking membership and a number of political setbacks in recent years.

"This is an issue that all working people and progressive organizations must embrace," said the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) labor union in a statement.

"The struggle for immigrant rights is a vital part of the struggle against racism and repression, and for the full rights of all working people ... Let's build on the unity and momentum," the IWW urged its members.

However, the massive turnout of recent protests did not seem to weaken the resolve of lawmakers determined to pass tougher immigration legislation.

Representative Tom Tancredo, one of the most outspoken opponent of more lenient immigration laws, said in a statement that Monday's protests "show how entrenched the illegal alien lobby has become."

"The iron triangle of illegal employers, foreign governments and (interest) groups ... puts tremendous pressure on our elected officials to violate the desires of law-abiding Americans," he said.

Tancredo continued: "As nearly every recent poll shows, Americans want secure borders -- not amnesty -- and sooner or later theyll elect representatives who will listen to their constituents.

The marches also appear to have fed a backlash among some resentful Americans who feel illegal immigrants are lawbreakers demanding rights to which they are not entitled.

"What we have seen out in Los Angeles and other parts of the country is that it's actually created a backlash," said Susan Wysoki, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

"These are folks who are here demanding rights they don't have the right to demand, because their very first act in coming to this country was to break our laws by entering illegally," she said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigrant Bill Fallout May Hurt House GOP
Strict Provisions Are Uniting Critics


In the wake of this week's massive demonstrations, many House Republicans are worried that a tough anti-illegal-immigration bill they thought would please their political base has earned them little benefit while becoming a lightning rod for the fast-growing national movement for immigrant rights.

House Republicans rushed through legislation just before Christmas that would build hundreds of miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, require that businesses verify the legality of all employees' status through a national database, fortify border patrols, and declare illegal immigrants and those who help them to be felons. After more lenient legislation failed in the Senate last week, the House-passed version burst into the public consciousness this week, as hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country turned out to denounce the bill.

Yesterday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) issued a joint statement seeking to deflect blame for the harshest provisions of the House bill toward the Democrats, who they said showed a lack of compassion. "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony," Hastert and Frist said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) fired back that "there's no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill and Senator Frist offered one that criminalizes immigrants."

House Democrats acknowledged they helped block Republican efforts on the floor in December to soften the Republican-crafted section declaring illegal immigrants to be felons, but they said ultimate responsibility for the bill rests with the Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly for its passage.

"The Democrats were not going to do anything to make it easier for Republicans to pass an atrocious bill," said Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Yesterday's maneuvering underscores how the immigration issue has mushroomed into a fierce political debate with potentially large stakes heading into the November congressional elections. The hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets Monday vividly demonstrated the power of the issue, which some strategists say threatens to undercut President Bush's long-standing hope of making Hispanic voters a GOP constituency.

"There was political calculation that they could make this the wedge issue of 2006 and 2008, but it's not playing out that way," said Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.). "This has galvanized and energized the Latino community like no other issue I have seen in two decades, and that's going to have electoral consequences."

Republicans say they could accept that sentiment if they believed they had won political points from the GOP's restive base. But for all the negatives, they don't have many positives to show for their efforts.

"From the standpoint of those who would applaud the House's stand, I'd say we have not gotten sufficient credit," said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a reliable supporter of House leaders. "I'm somewhat distressed that they have not gotten word of what we've done."

The politics of the issue have shifted markedly since the House acted. Republican lawmakers are increasingly saying they will now consider some avenue to grant illegal immigrants access to lawful employment. And Democrats who voted for the House bill with an eye on their political futures or to preempt feared attacks from conservatives are rethinking their position.

Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), a supporter of the bill, was greeted by protesters and shouts of "Migration is not a crime" in February when he opened his Ohio gubernatorial campaign office in Cleveland. Now, he regrets his vote, campaign spokesman Jess Goode said.

The 36 Democrats who voted for passage included Rep. John T. Salazar (Colo.) -- whose brother, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), has railed against the House measure -- and Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (Tenn.), who may find it difficult to tap into the mobilizing Latino vote in his run for the Senate this year.

Although much has been made of the failed efforts in the Senate last week to forge a bipartisan measure to toughen border security while creating a system to allow many of the 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants here to achieve legal status or citizenship, the actions in the House late last year have received little attention until now.

