Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

Many Nations Harsher on Immigrants


WASHINGTON — Defending his House-passed immigration bill that sparked street protest by millions of immigrants, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee issued a report Friday showing that several countries are harsher than the United Stated in their treatment of illegal immigrants and their employers.

The Law Library of Congress study of immigration laws in six countries found that all but Brazil have criminal penalties for illegal entry and presence within their borders.

In four of the countries _ Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Egypt _ employers can be jailed for up to three months to up to three years for hiring illegal immigrants.

"With all the blustery rhetoric coming from opponents about a 'harsh' and 'draconian' House bill ..., I note that five out of the six countries studied _ including Mexico _ make illegal entry and unlawful presence a criminal offense," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

The House bill, written largely by Sensenbrenner, would make being in the country illegally a felony. It already is a misdemeanor to enter the country illegally, and re-entering the country after being deported also is a crime.

Illegal presence in the U.S. is now a civil offense.

After street protests and demonstrations last month, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., pledged that illegal immigrants would not be prosecuted as felons in a final House-Senate version of the bill if it gets that far.

A bill considered by the Senate last month did not include criminalizing being in the United States illegally. Instead, it would have allowed many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to remain, work and eventually become legal residents after paying fines and back taxes and learning English.

The Senate bill faltered just before Easter but leaders in both parties have said they would bring it up again this month.

The Law Library study found that prison sentences for being in the country illegally ranged from up to three months in Egypt to up to three years in Japan. Employers were most severely punished in Japan, facing up to three years in prison for hiring undocumented workers.

Sensenbrenner said the six countries studied were chosen to provide racial and geographic diversity.

Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute at New York University School of Law, complained that Sensenbrenner's study didn't look at the resources the six countries devoted to enforcing their immigration laws.

"I don't know what lesson one could draw from them," he said, adding that U.S. spending on border enforcement has increased fivefold since 1986 and manpower devoted to it has more than tripled. Chishti's institute supports guest worker programs for immigrants.

[Soldier4Christ]

Rumors of raid cancel festivities


Fears of federal authorities rounding up illegal immigrants also spur drops in attendance at churches.
Fears of illegal immigration crackdowns in Tulsa have led to the cancellation of a major Cinco de Mayo festival this weekend as well as shrinking attendance at Hispanic churches.

"The rumor is very strong about immigration (authorities) picking up people," said Blas Gaytan, coordinator of the Cinco de Mayo event at Expo Square.

The rumors are unfounded, officials say, but the fear created by them is still affecting public gatherings.

Anticipating weak attendance at the Cinco de Mayo event, Gaytan and Expo Square officials decided to scrap it to avoid a financial loss.

"It was an economic decision," said Paula Crain, Expo Square's events coordinator. "The timing was just wrong."

The three-day festival, which would have started Friday, attracted between 10,000 and 15,000 people last year, Crain said.

Elsewhere in Tulsa and surrounding towns, churches with large Hispanic congregations have reported low numbers in the last few weeks.

"Attendance has dropped because there were rumors that immigration enforcement was here," said
David Medina, director of the Hispanic Apostolate Diocese of Tulsa. "The ones who came were afraid."

In the past few Sundays, only about half of the congregation turned out for Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 2431 E. Admiral Blvd.

The same is true for predominately Hispanic churches in Tahlequah, Pryor and Stillwater, he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok said the rumors likely stem from a raid in late April when 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide, including one in Oklahoma City.

"There have been many, many rumors floating around the nation, and not just Oklahoma and Texas," Rusnok said in a telephone interview from Dallas.

Without commenting on specifics of the agency's enforcement policy, Rusnok said "criminal aliens" and businesses that hire illegal immigrants are a high priority.

"The point to be made is that anybody who is here illegally runs the risk of being identified, detained and deported to their country of origin," he said.

The number of illegal immigrants living in Tulsa is not known, but informal estimates suggest that about 35,000 people live here illegally.

Last year, ICE deported 167,700 people nationwide, with about 84,300 of those classified as criminal aliens. The majority of those who are deported are from Mexico, Rusnok said.

Tulsa immigration attorney Mark Leblang said it would damage the reputation of federal agents if they were to randomly raid churches and events where illegal immigrants gather peacefully.

"I don't see immigration (authorities) going to local Cinco de Mayo events or going to a church because that just gives the U.S. government a bad name," Leblang said.

Immigration agents have plenty of access to illegal immigrants through the court system and businesses, he said.

"They don't need to come out and raid a rally," he said.

Although the rumors of random crackdowns might be false, the fears exist, Leblang said.

