Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

Snow: Flow of illegals not an 'invasion'
Spokesman says Article 4 of Constitution doesn't apply to border issue


Saying Mexico is "not the enemy," presidential press secretary Tony Snow today rejected the characterization of the constant flow of illegal aliens over the U.S. border as an "invasion."

At today's White House press briefing, WND asked the spokesman: "Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution says, 'The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them from foreign invasion.' My question is, does the president believe this foreign invasion means only armed invasion, or doesn't this also mean the invasion of millions of illegal immigrants?"

Responded Snow: "I think what you are doing is you're attaching a martial connotation to something that does not have martial consequences. …

"What the president has said – if you were talking about an invasion, he's made it clear that Mexico is not the enemy."

WND also asked Snow about a lawsuit by war veteran Sgt. Peter Damon, who lost both of his arms in Iraq. Damon has sued Michael Moore for using clips without his permission in "Fahrenheit 9/11" to give the false impression that he opposed the war.

"I didn't lose my arms over there to come back and be used as ammunition against my commander in chief," Damon was quoted as saying.

"If he is asked," queried WND, "will this commander in chief be willing to testify in court on behalf of this double amputee sergeant?"

Snow called it a "hypothetical question"

"Please don't put me in the position of trying to answer to a lawsuit between somebody who served his country and Michael Moore," Snow said. "We'll let them deal with it."

[Soldier4Christ]

Web users to 'patrol' US border

A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet.

The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said the cameras would focus on "hot-spots and common routes" used to enter the US.

US lawmakers have been debating a divisive new illegal immigration bill.

The Senate has approved a law that grants millions of illegal immigrants US citizenship and calls for the creation of a guest-worker programme, while beefing up border security.

But in order to come into effect, the plan must be reconciled with tougher anti-immigration measures backed by the House of Representatives, that insist all illegal immigration should be criminalised.

The issue has polarised politics and US society. Right-wing groups have protested against illegal immigrants, while millions of people marched in support of them last month.

Free number

The Texas governor announced his plans for streaming the border surveillance camera footage over the internet at a meeting of police officials on Thursday.

"A stronger border is what Americans want and it's what our security demands and that is what Texas is going to deliver," Mr Perry said.

The cameras will cost $5m (£2.7m) to install and will be trained on sections of the 1,000-mile (1,600km) border known to be favoured by illegal immigrants.

Web users who spot an apparently illegal crossing will be able to alert the authorities by telephoning a number free of charge.

Mr Perry, a Republican, is running for re-election in November.

Deployment dispute

Meanwhile, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has sent National Guard soldiers to his state's border with Mexico, ending a weeks-old dispute with US President George W Bush.

President Bush announced plans on 14 May for thousands of soldiers from the Guard to be sent to bolster security along the Mexican border.

Mr Schwarzenegger had opposed the plan, describing it as a "Band-Aid solution" - or a temporary fix.

He said he did not want to place his state's National Guard soldiers - many of whom would have already served in Iraq - under additional strain.

On Thursday, the governor said he would send the soldiers to the border and the cost of the deployment would be shouldered by the federal government.

Meanwhile, a group of US civilian volunteers that has been patrolling the Mexican border began last week building a fence along a section of the frontier.

The Minutemen group started erecting the fence on privately-owned land in Arizona on Saturday, saying it is "doing the job the federal government will not do".

The Minutemen are allowed to report illegal crossings to border police but have no right to arrest suspects.

Human rights groups have accused the group of xenophobia towards illegal immigrants - but the group denies this.

[Soldier4Christ]

Counterfeiters say they can fake any ID

LOS ANGELES -- Luis Hernandez just laughs as he sells fake driver's licenses and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants near a park known for shady deals.

The joke, to him and others in his line of work, is the government's promise to put people like him out of business with a tamper-proof national ID card.

"One way or another, we'll always find a way," said Hernandez, 35, a sidewalk operator who is part of a complex counterfeiting network around MacArthur Park, where authentic-looking IDs are available for as little as $150.

Some of those coming to MacArthur Park are teenagers who want a fake ID so they can go to bars and drink. Others are ex-convicts whose criminal records make working under their real names difficult. But most are illegal immigrants who need work documents.

As Congress struggles to reform laws that affect the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, one central question is how to crack down on fake documents and punish the employers who accept them.

President Bush has suggested foreign workers carry a single ID that includes a fingerprint.

The House and Senate, meanwhile, have passed bills that would force employers to verify job seekers' Social Security numbers with a phone call and immigration status through an electronic database.

Many employers, eager for cheap labor, have a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude toward their employees' immigration status and do not check their papers.

In one indication of the size of the problem, federal authorities in April arrested nearly 1,200 illegal immigrants and a few managers working at IFCO Systems plants from Southern California to New York.

More than half of the 5,800 employees at the pallet and crate manufacturing company in 2005 had invalid or mismatched Social Security numbers, authorities said.

Immigration officials said the fake document business has become increasingly difficult to stop.

In the past, authorities could often break up a network by raiding a central "document mill" where Social Security cards, passports and licenses might be drying on a large printing press, said Kevin Jeffery, deputy agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles.

Now documents are made with illegal software on laptop computers. That mobility makes the networks harder to bust. "With a computer and a printer, you are in business," Jeffery said.