House GOP leaders had rushed lawmakers back to Washington for a rare December session to vote on the immigration measure, hoping to give their members an accomplishment to brag about over the long winter recess. But it was the deft maneuvering of Democrats that preserved the bill's most infamous provision, declaring illegal immigrants felons, and that provision has helped turn the bill into a political albatross for some Republicans, Democrats say.

The bill, written by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), was passed in a matter of hours, nine days before Christmas. Just seven amendments were allowed to come to a vote, none of them fundamentally altering the legislation.

Sensenbrenner's committee bill included the felony provision, but when he took it to the House floor Dec. 16, he offered an amendment to downgrade the offense of being an undocumented worker from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The Democratic leadership pushed its members to vote against the amendment, and 191 Democrats did. Only eight Democrats voted with Sensenbrenner.

"It was an ugly bill in most respects, the felony stuff, the wall and no amendments," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who tried to add a guest-worker provision but was not allowed a vote. "The leadership saw this more as a statement than a policy, but I think in the end we would have been better off had we been more deliberative."

With so little debate, media coverage was minimal, and what coverage there was got little notice in the holiday bustle, Republicans say.

"We're victims of our own success," said Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.).

Sensenbrenner's bill is getting attention now, not so much from Republican-base voters but from Spanish-language radio shows and Latino activists who have made it the focus of marches that have drawn more than a million protesters. One sign on the Mall Monday read "Sense, not Sensenbrenner."

In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week, Sensenbrenner charged that all but eight Democrats "decided to play political game by voting to make all illegal immigrants felons."

But Democratic votes alone did not seal the defeat. Sixty-five Republicans voted against it, too, including anti-immigrant firebrands such as Rep. J.D. Hayworth (Ariz.) and moderates such as Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.). Rep. John A. Boehner (Ohio) voted against the amendment and the bill just weeks before he was elected majority leader.

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GOP Chiefs Don't Want Immigrants Charged


The two top Republicans in Congress, confronted with internal party divisions as well as large public demonstrations, said Tuesday they intend to pass immigration legislation that does not subject illegal aliens to prosecution as felons.

A written statement by House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, did not say whether they would seek legislation subjecting illegal immigrants to misdemeanor prosecution or possibly a civil penalty such as a fine.

 "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony," the two men said. An estimated 11 million men, women and children are in the United States illegally.

The Republican-controlled House passed legislation late last year that is generally limited to border security measures. It makes illegal immigrants subject to felony prosecution.

Senate efforts to write a broader bill _ covering border security, a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million in the country illegally _ are gridlocked with lawmakers on a two-week vacation.

Frist has said he intends to bring the issue back to the Senate floor, although he stopped short of a flat commitment and the prospects for passage of an election-year immigration bill are uncertain.

The late-afternoon statement by the top GOP leaders in both houses came after days of large street demonstrations by protesters opposed to criminal penalties for illegal immigrants.

Additionally, in a Washington Post-ABC News poll published during the day, only 20 percent of those questioned said they favored declaring illegal immigrants to be felons and barring them from work. More than 60 percent indicated support for the general approach envisioned in the leading Senate proposal. It includes a requirement that illegal immigrants be required to pay a fine and back taxes as part of a process of qualifying for eventual citizenship.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D- Mass., dismissed the proposal by the GOP leadership, saying: "Actions speak louder than words, and there's no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill, and Senator Frist offered one, that criminalizes immigrants."

"This debate shouldn't be about making criminals out of hardworking families ... but rather about strengthening our national security and enacting a law that reflects our best values and our humanity," Kennedy said.

The question of a penalty has dogged the debate for months and been the subject of intense political maneuvering.

GOP aides pointed out that Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had tried during debate on the House floor to reduce the penalty to a misdemeanor.

The attempt failed on a vote of 257-164, with 65 Republicans and 191 Democrats opposed. Many of the Democrats, including members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, indicated at the time they favored no criminal penalties, and opposed the suggested change.

In their statement, Hastert and Frist said the Democrats who did so had demonstrated a "lack of compassion." In addition, they renewed the charge that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is seeking to "block action on immigration legislation."

Reid has denied the charges.