They come at a time when immigration has been in the national spotlight with this week's "A Day Without Immigrants" work and business boycott.

A pro-immigrant rally in downtown Tulsa drew a few thousand people, but organizers says the numbers were lower than expected because of "migra" fears. Migra is a term Spanish speakers commonly use to refer to U.S. immigration enforcement.

Those fears have not stopped another Cinco de Mayo festival, set to be held in Tulsa at Plaza Santa Cecilia, 2160 S. Garnett Road.

"It's nothing but rumors -- there's nothing going on," said co-owner Elizabeth Miranda.

The event, which includes music, food and a carnival, is scheduled from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Mexican holiday celebrates the 1862 Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexican Army defeated French invaders.

The holiday often is confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is Sept. 15.

[Soldier4Christ]

Arivaca blaze started as immigrants' signal fire

A wildland fire burning some 200 acres near Arivaca was started by two illegal immigrants, federal authorities said this morning.
The men started two fires, one a warming fire and the other a signal fire to seek help because one of the men was injured, authorities said. The two were taken into custody, questioned, and voluntarily returned to Mexico, federal officials said. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the men, officials said.
The men were returned to Mexico Wednesday night, Border Patrol Agent Sean King said.
The men had started two fires one a warming fire and the other a larger signal fire, said Marylee Peterson, a Coronado National Forest Service fire information officer.
A Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge employee on his way to work about 7 a.m. Wednesday spotted and reported the fire and Border Patrol agents arriving first at the fire found the two immigrants, one with a sprained ankle, said Dean McAllister, the Coronado's fire management officer.
The immigrants had set the larger fire to get help for the injured man, Peterson said. King said they set fire to a tree.
The immigrants were turned over to Coronado law enforcement officers for questioning, McAlister said, adding the U.S. Attorney's Office declined prosecution in the fire.
McAlister said that decision was based on "legal technicalities."
He would not elaborate other than to say, "None of these folks have the financial means to pay for a fire." He also noted a further cost to taxpayers to imprison the men if they were convicted of setting the fire.
McAlister said he expects the fire to be contained by 6 p.m. today at a cost of $50,000 to $60,000.
Fire officials immediately assigned a large number of firefighters and equipment to the fire, burning about seven miles south of Arivaca, Peterson said.
This morning there were some 65 firefighters, six fire engines, two helicopters and four airplanes assigned to battle the blaze, Peterson said. The fire is burning through dry grass and shrubs and mesquite trees, Peterson said.
Authorities would not release the names of the two immigrants as they had not been charged with a crime.
In the summer of 2002 two set fires merged in eastern Arizona to form the state's most destructive wild land fire, the Rodeo-Chediski fire. The Rodeo-Chediski fire destroyed hundreds of homes and 490,000 acres of forest land.
Leonard Gregg, a parttime firefighter, pleaded guilty to setting the Rodeo fire to create work for himself, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $27 million in restitution.
Valinda Jo Elliot was lost in the woods and set a signal fire that grew into the Chediski fire. Federal authorities decided not to prosecute her as they felt there was not enough evidence of criminal intent.

[Soldier4Christ]

Schwarzenegger blasts immigration policy

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Congress and U.S. President George Bush are to blame for the failure to enact immigration reform.

Schwarzenegger said Congress shouldn`t have left for vacation without inking a deal between a hard-line House bill and a Senate measure that is more lenient for undocumented workers.

'For them to go home for spring break and not really take care of it when they know this was boiling here in this country is also irresponsible,' he said, speaking at a press conference at a Roseville, Calif., middle school.

Among other aspects, the House bill would make felons of undocumented workers; the Senate bill would allow them to earn citizenship.

Millions of people have marched in rallies across the United States in recent weeks in protest over the House bill, which Schwarzenegger said is a clear sign the public isn`t happy with Washington squabbling on the issue.

Schwarzenegger, who emigrated from Austria to the United States in 1968, said the ability for terrorists to cross the border isn`t a good situation either, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He said the immigration issue has been around for 20 years without any real action, adding, 'I think that all of this comes down to one thing: The federal government has failed the people of America in a terrible way, in a disastrous way, when it comes to this immigration situation.'

[Soldier4Christ]

Valley judge hands Iraqis 6-month terms

Men claim to be Christians who are persecuted

BROWNSVILLE - Three Iraqi men who say they are persecuted Christians and are seeking asylum were sentenced Friday to the maximum six months in prison after being caught sneaking into Texas.

Border Patrol agents arrested Ammar Habib Zaya, Aamr Bahnan Boles and Remon Manssor Piuz on April 29 near the Los Indios international bridge near Harlingen, federal court records show.