Authorities also can be stymied by complex delivery networks.

Around MacArthur Park, sellers who openly offer fake IDs do not actually carry any of the documents. Instead, they negotiate prices as high as $300 for a package containing a driver's license, Social Security card and green card. Next, they send the buyer to a less crowded area a few blocks away, where a picture is taken and the customer pays up.

The picture and cash change hands a few times before arriving at an apartment where a laptop, printer and laminating machine spit out the documents. Within an hour, a runner -- perhaps a young man dressed as a student, or an elderly woman -- delivers the documents near the site of the original deal.

Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, said it is not easy work. The biggest threats are disgruntled customers, undercover agents who record deals with cameras the size of a button, and gang members demanding protection money.

When Hernandez senses a customer might be a police officer, he calls out "7/11 ," and his underlings disappear. If a seller is arrested, others collect money to bail him out of jail.

"We are not trying to do anything bad," said Sergio Guitierrez, 35, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who sells IDs. "Immigrants just need to work."

"This is the government's fault," said Maria Zuniga, 55, an illegal immigrant from Honduras who sells and transports documents. "They won't even give us a number to work or a driver's license."

[Soldier4Christ]

National Guard Set to Work on Border

 The first National Guard troops sent to assist immigration agents prepared Sunday to work on projects near a fortified stretch of desert along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The 55 Utah National Guard members on Monday plan to begin extending fences, improving gravel roads and working on border lighting near the town of San Luis, Ariz., which is part of the nation's busiest U.S. Border Patrol station.

 "They are putting everything together so they can hit the ground running," said Maj. Hank McIntire, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard.

The troops are part of President Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard members to the four border states to perform support duties that will allow immigration agents to focus on border security. The Guard members won't perform significant law enforcement duties.

The National Guard members, who arrived in Arizona on Saturday, also were briefed on the duties of the Border Patrol and given tips on staying hydrated in the triple-digit heat of the Arizona desert.

A 12-foot-high corrugated metal fence divides San Luis from Mexico. About 50 yards inland from the border stands a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras.

Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across at night.

Officials say 300 National Guard soldiers from Arizona are expected to begin arriving at the state's border in mid-June.

About 170 troops are already helping federal and state officers there with communications, fence construction and anti-drug efforts.

The National Guard has been providing such assistance along the Arizona border for more than 15 years.

[Soldier4Christ]

An old struggle to adapt to a new country's ways

How do you say cheesesteak with in Spanish?

Joseph Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks, doesn't know. And he doesn't care.

Just read the laminated signs, festooned with American eagles, at his South Philadelphia cheesesteak emporium: This is America. When Ordering, Speak English.

Vento's political statement - from a man whose Italian-born grandparents spoke only broken English - captures the anger and discontent felt by many Americans about illegal immigrants.

With a battle looming between the House and Senate on legalizing some immigration violators, the public backlash is framed by two complaints:

One, my grandparents came legally. How come these guys can't? And, two, my grandparents had to learn English. How come these guys don't?

"Go back to the 19th century, and play by those rules," said Vento, 66, whose grandfather became a U.S. citizen in 1921.

But history challenges many assumptions about the hurdles aspiring Americans used to face, say scholars of the last massive migration to the United States, which occurred between 1880 and 1920.

"There was no such thing as an 'illegal' immigrant," said Roger Daniels, a member of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island History Committee and author of Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigrants and Immigration Policy Since 1882.

The Old Country often required exit visas, which created the possibility of illegal emigrants. But the United States did not issue entry visas until 1921.

Before that, no meaningful immigration restrictions existed, except for a bar on Chinese enacted in 1882. Congress imposed no other limits on the number of immigrants - from any one country, or in total. About a million arrived each year in the early 1900s. It wasn't until 1924 that Congress imposed an annual cap of 155,000 immigrants.

"If you could get here and weren't terribly diseased, you could get in," Daniels said.

By contrast, backlogs, country quotas and annual caps now make legal immigration a tortuous and nearly impossible process for many, said Thomas Conaghan, director of the Irish Immigration and Pastoral Center in Upper Darby.

Past immigrants, once here, faced a backlash fueled by anxiety about religions, languages and races that were relatively new to the United States. Fear of anarchist and "Red" ideologies and the competition for jobs also played roles.

Help-wanted ads limited applicants to native-born Americans, said Kathryn Wilson, director of education at the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

Current critics of illegal immigration echo earlier generations of nativists, say academic experts on ethnicity.

"A lot of the rhetoric was similar: 'They don't speak English. They don't want to be Americans,' " said Mae M. Ngai, a University of Chicago historian and author of Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America.

The Senate bill passed last Thursday, which gives some illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens, included an amendment that would make English the national language.

An English-only movement also took shape in the late 19th century, with an abortive attempt to require newcomers to read a passage in English at Ellis Island. In the end, the literacy test was administered, but in the immigrant's native tongue.

Joseph Vento's grandfather and namesake, a street-corner jeweler from Sicily, had trouble with English.

"They tried," Vento said of his grandparents. "They had a hard time. Look at the price they paid. They were limited."

The Ventos rarely left their South Philadelphia neighborhood. Now, in a way, the neighborhood has left the couple's descendants. Geno's sits at Ninth and Passyunk, the hub of Little Italy turned home to thousands of Mexicans.