While they leveled their accusations at Reid, the GOP leadership has been struggling with internal divisions.

Several House Republican conservatives have vociferously denounce Senate proposals as amnesty for lawbreakers.

And while Frist praised the leading Senate proposal last week as a "huge breakthrough," he was the only member of the GOP leadership to embrace it. Two other members of the group, Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, voiced their opposition. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania opposes the measure, according to a spokesman.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, who heads the party's senatorial campaign committee, declined this week through an aide to take a position on the bill.

A spokesman for Sen. Mitch McConnell, the second-ranking Republican, sidestepped a question by saying the Kentucky lawmaker favors a comprehensive approach.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tucson Region
City man arrested after Mexican-flag burning
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.12.2006

A Tucson man was arrested Tuesday for his role in the burning of a Mexican flag as part of a counterprotest at a pro-immigration rally.

At about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tucson police cited Roy Warden, 58, on suspicion of assault, criminal damage and reckless burning, and then released him, according to Sgt. Decio Hopffer.
Video footage shot Monday by police and the media showed Warden assaulting a TV cameraman and a photographer, Hopffer said. Because only one of the men pressed charges, there is only one assault charge.

Warden faces the criminal-damage charge for harm done to the concrete shuffleboard court where Warden's group was burning the Mexican flag, Hopffer said.

Warden and his group, Border Guardians, arrived at Armory Park just after noon Monday to stage a counterprotest to the 15,000 marchers who were protesting what they see as unfair immigration laws. At about 2:15 p.m, they burned Mexican flags and tempers flared.

Police arrested two girls for throwing water at Warden and his group, and a scuffle broke out as police escorted them away. On Monday, Tucson police arrested six people on charges of aggravated assault on a peace officer, interfering with governmental operation, hindering prosecution and disturbing the peace.

Hopffer said police are still reviewing tape of the scuffle.

Warden said the charges are a direct result of political pressure from the Mexican Consulate.

"If they saw something unlawful, why didn't they commit an arrest then?" Warden said.

He said he plans to represent himself at his court hearing on April 24 and said he's confident he will clear himself of charges. In addition, he said he plans to sue the cameraman for defamation of character and denying his right to free speech.

Another member of Border Guardians, Laine Lawless, called the arrest a petty way to punish the group for its dissenting voice.

March organizers also questioned why it took police so long to make the arrest. They have a requested a meeting with city officials for Thursday to discuss the issue, said Zoe Hammer, spokeswoman for Border Action Network, one of the local human-rights groups that organized the march.

[Soldier4Christ]

Guest-worker hopes spark rush to border


NOGALES, Mexico - At a shelter overflowing with migrants airing their blistered feet, Francisco Ramirez nursed muscles sore from trekking through the Arizona desert - a trip that failed when his wife did not have the strength to go on.

He said the couple would rest for a few days, then try again, a plan echoed by dozens reclining on rickety bunk beds and carpets tossed on the floor after risking violent bandits and the harsh desert in unsuccessful attempts to get into the United States.

The shelter's manager, Francisco Loureiro, said he has not seen such a rush of migrants since 1986, when the United States allowed 2.6 million illegal residents to get American citizenship.

This time, the draw is a bill before the U.S. Senate that could legalize some of the 11 million people now illegally in the United States while tightening border security. Migrants are hurrying to cross over in time to qualify for a possible guest-worker program - and before the journey becomes even harder.

"Every time there is talk in the north of legalizing migrants, people get their hopes up, but they don't realize how hard it will be to cross," Loureiro said.

South-central Arizona is the busiest migrant-smuggling area, and detentions by the U.S. Border Patrol there are up more than 26 percent this fiscal year - 105,803 since Oct. 1, compared with 78,024 for the same period a year ago. Along the entire border, arrests are up 9 percent.

Maria Valencia, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the rise in detentions did not necessarily mean more people were crossing. She attributed at least some of the additional detentions to an increase in the number of Border Patrol agents.

"We've sent more technology and agents there, and I think that's had an impact," she said.

But Loureiro, who has managed the shelter for 24 years, said the debate in the U.S. Congress has triggered a surge in migrants. In March, 2,000 migrants stayed at the shelter - 500 more than last year.

Many migrants said they were being encouraged to come now by relatives living in the United States.