The men, ranging in age from 20 to 25, pleaded guilty Monday to illegal entry, crossing the border from Mexico.

Defense attorney Humberto Yzaguirre has said the men were interviewed by federal officials and are not suspected of terrorism.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio questioned why the men did not go to an American consulate or any international bridge to try to seek asylum before illegally entering the country.

The prison terms will give them time to apply for asylum, Recio said.

[Soldier4Christ]

When illegal immigrants crash, taxpayers usually foot the bill

Within the last month, close to three dozen illegal immigrants have been injured or killed in three Southern Arizona accidents.

The first happened April 19 near Elgin in Santa Cruz County, the second on April 30 near Tangerine Road and Interstate 10 and on May 3 at Interstate 19 and Pima Mine Road.

Often, hospitals foot the bill to care for illegal immigrants injured here in the U.S.

Those costs are then passed on to the taxpayers.

Smugglers use older vehicles, cramming as many people as possible inside and taking extreme measures to get their cargo across the border.

In the last month, three separate accidents have occurred, one of them killing four illegal immigrants.

Agent Sean King of the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol says, “Smugglers [are] taking action that they shouldn't be taking because they want to earn as much money possible and they earn their money by getting their illegal cargo to Phoenix or Tucson so that they can get paid.”

According to the Border Patrol, vehicle wrecks are frequent with the victims needing medical attention.

“Paramedics are the ones who decide which hospital they go to and, in a large accident where there's a lot of people, it could be spread out to a bunch of hospitals in the area, depending on the need, what the hospital can help them with.”

Among them, the only trauma center in Southern Arizona, and weeks after one of the recent accidents illegal immigrants are still being treated at Tucson's University Medical Center.

“It has a negative impact on our bottom line. First, our priority is taking care of the people that are injured and making sure that they get the proper care, but the reality is that there is no direct reimbursement for that,” said Kevin Burn, Chief Financial Officer for UMC.

Two months ago, UMC received $500,000 of your tax money from the federal government as payment, but it’s not enough.

According to Burns, “At the current run rate we'll incur 5-to-6 million dollars in unreimbursed costs for taking care of foreign nationals.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegals smuggle kids inside gas tanks
'A very dangerous trend of stuffing minors in trunks, in hidden compartments'

 Alejandro Valenzuela, a loquacious 12-year-old, memorized the details of a borrowed U.S. birth certificate and jumped in the front seat of his smuggler's car.

Tired from a two-day bus trip to the border from Mexico's central state of Jalisco, Alejandro soon fell asleep. He was awakened by the flashlight of a U.S. immigration inspector.

 "I told him in English, 'I'm an American citizen,' but he kept asking questions. That's all the English I know," Alejandro said as he rested at a child welfare office back in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

Alejandro is one of a rising number of children trying to sneak into the United States without their parents. Some hide in cars or try to pass themselves off as U.S. citizens, while others ride inner tubes across the Rio Grande or trek through the harsh Arizona desert.

Since October, about 70,000 children have been detained along the Mexican border, a 5 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, the U.S. Border Patrol says.

Like Alejandro _ who wants to get to Corona, Calif., to join a father he hasn't seen in nine years _ most children are heading north to reunite with parents living illegally in the United States.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks prompted the United States to tighten security along its southern border, making it harder to sneak in. Rather than risking a return to Mexico to get their children, many migrants are paying smugglers to bring them north.

Experts say that number will likely increase if the U.S. Congress presses ahead with plans to tighten border security even more.

In the traditional method of crossing children, a smuggler drives across the border pretending to be a relative of the child, who is carrying false or "borrowed" documents. But border agents are giving closer scrutiny to documents, and smugglers are tyring other methods.

"We're seeing a very dangerous trend of stuffing minors in trunks, in hidden compartments, in washing machines, even in gas tanks," said Adele Fasano, director of field operations for the San Diego district of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Her district includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world's busiest border crossing.

Last August, border inspectors found a 10-year-old boy who had been sedated with cough medicine and crammed inside the dashboard of a van. The boy was unconscious and dehydrated, Fasano said.

Other children detained on the California border have been found strapped under car seats, rolled into carpets, hidden in compartments welded under pickup trucks and _ in one case _ stuffed inside a pinata.

Fasano said many of those children had to be treated for respiratory distress or burns from being near hot engines.

"These are criminals working with sophisticated smuggling organizations that will go to any length to make money," Fasano said. "That parents would turn their children over to these criminals is very distressing."

