Immigration News

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Minutemen, protesters square off at Capitol
Leader says illegals 'assembling to strip us of our rights'

Members of the Minuteman Project squared off with counter-protesters today at the end of a cross-country caravan meant to demonstrate against the flow of illegal aliens across the border.

Advocates for illegals chanted "go away" as the Minutemen warned the U.S. was in danger of being overrun by Mexicans if the Senate passes a bill giving millions a path to citizenship.

"They should be rounded up and deported, every single one of them," John Clark of the American Immigration Control Foundation told a cheering crowd, according to Reuters. "Leave them here and in 10 years this will not be the United States of America."

Nearby, behind a line of police, the counter-protesters chanted "Minutemen go away, immigrants are here to stay."

Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist said the massive protests by illegals and their supporters in recent weeks underscored the growing problems the country faces from the estimated 11.5 to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country, Reuters reported.

"They are not assembling to protect their rights. They are assembling to strip us of our rights," Gilchrist said.

The caravan began in Los Angeles May 3, and participants have been holding rallies in several states along the way. The caravan's "official pace car" is a 1970 Mercury Cougar dubbed "The Spirit Of Allegiance."

Prominent national speakers at the kick-off rally in L.A. included WND columnist Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, the founder and president of BOND – the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, and social activist Ted Hayes.

Addressing the rally, Peterson commented, "Illegal immigration is having a devastating effect on the black community. African Americans are being put out of jobs and out of homes."

A rally also took place May 6 in Crawford, Texas, home to President Bush's ranch.

"We are doing what the original Minutemen would have wanted us to do," Gilchrist told WND. "We are bringing the message to Washington."

According to its website, the Minuteman Project hopes to "bring national awareness to the decades-long careless disregard of effective U.S. immigration law enforcement."

A recent poll indicates concern about illegal immigration is now the No. 2 issue among Americans, next to the war in Iraq.

Gilchrist, who is being talked about as a 2008 presidential candidate, believes that by Election Day in November, "voters will show conclusively that illegal entry by foreigners on U.S. soil and the issue of 'guest worker amnesty' is at least as important to the American people as the war in Iraq."

[Soldier4Christ]

Senators agree on 'amnesty' proposal

Senate leaders reached an agreement yesterday on immigration reform legislation that would strengthen border security but also would allow millions of illegal aliens who have been in the U.S. for two years or longer to apply for citizenship.
    Derided by conservatives as "amnesty," the proposal could be amended but senators on both sides of the aisle say they doubt it will be dramatically altered.
    "Senate Republicans are united in their commitment to an open and full debate on multiple amendments," said a statement from seven Republicans who represent the full spectrum of positions on immigration reform.
    "We are willing to put differences aside so we can get on with the important work to be done securing our borders and grappling with the 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in our country," said the group that included Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
    "We are also in agreement that efforts to curtail the debate prematurely will only derail this process. We call on Senate Democrats to allow an open debate and votes on this complex and challenging issue," the statement read.
    Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, with whom Mr. Frist has been negotiating for weeks, said he "welcomed" the return of the thorny bill to the floor.
    "America's immigration system is broken, and our national security depends on Republicans and Democrats finding common ground to fix it," he said yesterday. "The assurances I have received from Senator Frist make me hopeful we can finally move forward on real comprehensive reform."
    While yesterday's agreement will unstick the Senate bill, high hurdles remain in the House, which last year approved a much tougher bill that dealt only with strengthening the border and enforcing the federal immigration laws already on the books.
    Debate on immigration legislation collapsed last month after Democrats refused to allow amendments. They accused Republicans opposed to amnesty of trying to sabotage the bill. They also refused to approve any legislation without guarantees that House negotiators wouldn't throw out all the "amnesty" provisions in the Senate version in favor of the security-only House bill.
    Under yesterday's deal, there was no set limit on the number of amendments that could be offered but earlier in the week Republicans said they are committed to 20 Republican amendments and 10 from Democrats.
    In return, 19 of the 26 senators who will negotiate with the House on the final bill will be people Mr. Reid wanted. Already, 12 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have been selected as conferees, largely fulfilling Mr. Reid's request that the committee be responsible for negotiating with the House. On top of that, Mr. Reid will pick seven more as-yet-unnamed conferees, as will Mr. Frist.
    Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, said yesterday's developments did not bode well.
    "By caving in to the Democrats this morning, Bill Frist pushed the Senate towards the biggest illegal alien amnesty in American history," he said. "It is a sad day for legal immigrants who embrace this country by following our laws, and it is a sad day for all Americans who are concerned about our national and economic security. Frist has put the Senate on a collision course with the House."
    The executive branches of both the U.S. and Mexico applauded the deal.
    "We congratulate the Senate on reaching agreement and we look forward to passage of a bill prior to Memorial Day," said an optimistic Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman.
    Mexico's foreign secretary told reporters in a statement that the agreement was a "positive step toward the approval of a migration accord."

[Soldier4Christ]

California governor skeptical of using Guard troops on border

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has urged Washington to toughen border security, said Friday he had misgivings about mobilizing state National Guard troops to help secure the nation's southern boundary.

"Going the direction of the National Guard, I think, is maybe not the right way to go," Schwarzenegger told reporters after a news conference on the state budget.

