Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush worried about border-hopping terrorists
Tony Snow says president 'already very concerned about it'


Presidential press secretary Tony Snow today defended his boss' level of commitment to border security, saying President Bush is "cognizant" of the fact terrorists may be entering the U.S. illegally.

"The president has made his views on border security well-known," WND told the spokesman, "and my question: Would the president make border security a higher priority if he were convinced it was being used as an entry point by terrorists like those who are part of Hezbollah and al-Qaida?"

Responded Snow: "Think of it this way. The president committed as much money to the borders already as the House of Representatives was planning on doing in five years. So, he was serious before – he's perfectly cognizant of the possibility there may be terrorists crossing over. We have intelligence assets deployed in the area, and so he's not going to be anymore concerned because he's already very concerned about it."

Yesterday, Snow indicated the president "is already putting National Guardsmen in positions where they can relieve the Border Patrol" – part of a $1.9 billion supplemental appropriation.

[Soldier4Christ]

'Amnesty' dead, Fox tells Mexicans
Says Bush told him no chance for legislation this year

Mexican President Vicente Fox told radio listeners in his country that the idea of an amnesty for illegal aliens in the U.S. is dead – at least for a time.

Fox said President Bush advised him of the political realities of passing his "comprehensive immigration reform plan" this year during a flight from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Madrid, Spain. Congress will shortly be adjourning until the November election.

Fox said Bush "pointed out that this period is very short, there are only two or three weeks before Congress members go on the election campaign. So the chance of the immigration issue reaching approval in the House of Representatives and reaching join approval isn't very high."

A White House spokesman acknowledged Bush made the comment to Fox, but said that doesn't mean the president won't be back promoting his immigration plan before the end of the year.

[Soldier4Christ]

Truck drivers from India to take U.S. jobs?
Union protests plan as attempt to undercut 'hard-working Americans'

An American company is recruiting long-haul truck drivers from India with the goal of placing them with U.S. trucking firms.

The Teamsters Union strongly opposes the plan by Gagan Global LLC of Garnerville, N.Y.

Teamsters Union spokesman Galen Munroe told WND the plan "is yet another example of corporations exploiting a visa program to replace highly trained, hard-working Americans with cheap labor from overseas."

Gagan Global has contracted with the Indian state government of Andra Pradesh and its Overseas Manpower Consultancy to run a training school in the Asian country.

Gagan Global CEO Philip Gagan told WND a first batch of 200 Indian truck drivers has been recruited to attend the school in preparation for work in the U.S.

"We are recruiting Indian truck drivers," Gagan confirmed to WND. "We are very demanding on our requirements to get into the school. The requirements are that you have to have five years of heavy driving experience on tractor-trailer trucks, you have to be HIV-negative, have a clean police record, verifiable references that the government in India can verify."

What about the ability to speak English?

"The Indian truck drivers have to be able to read and understand English," Gagan explained. "We like them to speak English. They all speak pigeon-English, mostly what they learned in schools."

How does Gagan Global know that the Indian drivers will be able to read road signs or communicate with other drivers on the road?

"We know that if they can read English and understand what they are reading," Gagan told WND, "then we think they can learn enough English in the four-months training program to be able to be productive in the U.S."

Gagan argued that the reason he created the company was to address the growing shortage in the U.S. for long-haul drivers.

"There's a massive shortage of long-haul truck drivers in the U.S.," Gagan said. "Long-haul truck drivers get home four days a month. There just aren't enough Americans who want to do that kind of work."

A May 2005 study conducted for the American Trucking Association argues that there is "already a shortage of long-haul heavy-duty truck drivers equal to about 1.5 percent of the over-the-road workforce, or about 20,000 drivers."

The driver shortfall is projected to reach 114,000 by 2014. Another 219,000 new truck drivers "must be found to replace drivers currently of ages 55 and older who will retire over the next 10 years and to replace those in younger groups who will leave the occupation."

Teamster Union spokesman Munroe strongly objected. In an e-mail to WND, he wrote:

    While there is currently a shortage of long-haul drivers, the problem lies with corporations like Gagan Global that are championing the race to the bottom for American workers. If corporations would treat their employees fairly and offer competitive wages with decent benefit packages, this shortage would disappear.

Gagan Global is in the process of applying to the Department of Labor to get H-2B visas for the Indian drivers. H-2B visas are designed to be issued only when there are no qualified and willing U.S. workers available for the job. Gagan acknowledges that no H-2B visas have yet been issued to Indian truck drivers training in India with his company.

Regarding the issuance of H-2B visas, Munroe wrote WND:

    Gagan Global has twisted the intent of the H-2B visa program to fit their desire for a fatter bottom line. The assertion that there are no American workers who are willing to take long-haul truck driving jobs is absurd. It would be more accurate to say they do not want to be exploited by taking poor-paying, long-haul jobs at nonunion companies.

On the company website, Gagan Global explains why Indian drivers are suitable to help address the shortage in long-haul drivers:

    We also found that while the average long-haul truck driver makes between $50,000 and $90,000 a year, these truck drivers make far less, and work a whole lot more. So what we have here are people who are never shy of work, extremely friendly and cooperative, and most of all, tough guys who are more than up to handling the American trucks.

Why is Gagan Global so sure the Indian drivers will be able to be successful on U.S. highways? The company website explains the Indian drivers "on an average, have anywhere between 10 and 25 years of experience driving trucks for a living. These drivers have driven long-haul trucks in extreme conditions and terrain and on roads that are anything but like the freeways in the U.S."

The economic incentive for the Indian truck drivers is obvious. Gagan explains:

    These [Indian truck drivers] want to work. They want to get into their trucks and work every hour that they are legally allowed to work. They only have a one-year period, plus a one-year extension under their visa to work here. Then they have to go home for six months and apply for a new visa. The Indian truck driver can earn in a day in the U.S. what it may take two months to earn in India. They don’t have families here and they don't care about time-off. If the Indian drivers come here work hard, they can go home with maybe $100,000, which is five lifetimes of money back home in India.