Migrants pay up to $2,500 to have a child smuggled through an official border crossing into California. The fee is often cut in half for crossings by foot through the hills near Tijuana or Tecate or across the Arizona desert.

Mexican authorities say they are seeing more children smuggled through the Arizona desert, where migrants often endure three days of walking in searing heat during the day and freezing cold at night.

In the first three months of this year, Mexican officials turned back 3,289 minors at border crossings in the state of Sonora, across from Arizona _ more than double the 1,566 sent back in the same period last year.

Juan Enrique Mendez, who oversees the Tijuana child welfare office that receives children turned over by U.S. authorities, said his center has handled more than 1,700 youngsters since January, 200 more than in the same period last year.

"A lot of the children arrive in a very delicate emotional state," he said. "When they are caught, they're often scared and ask us if they're now criminals because they have been to prison."

More than half of the minors who attempt to cross through the Tijuana area are between 13 and 17, but the child welfare office also receives an average of five children a month who are younger than 2, Mendez said.

Child migrants are usually accompanied to the border by a parent or a close relative who intends to cross later. Those relatives follow the youngsters' progress from Mexico, and by the time they are caught, anxious mothers or worried uncles have usually already called Mendez's office looking for information.

He said most children are turned over to their families the same day they are repatriated by U.S. authorities. The rest go to a government- run shelter or the YMCA until they are picked up _ when they often try to cross again.

Alejandro was waiting for his grandmother to come and take him to a Tijuana hotel, where they would meet another smuggler.

"I want to go to the United States to study and to see my father," Alejandro said. "My father sends me money on my birthday and gifts for Christmas, but what I want is to see him."

[Soldier4Christ]

Florida judge sees 30-40 illegals each week
Unlawful immigrants show up in court for not having driver's licenses

Supporters of illegal immigrants say they should have licenses

VERO BEACH — Every Tuesday morning, about two dozen men and women, sometimes more, huddle quietly in an alcove on the second floor of the Indian River County Courthouse.

An interpreter speaks to them briefly before they file into a courtroom to answer criminal charges they have little power to contest.

Advertisement
They are illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico, who have been charged with driving a vehicle without a valid driver's license.

The courtroom scenes are repeated each week in courthouses in St. Lucie and Martin counties as well.

The defendants are non-English speaking citrus harvesters, construction workers, landscapers or manual laborers who exist in Florida's shadows and have virtually no understanding of the American legal system.

But when police pull them over and they can't produce a driver's license, they find themselves ticketed and given a court date, or even jailed and their vehicles impounded.

Supporters of illegal immigrants say they should be granted driving privileges to enable them to maintain jobs, and some claim the immigrants are unfairly profiled by law enforcement.

But judges, prosecutors, police officers and jail officials say they are following laws intended to keep Florida's roadways safe.

"Close-minded people want to make criminals of the people working in the fields, in hotels and restaurants," Fellsmere restaurant owner David Almanza said. "Giving them a driver's license would clear up a lot of problems because they'd have to pass driving tests, become more educated about our laws and they'd be able to insure their cars."

Indian River County Judges David Morgan and Joe Wild say they issue standard penalties of $415 for driving without a license.

'Extremely frustrated'

In Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County Judge Philip J. Yacucci Jr. said he is "extremely frustrated" by the lack of a coherent federal policy on immigration because he sees 30 to 40 unlicensed immigrants in his courtroom each week.

"The federal government is hypocritical because it has zero policy to remedy illegal immigration," Yacucci said. "We're left at the state level to deal with the problem."

Thomas Genung, trial court administrator for the 19th Judicial Circuit, said determining a defendant's citizenship in traffic court "is not an element of the law." In fact, as the number of illegal immigrants grows, the 19th Circuit has "an increasing need for Spanish-speaking interpreters," Genung said.

Assistant State Attorney Ed Taylor of Indian River County said immigrants can be deported if they accumulate three misdemeanor offenses, but he does not recall such a mandate being carried out.

'Their problem'

Morgan said the citizenship issue doesn't come up in his misdemeanor court hearings.

"If they are here illegally, that's their problem," Morgan said. "If someone appears before me for driving without a license, whether they're a gringo or an immigrant, I don't have a problem with punishing them.

"But if I went to Mexico, Peru, Spain, Russia or someplace else, it would be prudent for me to check out their rules before I went there."

Police throughout the Treasure Coast do not ask traffic offenders for proof of citizenship.

Vero Beach Police Lt. Kevin Martin said when a driver has no license or identification, the offender's thumbprint is put on the citation, which is filed with the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

"It's up to immigration to contact them at that point," Martin said.