As part of a proposed overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, President Bush is considering plans to shore up the border by using National Guard troops paid for by the federal government.

Schwarzenegger suggested that Guard troops returning from service in Iraq should be able to go back to their jobs, not head to the border.

"We should let them go to work," he said.

The governor's positions on immigration are closely watched because the Austrian-born former movie star is the best-known immigrant in U.S. politics, and California has more illegal immigrants than any other state — an estimated 2.4 million.

Schwarzenegger has said he favors a temporary worker program but provided few details about how such a plan should work. He does not support blanket amnesty but also thinks it is impractical to consider deporting millions of illegal immigrants.

[Soldier4Christ]

Oregon sheriff takes on tack on immigration diplomacy


PENDLETON, Ore. - Out of ideas and low on cash one cold morning, the man with the biggest badge in town put his meaty fingers on a keyboard and tapped out a letter to the leader of Mexico.

"Dear Precidente (sic) Fox," it began.

"My name is John Trumbo. I am Sheriff of Umatilla County in northeastern Oregon, United States of America." Illegal immigrants "from your country" who committed crimes here, the letter said, cost Americans lots of money.

Last year, more than 360 of "your citizens" spent time in jail "at a cost of $63 a day which equates to a request for payment of $318,843," the letter concluded. "At this time, you will not be billed for medical, dental and transportation costs. Your prompt attention to this request will be very much appreciated."

Three months later, Trumbo reports, Vicente Fox still has not paid up. The Mexican president has issued no response, no installment payment, nada.

The silence has reverberated at the Umatilla County Justice Center, a complex of modular beige buildings set among rolling hills of wheat. Here, the influx of Mexican immigrants -- many of them illegal and a portion criminal -- has become an increasingly prickly issue. Trumbo's letter voiced the growing frustration of a region that has been compared to the California farmlands of the 1950s and 1960s -- a place going through a transition in racial demographics.

Between 1990 and 2000, Umatilla County's Hispanic population, including legal and illegal immigrants, jumped 114 percent to 11,400 people, according to the Census Bureau. This doesn't include thousands of seasonal workers who live here part of the year and many others who choose not to be counted.

About 70,000 people live in the county.

In towns such as Hermiston, Umatilla and Milton-Freewater, Hispanics occupy entire neighborhoods, and the beginnings of "Little Mexico" commercial areas have taken hold. The neighborhoods tend to be poorer, and many residents blame Hispanic immigrants for the region's gang and drug problems.

Public schools have become increasingly populated by Hispanics. In Milton-Freewater and Umatilla, with a combined enrollment of about 3,300, Hispanics make up half the student body. No one knows how many are children of illegal immigrants, because federal law prohibits schools from asking about parents' immigration status.

Undocumented residents have access to state and county services for drug and alcohol treatment, mental health, domestic violence and nutrition. While there's grousing about taxpayer money being used for these services, nothing ignites more anger than undocumented residents who end up in the criminal-justice system.

"They already broke the law once coming over here," says Pendleton resident Elaina Solomon, 49, an immigrant from Honduras who works as a legal assistant. "Then they commit murders and robberies while they're here. Why should we pay for their room and board at the jail? Why should we foot the bill?"

Trumbo's letter to Fox resonated with Solomon and many other county residents even as some in the Hispanic community privately grumbled.

To anyone who asked, Trumbo explained:

The county has a daily jail capacity of 252 inmates but can afford staff and services for only 135 inmates. The sheriff's office should have a minimum of 27 patrol officers but can fund only nine. Between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. each day, no patrol officer is on duty.

"When people call the police, they expect to see the police," Trumbo says. "They see it on TV all the time. But there are times when I can't send anybody, because I don't have anybody because I don't have the money."

One reason, he says: the department spends much of its $6.5 million annual budget on apprehending and jailing illegal immigrants.

He has no problem with Hispanics personally, he says. "Some of my best friends," Trumbo says, "are Hispanic." He just wanted to tell someone, anyone, about the situation here.

The 56-year-old sheriff and native Oregonian speaks his mind largely without editing: "The reason why Hispanics come here is because white people are too damn lazy to bend down and do real work. It's a fact."

In the last 16 years, the Hispanic population in 20 of Oregon's 36 counties has as much as tripled. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the number of illegal immigrants in the state has jumped to as many as 175,000, compared with 25,000 in 1990.

Many of them end up in places like Umatilla County, where they take the hardest farming jobs -- picking asparagus or pitching watermelon -- or work on assembly lines in food-processing factories.

The population increase has led to a corresponding rise in the number of undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. Trumbo says between nine and 15 of his jail beds are occupied each day by illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Among those in jail is Ever Alexis-Flores, 25, convicted in a 2004 murder-robbery near Hermiston. Alexis-Flores and four men broke into a remote house where as many as 12 farmworkers lay sleeping. The robbers, who knew the workers had been paid the previous night, took cash and cell phones and killed one worker and wounded his 16-year-old son.

The majority of jailed illegal immigrants are in for property crimes. One man arrested for burglary, Juan Flores-Romero, has been in the Umatilla County jail 20 times. Flores-Romero, 62, was deported in almost every instance.