Gagan explained to WND that his company’s goal was not to undercut U.S. truck drivers:

    We’re not here to take jobs away from Americans. If they drive for a Teamster organization, they will join the Teamsters. Our Indian drivers have to come into a company and be paid exactly what the American drivers are being paid in that company. They have to receive every benefit and they have to be treated exactly the same. We want them to get the highest paid jobs they can get. We have rejected as clients a couple of companies that have approached us because they want to hire them as trainees and pay them about half as much per mile as they pay U.S. drivers.

The Teamsters' Munroe objected to Gagan Global's program, concluding, "It is time for American companies to invest in the American workforce. Outsourcing will only quicken the demise of the middle class."

[Soldier4Christ]

Federal agents arrested immigrants who lost asylum pleas

 Federal agents have arrested 61 immigrants in a statewide operation that targeted people who lost asylum pleas but remained in the United States against judges' orders, officials said Wednesday.

Most of the arrests occurred in South Florida, with 35 in Miami-Dade and 16 in Broward County, said Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those arrested included a convicted criminal whom federal officials identified as Glenn Zazim Khan, 34, of Trinidad and Tobago. In a statement, ICE said a jury convicted him on manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. An immigration judge last year ordered him deported, the statement said, and agents caught up with him in Orlando last week.

 The arrests follow a federal initiative unveiled in April to detain illegal immigrants inside the United States, and not just at the porous Mexican border. It includes efforts to go after employers who "knowingly and recklessly" hire undocumented workers, and to capture more candidates for deportation among the immigrants sitting in U.S. jails.

Federal officials also are pursuing so-called fugitive aliens, or absconders -- men and women who have ignored a judge's order to leave the country after losing an asylum claim. The Department of Homeland Security estimates there are more than 590,000 such fugitives living in the United States, and special Fugitive Operations Teams have arrested about 31,000 since March 2003.

"Those who fail to comply with lawful orders of removal should know that we are looking for you," said Michael Rozos, field office director for ICE's office of detention and removal in Florida. "We are committed to restoring integrity to our nation's immigration system."

However, new cases are arising at a rate of about 40,000 a year, far outpacing deportations. By September, ICE will boost its 35 fugitive operations teams by 17 to combat the problem.

Absconders account for a large chunk of overall deportations from the United States, and targeting them has prompted protests by immigrant advocates. They say the government lumps absconders with criminal deportees, including hardened gang members and rapists, when they usually have no criminal history.

"ICE has an obligation and every right to deport people here unlawfully," said Cheryl Little, of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. "But we're concerned about the manner in which these roundups take place. They not only have a disturbing emotional impact -- families are dismembered -- but they're also having a widely felt economic effect" in lost remittances.

For advocates on the other side of the debate, the number of absconders in the United States points to gaping holes in the immigration system. With the exception of Haitian immigrants arriving here by boat, most are not detained while judges hear their asylum pleas. And only a small percentage of immigrants who receive removal notices show up for final processing.

ICE has reported steady increases in overall deportations, from 149,523 in fiscal 2003 to 156,988 in fiscal 2004 and 167,742 in fiscal 2005.

The government's enforcement drive inside the United States also aims to shut down rackets that produce fake identity cards for immigrants. In another announcement Wednesday, ICE said a grand jury sitting in Fort Lauderdale had returned an indictment against four suspects charged with selling false Social Security and green cards.

If convicted, Luis Mejia, Suarli Salazar, Bernardo Alvarado, and Santos Ramos could be sentenced to 15 years for selling fraudulent documents out of Port Everglades, where Mejia ran a scrap metal shop, the agency said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Sheriff, federal agency at odds on caught immigrants
Undocumented immigrants being set free


Maricopa County Jail inmates convicted or cleared of human-smuggling charges and presumed to be undocumented were allowed to walk out of jail without being removed from the country because of a spat over jurisdiction between the Sheriff's Office and federal immigration agents.

Since the first arrests made under Arizona's human-smuggling law in March, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has filed 268 cases, 31 against suspected coyotes and the rest against suspected conspirators assumed to be undocumented immigrants.

So far, 63 have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, 15 have been dismissed, two acquitted and one convicted by a jury.

But 17 have walked right out of the jail and into the community - including six who pleaded guilty to human-smuggling felonies - because the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency decided it wouldn't transport out of the country people prosecuted under the controversial coyote law.

Instead, they slipped unnoticed through the red tape of a giant jail system and onto the streets.

Since July 11, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has transported 14 more of the coyote-law defendants in four trips to the Yuma area to rendezvous with U.S. Border Patrol agents willing to take the prisoners and put them through the federal process for removal.

"Why would they refuse to pick up the felons?" Sheriff Joe Arpaio asked.

Because, according to an ICE spokesman, only federal agents with ICE, the Border Patrol and other U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials are legally empowered to determine who is a citizen and who is in the country legally, which they do through specific interviews and checks.

"An officer must base the determination of status upon either an interview of the subject or through fingerprint comparison with existing records," ICE Special Agent in Charge Roberto Medina said in a July 6 letter to Arpaio. "Furthermore, only federal officers . . . can place detainers pursuant to the (Immigration and Nationality Act)."

State and county law enforcement can't make such determinations about "alienage."

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas was distressed.

"ICE's refusal to pick up and deport acknowledged illegal immigrants arrested by local law enforcement shows that the federal policy of 'catch and release' is still the order of the day," he said. "The federal government's continued unwillingness to perform its basic duty of securing our border makes Arizona's human-smuggling law all the more important."

According to the Sheriff's Office, there are an average of 900 to 1,000 prisoners in the jail at any one time with immigration detainers, or holds, indicating that ICE is to be contacted before they can be released.

ICE picks up prisoners every weekday. According to ICE spokesman Russell Ahr, for example, the agency picked up 165 immigration detainees between June 11 and July 12. According to the Sheriff's Office, the agency picked up 23 on Monday alone. But they refused to take the person in the group who had been prosecuted under the coyote law.

Ahr claimed ICE decisions are based on priorities: prior criminal history, immigration status, nationality and the nature of the crime they're accused of.

"The purpose of a detainer is not to have an illegal alien removed; the purpose is to have a criminal alien removed," he said.

When suspects are booked into Maricopa County jails, they are questioned on their immigration status. And if the interviewing officers doubt the suspect's immigration status, they send a teletyped message to ICE, which responds with its decision of whether to place a detainer on that suspect after running the information through its databanks.

Arpaio claimed that 35 of the suspects charged with human-smuggling violations had immigration holds that were later removed.

The reasoning for dropping the holds, according to Medina's letter, was that even though the suspects were being held on suspicion of human smuggling, which presupposes they are here illegally, ICE officials determined their interviews had not been conducted by qualified ICE personnel.

"In which case it should be incumbent on them to do an interview," said MCSO Chief Michael Olson, who is in charge of the jails.

Instead, as the charges were dropped, or as the convicts were sentenced to probation, they were released by deputies because there were no holds against them.

The lapse was discovered June 11 when a judge acquitted two men of conspiracy to commit smuggling and MCSO personnel called to have them transported from the jail.

When ICE refused, Arpaio announced he would have his own deputies do the transport.

"Now we have to waste our manpower," Arpaio said. "I don't have to do this. I can just let them go on the street. Who cares? Because they're convicted felons. They deserve to go back to Mexico because a judge said they're going back to Mexico. He didn't say how."

[Soldier4Christ]

 Mexican man gets $25K in suit deal

SAN LUIS, Ariz. — A Mexican man will receive $25,000 to settle a suit he filed against the city of San Luis after he was wounded by police who fired on a van filled with illegal immigrants, the city attorney said.
Moises Iniguez Zermeno of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, was one of 11 passengers in the minivan that was speeding back toward Mexico when the officers opened fire Aug. 14. Two other passengers were also wounded, according to police.
According to the Border Patrol, the driver of the van had picked up a group of illegal immigrants before the shooting and had turned back toward Mexico after Border Patrol officials began following it.
The Border Patrol radioed San Luis police, and two officers were trying to stop the van when it swerved and tried to run one of the officers down, police said.
The San Luis police previously concluded that Officers Joel Sauceda and Paulino Lara had acted in self-defense. But a subsequent investigation by the Yuma County Sheriff's Department concluded the officers' conduct violated their own department's policies.
City Attorney Glenn Gimbut said he thinks Sauceda and Lara are glad the case is over.
"The officers didn't do anything wrong; they were trying to defend themselves," Gimbut said.
Iniguez Zermeno's Yuma attorneys, James Metcalf and Hayden Hanna, would not comment.

[Soldier4Christ]

Judge Who Told Illegal Immigrant To Leave Court Is Dismissed

LOS ANGELES -- A judge who threatened deportation to Mexico for an illegal immigrant seeking a restraining order against her husband has been dropped from the roster of part-time judges used by the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Judge Pro Tem Bruce R. Fink, a family law attorney from Orange, was removed from the list of about 1,200 attorneys who are used as substitute judges for the county, court spokesman Allan Parachini said Friday.

"A lot of people run from controversy," Fink said. "It doesn't bother me. Remember, I was doing this as a volunteer."

During the July 14 hearing in Pomona, Fink asked Aurora Gonzalez if she was an illegal immigrant.

Gonzalez, who accused her husband of verbal abuse and threatening to report her to immigration authorities, acknowledged being in the country illegally.

"I hate the immigration laws that we have, but I think the bailiff could take you to the immigration services and send you to Mexico," the judge responded, according to a court transcript. "Is that what you guys want?"

Fink later warned Gonzalez that he was going to count to 20 and expected her to disappear by the time he was finished.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. When I get to 20, she gets arrested and goes to Mexico," Fink said, according to the transcript.

Gonzalez left the courtroom and Fink dismissed the case.

She moved into a domestic violence shelter last month, and could not be reached for comment.

Gonzalez has since resubmitted her request for a restraining order and had it granted, Parachini said.

Experts said that Fink as a state judge had no authority to order an arrest for violation of a federal immigration law.

"I did not want this woman deported," Fink said. "Now I understand that the court does not get involved in immigration status as long as it is not thrust upon it."

[Soldier4Christ]

'MS-13' is one of nation's most dangerous gangs
In-depth look its members, enemies and its threat to our national security

Some of the most notorious and dangerous criminals in the United States are part of one gang.  It's not the Bloods, it's not the Crips, but a gang called MS-13.  'Live and Direct' takes MSNBC into the streets to investgate how the gang is terrorizing neighborhoods and treating their friends and enemies with brutal, bloody force.

RITA COSBY, HOST, 'LIVE AND DIRECT':  [This gang has committed one of the most] horrific crime scenes ever witnessed by law enforcement, young men, women and children brutally murdered with machetes.  These innocent victims were slaughtered and dismembered for no reason at the hand of MS-13.

La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as the MS-13, are considered by the FBI to be the most dangerous gang in the U.S., leaving their mark from El Salvador to Honduras to Guatemala to New Mexico, and now on U.S.  soil.

In the last decade, the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in the number and size of this transnational street gang, which has quickly became a nationwide problem. 

SAM DEALY, “READER'S DIGEST”:  This is a problem that the federal government actually created.

COSBY:  Sam Dealy is a reporter for “Reader's Digest,” which did an investigative expose on the MS-13 gang.

DEALY:  Our default policy throughout much of the past decade has been simply to, when you catch these guys, deport them.  And they head back to Guatemala, or El Salvador, or Honduras, and weak states back there can't control them.

COSBY:  The majority of MS-13 members are foreign-born and are frequently involved in human and drug smuggling and immigration violations.  Like most street gangs, MS-13 members are also committed to such crimes as robbery, extortion, rape and murder.  They also run a well-financed prostitution ring.

This notorious gang, best known for their violent methods, can now be found in 33 states, with an estimated 10,000 members and more than 40,000 in Central America.  The FBI says MS-13 are the fastest growing and most violent of the nation's street gangs.  So much so, even other gangs fear them.

And you will be stunned to hear that this ruthless gang who will kill for the sake of killing has made its way to cities and suburbs across the country, even settling into small communities and boldly announcing their presence with violence.

Northern Virginia is reported to have the strongest number of MS-13 members in a single city.  And there are many cities infected now by MS-13.

TOM PICKARD, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI:  These people are actually dividing up parts of the country or areas of the country to suit their drug network.

COSBY:  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently sent out a memo warning Border Patrol agents that they could now become targets of hired assassins as retaliation for tighter border security.  The memo identified the higher guns as La Matta.  The memo went on to say that MS-13 is upset because law enforcement is hurting their gang smuggling business.

Former Texas border agent Jim Dorcy is very concerned.

JIM DORCY, FORMER BORDER CONTROL AGENT:  I think it's a real serious threat.  The Border Patrol is a real problem for the professional smugglers.  They're cutting into their incomes.

COSBY:  What makes MS-13 so deadly is their skill with the machete, and most have had extensive military training in El Salvador, making them a double threat.  The machete, typically used for cutting crops in El Salvador, is now the weapon of choice for this fearless gang.

The MS-13 are identified by their numerous tattoos on their bodies and faces.  They wear blue and white colors taken from the El Salvadoran flag.

Northern Virginia, Southern Maryland and around the Washington, D.C., area are having their problems now with MS-13, with a bigger concentration in Long Island, New York, and California, California being the U.S.  birthplace for this gang which settled there in the early 1980s and one of the states with the biggest numbers still today.

Last month, a Virginia woman was abducted at knifepoint by a group of MS-13 gang members.  They took her to Florida where police say they raped and assaulted her.  She eventually was able to fight off the men and escape.  The gang members have since been charged with false imprisonment.

And this type of brutal force is not unusual for that gang.  It's believed that the reign of terror for America's largest gang, known as MS-13, extends now into 33 states.  And even in the toughest cities, police say these gang members are among the most dangerous criminals they have ever encountered. 

As part of a LIVE & DIRECT special investigation, I rode along with the Miami police gang unit to see firsthand how they're trying to keep these violent thugs off the streets.

COSBY:  Miami is a paradise, with subtropical weather all year round, a tourist hub attracting thousands of vacationers each year, enjoying the beautiful beaches, the beautiful people, and the night life.

But even in a sizzling city like Miami, with all that it has to offer, lurks the threat of the MS-13 gang.  Like other cities in the United States, Miami, too, is feeling the heat from a gang who wants to claim new territory.

Miami Police Chief John Timoney arranged to get us inside the city's top gang unit as they prepare to hit the streets in search of MS-13 activity.

Sergeant Milton Montas De Oca, who heads up the gang unit, keeps his team out in the field to make sure the MS-13 gang members feel law enforcement's presence.

How tough are some of the members of MS-13?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  MS-13 is probably one of the most violent and structured gangs that we've come across in a long time.  MS-13 gang historically is a very violent gang.  They use violence to their advantage to make sure that whatever message they're sending out is heard by everyone.

COSBY:  How do they handle officers?  Do they hesitate to go after officers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  One of the officers was actually the spearhead of the investigation, they actually left a bullet with his name on it on his doorstep.  So when they do that, that shows a lot of courage on their part, you know, of being very bold.  Not only do they know where you live, but now they're putting a bullet with your name on it on your doorstep.

COSBY:  How young are some members of MS-13 that you've run across?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Right down to middle-school age.

COSBY:  Middle school?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  About 12, yes, middle school.  That's when we start to notice gang activity.  We focus on these kids because somewhat, for the most part, they are still, you know, save-able, you know, if we can get to them before the bad guys do.

We do, and we're trying to help them get out of that frame of mind.  But the kids are influenced at that age.  They're very influential.  And if what's popular to become a thug and live a thug life, then that's what they're going to do.

COSBY:  On this night, we saw markings where gang members staked out their territory.  Believe it or not, some of the markings were even plastered on the wall of an eatery where police officers are known to go.

What does this mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Well, we don't know.  Somebody is claiming to be affiliated with these gangs.

COSBY:  You seem to keep a particular eye on MS-13.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Yes, the reason we do that is because we've seen what they're capable of doing.  And so here in the city of Miami we've been, you know, we've been somewhat fortunate that my team actually comes out here every night and, you know, we work these guys.

COSBY:  To join the gang, MS-13, it's pretty brutal.  What do they ask the guys to do for initiation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  There's three different rituals that they perform.  They either walk the line, get jumped in, or for the females they have the option of being sexed in.

COSBY:  Police Chief John Timoney says MS-13 shows no mercy and plenty of brutality.

JOHN TIMONEY, MIAMI POLICE CHIEF:  It's a vicious, violent gang.  It has its own vicious, violent initiation, whether it's male or female.  You know, we've got some tough individuals that have gone through these initiation rights.

There was such kind of a rude awakening to all of us because, you know, we were used to gangs just being in L.A.  But then all of a sudden in the last five to 10 years, they popped up, particularly MS-13 in communities we just wouldn't expect.  They surfaced, and they surfaced fast.

They're also engaged, by the way, in drug dealing and anything else on the underground economy, you know, on the underground economy that will, one, get them some revenues, get them attention, help them recruit more people.

COSBY:  Well, keeping MS-13 gang members from carrying out their illegal and often very deadly activities has become a tough challenge for law enforcement.

Joining us now to talk more about MS-13 is Robert Clark, supervisory special agent on the FBI National Gang Task Force.  And we also have with us a former gang member, Juan Pacheco, who is originally from El Salvador.

Juan, why did you join the gang?

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JUAN PACHECO, FORMER GANG MEMBER:  There were a lot of reasons.  You know, right now, we have certain situations out in our community where young people feel isolated, feel vulnerable.  There's a lack of recreation, a lack of role models.

And one of the negative things that's been happening is that, you know, young people in our society—unfortunately, the media and people out there are painting every Latino to be a gang member.  And that's false.

And also the other mistake that people in the media are making is in painting every gang member as a criminal.  Most of the young people that join these gangs join because they don't have a sense of belonging.  They join because they don't feel a sense of community.

So instead of, you know, sending out these messages, kind of like painting and sending all these emotional poison out there, and making people believe that Latinos are the cause of the gang problem, we need to come to the realization that gangs are the effect of ineffective communities.

COSBY:  No, and that's a very good point, especially and, Juan, in the case, you know, you come from another country.  A lot of people, there's a language barrier.

PACHECO:  Definitely.

COSBY:  You're looking for somebody, I totally agree.  In this case, though, some of the folks, some of the folks who are members of MS-13, whether it's this gang or others—but MS-13 is a particularly brutal gang.

Tell us about just the initiation of those who are gang members?  And, of course, again, it's not all Latinos.  But in this case those who are members of—tell us about some of the terms that I came to know from going out there.  The term “jump in,” “walk the line,” “sexed in,” tell us about these.  What is this?

PACHECO:  Well, there are certain rights of passage that young people have to go through to get inside and prove themselves, right?  It goes to show you how far communities have failed these young people.

If a young person is willing to go out there and beat somebody up or hurt them, just think about the psychic negativity has dished upon this young person.

COSBY:  And what is “sexed in”?  Walk us through the terms, Juan, what is “jump in” and “walk the line”?  What is that?

PACHECO:  “Jump in” means you have to go through some kind of like physical assault.  Now, again, like I said, you know, if a young person goes through a physical assault, there's something wrong in his community.

COSBY:  Yes, what, a sense of desperation...

PACHECO:  Oh, a sense of desperation, a sense of disconnect, you know?

COSBY:  What is that?  What is “sexed in”?  What is that?

PACHECO:  Well, you know, some girls actually have to go through their own initiation.  And it sounds just the way it sounds.  That's what it means.

COSBY:  They have to have sex with the other members?

PACHECO:  And it's not only MS-13.  You know, other gangs have different, you know, similar ways of initiating young people.

COSBY:  Now, you know, it is like, as you said, it is a very desperate. Robert, you've been tracking MS-13 for a long time.  How much of a problem and how hard is it to track?  Because a lot of them do come from these different countries where they're disjointed.  But they come through a lot of borders, right?

ROBERT W. CLARK, MS-13 NATIONAL GANG TASK FORCE:  Yes, it is.  It becomes difficult because we have to try and coordinate the resources from not only throughout the United States at the state, local and federal level, but we have to try and coordinate the intelligence and information with our international partners, as well, with them going back-and-forth across the borders.

And we need to understand that MS-13 has a presence in five countries.  So if you could imagine the daunting task that we have at trying to coordinate all of our efforts and investigative resources over five countries, it becomes difficult.

COSBY:  I understand it's hard.  We're looking at shots of tattoos, too, Robert.  But a lot of them, what, don't use that as a marking anymore, right?

CLARK:  Yes.

COSBY:  How tough is that for you to track down?

CLARK:  Well, what they have now become smarter because of law enforcement efforts and presence.  They know that the tattoos draws attention to them.  So a lot of them are starting to get tattoos removed and a lot of them are not getting tattooed at all.

COSBY:  You know, Juan, we just have a little bit left, but you're doing some really good things helping folks get out of gangs, find other reasons for hope.  How tough has that been?

CLARK:  Well, and again, in coordinating with our international partners, we have seen that these intervention and prevention programs can actually have a positive effect.

And we want to see those things have such a positive effect in the United States that not only in our proactive efforts do we ensure the safety for our children for tomorrow, but the children of people who come from Central America looking for a better life in the United States, that we ensure that for them, as well.

COSBY:  And, both of you, stick with us.  I want to bring in if I could now Marcy Forman.  She's the director of investigation for immigration and also customs enforcement.

Marcy, some pretty incredible numbers about a lot of arrests that have taken place.  You've supplied us with 16 hot spots around the country where these gangs have been arrested in a variety of cities around the country.  How difficult is it to track down an organization like this, Marcy?

MARCY FORMAN, DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS, ICE:  Well, it's working collaboratively with our partners, our state, local and federal partners.  We work together.

The state and locals are the experts.  They're the boots on the ground.  And ICE, working in partnership with the state, local and federal agencies, have a very good success rate in identifying these individuals.

COSBY:  You know, you also gave us a video of ICE deporting some MS-13 gang members.  How difficult is it to make sure these guys never get back into the country?  What are the other countries doing?  Are they cracking down?

FORMAN:  We're certainly working in partnership with our foreign countries.  ICE has over 56 foreign attache offices located throughout the world.  And working with the foreign governments, we're looking to ensure that these individuals do not come back into the United States.

COSBY:  And, Marcy, real quick, I know there's different levels.  There's obviously those who join for belonging, there's those who join for much more severe reasons.  Are you worried about what could be coming across the border?

FORMAN:  Oh, we're certainly worried.  You know, we certainly want to maintain the integrity of our immigration system.  And it's certainly a vulnerability.  And we're looking to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute these individuals so they can no longer terrorize our communities.

COSBY:  You know, and Juan, I want to get you in just real quick, if I could here.  You're trying to help now some young kids avoid gang violence.

PACHECO:  Definitely.

COSBY:  How tough has that been?  Do you feel like you're making some inroads, real quick?

PACHECO:  I think one of the toughest jobs that we have is letting the communities understand that if the suppression aspect, meaning, you know, incarceration, deportation and prosecution failed us in the late '80s, and we're trying that method again to solve a community and public health issue, it will fail us again.

We need to concentrate more efforts on the prevention and intervention side of helping our young brothers, you know.  But who out there thinks in their minds and in their hearts to go out in their streets and give a gang member a hug or give one of these young people who need help?

COSBY:  Yes, start at the root of the problem. 

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Mexican Legislators Consider Immigration

MEXICO CITY - Federal legislators from Mexico's ruling party have introduced a bill to eliminate jail terms for illegal migration into Mexico, saying they want to send a message that migrants should not be treated like criminals.

The bill says illegal migrants should be fined instead of jailed. Under Mexico's current law, enacted in 1974, illegal migrants can face two to five years in prison, although authorities rarely impose such penalties.

The bill also would reduce fines for migrants and the maximum amount of time they can be detained by immigration authorities from three days to 36 hours.

National Action Party legislators Jose Antonio de la Vega, Pablo Alejo Lopez and Sergio Penagos say jail terms would remain for those who pose a threat to national security and for any who commit a crime.

"This is in response to the new reality" of migration, said Arturo Magana, spokesman for the Mexican Congress. "We cannot be demanding that the U.S. not criminalize migration and have this law here."

Magana said there is support for the bill across party lines in the Mexican Congress, whose session ends Sept. 1. Legislators also are discussing doubling jail time for people smugglers, who now face up to 12 years in prison.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in December that would treat illegal migrants in the U.S. as felons and increase penalties for first-time illegal entry to the country. The Senate passed a measure in May, backed by President Bush, that would increase border security and extend border fences, while also establishing a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. The two bills have yet to be reconciled and in the meantime, Bush sent National Guard troops to the border.

In a news release, the legislators said the bill should be accompanied by Mexican government promises to treat illegal migrants _ the majority of whom are Central American _ with respect.

Though Mexico demands humane treatment for its citizens who migrate to the U.S., regardless of their legal status, Mexico so far has provided few protections for migrants on its own soil, and human rights activists say abuses against them are rampant.

The Mexican government acknowledges that many federal, state and local officials are bribed by people-smugglers and that migrants are particularly vulnerable to abuse by corrupt police.

The government-funded National Human Rights Commission documented the abuses south of the U.S. border in a December report.

"One of the saddest national failings on immigration issues is the contradiction in demanding that the North respect migrants' rights, which we are not capable of guaranteeing in the South," commission president Jose Luis Soberanes said.

The number of undocumented migrants detained in Mexico rose from 138,061 in 2002 to 240,269 last year. Forty-two percent were Guatemalan, 33 percent Honduran and most of the rest Salvadoran.

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Arrests of employers of illegal immigrant workers on the rise

The number of employers arrested on charges of hiring illegal immigrants has more than doubled this year. And some employers themselves are in the United States illegally, immigration officials say.

With cases this week in Arkansas, Kentucky and Ohio, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 445 people so far this year on criminal charges and has picked up an additional 2,700 people suspected of immigration violations.

In 2005, there were 176 arrests on criminal charges and 1,116 on immigration violations, ICE said.

The stepped-up enforcement is intended to demonstrate the risk to companies that ignore the law in pursuit of cheap labor.

"ICE is taking an increasingly tough stance against egregious corporate violators that knowingly employ illegal aliens," ICE assistant secretary Julie L. Myers said Friday. "This is a wholesale departure from the past system of sanctioning corporate violators with minor fines, which were rarely paid in a timely manner or at all."

Two companies in Kentucky pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens, who worked at the companies' hotels in the London, Ky., area.

Asha Ventures LLC and Narayan LLC agreed to pay $1.5 million and could face another $500,000 in fines when they are sentenced in October, ICE said.

In Fairfield, Ohio, the owner of a Chinese restaurant was charged Thursday with encouraging or inducing illegal workers to reside in the United States.

Jing Fei Jiang, who owns the Bee's Buffet restaurant, employed at least two workers who were ordered deported from the United States in the 1990s, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

Jiang also was in the United States illegally, the affidavit said.

In Springdale, Ark., a raid by immigration agents resulted in the arrest of 27 suspected illegal workers and two managers of a construction business.

Alejandro Arevalo, manager of Arevalo Framing, was charged with harboring illegal aliens, ICE said. Arevalo and his crew leader, Rodrigo Arevalo, also were charged with re-entering the country after having been deported, the agency said.

The largest raid to date occurred in April when federal agents arrested seven current and former managers of IFCO Systems, a manufacturer of crates and pallets, on criminal charges, and more than 1,100 people were arrested on administrative immigration charges at more than 40 IFCO sites in the United States.

In another prominent case, four supervisors for Fischer Homes, a northern Kentucky home builder, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants.

Six people already have pleaded guilty in the investigation of the company and its subcontractors.

Federal authorities rounded up nearly 100 suspected illegal immigrants in May. Some continue to be detained in this country as material witnesses in the ongoing case.

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Immigration hurt money transfer business

 Controversy over illegal immigration hurt Western Union's business in the second quarter, as immigrants in the United States became less willing to send money to their families in Mexico, the chief executive of Western Union's parent company, First Data Corp., said Friday.

"We estimate that the U.S. immigration activities in the second quarter negatively impacted Western Union's total revenue growth by 2 percent and total operating profit by 3 percent," said Ric Duques, CEO of Greenwood Village-based First Data (NYSE: FDC), in a conference call with analysts.

 He said the well-publicized efforts by lawmakers to crack down on illegal immigration and tighten the U.S. border with Mexico had frightened both legal and illegal immigrants away from money-transfer offices.

"Most of these migrants come to the United States to find work and in many cases send money back to their family," Duques said. "The last thing these people want is to find themselves a target of controversy or suspicion. Even those in this country legally may now have concerns about their paperwork or undocumented family members."

Fear of harassment and arrest are prompting many migrants to hang onto their cash, Duques said.

"In May and June, more than 2,000 migrants were arrested across the United States," he said. "You can imagine the ripple effect that these arrests are having on the community... It's inconceivable that these developments would not have an impact on money transfer industry."

Mexico's central bank, Banco de Mexico, reported remittance transaction growth of 14 percent for April and May, down eight percentage points from 22 percent growth rate in the first quarter, Duques said.

First Data experienced a noticeable decline in transaction growth across all three of its money transfer brands -- Western Union, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, Duques said.

Total Mexico transactions excluding Vigo grew 6 percent, compared with 17 percent growth in the first quarter, he said. Western Union-branded transactions to Mexico, excluding Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, increased 10 percent, compared with 23 percent in the first quarter. And Western Union's domestic money transfer business, including Latinos within the United States, grew 5 percent, compared with 5 percent growth in the first quarter, Duques said.

On Thursday, First Data reported earnings of $436 million, or 56 cents per share, up from $391.9 million, or 50 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

The company reaffirmed its previous full-year guidance of $2.35 to $2.42 per share, but said that it might come in at the lower end of that range if immigration issues continued to hurt Western Union business.

First Data plans to spin off the Western Union business in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

[Soldier4Christ]

Arkansas Immigration Raid Reaches Beyond Workers
Immigration agents in Arkansas were still at the plant as neighbors spoke out. It's not justice served, they said, it's a community disrupted.

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The immigration agents arrived at the Petit Jean Poultry plant just before the 7:30 breakfast break, armed and dressed in khaki uniforms. They went straight to the room where more than 100 Mexican workers in tan smocks were cutting up chicken, then shouted in Spanish for everyone to freeze.

Some workers started crying. A few made quick cellphone calls, alerting relatives to care for children who would soon be left behind. The plant manager watched as 119 workers — half his day-shift crew — were bound with plastic handcuffs and taken to a detention center, from which most would be deported to Mexico.

Immigration officials said they were cracking down on document fraud and illegal hiring. But what happened after the raid last July came as a surprise to many people in this conservative Bible Belt region: Instead of feeling reassured that immigration laws were being enforced, many felt that their community had been disrupted.

The Petit Jean workers had come to be more than low-wage poultry processors. They were church friends, classmates and teammates in the local softball league. And so some residents responded to the raid by helping workers fight deportation, driving them to court and writing to lawmakers for help. Others donated money, food and clothing to the families of workers detained or sent back to Mexico.

Now, one year after agents arrived at the poultry plant, the Petit Jean crackdown shows the effects of an immigration raid can reach far beyond the illegal workers and businesses involved. Many residents say they feel sympathetic to undocumented workers and angry at the government.

The government's critics include Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln and prominent Arkadelphia citizens. Even officials charged with enforcing the law in Arkadelphia have criticized the raid for removing people who belonged to their community.

"We take them into our public schools. We accept them into our churches. They play on our football, soccer teams," said Troy Tucker, the county sheriff at the time of the raid. "And then one day Immigration comes in and sweeps them all away."

The anger in this part of Arkansas comes amid new efforts by federal authorities to enforce laws against hiring illegal workers. There have been 2,100 people arrested in workplace raids nationwide during fiscal 2006, up from 1,145 in 2005 and 845 in 2004.

The crackdown at Petit Jean also raises questions about the effectiveness of immigration raids. According to two community leaders, about 60% of the deported Petit Jean workers have returned to southwest Arkansas and are working again.



Arkadelphia, a quiet city of 11,000 in a county where the sale of alcohol is forbidden, has been drawing Latino immigrants for about a decade. In time, some formed friendships with longtime residents, including prominent members of the community.

The first sign that immigration agents would face resistance came a few weeks before the raid, when they visited the county prosecutor, Henry Morgan. The agents knew that someone had sold Social Security cards to a number of Petit Jean workers, and they wanted Morgan to charge the workers with forgery, a step toward deportation.

Sworn to uphold the law, Morgan was an unlikely advocate for undocumented workers. But a few years earlier, he had met the son of one of the immigrants at Petit Jean and had seen a bit of the world through their eyes.

Morgan met Oscar Hernandez while having dinner at a friend's house. He liked the high school senior so much that he hired him to help harvest the muscadine grapes that Morgan grew near his home.

As they worked in Morgan's lush garden, Hernandez talked about how his mother had fled an abusive husband in Mexico with her four children and was determined to provide for them by becoming one of the most productive workers at Petit Jean.

When the immigration agents paid their call, Morgan, a tall, trim man who is sympathetic to victims of domestic violence, remembered Hernandez and his mother.

"So I'm thinking: You're going to take a woman who's been here 13 years, worked hard, paid taxes, raised a family — and these kids don't even know what Mexico's like — and you're going to send them back?" he recalled recently. "Is that what we're doing? Is that homeland security?"

Morgan told the agents he'd think about their request, which is Southern for no. Then he called Sheriff Tucker across town, who backed him up.

When the immigration agents, acting on their own, raided the plant two weeks later, they did not warn Morgan, the sheriff or other county officials.



Arkadelphia residents Dr. Wesley Kluck, a pediatrician, and his wife, Debbie, had not thought much about the national immigration debate before the raid, she said. They didn't even know that they knew an illegal immigrant. They simply knew Juanita Hernandez.

Thirteen years ago, the Klucks' daughter was asked by her third-grade teacher to help a new girl in class, a recent arrival from Mexico. Because the girl's family had no phone or car, Debbie Kluck started driving to their apartment, in a dilapidated brick housing complex across town, to pick up her daughter's new friend so they could play or go to the pool. In time, Kluck befriended the girl's single mother, Servanda "Juanita" Hernandez.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

The Klucks invited the Hernandez family to their home for the holidays. They took some of the Hernandez children on vacations to San Francisco, Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. Their daughter played on a softball team with two of the Hernandez girls. It was a team coached, coincidentally, by the Petit Jean plant manager.

After the oldest Hernandez daughter was admitted to Ouachita Baptist University, where Wesley Kluck recently became a vice president, the Klucks raised $20,000 to pay her tuition. They did the same for her younger sister.

Debbie Kluck says she assumed Hernandez had immigrated legally. Now she does not want to mention the Hernandez children by name, afraid they might be deported.

The day Juanita Hernandez was arrested in the Petit Jean raid, her oldest daughter called the Klucks, frantic and worried that immigration agents would come after the rest of the family. Debbie Kluck told the girl to bring her family over.

Then, Debbie Kluck called Sheriff Tucker for help reaching Juanita, who had been taken to a detention center an hour south, in Texarkana. Dr. Kluck e-mailed the governor, a college classmate, who later sent a member of his staff to investigate.

Of the 119 detained workers, only Hernandez and six others were not deported. They were released without bail to await hearings before an immigration judge. The judge could grant Hernandez legal residency if she shows that, among other things, she has no criminal record, has children who are U.S. citizens and that they would suffer "extremely unusual hardship" if she is deported.

The Klucks are helping Hernandez to pay her legal fees and build her case. Debbie Kluck has reviewed her friend's finances and says she can show that Hernandez has always paid income taxes.

Moreover, she found that some prominent people were willing to write letters to the court on behalf of Hernandez — including Morgan, the prosecutor, and Tucker, who was the sheriff until earlier this year.

"To me, the raid was foolish," Debbie Kluck said. "What was the purpose of the raid? It appears to be more of a political ploy to make people look like they're doing a great job. For us, it kind of backfired."



The raid also shocked Krystle Williams — so much that she helped a deported worker return to town and rebuild her life.Williams, a 23-year-old community college student, took action after her friend Dalia Vidal was arrested in the Petit Jean raid. While Vidal was sent to the detention center in Texarkana, Williams looked after her friend's daughter, Kimberly, until relatives arrived that night. After Vidal was deported, Williams gave Kimberly clothes, took her to doctor's appointments and bought her medicine.

A few days after the raid, Vidal called Williams from Mexico, saying she was determined to return to Arkadelphia. But she had only $40 in her pocket.

Williams insisted on sending money, which helped Vidal pay a smuggler's fee of $1,800 to cross the border. Vidal said she also used money that was wired by immigrant friends in the U.S.

Now, Vidal, 28, lives in a rented trailer that Williams helped her find and furnish, in a neighborhood of tract houses. Pit bulls are chained in neighboring yards, near plastic lawn signs displaying the Ten Commandments.

"She understands my problems," Vidal said in Spanish, marveling that an American had become a part of her life.

On a visit to her friend's trailer, Williams said she wanted lawmakers to create a guest worker program for people like Vidal.

"I think they were wrong," Williams said of the agents who raided Petit Jean. "They should have just let them be."

Latino leaders say Vidal is among dozens of Petit Jean workers who have returned to the Arkadelphia area. Blasa Hernandez, for example, a 45-year-old mother of five, was deported after living in the United States for five years. A month later, she returned and now works at a plant that makes plastic flowers.



Martha Dixon does not understand why people would do so much to help illegal immigrants.

Dixon belongs to a Democratic women's club that donated $1,000 to the Petit Jean workers. Her company, which makes uniforms and other apparel, counts Petit Jean as a customer. And yet Dixon has limited sympathy for the Petit Jean workers and other illegal immigrants, because she believes they lower wages for American workers.

People who help undocumented workers are undermining the law, she said.

"You can't straddle the fence, and I think that's what we're trying to do," Dixon said.

Other Arkadelphia residents were pleased that federal officials had gone after illegal immigrants. "It's turned into a problem now that's almost unmanageable," said Fred Swafford, 65, a retired plant manager, over breakfast at Andy's, a restaurant just off Interstate 30. "We are a nation of laws, and you cannot ignore those basic laws."

But Huckabee, the Republican governor, who may run for president in 2008, called for a White House investigation into why the Arkadelphia plant was targeted.

"Our first priority should be to secure our borders," Huckabee said in an e-mail to The Times. "I'm less threatened by people who cross the line to make beds, pick tomatoes or pluck chickens" than by potential terrorists crossing the border.

After the Petit Jean raid, Huckabee donated $1,000 to the workers' families. Residents and businesses donated $12,000.

Some residents did more. Pentecostal Pastor Bill O'Connell 47, drove to the Texarkana detention center to visit workers whose families he had met at church.

Jon Capps, 29, who was renting homes and trailers to a few of the workers, gave them a break on rent. "I want them here," he said. "They're good renters."



At Petit Jean, these days, plant officials say employee turnover is high.

In the mornings, a dozen job applicants mill in the parking lot. But most of the hires don't last, said Ronnie Farnam, the plant manager. Processing chicken is cold, damp work that leaves one smelling of raw meat. Workers must cut chicken into boneless breasts on seamless disassembly lines, each person processing 12,000 pounds of poultry a day.

Unable to find enough workers, Farnam said he had eliminated 88 of the 550 jobs that existed at the time of the raid, slashing production by 20%.

Some here contend that Farnam would draw capable American workers if the plant raised wages. Donald Beasly, 34, who started working at the plant soon after the raid, said immigrants were taking jobs that would otherwise go to residents. But he doesn't blame the immigrants.

"Mostly, these chicken plants, they need to pay more," Beasly said as he stood outside the plant on his morning break.

Farnam, a barrel-chested man whose office is full of University of Arkansas sports memorabilia, said the average wage for Petit Jean workers was $8.50 to $9.50 an hour, but many immigrants said they were earning the starting wage of $6.

Farnam said he had checked workers' identification cards and did not knowingly hire illegal immigrants. "If we were guilty of anything, we were guilty of trusting," he said.

Since the raid, Farnam has been screening new hires through a federal program that checks whether workers have submitted valid Social Security numbers. However, the program cannot determine whether a Social Security number actually belongs to the worker. For instance, the system cannot catch illegal immigrants who bought documents belonging to U.S. citizens. Farnam has yet to catch an illegal worker.

Juanita Hernandez, the woman who became close to the Klucks, says she misses her job at the plant and would like to return. But she is barred from working until her residency case is settled. Her next court date is in October.

Without a job, Hernandez has applied for federal food assistance and Medicaid for the three children she had since entering the United States. Local families are paying the rest of her monthly expenses.

Debbie Kluck hopes that after all the upheavals of the last year, Hernandez and her family can stay in Arkadelphia. She calls the family "beautiful people" with high moral standards.

"If I could pick and choose who could be U.S. citizens and who my tax dollars could support," she said, "I would choose them."

[Soldier4Christ]

Hastert visits El Paso port of entry on immigration tour

EL PASO — House Speaker Dennis Hastert finished a two-day visit to the U.S. border today with a tour of a port of entry in El Paso and repeated calls for security reforms to protect the border.

Hastert, R-Ill., said he made the trip to determine what resources were needed to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. On Friday, he and several other members of Congress made three stops in Arizona, a hot spot for illegal immigration, and saw National Guard troops building fences near the border as part of President Bush's Operation Jump Start.

Speaking for the group, which included U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, Hastert said today that securing the border must be the focus of any immigration legislation.

Hastert's visit comes amid the ongoing and contentious national debate about the future of U.S. immigration policy that has prompted mass protests around the country.

Both the House and Senate have passed immigration reform bills, but a compromise bill for the president's approval has not been worked out.

Hastert said he would only support legislation that focuses first on security and does not give illegal immigrants amnesty.

"We have to protect America," Hastert said. "We don't think the Senate bill...is the right thing to do."

The House bill, HR 4437, which passed in December, is focused on enforcement and does not address a guest worker program or a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

The Senate bill, passed earlier this year, does include a guest worker program and other reforms, some of which have been billed as amnesty by opponents.

Hastert's border visit was criticized by U.S. Reps. Silvestre Reyes and Charlie Gonzalez, both Texas Democrats who were not part of the delegation.

In statements released by Reyes and Gonzalez, both congressmen said the tour was more about politics than achieving substantive reform.

"We always like to have members visit El Paso, but we'd much rather have them working back in Washington, D.C.," Reyes said in his statement. "And if the Republican leadership is so concerned about border security, I really wonder why they didn't make this trip before the House considered HR 4437, and why they aren't appointing conferees to craft a final bill with the Senate."