Scott Melanson, police chief of Fellsmere, where the population is 73 percent Hispanic, says: "Whether they are citizens or not has nothing to do with the job we are doing during a traffic stop."

But Melanson added: "If a guy says he's Hector Gonzalez and he has no ID, he could be a mass murderer who is wanted in Texas. So he needs to be booked and fingerprinted."

Fellsmere City Manager Jason R. Nunemaker said a recent study showed that of 552 traffic stops in Fellsmere during a five-month period ending in February, 102 drivers did not have a driver's license.

Legally flimsy

Vero Beach attorney Stephen Fromang said he believes some traffic stops are legally flimsy, but he says immigrants don't fight citations for fear of being deported.

"If these people contested the charges, 90 percent of the time the state would drop the case because there was no probable cause for the stop," Fromang said.

But Wild said: "Any attorney who says these cases can't be contested is full of baloney. The immigration service wouldn't know if a defendant requested a jury trial or filed a motion to suppress. The reason these tickets are not contested is because they know they are guilty of the offense."

Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said all illegal aliens are subject to deportation.

But Gonzalez added: "We do have our priorities, and we focus on people who pose a public safety and national security threat."

Captain Bill McMullen, director of Indian River County Jail, said detainees are asked their place of birth at booking. He said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Fort Pierce are notified if a detainee appears to be illegal.

"Of course, people have the opportunity to not tell us the truth about where they were born," McMullen said.

[Soldier4Christ]

'SECRETS OF THE INVASION'
Why America's government invites rampant illegal immigration
Posted: May 1, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

It's widely regarded as America's biggest problem: Between 12 and 20 million aliens – including large numbers of criminals, gang members and even terrorists – have entered this nation illegally, with countless more streaming across our scandalously unguarded borders daily.

The issue polarizes the nation, robs citizens of jobs, bleeds taxpayers, threatens America's national security and dangerously balkanizes the country into unassimilated ethnic groups with little loyalty or love for America's founding values. Indeed, the de facto invasion is rapidly transforming America into a totally different country than the one past generations have known and loved.

And yet – most Americans have almost no idea what is really going on, or why it is happening.

While news reports depict demonstrations and debates, and while politicians promise "comprehensive border security programs," no real answers ever seem to emerge.

But there are answers. Truthful answers. Shocking answers.

In its groundbreaking May edition, WND's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine reveals the astounding hidden agendas, plans and people behind America's immigration nightmare.

Titled "ALIEN NATION," the issue is subtitled "SECRETS OF THE INVASION: Why government invites rampant illegal immigration." Indeed, it reveals pivotal secrets very few Americans know. For example:

# Did you know that the powerfully influential Council on Foreign Relations – often described as a “shadow government" – issued a comprehensive report last year laying out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter"?

Roughly translated: In the next few years, according to the 59-page report titled "Building a North American Community," the U.S. must be integrated with the socialism, corruption, poverty and population of Mexico and Canada. "Common perimeter" means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. As Phyllis Schlafly reveals in this issue of Whistleblower: "This CFR document asserts that President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin 'committed their governments' to this goal when they met at Bush's ranch and at Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005. The three adopted the 'Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America' and assigned 'working groups' to fill in the details. It was at this same meeting, grandly called the North American Summit, that President Bush pinned the epithet 'vigilantes' on the volunteers guarding our border in Arizona."

The CFR report – important excerpts of which are published in Whistleblower – also suggests North American elitists begin getting together regularly, and presumably secretly, "to buttress North American relationships, along the lines of the Bilderberg or Wehrkunde conferences, organized to support transatlantic relations." The Bilderberg and Wehrkunde conferences are highly secret conclaves of the powerful. For decades, there have been suspicions that such meetings were used for plotting the course of world events and especially the centralization of global decision-making.

# Did you know that radical immigrant groups – including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) and the National Council of La Raza (La Raza) – not only share a revolutionary agenda of conquering America's southwest, but they also share common funding sources, notably the Ford and Rockefeller foundations?

''California is going to be a Hispanic state," said Mario Obeldo, former head of MALDEF. "Anyone who does not like it should leave." And MEChA's goal is even more radical: an independent ''Aztlan,'' the collective name this organization gives to the seven states of the U.S. Southwest – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. So why would the Rockefeller and Ford foundations support such groups? Joseph Farah tells the story in this issue of Whistleblower.