Says Trumbo: "The old joke among the immigration agents who shuttled these guys back to Mexico was, 'I hope we make it back to Pendleton before they do.' "

It is a national problem. One Justice Department report estimates 270,000 illegal immigrants serve jail time every year, most in California, Arizona, Florida, Texas and New York. It costs the United States more than $1 billion a year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In Trumbo's letter to Fox, the sheriff asked to be reimbursed for the basics, such as food, clothing and shelter. Not included were costs related to medical and dental services, transportation, legal defense and prosecution, all of which total millions of dollars each year just for Umatilla County.

"Of course, (Trumbo) didn't consult with us before he wrote the letter," says Umatilla County Commissioner Emile Holeman. "But if he consulted me, I would have said, 'Gosh, you should mail that.' "

Others found the sheriff's letter disturbing. Shelley Latin, an attorney who represents mostly low-income Hispanics, says Trumbo's letter hinted at a type of racism pervasive within local law enforcement.

"The implication is that Hispanics are the cause of the crime problems here," Latin says. "It suggests that if Hispanics were all taken away, we would suddenly be crime-free. That's just silly."

The Mexican consul general for Oregon, Fernando Sanchez Ugarte, who received a copy of the letter, says he doesn't know whether Fox will respond. Ugarte says he personally dismissed the letter as political posturing, not to mention racist. The sheriff, he says, "is pinpointing one ethnic group," and he's not sending letters to the presidents of all the other countries in the world.

"If a visitor from Switzerland does something wrong while visiting Umatilla County," Ugarte says, "will Mr. Trumbo send a bill to the leader of Switzerland? I don't think so."

At Magana's Barbershop in Hermiston, 28 miles away, Trumbo's letter was received with more venom. "It was a slap in the face," says owner and operator Martin Magana.

On this day, a half-dozen young men await haircuts in the one-room shop.

"Yeah, (Trumbo) was trying to be the hero to the Anglos," says Magana, 30, as he runs an electric shear over the center of a customer's head. The men in the room are all friends with one essential trait in common: At one point in their family lineage, someone immigrated to this region illegally.

"That's the thing," says Saul Olvera, 23, "we're all one family, one community. We're all legal in here," -- a few of the men snicker -- "but a lot of our relatives are still illegal."

Magana says there's a new fear among farmworkers in Umatilla County. The immigration debate roiling the nation, of which Trumbo's letter was just one salvo, has placed Hispanics on the lookout for those trademark pale-green vans that immigration agents use to round up illegal immigrants.

"I know people, they're starting to see those vans everywhere," he says.

It's paranoia, someone else says.

One of the men turns to a stranger in the group: "You're not INS, are you?"

Another man rises abruptly and heads toward the back door.

"Are you?"

Back at the Justice Center in Pendleton, Trumbo has made a copy of his latest letter. This one is to the local newspaper. In it, he recounts the 2004 murder-robbery near Hermiston. Without naming them, he writes that two of the convicted men, sentenced to 25 and 50 years, will end up costing Oregon taxpayers at least $2.2 million.

"Somebody's got to say, 'Enough is enough,' " he says.

As for Fox, the sheriff doubts he'll ever hear from him.

[Soldier4Christ]

King returns from border patrol more committed to building fence


Congressman Steve King has just returned from a five-day trip to Arizona's border with Mexico. "It was a real eye-opener," King says. "One cannot get a feel for this without going down there and being in it."

King has been advocating construction of a fence along the U.S./Mexico border, and King says the drug trade he witnessed just reaffirmed his belief that a fence is what it will take to stop the flood of immigrants crossing the border.

"This is my second trip down to the border but this is the one that I learned the most at and the one that really causes me to take a look at this and see it from a different perspective on how many people are coming across the border illegally and how many drugs are a part of that," King says.

King was the only member of congress on this trip. He went with a "security detail" to meet with border patrol agents, some retired agents, and a group of fewer than two dozen Native Americans called the Shadow Wolves who are intercepting more drugs than the two-thousand border patrol agents in the area. When King was at the reservation one night, the Shadow Wolves caught a gang member with 180 pounds of marijuana hidden in his pick-up.

On another night, King happened upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad that led to a stabbing. The victim was brought over the border in a Mexican ambulance "that didn't even have a bandage in it" according to King. The man was transferred to an air ambulance and flown to a hospital in Tucson. On Tuesday, King visited the injured man in the hospital and talked with the hospital's administrators who told King they "lose about 14 million dollars a year" providing treatment to illegal immigrants.

King says a concrete fence must be built along the whole length of the U.S./Mexico border because his trip made him realize the number of border crossings are "far greater in number" than he thought, and the level of violence and the drug trade is much higher, too.

To those in his own Republican party who say the U.S. is not a country that builds walls but is a country that tears them down, King offers this response. "There is a 180 degree difference between a wall that's built to keep people in, which the Berlin Wall was, and a wall that's built to keep people out, which this would be," King says. "It's entirely moral to defend yourself from people who are pouring over your borders, that don't have respect for our sovereignty and who are brining billions of dollars of drugs into the United States."

There's a national wildlife refuge in the area of Arizona King visited, and he says a fence worked there to protect the endangered "lesser long-nosed bat." That species of bat lives in only four caves in the world, one of which illegal immigrants crossing the border in Arizona used as a hiding place. The bats left, according to King, so the National Park Service built a wrought-iron fence around the cave's entrance. King says the winged creatures moved back in the cave once the illegal immigrants were kept out. "A fence does work," King says. "It worked to keep the illegals out of the bat cave."

King says he spent about two days traveling to and from Arizona and about three days along what he estimates was about 450 miles of border. King says he went in sort of "undercover" fashion so he'd get the real story, not the sanitized version delivered to members of congress who climb into helicopters and fly over the area.

[Soldier4Christ]

Gingrich: Republicans
'drifting toward disaster'
Warns Senate immigration bill
allows 36 million to stay in U.S.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is warning that the immigration bill favored by Senate Republicans will permit up to 36 million illegal aliens, as opposed to the 11 million being cited by proponents, to remain in the U.S. – a number that will make the average American "furious" when learned and will hurt the GOP.

"I am very worried that the Republican leadership in the Senate and potentially the White House are just going to end up very alienated from the vast majority of Americans on this issue," Gingrich told Human Events in an exclusive interview.. "The Senate bill is an absolute disaster."

Gingrich criticized the makeup of the conference committee, saying the agreement made between Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) "guarantees a bad bill." Under the terms outlined by Reid, Frist and Reid each get to appoint seven senators to the committee. Republicans will have seven more from the Judiciary Committee, whereas Democrats will only be able to send five from the committee.

"The Senate is drifting toward a disaster of the first order," Gingrich said. "The bill they're looking at is a bad bill. It violates, in almost every case, what the American people want."

Gingrich, who will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" tomorrow, cited a recent poll released by Zogby and the Center for Immigration Studies showing overwhelming support – 65% to 30% – for the House bill, a measure that emphasizes enforcement.

Eighty-four percent of the poll's respondents wanted the government to prosecute employers who hire illegals and 86% agreed that federal dollars should be cut off to cities and states that refuse to enforce immigration laws. Nine out of 10 respondents favored making English proficiency a requirement to earn citizenship and 85% endorsed a voter-identity card to guarantee that only American citizens were casting ballots.

Gingrich disputed the oft-cited figure of 11 million illegal aliens who would be affected by any immigration reform bill, saying he believes the actual count would be three times greater.

"If there is an honest debate about how many million people will be given a chance to come to America under the Senate bill, we're told the number is between 30 million and 36 million people," he said. "When the average American learns that, they are going to be furious if the Senate Republicans allow that kind of bill out of the Senate.

"The Senate bill expands substantially who can be brought in as a member of the family," Gingrich noted. "So you take 11 million and add the other people, and we believe the real number is between 30 million and 36 million."

President Bush is scheduled to address the nation on immigration in a primetime speech Monday night.

"I look forward to the speech Monday night because I fervently hope the president is not going to side with the liberals in the Senate against the conservatives in the House, because no one in the president's base will understand that decision," Gingrich said.

"This is a great opportunity for the President to re-bond with the overwhelming majority of the American people. And the overwhelming majority of the American people say, ‘Put border security first.'"

[Soldier4Christ]

Tucson Region
Protester sought in kicking

The Tucson Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying a female protester who kicked an officer in the face during the April 10 pro-immigration rally.
After closely reviewing video footage from the rally, police have been able to single out the female who they say intentionally kicked Officer Nathan A. Tullgren, 26, as he was on the ground making an arrest, said Tucson police Chief of Staff Capt. Brett Klein on Friday.
Police say she could face a charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer.
According to Klein, Tullgren had just pulled a male off of another officer's back when he took the male down to the ground.
The woman, who is in her late teens to early 20s, then kicked Tullgren in the face, knocking off his hat.
After she kicked Tullgren, Officer Douglas C. Musick pushed the young woman away to prevent her from further injuring the officer and she fell over a bicycle, a police report stated.
She ran into the crowd before she could be arrested.
She was wearing a black or navy blue hooded sweatshirt, jeans, a black messenger bag and black-and-white Chuck Taylor Converse shoes.
At times, she had a red Che Guevara flag draped over her shoulders. She has black hair and a lip ring on her lower lip.
Meanwhile, the Tucson Police Officers Association said officers performed their jobs properly during the rally and a smaller counterprotest where a Mexican flag was burned.
Officers had to use pepper spray and arrested six people after protesters became angered by the burning of the flag. A man who is accused of burning the Mexican flag was arrested the following day.
Organizers of the pro-immigration rally and march have accused the officers of using excessive force and failing to perform their jobs. They have asked that an independent investigation be conducted into how police handled the rally and counterprotest.
Two reports this week by the Police Department said officers' actions, including several instances where force was used, were justifiable.

[Soldier4Christ]

US senate expected to start immigration debate



The US senate is expected to start debating a compromise bill on immigration reform tomorrow.

There are fears that the new legislation would permanently exclude Irish immigrants from the opportunities offered to earlier Irish immigrants.

The President for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform has said this is the last and best chance for an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US to get legalised.

Speaking on 'This Week', Grant Lally said there is much support for Irish people in the United States to become legal.

[Soldier4Christ]

Judiciary chairman holds key to immigration bills
Congressman's bullying style stirs fears in the Senate



WASHINGTON - It's fair to say that House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner is not the most popular man on Capitol Hill.

Colleagues consider him smart, stubborn and ornery. His bullying style in final bill negotiations between the House and Senate has made some senators cringe and forced the White House to tread carefully.

But if President Bush wants an immigration reform bill out of Congress this year, he will have to deal with Sensenbrenner, author of the most punitive illegal immigration control bill in recent House history.

Sensenbrenner, 62, a Republican from Wisconsin, is a significant reason why the Senate has had trouble finishing its version of the immigration bill.

Before debating the finer details of a measure that would combine tough border security with a legalization program, senators argued over how to make their bill strong enough to withstand Sensenbrenner's expected opposition.

Conference makeup
Republican and Democratic leaders agreed last week to return to the immigration bill after announcing a 26-member negotiating team to the final House-Senate conference that includes 15 senators who support creating a citizenship path for illegal immigrants.

The White House, which leans toward the Senate bill, had been keeping its powder dry but announced late last week that Bush planned a nationwide address Monday on immigration.

The Senate and the White House are throwing a lot of firepower at Sensenbrenner, and for good reason.

"He has very strong views, and he knows the parliamentary system forwards and backwards," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. "He's a tough cookie."

Sensenbrenner chuckled recently after Democrats heaped praise on him for guiding to the House floor a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act. The landmark 1965 civil rights legislation requires that citizens be given equal access to ballots regardless of race, national origin or language proficiency — a right that seems at odds with his hard line on immigration.

"Everybody is all sweetness and light," he joked, in a rare chat with reporters. "Maybe it does show I am able to negotiate bipartisan compromise."

Perhaps he can, but will he? Senators can only wonder.

Intelligence overhaul
"I have watched bills pass the Senate with overwhelming majorities, and they end up in a conference with Chairman Sensenbrenner, where they are chewed to pieces," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who previously compared Senate negotiators to "cocker spaniels in a room full of pit bulls."

A case in point, Durbin said, was the 2004 intelligence overhaul law recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

Sensenbrenner rallied conservative House Republicans to block the bill because the final version deleted his immigration provisions, including one making it harder for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

After telephone calls from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Sensenbrenner relented on the condition that his provisions would be part of the first "must-pass" bill in 2005. The immigration provisions became law right on schedule.

Sensenbrenner came to Congress in 1979 and has headed the Judiciary panel since 2001.

Though he previously has engaged in high-profile battles, it is immigration that has brought him to prominence.

"Sensenbrenner" has appeared on signs at massive rallies staged across the nation in opposition to his bill that would jail people for "unlawful presence" in the United States. The bill also would raise fines on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Sensenbrenner is outspoken about being annoyed by Mexico's criticisms of his bill, as often voiced by Mexico Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez.

"If you Google me in the Mexican press, my name appears practically every time (Derbez) issues a press release. Now, if I did the same in Mexico City, under Article 33 of the Mexican Constitution, I could be summarily jailed," he said, referring to Mexican law that prohibits foreigners from participating in the political affairs of the country.

Border security
In recent weeks, as most senators have come to support an immigration bill that would eventually grant citizenship to most of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States and also create temporary worker visas, the chairman said nothing was "off the table."

But he has held to the view that the highest priority is strengthening U.S. borders.

"It is important to do the border security and the employer sanctions first. And if we stopped encouraging the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, then we can figure out what to do with the 11 million who are already here," he said.

With Congress facing election-year demands to fix immigration laws, some senators said party leaders, including Bush, will force the Senate and House, including Sensenbrenner, to compromise.

"I think there's enormous pressures now to try to get something done in a comprehensive fashion," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a lead sponsor of the broad immigration bill. "And the (House) Speaker has been saying some good things about the guest worker program. So I hope we can work together."

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush to press immigration reform in televised speech

 President George W. Bush will address Americans on the heated immigration debate Monday in a televised speech in which he may announce the deployment of troops to the border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration.

With his popularity at all-time lows, Bush will speak from the Oval Office in the White House as the Senate resumes debate on legislation that could lead to legalization of at least part of the estimated 11.5 million undocumented workers in the United States.

 According to US media, Bush will use the 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) speech to announce the deployment of troops to the border, a measure approved on Thursday in the House of Representatives as a way to halt the smuggling of drugs and people.

The immigration debate has divided Republicans ahead of legislative elections in November, as some call for the creation of a guest-worker program while others want tougher laws.

"I think members of the House will like what the president has to say on border security," a senior administration official told the Washington daily on condition of anonymity.

Bush's possible deployment of troops could help settle differences among his fellow Republicans.

"Congressional Republicans who back Bush's call for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants say (the deployment) is precisely what they need to win over House conservatives," the Washington Post said Saturday.

The announcement of Bush's address coincided with a meeting Friday between Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his Mexican counterpart, General Clemente Ricardo Vega, at the Pentagon's invitation, to discuss border security.

The differences between what the Senate means by "immigration reform" and what was passed in December by the House of Representatives highlights the strong differences within the Republican Party.

Under the leadership of Tom Tancredo of Colorado and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the House approved a law that would make unapproved entry to the United States a crime punishable with jail time. The bill also calls for the construction of a wall along about one third of the 3,000-kilometer (2,000-mile) border with Mexico.

Left out of the House bill, however, was Bush's guest-worker program, which would allow foreigners into the United States to fill temporary jobs, such as picking agricultural crops.

The Senate bill, on the other hand, would open the possibility of legal residency and citizenship to most of those in the United States without papers, under the bipartisan sponsorship of Democrat Ted Kennedy and Republican John McCain.

Once approved by their respective chambers, a conference committee of senators and representatives will hammer out a compromise version -- which will then need a final vote by both houses in a form that Bush will sign.

Settling on the makeup of that committee is what allowed the Senate debate to go ahead after more than a month of nationwide protests, marches, general strikes and a boycott.

Immigration reform, one of Bush's 2004 campaign promises, has triggered a tense debate in the United States, marked by a recent shouting match between opponents and defenders of undocumented workers outside Congress.

On Friday, it was the Americans of the Minuteman Project, a group patrolling the border, yelling, "Go Home!" versus Latinos saying, "We're here to stay!"

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush's Plan to Seal Border Worries Mexico


President Bush's plan to send National Guard troops to patrol the southern border of the United States has raised the concern of his longtime ally President Vicente Fox of Mexico, who called Mr. Bush on Sunday to express his worries.

White House officials said Mr. Bush assured Mr. Fox that a permanent National Guard presence on the border was not being considered.

"The president made clear that the United States considers Mexico a friend," said Maria Tamburri, a White House spokeswoman.

Ms. Tamburri said the president told Mr. Fox, "What is being considered is not a militarization of the border, but support of border patrol capabilities, on a temporary basis, by National Guard personnel."

In a televised address scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday, Mr. Bush is expected to call for a significantly increased National Guard presence at the border. Officials have indicated that Mr. Bush could call for a force of thousands but that it would not be as high as 10,000, a number that had been rumored late last week.

Reports of the plan over the weekend also caused concern among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who said they feared the National Guard was already overextended with military missions abroad and with its response to natural disasters at home.

On Monday, Mr. Bush is also expected to outline several other proposals aimed at sealing the border and cracking down on workers who are illegally in the United States, and the employers who hire them. Aides said he would renew his calls for an overhaul of the nation's immigration law that includes provisions to grant illegal immigrants the right to work here legally.

The president's speech, his first on domestic policy from the Oval Office, is to come as the Senate begins trying again to pass a bill that addresses competing demands to stem the flow of workers across the border from Mexico and the desire of American employers to have reliable access to a low-wage work force.

White House officials have made it clear that they hope that a plan to seal the border will help Mr. Bush in that effort to strike a compromise between any bill passed in the Senate and the one passed in December in the House, where many Republicans have opposed any steps to legalize illegal workers.

Lawmakers from both parties expressed concerns on Sunday about the idea of deploying the National Guard.

Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, who helped draft the Senate immigration bill, said he was skeptical about whether the plan would work.

"We have stretched our military as thin as we have ever seen it in modern times," Hagel said on "This Week" on ABC. "And what in the world are we talking about here, sending a National Guard that we may not have any capacity to send, up to or down to protect borders?"

He said he did not believe border protection was "the role of our National Guard."

Speaking on "Late Edition" on CNN, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said expressed similar feelings, saying, , "We're stretching them pretty thin now. We're going to make a border patrol out of them?"

But White House officials said late last week that they believed the president's address on Monday would be welcomed by voters, who have told pollsters they would like to see tighter control of the borders.

"The president is looking to do everything he can to secure the border," said Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "It's what the American people want, it's what he wants to do."

Mr. Hadley said sending National Guard troops to the border — officials say there are about 200 there now — would supplement the Border Patrol as it adds agents whose training and deployment will take time.

White House officials said that was the message that the president conveyed to Mr. Fox, whose defense minister met on Friday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. Ms. Tamburri, the White House spokeswoman, said Mr. Fox and Mr. Bush also discussed "cooperative efforts under way" on the border.

A statement from Mr. Fox's office said that during the president's 30-minute conversation he reiterated to Mr. Bush his conviction that the best way to manage the problem of illegal migration was with comprehensive legislation.

Migration has been the centerpiece of Mr. Fox's foreign policy in the six years of his presidency. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, his hopes faltered for swift passage of measures to legalize an estimated six million Mexicans working illegally in the United States.

The relationship between Mexico and the United States grew tense as the Bush administration began focusing more on ways to seal the border than to expand opportunities for the legal flow of migrant workers. Still, Mr. Fox publicly supported most of Mr. Bush's law enforcement efforts on the border. His cooperation with the United States has cost him significant political clout, however, among an increasing number of left-leaning leaders across Latin America.

And with presidential elections less than two months away, feelings that Mr. Fox has subordinated Mexico's sovereignty to American interests threaten to affect the chances of the candidate he hopes to succeed him, Felipe Calderón.

Mr. Fox's expression of concern to Mr. Bush, along with that of members of Congress and some governors, underscored the constituencies the president is juggling as heseeks a legislative victory on an issue of special interest to him at a time when much of his agenda is stalled.

His push for granting illegal immigrants legal status, and his veiled discussion of a path to citizenship — he often says those who want to become citizens would have to go to "the back of the line" — has been dismissed as "amnesty" by some conservatives. And, as his party faces a rough midterm election fight, Republicans have worried that his push on immigration has helped demoralize core conservative voters.

[Soldier4Christ]

Martinez: Open the presidency to immigrants
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez said he favors stricter border patrols but sees nothing wrong with a foreign-born president.


WASHINGTON - Florida's Republican Sen. Mel Martinez wouldn't mind seeing the U.S. Constitution amended so that foreign-born citizens could serve as president -- but not for himself.

Speaking Friday at the National Press Club in advance of a return to the immigration debate in the Senate, the Cuban-born Martinez said the ban on foreign-born citizens serving as president is the ''one opportunity'' that's missing for striving immigrants in the United States.

''In a country where we don't put any limits on people's opportunity, it's one opportunity that's foreclosed,'' Martinez said.

`NOTHING I CAN'T DO'

'I would love to be able to stand before you and say `There's nothing I cannot do in this country.' ''

Martinez -- the first Cuban-born U.S. senator -- noted the ban potentially has prevented some ''brilliant people'' from serving.

He offered as examples former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -- ''not electable, probably, but a brilliant guy,'' and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.

''I would like to think in the future, after a long tenure of residency, there would not be an impediment to the highest office in the land,'' Martinez said, adding, to laughter, ``I'm not making an announcement today, I'm just saying what would be good for the country as a whole.''

Supporters acknowledge the hurdles are daunting. Adopting constitutional amendments requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, then approval by 38 legislatures.

FAVORS REFORM

Martinez, like President Bush, favors comprehensive immigration reform that would include a path to citizenship for some illegal aliens, along with better border enforcement.

''I want the symbol of America to continue to be the Statue of Liberty, not a big old fence at the border,'' he said.

But he suggested that Bush, by focusing first on a guest worker policy, had ''got one step ahead of himself,'' and needs to offer immigration critics some concrete proposals for tightening border security in his address to the nation Monday.

Martinez, who arrived in the United States from Cuba legally in 1962, sought to portray the debate in personal terms.

''I remember when I began to dream in English,'' he said. ``I think immigrants come to this country not to change America, not to make my native language the tongue of this country, but immigrants come to this country to be changed by America. To make contributions.''

Martinez has criticized demonstrators at immigrant rallies for waving flags from other countries, and he told the audience Friday that the massive pro-immigration demonstrations have been counterproductive.

MINUTEMAN PROJECT

Across town, members of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigration group whose members patrol the U.S.-Mexican border in search of illegal border-crossers, decried the Senate legislation -- which Martinez has championed.

Martinez -- noting he is ''not prepared'' to join the group -- said he understood their frustration about lack of border enforcement, and as long as they weren't breaking the law he suggested they were welcome to assist law enforcement.

But he criticized as unrealistic calls to deport the estimated 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

''How do you carry that off?'' he said. ``Send people with trucks to round people up?''

__________________________

That sure would open a really big can of rotten worms.

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigration activists conduct training in Salem

Conference teaches how to galvanize the reform movement



They came to learn how to be leaders and advocates.

More than 100 college students from throughout Oregon and Idaho are in Salem this weekend to also learn how to organize marches, launch voter-registration drives and build alliances to push for legalizing immigrants who are living illegally in the United States.

The three-day conference, being held at Chemeketa Community College, is the last in a series of five training sessions held nationwide.

It's sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Community Change, a nonprofit advocacy group, and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a coalition of nationwide community groups.

Galdina Larios, 19, a Salem resident and first-year student at CCC, said she was at the conference because she wanted to make a difference in immigrants' lives.

"We can't remain quiet anymore," she said. "If we don't speak up, who will?"

As the immigration-reform battle intensifies, the students were encouraged to put together ideas to influence federal legislation that could put the nearly 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. on a path to citizenship.

That fight isn't just about illegal immigrants from Mexico, said Bret Noble, 23, a junior at Boise State University in Idaho.

"We're trying to break the stereotype that immigration is only a Latino issue," Noble said. "It's also about illegal immigrants from Western Europe, Asia, Africa and other nations."

For other students, the fight is about human rights.

"It's silly that an issue of this magnitude can be reduced to an issue of national origin," said Erin Leonardson, 23, a senior at Boise State.

Students also learned how to push for passage of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a federal measure that would allow certain illegal students from different nations to attend college and become U.S. citizens.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexicans Say Guard Won't Slow Migrants

Looking for someone to help him cross into the United States, Jorge Gutierrez said Monday it will take a lot more than U.S. National Guard troops to keep him and other migrants out.

Most Mexicans believe the plan, to be announced Monday night by President Bush, will do little to stop the flow north. President Vicente Fox called Bush this weekend to say he didn't believe sending soldiers to the border was the answer.

 The countries have rarely seen eye-to-eye since Bush and Fox agreed to work toward immigration reform five years ago at a meeting at Fox's ranch in Mexico. Fox wants the Bush administration to give amnesty to millions of migrants living in the U.S. and allow more to seek jobs legally from outside the country.

Bush rejected the idea of an amnesty and instead proposed allowing people with job offers to enter the United States and work legally for three years. The topic has generated fierce debate in Congress, where members are divided between those who want to see more security at the border and those who want immigration reform.

Bush is expected to propose sending National Guard troops to the border as a stopgap measure while the Border Patrol builds up its resources to more effectively secure the 2,000-mile line between the U.S. and Mexico.

The move is aimed at winning support for immigration reform from conservatives who are more interested in tightening security along the border.

Gutierrez, who had just arrived in Juarez from Torreon to look for a way to cross illegally into the United States, said he didn't believe the troops would make a difference.

"No guard, no wall will keep us from crossing," he said.

Jesus Rodriguez, 49, agreed. He was looking for ways to cross one of Juarez's international bridges. "For Mexicans, there are no obstacles," he said.

Francisco Loureiro, who runs a migrant shelter in Nogales, across the border from Nogales, Ariz., criticized the plan as an "aggressive action more than anything because the migrant is not a criminal or a terrorist."

"His only objective is to work ... and a government that supposedly lobbies for world peace is now acting against defenseless migrants who are helping to fill a need for employers in the U.S," he said.

Presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters Monday that while Fox "expressed his concern" over the proposal to Bush, he had no choice but to respect it.

"It is a sovereign decision," he said. "We can't interfere."

Mexico has had a tough time convincing the U.S. that it is doing everything it can to prevent and provide alternatives to illegal migration, especially when it is dependent on the remittances migrants send home.

In 2005, migrants sent about $20 billion to Mexico, where remittances represent the second-largest source of foreign income, after oil sales.

The government may have been able to prevent the growing backlash against migrants in the United States if it had showed it was improving opportunities for Mexicans at home, said Rodolfo Garcia, an economist at the University of Zacatecas.

Consequently, instead of sharply protesting Bush's National Guard plan, Fox's administration is more likely to justify it, Garcia said, hoping that it will help Bush soften attitudes toward guest-worker and legalization proposals.

[Soldier4Christ]

Nat'l Guard Not Expected to Patrol Border

WASHINGTON

The several thousand National Guard troops tapped for duty on the border with Mexico will not chase down illegal immigrants but instead will play behind-the-scenes roles in support of border guards, officials said Monday.

Among the tasks they are likely to perform over the coming year: training federal Border Patrol guards, building barriers near the border, improving roadways, providing support for aerial and ground surveillance, analyzing and sharing intelligence, and providing communications systems and transportation, the officials said.

The intent is to deepen the Guard's existing support for law enforcement agencies _ but only temporarily.

Several thousand Guard troops are likely to be called on. They will come mainly from the four border states _ California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas _ but those states' governors may also use Emergency Management Assistance Compacts to get Guard troops from other states. Any such cross-border arrangements would be coordinated by Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon.

Although the plan for using extra Guard troops was worked out in Washington, the troops will not be put on federal status. Instead they will remain under the control of each state governor's office, with the federal government paying the cost, according to two defense officials who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Pentagon officials offered few details in advance of President Bush's nationally televised address on the illegal immigration problem. Several defense officials stressed that the intention is to provide short-term assistance until the Border Patrol and other agencies can develop more of their own capabilities.

The National Guard already provides support to law enforcement agencies on the border, although in small numbers. Sending several thousand more will add yet another mission to a part-time force already stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The idea that the Guard is overstretched is correct," retired Army Gen. George Joulwan said in an interview Monday. But he said its use in a supporting role can be justified, given the seriousness of the border problem.

"In a supporting role to law enforcement, I would agree that this is something they need to do," so long as the Pentagon is able to balance this with the Guard's commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Joulwan said.

John Goheen, spokesman for the National Guard Association, an advocacy group for Guard officers, noted that the Army Guard and Air Guard combined have about 444,000 personnel across the United States.

"It would seem this mission is doable," Goheen said. "The numbers would not seem to make it that difficult."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was vital that Bush spell out the details of how the Guard will be used, and why.

"Unfortunately, President Bush has overtaxed, overused and underfunded this critical national security resource," Reid said.

"Now, if it's true the president is going to order them on another mission, he must tell us how he's going to help them succeed, and ensure they are ready and prepared should they be called to another mission while stationed at our border," Reid added.

At one point last year National Guard troops represented about 50 percent of all U.S. combat forces in Iraq, but that has dropped sharply in recent months and is now below 20 percent. It is not expected to rise significantly this year or next.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita also put an extra burden on the Guard last year, requiring the use of 50,000 troops.

About 71,000 National Guard troops are on active duty for the war on terror. That's 16 percent of the total Guard force. Of the four border states affected, California and Texas both have about 20,000 Guard members; Arizona has about 7,400 and New Mexico has about 4,000. According to figures provided by the Pentagon, California, Arizona and New Mexico each have roughly 10 percent of their Guard force already mobilized for Iraq or Afghanistan; Texas has about 18 percent.

The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, said Bush would ensure that the border missions not conflict with the Guard's wartime duties.

"No. 1 is, he's not going to do anything to compromise the two key duties of the National Guard," Snow said. "One is to continue to fight the war on terror, and No. 2 is to respond quickly and effectively to natural disasters. ... You're talking about a very small percentage of the Guard at any one time."