One of them is Ramirez, a 30-year-old who earned about $80 a week at a rebar factory in Mexico's central state of Michoacan.

He spent an entire night walking through the Arizona desert with his wife, Edith Mondragon, 29. When her legs cramped, their guide abandoned them and the couple turned themselves in to U.S. authorities. They were deported.

But they said they would try again when they regained their strength.

"We want to try our luck up there," Mondragon said. "We can't go back to Michoacan because there is no future there."

Ramirez said the draw was not only the prospect of work in Minnesota, where two of his brothers milk cows on a ranch. He was also excited about the idea he might be able to do it legally.

"My brothers said there is plenty of work there, and that it looks like they will start giving (work) permits," he said.

Many of the migrants also are being driven by a desire to get into the United States before the likelihood that lawmakers further fortify the border.

Since the United States tightened security at the main crossing points in Texas and California in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of migrants have turned to the hard-to-patrol, mesquite-covered Arizona desert, risking rape, robbery and murder at the hands of gangs and now facing armed U.S. civilian groups.

About 2,000 people a day pass through Sasabe, a hamlet of just a few dozen houses and a Western Union office west of Nogales, says Grupo Beta, a Mexican government-sponsored group that tries to discourage migrants from crossing the border and helps people stranded in the desert.

On a recent afternoon, at least 40 vans overflowing with migrants arrived in the desert near Sasabe in less than an hour. Migrants and their smugglers waited for nightfall before starting a desert trek that would involve up to a week of walking in baking heat during the day and biting cold at night.

Grupo Beta agent Miguel Martinez mans a checkpoint 20 miles south of Sasabe, where he warns of the dangers of the desert, such as bandits armed with knives or guns who order migrants to strip naked, rob them and sometimes rape them.

He also tells about the volunteer border-watch groups that have sprung up in Arizona.

"Right now there are migrant hunters who are armed, and you should be careful," Martinez told a group traveling in a rickety van missing some of its windows.

At Grupo Beta's office in Nogales, Raul Gonzalez, 44, said he walked in the Arizona desert for five days before turning himself in when the blisters on his feet started bleeding and his left leg swelled up.

Like most migrants interviewed for this story, Gonzalez said he was robbed at gunpoint just after crossing into the United States.

"The guides and the robbers are all the same," he said.

Gonzalez said the first time he sneaked into the United States, he did it through Tijuana, across the border from San Diego. He said he worked illegally at a printing shop in Chicago for 15 years but got homesick before he could settle the paperwork for legal residence.

Despite the robbery and his failed trek, Gonzalez said he would try again once his feet heal. His bricklayer's salary of about $60 a week in the western state of Jalisco simply is not enough to provide for his four children.

"It's hard to cross," he said. "But it's harder to see your children have little to eat."

[Soldier4Christ]

Reid Seeks Immigration Bill Rescheduling

The Senate's top Democrat asked Majority Leader Bill Frist on Wednesday to return to work on immigration legislation immediately after the Senate completes a bill with more money for military operations in Iraq and hurricane relief.

Congress is on a two-week recess and the Senate is scheduled to consider the war spending bill when it returns April 25.

Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a letter to Frist that the need for an immigration bill was highlighted by rallies across the nation this week protesting a House bill that would subject illegal immigrants to prosecution as felons.

Reid labeled as "confusing" Frist's position on a compromise put together by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Mel Martinez, R-Fla., that collapsed last Friday after Democrats refused to allow votes on several amendments to it.

"I can only conclude that you had second thoughts about Hagel-Martinez after right-wing members of your caucus made known their strong opposition to it," Reid wrote.

Frist, R-Tenn., responded with a statement saying Reid "needs to stop clogging up the Senate with procedural gimmicks and let members have fair up and down votes on amendments"

"Every day he stalls, we are less safe and less secure," said Frist, who is on a congressional trip in Eastern Europe.

Before leaving last week, both party leaders had embraced a compromise that would let the majority of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants remain in the U.S. and get on a path to citizenship but require those in the country less than two years to leave.

Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., issued a statement Tuesday saying they will seek legislation that would subject illegal immigrants only to misdemeanor prosecution or fines as an alternative to the sterner measure passed by the House last year.