Why have America's politicians – of both major parties – allowed the illegal alien invasion of this nation to continue for the last 30 years unabated? With al-Qaida and allied terrorists promising to annihilate major U.S. cities with nuclear weapons, with some big-city hospital emergency rooms near closure due to the crush of so many illegals, with the rapid spread throughout the U.S. of MS-13, the super-violent illegal alien gang – with all this and more, why do U.S. officials choose to ignore the laws of the land and the will of the people to pursue, instead, policies of open borders and lax immigration enforcement?

The answers to all this and much more are in Whistleblower's "ALIEN NATION" issue.

Is there hope? Or is America lost to a demographic invasion destined to annihilate its traditional Judeo-Christian culture, and to the ever-growing likelihood that nuclear-armed jihadists will cross our porous borders and wreak unthinkable destruction here?

There most definitely is hope, according to this issue of Whistleblower. Although most politicians of both major political parties have long since abdicated their responsibility for securing America's borders and dealing effectively with the millions already here illegally, there are a few exceptions – most notably Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.

[Soldier4Christ]

5 million more Latam migrants in US by 2015

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Some 5 million more Latin American migrants will arrive in the United States by 2015, regardless of whether Congress decides to criminalize or legalize illegal immigrants, according to a study released on Monday.

The U.S. recruitment company Manpower, which carried out the study, said toughening penalties for illegal immigration would not deter young adults in Mexico and Central and South America from pursuing a better life in the United States.

"The abundance of young people in Latin America, in the face of aging of populations in more developed countries, will generate a demand for workers," said Manpower Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Joerres.

"Immigration cannot be held back ... and young people are extremely ambitious," he told a news conference.

There are 12-13 million illegal immigrants in the United States, around 11 million of them Mexicans. Each year another one million legal and illegal immigrants enter the country.

The report came as the Congress considers a proposal by President George W. Bush that would offer millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

The plan, which includes a temporary worker program, faces serious opposition in the Senate from Bush's own Republicans and a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December proposes making illegal immigration a felony.

Last week thousands of Latin American immigrants and Hispanic activists staged protests and a work stoppage in cities across the United States, wielding their economic clout to demand rights for illegal immigrants.

Officials on the U.S.-Mexico border have reported a small increase in the number of migrants sneaking into the United States in recent days, which they say might be linked to hopes of an amnesty.

[Soldier4Christ]

Lawmakers unite to target immigration "coyotes"
By Colleen Slevin
The Associated Press

Denver - Capping weeks of wrangling over illegal immigration amid a furious national debate, lawmakers on Monday gave final backing to a bill aimed at "coyotes" who smuggle illegal workers for money.

The legislature earlier approved stiff fines for counterfeiting immigration documents and penalties for cities that discourage police from working with federal immigration authorities.

House Democrats killed most Republican proposals early in the session, which angered some in the GOP. But both parties were eventually able to support seven proposals, including the human smuggling bill, which now heads to Gov. Bill Owens.

Human smuggling is already a crime under federal law, but state law-enforcement agencies and immigration critics say federal authorities haven't been tough enough on people who transport illegal immigrants in crowded vans and trucks.

The bill targets only smugglers who are paid by their passengers, not the passengers themselves or someone who simply gives an illegal immigrant a lift.

Sponsor Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, said he thinks it's one of the few areas in illegal immigration where the state can act.

"It gives law enforcement a clear process they can take," he said.

Rep. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, supported the human smuggling bill, but,

like the other successful measures, he wanted it to go further and have the passengers prosecuted too.

Schultheis also tried to have all employers in Colorado have to use a federal database to make sure all their new hires are here legally, which legislative staffers said would require about three people to enforce.

Instead, lawmakers backed a proposal to only require state contractors to use the database and face the loss of their contracts if they do.

Gabriela Flores, an organizer for the American Friends Services Committee, which advocates for immigrants, said she's afraid that some of the proposals could have unintended consequences, including causing state contractors to shy away from hiring even legal immigrants.

Because of that, she thinks it would have been better for state lawmakers to push for changes in Washington instead.

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegal Aliens do not Have Legal 'Citizens Rights
Gordon Bishop

My mother’s mother came to America in the 1890s, arriving at the Ellis Island Immigration Center which still stands today next to the Statue of Liberty on the Jersey City waterfront.

My maternal grandmother followed the rules for legal immigration. She had to be healthy, or she would be rejected and sent back to where she came, a port city in northern Germany.

My grandmother also had to have relatives in this country and a job waiting for her. My grandmother worked at a diner in lower Manhattan, first scrubbing floors and toilets and grateful for the privilege of being an American.

When my grandmother learned English within a year, she was promoted to waitress. She then moved to Franklin, New Jersey, with her new husband and had nine children, my mother being the last born of the Romyns family.