Some try to order a cheesesteak. And it bugs Vento if they can't ask for American cheese, provolone or the classic - Cheez Whiz - without pointing.

"If you can't tell me what you want, I can't serve you," he said. "It's up to you. If you can't read, if you can't say the word cheese, how can I communicate with you - and why should I have to bend?

"I got a business to run."

Vento, who lives in Shamong, put up the signs when the immigration debate seized national headlines six months ago.

With Geno's Steaks tattooed on his arm, Vento is used to publicizing things, especially what's on his mind. Speak English signs also poster his Hummer. He has driven through South Philadelphia blaring through the SUV's P.A. system denunciations of neighborhood business owners who hire illegal immigrants.

"I say what everybody's thinking but is afraid to say," Vento said.

That many think as he does may be true. The dominance of Latinos among new immigrants has triggered a backlash, said Peter Skerry, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution.

Spanish-speakers make up about 30 percent of legal migrants and roughly 80 percent of illegal migrants, compared with the 21 percent preponderance of Italians a century ago.

"It's just a huge concentration . . . that raises questions for people about how these immigrants are assimilating," Skerry said.

He and other experts say that current immigrants are taking no longer to assimilate than Vento's grandfather did. Now, as then, English takes hold among the children of immigrants, and native languages disappear by the third generation.

What's different, Skerry said, is that many Americans now value multiculturalism, and technology allows it to flourish. Satellite TV beams soap operas from Latin America to U.S. living rooms, phones make it cheap and easy to connect with relatives back home, and airplanes allow a back-and-forth existence.

In society, "there is a notion that people are entitled to their own culture," he said. "Assimilation is a dirty word in many quarters. Sometimes, we don't even use the word anymore."

Vento is lashing out at that self-assertion by immigrants: "I don't want somebody coming here to change my culture to their culture," he said.

"They want us to adapt to these people. What do you mean, 'Press 1 for Spanish'? English, period. Case closed. End of discussion. You better make it the official language."

[Soldier4Christ]

Coming soon to U.S.: Mexican customs office


Kansas City is planning to allow the Mexican government to open a Mexican customs office in conjunction with the Kansas City SmartPort. This will be the first foreign customs facility allowed to operate on U.S. soil.

City leaders voted last month to give the facility an innocuous name to hide its true identity as an arm of the Mexican government, staffed by Mexican officials.

In fact, Kansas City is so enthusiastic about the opportunity, the cost of building the $3 million dollar facility for Mexico will be paid for by Kansas City taxpayers, not by the Mexican government.

The current plan for the NAFTA Super Corridor calls for the construction of a 12-lane highway (six lanes in each direction) along Interstate 35. The Kansas City SmartPort is designed to be the central hub in the planned NAFTA north-south superhighway cutting through the heart of the United States.

Supercargo ships, carrying goods made by cheap labor in the Far East and China, will unload in the Mexican port at Lazaro Cardenas, eliminating the need to use costly union longshoremen workers in Los Angeles or Long Beach. Rather than transporting the containers by trucks from the West Coast, using Teamster drivers, or on rail, with the assistance of railroad labor in the United Transportation Union, the containers will be loaded onto Mexican non-union railroads at Lazaro Cardenas. At Monterrey, Mexico, the containers will then be loaded onto Mexican non-union semi-trailer trucks that will cross the border at Laredo, Texas, to begin their journey north along the Trans-Texas Corridor, the first leg of the planned continental NAFTA Super Corridor.

To speed the crossing at Laredo, Texas, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America working groups within the U.S. Department of Commerce will allow Mexican trucks to be equipped with electronic FAST technology so the trucks can cross the border in express lanes.

At the Kansas City SmartPort hub, the containers can be transferred to semi-trailers heading east or west, or simply stay on the Mexican trucks all the way into Canada.

According to the SmartPort website, in March 2005, Kansas City signed a cooperative pact with representatives from the Mexican state of Michoacan, where Lazaro Cardenas is located, to increase the cargo volume between Lazaro Cardenas and Kansas City. The whole point is to move cargo fast, using cheap, below union-wage scale Mexican workers to move the containers from Asia into the heart of the USA.

Shipments will be pre-screened in Southeast Asia, and the shipper will send advance notification to Mexican and American Customs with the corresponding ''pre-clearance'' information on the cargo. Upon arrival in Mexico, containers will pass through multiple X-ray and gamma ray screenings, allowing any containers with anomalies to quickly be removed for further inspection.

Container shipments will be tracked using intelligent transportation systems, or ITS, that could include global positioning systems or radio frequency identification systems, and monitored on their way to inland trade-processing centers in Kansas City and elsewhere in the United States.

As the Kansas City SmartPort website brags: ''Kansas City offers the opportunity for sealed cargo containers to travel to Mexican port cities with virtually no border delays. It will streamline shipments from Asia and cut the time and labor costs associated with shipping through the congested ports on the West Coast.''

Kansas City Southern, or KCS, has just completed putting together what is being called ''The NAFTA Railroad.'' On Jan. 1, 2005, KCS took control of The Texas Mexican Railway Company and the U.S. portion of the International Bridge in Laredo, Texas.

Then in April 2005, KCS purchased the controlling interests in Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, which KCS promptly renamed the Kansas City Southern de Mexico, or KCSM.

Again, the Kansas City SmartPort website notes that ''Kansas City Southern is installing Spanish-language versions of its computer operating system (MCS) in an effort to increase train speeds, reduce waiting times at terminals and enable the free flow of locomotives and rail cars between the United States and Mexico via Kansas City Southern's railroad bridge at Laredo, Texas.''

No stop is planned for customs inspection for KCSM trains until the Mexican customs facility located at Kansas City. The only security check planned at the U.S. border with Mexico is electronic, with the KCSM railroad moving along pre-approved KCS rail lines.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senators grant themselves amnesty


Let's stop playing games! Is the path to citizenship, as laid out by the Senate, amnesty or not?

What if our illegal friends pay fines, pay back taxes, remain continuously employed, stay out of jail, and promise not to criticize my favorite Mexican restaurant? Some senators say earning citizenship this way amounts to amnesty; most others say it isn't. But why take their word for it? These are the same guys who want to extend daylight savings time. Merriam-Webster weighs in: ''Amnesty ... the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals.''

This seems right to me. Yes, this is a darn good definition. I'm no master ''wordologist,'' but I'm thinking the folks at Merriam-Webster have nailed this one.

The problem is I don't think the most important question is whether or not legislation proposed by the Senate amounts to amnesty for illegal aliens. The better question is, does the legislation grant amnesty to United States senators?

The answer is yes.

Before taking office, all senators take an oath:

''I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.''

See the problem? Senators (presidents and representatives, too) have looked the other way while non-citizens illegally cross our borders and then proceed to live, work, play and raise families here. In so doing, many of our laws are broken because these illegal aliens fraudulently obtain Social Security numbers and driver's licenses, don't pay their taxes, and, worst of all, vote repeatedly for the next ''American Idol"!' Oh yeah, and they take jobs legal Americans want and do every day. That's not a crime – or is it?

The Constitution clearly defines how one can become a citizen, yet our lawmakers have not made any attempt to demand enforcement. We know enemies of our country have entered illegally, yet lawmakers have left our borders virtually unprotected. Remind me, what was the purpose of that oath, anyway?

Here's what's really happening: The Senate has drafted legislation making illegal aliens legal, and simultaneously, absolved its members of the responsibilities of their oath. Check the definition again for ''amnesty.'' There's no debate here. The Senate is making the outrageous attempt to grant itself amnesty, while laughing itself silly as we debate whether or not they are granting illegal aliens amnesty.

That's the fact, Jack/Jose.

Personally, I believe illegal aliens should be allowed to earn their way to a legal status. I just don't think those here illegally should ever be given the right to vote. Now, if they want to leave and come back legally, no problem. Absent that, politicians should not be able to pull a double fraud on us: grant themselves amnesty and pander to an entirely new class of tainted voters – voters our Constitution never envisioned. We're back to that oath of office issue, again.

Talk about a culture of corruption. Lawbreaking aliens are being used for the benefit of oath-breaking politicians. That makes the $90,000 squirreled away in Rep. William Jefferson's home freezer look like driving one mile per hour over the speed limit. It makes the Marc Rich pardon look like ... alas, let's not go there. The Marc Rich pardon still ticks me off.

Anyway, we should strip from politicians the right to grant themselves amnesty. I've got an idea. Why not, just for kicks, start holding our politicians accountable for their actions? I know they took that pesky little oath and that oath should mean something! We don't let presidents pardon themselves; why should Congress get that right?

The Senate bill grants amnesty, but perhaps the House of Representatives can put a stop to that madness.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senator Ted Kennedy: "A vote for this (marriage) amendment is a vote for bigotry pure and simple."

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. Senate will vote this week on the Marriage Protection Amendment, a bill which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was quoted today as saying, 'A vote for this amendment is a vote for bigotry pure and simple."

Kennedy, who claims to be Catholic while opposing the Church on every major tenet of morality, was blasted by Catholic League president Bill Donohue.

"A vote for the Marriage Protection Amendment is a vote to maintain the traditional understanding of marriage as it has been accepted for thousands of years all over the world," said Donohue.  "To brand those who support this amendment as bigots is mud-slinging: it is analogous to those who would call foes of the amendment 'gay lovers.'"

Donohue recalled that in 1996, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and allows states the right to deny recognition of gay marriages that have been performed in other states.  "Only 14 senators voted against this bill, and Senator Kennedy was one of them," Donohue pointed out.  "Thus, his proclaimed opposition to gay marriage is nothing but an empty gesture: he refuses to do anything that would protect the institution of marriage from legislative or judicial tinkering."

Donohue also noted the public support for the measure.  "In the last election, all 11 states that had same-sex marriage on the ballot voted against it, including states with a 'progressive' reputation like Oregon," he said.  "Moreover, more than 80 percent of the states have passed Defense of Marriage Acts."

Donohue reminded Kennedy the "Catholic" that "the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is in favor of a constitutional amendment."  He also noted that "Black ministers, like Bishop Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, have rallied in favor of the amendment.  Even in New York City, surveys show the people don't want same-sex marriage."   

Concluding Donohue asked, "Are all these people bigots, Mr. Kennedy?"  Answering the rhetorical question with: "Reasonable people may disagree whether a constitutional amendment is the right remedy, but only fanatics will call those who support it bigots."

_______________________

Well, Senator Fanatic I guess that makes me a bigot and I'm proud of it.

[Soldier4Christ]

More migrants apprehended along border
Explanations differ for 4% rise so far this year
 

CHICAGO — The Border Patrol says apprehensions of illegal immigrants along the Mexican border are up nearly 4% so far this year because of increased enforcement.

But advocacy groups say greater numbers are crossing the border because they are confused about conflicting legislation passed by Congress and hope to qualify for legal status.

“More people are coming because they believe they'll get a crack at legalization,” says Jessica Aranda of the Latino Union of Chicago. Chicago has one of the USA's largest Mexican immigrant communities.

There is no official data on the flow of illegal immigrants. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said Monday there has been no surge in the number of illegal crossings since President Bush announced in May that 6,000 National Guard troops would be sent to the border. Aguilar expects a decrease as more agents and Guard members are deployed.

Border Patrol spokesman Richard Rojas says apprehensions at the southern border are up this year to 826,109, from 795,218 at this point in 2005. “We're enforcing more; therefore, we're apprehending more,” he says.

Daniel Martinez, immigration program director at Catholic Charities in Laredo, Texas, says some immigrants believe crossing is easier now than it will be when National Guard troops arrive.

Other immigrants believe “maybe they can qualify” for a “guest worker” program or citizenship if they enter the USA soon, Martinez says.

Sheriff Omar Lucio in Cameron County, Texas, says his department is getting more reports of illegal immigrants abandoned in trucks or jammed into apartments.

A House bill passed in December would make illegal immigration a felony and boost enforcement. The Senate version, passed May 25, calls for a guest-worker program proposed by Bush and giving illegal immigrants here since Jan. 7, 2004, a chance to become citizens. Both chambers will negotiate compromise legislation.

Groups say confusion over the bills means some illegal immigrants are being ripped off. Some pay $500-$1,000 to people claiming to be lawyers who promise to expedite applications for a guest-worker program that was passed by the Senate but not the House. Applications don't exist.

“The fake lawyers disappear with the money,” says Ana Maria Achila of the Latin American Integration Center in New York City. “There is definitely confusion. We're seeing a lot of people asking where they sign up.”

Advocacy groups and Spanish-language media are trying to educate immigrants. Meetings were being held here Monday and today to tell immigrants that they can't apply for guest-worker status. In Alamosa, Colo., a community meeting Sunday explained that no bill has become law.

People who work with immigrants say the uncertainty and a legal crackdown are roiling communities:

•Tougher border enforcement is prompting some illegal immigrants to use crossings that are “more isolated, desolate and dangerous,” says Jennifer Allen of Border Action Network, a human-rights group in Tucson.

•Workplace raids that became more frequent recently made some illegal immigrants afraid to leave home, says Mariano Espinoza of the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network in St. Paul: “They want to work, but they don't know if the next time they will be detained.”

•“I see more fear than anything, because people just don't know what's going on,” says Flora Archuleta of the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center in Alamosa.

“There is fear, there is confusion,” says Catherine Salgado of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. But the possibility of a new path to citizenship means “there is hope, too.”

[Soldier4Christ]

City Measure Would Bar Illegal Immigrants


The City Council wants a judge to decide whether it can legally call an election on a measure that would bar illegal immigrants from renting in the city and force day laborers to prove they are legal residents.

The council was set Monday to schedule an election date, but instead decided to ask a judge whether it would be legal to do so.

The initiative would also ban day labor centers; deny permits, contracts and grants to employers who hire illegal immigrants; and require that city business be conducted in English.

A letter from an attorney prompted the council's action Monday. Dana W. Reed, representing resident Florentino Garza, questioned the formula city officials used to determine how many signatures were needed to put the measure on the ballot.

San Bernardino is a city of nearly 200,000 about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush: New immigrants must learn English
President courts GOP by stressing desire for new arrivals to assimilate

New arrivals to this country must adopt American values and learn English, President Bush said Wednesday, pushing anew for his proposal to overhaul immigration rules.

To gain passage during this midterm election year, Bush must win over many in his own party who are opposed to provisions he demands besides stepped-up border enforcement. Those provisions include providing a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants and allowing additional work permits for foreigners.

The president has taken several tacks in recent weeks to bring around recalcitrant lawmakers, including repeated emphasis on his seriousness about tightening the border with more manpower and equipment and imposing stiffer penalties on businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

On Wednesday, aware that lawmakers are hearing from constituents alarmed by the added burden immigration sometimes places on police, schools and hospitals, Bush touted the importance of assimilation — immigrants’ adoption of American culture.

He chose to do so in a heartland state where the rising Hispanic population is creating frustration, and influencing political races.

‘Orderly and fair’ system
Bush visited a community center that offers English and other classes along with business startup help. He also announced he was creating a new task force to encourage such efforts around the country and an Office of Citizenship within the Department of Homeland Security to promote the responsibilities and rights of American citizens.

“One aspect of making sure we have an immigration system that works, that’s orderly and fair, is to actively reach out and help people assimilate into our country,” Bush said in a speech at a local community college. “That means to learn the values and history and language of America.”

Bush showcases Spanish skills
The president may have undermined that message somewhat while at the Juan Diego Center, as he joined in a class preparing students for their U.S. citizenship tests. Though the instructor addressed students in English, Bush mostly chose their native Spanish to greet and quiz them. When the students couldn’t answer his question — how many father-son duos have served as president — Bush explained in Spanish that there have been two, the Bushes and “Juan Adams y su hijo Juan Q.”

In Nebraska, immigrants are filling jobs at meatpacking plants and in the farm fields. Their increased presence was a factor in the May 9 Republican governor’s primary in this solidly GOP state and is expected to figure in Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson’s re-election race against Republican challenger Pete Ricketts.

Nelson opposes Bush’s ideas, which largely track with a bill recently passed in the Senate that contains a guest worker program and a shot at citizenship for illegal immigrants along with increased border security. Nelson prefers the approach adopted last year in a radically different House bill, which is generally limited to enhanced border enforcement and hard-line measures such as making all illegal immigrants felons.

Nelson said he doubts that House and Senate negotiators — who have yet to begin meeting — will be able to bridge the divide and craft compromise legislation. “The Nebraskans I know and talk to want to secure the border first,” he said.

Nelson’s Senate colleague, Republican Chuck Hagel, is an outspoken supporter of the Senate measure. At the event with Bush, he earned the president’s praise.

Consensus emerging despite ‘elbows’
With business groups who want a steady supply of cheap labor, the driving force behind a temporary worker program, Bush noted the support of Nebraska’s hospitality and agricultural industries. He also countered pessimistic sentiments like Nelson’s.

“I know you probably look at Washington and think it’s impossible to develop a consensus in Washington, D.C. It probably seems that way, doesn’t it, when you pay attention to all the sharp elbows being thrown and, you know, the people opinionating and screaming and hollering and calling each other names,” the president said. “But there is a consensus emerging on this issue.”

Bush’s Omaha visit wrapped up a two-day journey devoted to immigration. On Tuesday, Bush traveled to two border states — visiting the Border Patrol’s agent training facility in Artesia, N.M., before going to the agency’s busy sector headquarters near the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Texas.

[Soldier4Christ]

US targets other leaky border
Canada's arrest of terror suspects focuses scrutiny on America's longer, less-patrolled northern border.


More experienced patrol agents. Radiation detection at ports of entry. New rules that require entrants to produce identification, where they once might have been just waved through.

A list of actions taken on the US southern border? Nope - the northern one. Over the last five years, while attention has centered on the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico, the US has also tried to plug the holes in its leaky boundary with Canada as much as it can.

But given the northern border's length (4,000 miles), its remote terrain (forested wilderness), and the value of trade that travels between the two nations ($500 billion), sealing it remains a daunting task. Canada's recent arrest of alleged Islamist bomb plotters may be just a reminder that terrorists could penetrate the US from many directions.

"Threats posed from the northern border may not be any less than from [the] southwestern border," concludes a draft study of border vulnerabilities from the University of Southern California's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events.

Last Saturday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of 17 people who had allegedly plotted to explode fertilizer-based bombs at important sites in Canada.

Officials alleged that the group was a homegrown terrorist cell of Islamist extremists who had even trained together in a field north of Toronto.

Some of the detainees may also have had US connections. Several of the Canadians allegedly met with two US citizens from Georgia - Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed - who are currently facing federal terrorism-related charges in the US.

US authorities charge that Sadequee, 19, and Ahmed, 21, made videos of the Capitol and other Washington sites to assess them as targets. The pair deny this, and so far there's no further evidence of a US connection to the alleged Canadian plot.

But the US border patrol says that it has still stepped up its vigilance, putting agents on the northern border on high alert and increasing inspections of incoming traffic.

"There is definitely a rampup of operations," Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told reporters on Monday.

Still, the vast majority of border patrol agents are oriented toward the south, where the US last year intercepted more than one million people attempting to illegally enter the country.

About one thousand agents are spread out in a thin line along the north, as opposed to over ten thousand in the south. But that one thousand represents a three-fold increase over the number that guarded the 4,000-mile border with Canada in 2001.

And the northern agents tend to be more experienced. Typically, border patrol employees start on the southern border, and then, after a three- to five-year long learning process, are eligible for deployment to the north.

So enhancements on the border with Mexico will eventually pay off on the border with Canada, argue US officials.

"By augmenting and enhancing our capabilities on the southern border, that actually allows us to continue enhancing the northern border from the southern," said Mr. Aguilar at a press briefing on May 16.

The Canadian border also has a higher priority than the southern one when it comes to the placement of radiation detection devices, point out US officials. That is because the border patrol generally considers the risk of nuclear smuggling from possible Canadian terrorist cells greater than any corresponding threat from Mexico.

In general, the deployment of these devices has lagged behind schedule, notes a recent US GAO report. But 217 portal radiation detectors have now been installed at northern sites, notes the GAO - enough to scan 90 percent of the commercial trucks and 80 percent of private vehicles entering from Canada.

However, US land borders historically have been porous, and the boundary with Canada may be even more difficult to defend than the stretch of scrub, desert, and cities to the south.

The University of Southern California study, funded by the Department of Homeland Security and written by Niyazi Onur Bakir, judges the northern border "largely undefended." And it points out that the only confirmed attempts to cross illegally into the US for terrorism purposes have both occurred in the north.

In 1997, a Palestinian named Abu Maizar was charged with conspiracy to blow up a New York subway station after being caught trying to cross from Canada. And in a more celebrated recent case, the Algerian national Ahmed Ressam was arrested in Washington state after driving off a ferry from Canada in 1999. Ressam had bomb materials in his car, and had been planning to attack Los Angeles International Airport in the so-called Millennium plot.

Lax Canadian immigration policies are a potential terrorism problem for the US, complain some US experts. In particular, Quebec, which has its own immigration rules and is an easy entry point for French speakers from North Africa - such as Ahmed Ressam, the "Millennium Bomber" - may be a hole in the dike.

Geography is also a problem - the US-Canadian border contains some of the wildest land left in North America. Many of the Canadians and Americans who live near the Maine border are used to driving back and forth over unprotected checkpoints whenever they want.

New rules, currently scheduled to take effect in 2008, would require that all crossers produce a passport, or equivalent ID card. Congress is currently considering whether to delay implementation of this rule for 18 months, due to controversy over its possible effect on trade.

Finally, Indian tribal lands could be among the border's most vulnerable points. Those that sprawl near border crossings, such as the Akwesasne Reservation in New York, have long been havens for smuggling drugs and other contraband.

[Soldier4Christ]

San Diego border agent arrested in raid


SAN DIEGO -- A border inspector accused of accepting cash and a luxury vehicle from smugglers driving carloads of illegal immigrants through border crossings was arrested Thursday.

The arrest came after a two-year investigation by the Border Corruption Task Force, a multi-agency team that pursues claims against officers at border crossings in California.

Investigators said that they had placed wiretaps on U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Richard Elizalda's phones after receiving tips that he was involved in suspicious activities.

In an indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors, Elizalda is accused of allowing smugglers from Tijuana, Mexico, into the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego.

Elizalda, a 10-year veteran, was arrested in an early morning raid on his home in Chula Vista. Agents seized cash and two luxury cars.

Elizalda's arrest came a day after another border officer was arraigned on similar charges of accepting more than $500,000 in bribes from smugglers driving illegal immigrants through the border crossing at Otay Mesa, several miles east of San Ysidro. Investigators said they believe the two cases are unrelated.

Attempts to contact Elizalda's home were unsuccessful and the name of his lawyer was not known.

Elizalda remained in custody and was expected to be arraigned Friday.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bill would make deporting undocumented immigrants easier


WASHINGTON — Texas lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday that would overturn a longstanding court injunction and make it easier to deport undocumented immigrants from El Salvador and other countries who qualify for temporary protected status under federal law.

The legislation would close a legal loophole under which criminals, including members of a violent Salvadoran gang, have been allowed to stay in the United States pending court hearings, the bill's sponsors said.

“We must not allow terrorists and criminals from around the world to abuse loopholes in our legal system, turning our Southwest border into a revolving door,” said Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio.

Groups representing immigrants and Latino rights said the legislation would reverse the Orantes injunction, issued in 1988, that grants Salvadorans and others fleeing persecution the right to an asylum hearing.

“It's a pretty outrageous effort to overturn a decision by a court,” said Cecilia Munoz with the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino rights organization.

“It's another example of members of the House overreaching on this issue at a time when the House ought to know better,” Munoz said.

The bill filed by Bonilla and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, comes as the country is wrapped in a bitter debate over immigration reform proposals.

President Bush traveled to the Southwest border this week to tout federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, and to urge lawmakers to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would eventually provide citizenship for nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants.

A Senate immigration reform includes a provision by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, which would make it easier for federal officials to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants.

A House border enforcement bill passed last December does not include provisions addressing court protections for asylum seekers and full deportation proceedings for Salvadoran immigrants.

Bonilla said the White House backs the legislation.

The lawmakers worked with Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security officials to write the bill that would remove legal hurdles that have kept federal agents from deporting undocumented immigrants who are “Other Than Mexican,” or OTMs, Bonilla said.

Undocumented Mexican nationals apprehended by Border Patrol are routinely returned to Mexico. Those from other countries are detained and some released with notices to appear before immigration judges.

More than 80 percent of those released never return to court.

According to the Border Patrol, about 160,000 OTMs were apprehended last year, and Salvadorans represent the largest number.

The Bush administration has filed a motion in a federal court in Los Angeles that would end the Orantes injunction,which entitled Salvadoran immigrants fleeing a civil war the right to an asylum hearing.

That injunction has made it difficult for U.S. federal immigration authorities to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants, 11 years after the civil war in that country ended and a democratic government installed, Bonilla said.

But there are still a substantial number of Salvadorans with good faith asylum claims that should have the right to a court hearing, said Linton Joaquin, a Los Angeles attorney with the National Immigration Law Center who helped win the Orantes injunction.

Joaquin said the proposed legislation would go even further, limiting the court to address violations or relief or consideration of cases.

Angela Kelley with the National Immigration Forum in Washington, an immigration advocacy group, said the legislation is an attempt to limit the courts' jurisdiction.

“They are trying to do an end run around the courts,” Kelley said.

The Orantes injunction, in particular, was the result of a disproportionate number of denials by federal immigration authorities of Salvadoran claims for asylum and a hearing.

“This is not an arbitrary court ruling,” she said.

Smith, however, said the Orantes injunction has become a loophole that has been exploited by members of drug cartels and Mara Salvatrucha, a violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13, to thwart immigration laws and win release after apprehension by immigration authorities.

Smith, a member of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said the bill would allow federal immigration officials to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants under the expedited removal process, which was created in his 1996 legislation on illegal immigration.

“The U.S. government expanded the number of people subject to expedited removal in recent years and this bill will continue the expansion,” Smith said.

Bonilla said the bill would help federal agents end the “catch and release” program, that allowed many Salvadoran immigrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border to be released into border communities with a notice to appear in courts.

“The efforts of our law enforcement officials to catch, detain and deport those who enter illegally must not be obstructed by those looking to abuse the system,” Bonilla said.

Bush, speaking on immigration reform in Omaha on Wednesday, pledged an end to the catch and release program by increasing the number of detention facilities.

“And I'm working with the countries to encourage their leaders to accept back those who have been caught trying to sneak into our country,” Bush said.

The president spoke Wednesday with Salvadoran President Antonio Sacca about U.S. immigration policy, said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

[Soldier4Christ]

Congress gets an earful on immigration
As the House and Senate struggle to reconcile two reform bills, constituents express frustration.


WASHINGTON – It's wedge week in the US Senate, as Republican leaders force largely symbolic votes on issues that sparked the GOP base in past elections, such as a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and permanent repeal of the estate tax.

But this election cycle, it appears that voters are fixed on bigger-ticket concerns - and they want results.

Back from a week in their home districts, members on both sides of the aisle report a growing disconnect between Congress and constituents on issues ranging from war to fuel prices. But voters seem to be reserving their greatest frustration for immigration.

Just count the bricks. Last Friday, the Architect of the Capitol's office hauled off some 2,100 bricks, sent to Senate offices by people who are angry that Congress hasn't done enough to build a "wall" at the borders. The Senate version of immigration reform, which passed on May 25, offers a path to citizenship for millions of people now in the country illegally. The House version of the bill focuses on border security. The two versions now must be reconciled.

A recent poll by the Republican National Committee signals there may be room for compromise. The RNC poll tested a number of messages on immigration and found that the candidate who focuses only on border security loses to the candidate who talks about comprehensive reform, 25 percent to 71 percent. Seventy percent of voters - and 64 percent of Republicans - say illegal immigrants who have put down roots in the US should be granted legal status if they "go to the back of the line, pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and have a clean criminal record," according to this poll. Only 25 percent say that would be amnesty.

"Americans believe illegal immigration is a serious problem that the government has failed to address in the past. Doing nothing on this issue is not a solution, as Americans want it fixed today," wrote RNC senior adviser Matthew Dowd in a May 26 memorandum.

For Rep. Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona, it's meant facing angry constituents at district meetings and late nights personally answering e-mails from voters dismayed over his support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. "If you can get more than 30 seconds to talk about the issue, you can win some people over," he says.

"If we just put our resources on the border, what do you do with the fact that half of those in the country illegally didn't sneak across the border? Do you think we can deport the equivalent of the state of Ohio across the border?" he says, in response to critics.

But freshman Rep. Patrick McHenry (R) of North Carolina, who has two bricks displayed on his desk, says his constituents are opposed to any form of amnesty for illegals. "My constituents are outraged by the Senate's actions," he says. "I hear about it when I'm at the supermarket, when I am getting gas, when I'm doing constituent meetings. To a person, they mention immigration as a top-tier issue. And I've yet to hear one constituent say anything positive about the Senate bill."

Recent polls put Congress at near-historic lows in public approval ratings, in the 20s. It's also playing out at the ballot box.

This week, Republicans won what had been a safe GOP seat in a special election to replace Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R) of California, who stepped down after pleading guilty to corruption charges. But they did so only after pouring $5 million into the race, and after Francine Busby, the Democratic contender, committed an 11th-hour gaffe on immigration that damaged her prospects. Last Thursday, she made a comment that critics said encouraged illegal immigrants to help her campaign.

"That remark pulled a whole bunch of Republican voters who weren't enthused about [former Rep. Brian] Bilbray into the race. It made a big difference," says Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report.

"Iraq is the driving reason why people think the direction of the country is so bad, but immigration feeds the sense that it's time for a change. It makes an already strong mood even stronger," says political analyst Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report.

However, incumbents also face scrutiny from voters over runaway spending and soaring fuel costs. The rising cost of commuting is especially likely to figure in suburbs and rural areas, where Republicans have typically won elections.

"If you read the polls, the top issues now are Iraq, immigration, and fuel prices. They're the hot-button issues people want something done on by Congress and the president," says Rhodes Cook, an independent political analyst.

Pennsylvania voters ousted 17 incumbent state legislators last month; 14 were Republicans. "I hope Republicans get the message that the base is very, very angry," says Pat Toomey, president of the anti-tax Club for Growth.

That's why Republicans on Capitol Hill are eager to find other reasons to mobilize their base for fall elections. But the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage fell short this week, as did the vote to end the estate tax.