My wife’s mother, Ann Turkovsky, was born in Slovakia and followed the same process as my grandmother to enter America through Ellis Island.

My wife and I came from families who were legal immigrants.

Why are millions of illegal aliens demonstrating and protesting in the streets of Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, New Jersey and elsewhere, while waving Mexican flags instead of American flags?

They’re getting away with it because we live today in a lawless society. After a century of liberalism and political correctness, we have replaced "rule of law" with "mob rule."

America’s culture is headed for an implosion, or a civil war between the "legals" and "illegals."

Black Americans are on the side of "law and order." They are saying "No" to amnesty for illegals.

Most law-abiding citizens of America are for the legalization of the illegals. That is, they must first obey the law before they can become legalized immigrants. But the politics of power and money are willing to disrupt or even destroy our culture for the sake of cheap labor, right or wrong.

The Far Left is exploiting the showdown between the legals and illegals to garner votes for the liberal Democrat Party.

Corporate America is exploiting the Legal Vs. the Illegal argument so they can hire cheap labor in order to compete with China, India and other Eastern societies that pay their workers $1 or $2 a day with no medical or pension benefits.

America’s labor unions also don’t like the use of cheap labor that’s undermining their foundation in organizing workers that cost more than the illegals competing for these jobs.

So there you have it. We now have a corrupt government, a corrupt corporate operation and a corrupt organized labor movement, all taking America down the road to ruin. You must know about the ruination of the Roman Empire, which lasted some 500 years.

America is only 230 years old, its founding launched by the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 – Independence Day. The beginning of freedom, liberty and opportunity.

Americans (the colonial settlers) won their first war sparked by a Tax Revolt against Great Britain, a monarchy that believed it could crush the isolated settlers with their mighty military, then the world’s superpower.

Well, the big guys lost and little guys won. It was won under a Constitution based on the "rule of law." That Constitution has since been perverted and polluted by a century of corrupt politicians and Supreme Courts that are yielding to "mob rule."

The protests by millions of illegals represent "mob rule" organized by those who are anti-war, anti-America, anti-capitalism (the free enterprise system), and, especially, anti-Bush, the leader of the free world.

And who are behind these illegal mobs? Socialist and Communist organizations such as the Workers World Party and ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), and the United Peace Movement, another Communist front that exploits words like "United" and "Peace" to brainwash Americans into thinking they really represent United and Peace ideals.

The liberal mainstream media promote the agenda of these Socialist-Communist organizations, including the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), a gang of liberal lawyers that really represent the American Criminal Liberties Union.

If Americans don’t reclaim their federal and State Constitutions soon, we will all be under the power and control of the lawless mob.

A wise Greek philosopher named Plato predicted some 2,000 years ago that "mob rule" will prevail unless the people protect and respect a Republic’s Constitution based on "rule of law."

We once were the proud and great Republic of the United States of America.

So much for a Republic, and so much for a Constitution. The mob is taking over America.

[Soldier4Christ]

Feds Reimburse UMC for Treating Illegal Immigrants

This year alone University Medical Center will lose between five and six million dollars treating foreign nationals and illegal immigrants.  Now a first for UMC, the federal government is reimbursing the hospital for some of that care even though it's a just a fraction of the cost.  Just over a week ago a human smuggler running from border patrol agents crashed in Marana. The driver, an illegal immigrant himself, was clinging to life as agents pulled him to safety from a burning truck.  Badly injured he was flown to UMC and like the vast majority of illegal immigrants he'll never pay a penny for the top notch care he was provided, "we have a high level of foreign nationals who have no coverage, no ability to pay so the cost of that burden was falling on the backs of not only hospitals but also physicians and ambulance services," explains UMC Chief Financial Officer Kevin Burns.  He says hospitals not only have legal obligation to treat a person in an emergency, regardless of citizenship, but also a humanitarian one.  But he says when it comes to treating those who never pay their bill it cuts into the hospitals bottom line, "we want to be cutting edge, we're a teaching hospital and our doctors, our community expects us to be leading edge, cutting edge, so it puts constraints on our ability to buy equipment and do upgrades to our facility that we'd like to do."

     That's why a about a year and a half ago the government set aside one billion dollars to help hospitals recoup some of the money lost treating foreign nationals.  UMC recently got it's first quarterly paycheck of 400-thousand dollars.  By the end of the year the hospital hopes to get a total of 1.5 million, or about 12 cents on the dollar, not much but they'll take it, "we very much appreciate the additional support. It'll go a long way to help us expand our trauma and ER programs here." This 400-thousand dollars is the first installment UMC has received Burns wonders what will happen four years down the road when the one-billion dollars set aside by the government runs out.

[Soldier4Christ]

Two companies, executives sentenced for illegal workers
Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas - Two executives of a company that hired illegal immigrants to do janitorial work at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were sentenced Monday to federal prison.

Karen Sue Rowell, 48, president of Midwest Airport Services Inc., was sentenced to nine months and fined $5,000. Edward John Pitre, 49, the company's former operations manager, was sentenced to 15 months and fined $1,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Midwest and Service Performance Corp., which also provides janitorial services for DFW Airport, pleaded guilty in March to immigration violations. On Monday, Midwest was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine, and SPC was ordered to pay $600,000.

Midwest admitted hiring at least 50 illegal immigrants for airport jobs, and SPC admitted hiring at least 200 illegal immigrants to work there from 1999 through 2002. During part of that time, Midwest and SPC had common ownership.

As part of their cooperation with the government, the companies started a compliance program to make sure that only legally documented workers are hired.

Last summer Pitre was convicted of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully harbor and shield illegal aliens from detection. A week earlier Rowell, who faced 63 counts, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in false representation of U.S. citizenship.

Another Midwest executive, office manager Silvia Castillo, pleaded guilty last summer to aiding and abetting an employee who made a false statement. Castillo, who faced 33 counts, was fined $2,000 and is currently serving her eight-month sentence.

The case stems from a task force's surprise airport security sweep in 2002. Nearly 65 illegal immigrants from several companies were arrested, and several executives later were indicted.

Other Midwest and SPC managers have pleaded guilty to various federal charges, and some are to be sentenced in July.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. alerting Mexico
to Minuteman patrols
'Unbelievable that our own government …
is sending intelligence to another country'


The U.S. Border Patrol is tipping off Mexican authorities on the positions of members of the Minuteman civilian patrols.

U.S. officials have agreed to the notification process to reassure the Mexican government that the illegal immigrants' rights are being observed, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reports.

When the Minuteman and other civilian border patrol groups help apprehend illegal immigrants, the Mexican government must be notified, according to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations website.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed to the Daily Bulletin the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said.

"This ... simply makes two basic statements – that we will not allow any lawlessness of any type, and that if an alien is encountered by a Minuteman or arrested by the Minuteman, then we will allow that government to interview the person."

But angered Minuteman members say the reporting virtually nullifies their effectiveness and could endanger lives.

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, told the Ontario paper.

"It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country," he said. "They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."

Martinez said any illegal alien apprehended has the right to request counsel.

"We have to give their counsel the information about their apprehension, and that includes where they are apprehended, whether a Minuteman volunteer spotted them or a citizen," he said.

The spokesman said by entering into the cooperative agreement, the Border Patrol hoped to change Mexico's perception of the group as vigilantes.

One of the documents on the website, "Actions of the Mexican Government in Relation to the Activities of Vigilante Groups," describes a meeting with San Diego Border Patrol sector chief Darryl Griffen.

According to the document, Griffen "said that the Border Patrol will not permit any violence or any actions contrary to the law by the groups, and he is continuously aware of (the volunteer organizations') operations."

The document continues: "Mr. Griffen reiterated to the undersecretary his promise to notify the General Consul right away when the vigilantes detain or participate in the detention of any undocumented Mexicans."

The documents name the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and the Chino, Calif.-based Friends of the Border Patrol.

TJ Bonner, president of the 10,000-member union National Border Patrol Council, told the Daily Bulletin his member agents have complained for years about the Mexican government "unduly influencing our enforcement policies."

"That's not a legitimate role for any foreign nation," he said.

The Minuteman weblog said the Daily Bulletin's story "does not report information told to the [Minuteman] media offices that the Border Patrol chiefs have also been passing along intelligence reports to the government of Mexico on the activities of Minutemen not only at the borders, but in locations such as Utah, Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts and Tennessee."

The weblog said one report contained estimated chapter membership numbers of Minutemen in Illinois and a statement on activities. The report noted the group didn't seem to know any politicians there, indicating the Illinois Minutemen had not acquired political clout.

The Minuteman blog commented: "That is not a report on the location of Minutemen at the border, but political intelligence from our government to a foreign nation about the activities of American citizens petitioning our own government for redress of grievances."

Border agents interviewed by the paper said they have been asked to report the location of all civilian patrols to sector headquarters. But they are not to file the groups' names in reports if they spot illegal immigrants.

"Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens," said an agent who spoke to the Daily Bulletin on condition he not be identified. "We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls."