Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

Illegal immigrants face crackdown in Pennsylvania

In the Pittsburgh courtroom where his American odyssey ended, an uneducated Guatemalan farmhand caught driving a van with 15 other illegal aliens said he was resigned to his fate -- at least for the time being.

"They can do whatever they want," said Pascual Elias Diego-Pablo, 22, through an interpreter, "because I have no other alternative."

Diego-Pablo and a Mexican caught with him in March, Juan Manuel Bolio-Carmona, 22, pleaded guilty at their June hearings in U.S. District Court to violating federal immigration law. They were sentenced to time served, assessed a $200 fee and turned over to immigration officials for deportation.

It was not the first time for either man. Both had been sent back before -- Diego-Pablo twice and Bolio-Carmona 10 times.

Western Pennsylvania has not been a magnet for immigrant labor since the industrial boom 100 years ago. But the growing number of migrant workers crossing the country in search of work increasingly is being felt here.

Two weeks ago, Jose Felix-Murillo was caught at a Westmoreland County highway checkpoint while delivering a truckload of lighting equipment to Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. It was the sixth time the Mexican was arrested for being in the county illegally.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Cranberry Republican, introduced bills in Harrisburg last month to deny illegal aliens non-emergency public services and make it a felony to knowingly hire them.

"When someone invades our nation and decides they're going to come across our border, come to Pennsylvania and try and find a job illegally, or plug into our benefits and services ... when somebody tries to take advantage and in a way steal the American dream instead of working for it, I think that's offensive to every American, whether you were born American or naturalized," he said.

Shutting off economic attractions for the state's estimated 100,000 or more illegal aliens will drive them out of Pennsylvania, Metcalfe said.

Many are just driving through it.

Mixed in with the rumbling tractor-trailers hauling freight across the state's major arteries is another, illicit kind of commercial transport -- alien smuggling.

"Sometimes they'll pull the middle seat out of the van and herd them in like cattle," said Pennsylvania State Police Major Terry Seilhamer.

Seilhamer is the commander responsible for Interstate 80 from the Ohio line to the middle of the state. Diego-Pablo was caught in a March 10 traffic stop on I-80 in Mercer County, when a state trooper pulled over the blue Ford van he was driving for speeding.

The van, which was taking its undocumented riders on a 2,800-mile run from Los Angeles to New York, had racked up 175,000 miles in less than a year, according to police.

Diego-Pablo, Bolio-Carmona and Felix-Murillo are all part of Pittsburgh federal prosecutors' growing immigration caseload.

On May 17, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's office prosecuted six Mexican men for criminal violations of immigration law -- in one day matching the total for all of 2003. So far this year, Buchanan has sought indictments against more than 50 illegal immigrants.

"Areas like Pittsburgh are often places where illegal aliens will attempt to hide, because they think they will not be uncovered here. They think people are not looking for the problem, but that isn't true," Buchanan said.

Flow increasing

In 2004, troopers in Mercer County began checking the IDs of suspicious passengers after traffic stops, instead of just ticketing drivers. The Mercer barracks caught 558 illegal aliens that year, results that were literally overwhelming.

The Pittsburgh field office of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which has about 20 agents, claimed they could not keep making the two-hour drive north to collect and process illegals every time troopers stopped them, Seilhamer said.

Local jails now contract out a few cells to temporarily hold illegal aliens until agents can collect them.

Last year, Pittsburgh immigration agents arrested more than 1,000 illegal aliens, typically after local or state police stops, according to Bill Riley of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"People think all we do is wait around for cops to call us to come out and pick up illegal aliens," said Riley, who as assistant agent-in-charge of the larger Philadelphia immigration office is responsible for Pittsburgh operations.

"We do that, and that's an important mission that we fulfill as our resources best allow us to do it. But like any other law enforcement agency, we apply the finite resources we have to the biggest threat," Riley said.

His agents also investigate international cases, including child pornography, narcotics rings, intellectual property theft and the unauthorized sale of military technology. The Pittsburgh office has prosecuted almost 50 people for customs-related cases in the last 16 months, Riley said.

The issue is far from settled when illegals are turned over to immigration agents.

The country's 20,000 detention beds usually are reserved for those with criminal records or those considered national-security risks.

So most illegal aliens, once their fingerprints and documents are checked against immigration, terrorism and criminal databases, are released with an order to appear in immigration court at a later date.

Last year, 60 percent of illegal aliens skipped their immigration hearings, according to an April report by the Congressional Research Service. Judges usually order no-shows deported, but immigration agents have to find them first.

More than a half-million aliens have been ordered deported but still are presumed to be living in the country, the congressional report found.

Local workers

A small but steady flow of Latin American migrant workers avoids the saturated labor markets of the Southwest and make their way here.

Scott Simmons employs about 20 Mexicans at his family farm, tucked away amid the upscale subdivisions of Peters, Washington County. Most are men, but a few women are standing in the kitchen of the shop speaking Spanish when a visitor enters.

Simmons, 49, has lived on the farm all his life. He said the immigrants are the only people willing to work in the fields for the $6 or $7 an hour he can afford to pay.

"We used to have a list of 50 or 100 kids who'd come out and pick strawberries," Simmons said. "That's a tedious job. But when we first got the migrants, we found that two or three migrants would do the work that 20 or 30 kids would do."

Simmons' Mexican workers, some of whom have been at the farm for 20 years, live in trailers or barracks provided by their employer for most of the year. They go home to Mexico each winter. Some have children enrolled in the local schools.

Asked if his employees have proper papers, Simmons pulled open a large cabinet drawer full of folders stuffed with copies of passports, visas and state and federal forms. Many employers pay labor brokers to handle their paperwork, but Simmons says he does his own applications to keep down costs.

To get visas for foreign temporary workers, employers must show they have placed want ads locally to fill the jobs but have not succeeded. They must also certify they will pay wages in line with those of others doing similar work.

The Pennsylvania Labor Department processed 1,200 applications requesting temporary, low-skilled foreign workers last year, according to a spokesman.

Forging identities

Legal immigrant workers are required to obtain Social Security cards to get a job, and employers must check and make copies of their work permits. But the law does not require employers to determine if the papers are genuine.

Farmers are not experts at detecting forgeries, said Mark O'Neill, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

"Many of our members have legally hired illegal workers," he said.

Workplace investigations have never been a top priority for federal immigration officials. The agency instead focuses on catching criminal aliens and protecting critical infrastructure -- nuclear plants, bridges and airports -- from illegal workers who might be terrorists.

That could change. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced in April his department will step up workplace enforcement and add more agents. The announcement coincided with raids on a Dutch pallet manufacturer's plants in 26 states that turned up 1,187 illegal immigrants -- 62 more than were arrested in all of 2005.

The sweeps are continuing. Federal agents arrested 154 illegal aliens in Ohio this month.

The U.S. House and Senate both have passed bills to deal with the more than 10 million illegal aliens estimated to be in the country. But the two chambers are at odds over where to place the emphasis, with the Senate bill providing a path to eventual citizenship while the House bill stresses border enforcement and reclassifies illegal entry into the country as a felony.

Summer congressional hearings on the Senate bill have been contentious, leading to speculation that House Republicans want to keep the controversy bubbling to spur conservatives to the polls in November.

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigration Activists Square Off In Encinitas

A group of anti-illegal immigration activists squared off in Encinitas Saturday against a pro-immigration group supporting day labor workers who gather at a popular roadside spot, a sheriff's sergeant said.

Members of the Encinitas Citizens Brigade took to the streets on Encinitas Boulevard -- between Interstate 5 and Vulcan Avenue -- to clear the area of day laborers waiting for pickups from prospective employers, sheriff's Sgt. Mark Varnau said.

Immigrant day laborers have for years gathered near a Shell station and shopping center to wait for job offers from passing motorists.

The Citizens Brigade -- which arrived at about 8 a.m. -- was joined by members of the San Diego Minuteman Project, Varnau said.

A counter-protest was mounted by the pro-immigration activists.

[Rookieupgrade1]

yet another arena of turmoil. seems the "battle" is really on all fronts.

Thanks for the updates PR.

[Soldier4Christ]

You're most welcome, brother. Yes it is on all fronts and it semms to be intensifying by the day. I'm looking forward to that great day. 

[Rookieupgrade1]

You're most welcome, brother. Yes it is on all fronts and it semms to be intensifying by the day. I'm looking forward to that great day. 

AMEN Brother, AMEN!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Senators want more money for border security
Plan today to announce request for supplemental funding from administration

Dissatisfied with current plans to deal with illegal immigration, three senators will announce today a request for supplemental funding to secure the U.S. border.

Dave Beckwith, a spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told WorldNetDaily a press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in the Senate radio-television gallery to gather support for the request.

The lawmakers want supplemental funding from the Bush administration that will "enforce border security priorities already authorized" but not yet funded by Congress.

Cornyn will appear at the news conference with Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona.

[Soldier4Christ]

Employers held on charges of harboring illegal aliens

Employers in three states targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as part of an enhanced effort to combat illegal-alien employment schemes have been arrested for, or pleaded guilty to, charges of harboring illegal aliens.
    ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said two limited-liability corporations in Kentucky -- Asha Ventures LLC and Narayan LLC -- pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal charges of harboring illegal aliens and money laundering in an illegal employment scheme at hotels. They agreed to pay $1.5 million cash in lieu of forfeiture and create internal compliance programs.
    Sentencing in the case is scheduled for October.
    In Ohio, ICE agents arrested the owner of a restaurant on felony charges of harboring illegal aliens after 10 of his illegal workers were apprehended, Mr. Boyd said. Chinese citizen Jiang Fei Jiang, 36, who owns and operates Bee's Buffet in Fairfield, was arrested Thursday.
    In Arkansas on Tuesday, ICE agents arrested the owner of a construction business -- Arevalo Framing Associates in Springdale -- on felony charges and apprehended 27 of his illegal workers, ICE said. Alejandro Arevalo, the manager of Arevalo Framing, was charged with harboring illegal aliens and re-entry after deportation.
    "ICE is taking an increasingly tough stance against egregious corporate violators that knowingly employ illegal aliens. Bringing criminal charges against these unscrupulous employers and targeting their ill-gotten gains is a tactic we are adopting nationwide," said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers, who heads ICE.
    Mr. Boyd said that during fiscal 2006, ICE has arrested 445 persons on criminal charges in work-site investigations and apprehended another 2,700 of their illegal workers on immigration violations. During fiscal 2005, he said, ICE arrested 176 persons on criminal charges and another 1,116 illegal-alien workers.

[Soldier4Christ]

Huge Backlogs, Delays Feared Under Senate Immigration Plan


Arturo Zavala entered the United States illegally from Mexico in 1976 and picked mushrooms in Pennsylvania for a decade before he became a legal resident. But that menial labor was not the toughest part of life here.

More difficult was gaining permission for his wife, daughter and two younger sons to join him and his eldest son here. The family finally reunited in 2001, 14 years after Zavala received his green card as part of a 1986 amnesty program for illegal immigrants.

"I missed my family," he said. "I would live here nine months and go visit them three months. When I went, they were little, and by the time I saw them again, they were all grown up. My wife was like a mother and father."

The long delays for Zavala's family were among the many unintended consequences of the 1986 law, which allowed nearly 3 million immigrants to gain legal status. But illegal workers and the government may face far greater problems if pending immigration legislation passes and three times as many people -- as many as 10 million by some estimates -- are permitted to apply for legalization.

"It would be an utter meltdown," said Peggy Gleason, a senior attorney at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. "Despite the problems, [the 1986 amnesty] was actually an enormous success. Government made this huge effort to make all these offices that were very consumer friendly. I have no idea what the government is doing right now to prepare, but back then, they thought about it hard."

Now, there are two versions of the legislation. In the House, the focus is on border security. The Senate would permit illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least two years to apply for legal status; smaller legalization programs would apply to illegal farm workers and some children of illegal immigrants; and a guest-worker program would be established for as many as 200,000 people a year.

Of the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, about 10 million may register to apply for legalization if the Senate plan passes, said Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a research center.

That could overwhelm the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which last year granted permanent residency to 1.1 million people and awarded temporary worker visas to 200,000.

Back in 1986, the numbers of illegal immigrants were far fewer than they are today, but federal agencies still had difficulty keeping up. Their backlogs grew even deeper when immigrants granted legal status exercised their rights to bring immediate relatives. Processing those applications took years, as in Zavala's case.

Zavala recalled long lines and a chaotic scene at the Lima, Pa., district office when he went to apply for amnesty in 1986. He said he felt lucky that his proof of residency and employment were accepted quickly. Many of his friends were not as lucky. Others were terrified to come forward, fearing they would be deported. "Many of my friends were afraid to apply," he said. "By the time I told them the rumors weren't true, the deadline was up."

Of this year's debate, he said, "I hope they make it like '86. But I hope they do it quicker for their families."

Supporters of the Senate proposal note that Congress has learned some lessons from 1986. The bill would set a six-year processing window and would require participating immigrants to register within 90 days.

Citizenship and immigration bureau officials, however, said they would need much more time and more staff to register millions of applications. Director Emilio T. Gonzalez said it would take six to nine months just to register a group the size the Senate bill contemplates.

Michael Aytes, the agency's associate director for domestic operations, added: "We can't approach anything like legalization on the scale being discussed in a traditional way. We would have to grow too far, too fast."

The Senate bill would set up complex rules for how illegal immigrants can apply for legal status, depending upon how long they have been here. The legislation also says immigrants would have to prove their U.S. work history with at least two documents. Many would not have pay stubs or tax records, so the law provides for sworn affidavits from employers. The rules and use of affidavits would open the process to fraud, experts said.

"The document of choice inevitably will be an awful lot of legal statements saying, 'Yes, I employed this guy.' Well, once you move to affidavits, then you basically have next to nothing," said former Immigration and Naturalization Services commissioner Doris Meissner. "How do you design an affidavit system that has integrity?"

Skeptics of the Senate proposal cite a provision of the 1986 amnesty law that targeted agricultural workers. Congress expected 200,000 to 400,000 people to apply. Instead, 1.3 million people came forward -- twice as many people as were employed on farms in some states, according to labor statistics -- taking advantage of shorter residency requirements and low burdens of proof. Many then disappeared to take non-farming jobs. By 1989, federal officials placed nearly 400,000 applications on hold and made hundreds of arrests for fake documents. Some applicants are still in limbo.

"Legalization got a bad rap because of (the agricultural program). That was the leaky sieve. And that was because the legislation was written in a way you could drive a truck through" the regulations, said Meissner, now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

The citizenship and immigration bureau currently faces a backlog of pending cases and security checks, as well as antiquated technology and a shortage of skilled personnel.

The Bush administration has set aside $560 million over five years to reduce a backlog that numbered 3.8 million cases in 2003 -- there were 276,000 as of June 2006, not counting 1 million cases that await actions by applicants, other government agencies or openings in quota-based programs. The Government Accountability Office says the citizenship and immigration bureau is unlikely to meet a six-month processing target by September as it had promised.

In 2004, the agency submitted 1.9 million sets of fingerprints and 1.5 million names to the FBI, numbers that would grow tremendously if the Senate bill became law, according to the GAO. As of now, 113,000 FBI name checks have been pending more than six months, and 40,000 more than two years, officials said.

"The hidden chokepoint here is going to be the security background checks," Meissner said. "The FBI is not set up to handle the volume that the immigration agencies are generating."

In Tallahassee, Aman Kapoor, a computer programmer who is in the final stages of obtaining his green card, has been called for fingerprinting five times. "Next time if they call me, I am just going to leave my fingers there," said Kapoor, one of the founders of Immigration Voice, a group that advocates for legal immigrants. "Give me back my fingers once you are done."

New technology is supposed to help. The Senate bill would require that by October 2007 all permanent immigration documents be machine readable, fraud resistant and linked to biometric indicators, such as fingerprints, and that Homeland Security and FBI automated fingerprint systems be compatible. All U.S. employers would have to adopt an electronic system to verify the eligibility of workers within six years.

But that would be costly. The Congressional Budget Office said the Senate bill would require $800 million to pay one-time costs for facilities and computers.

Officials hope to transform the $2 billion-a-year, 15,000-worker citizenship and immigration bureau through new technology and the expanded use of contractors, paid for by its share of billions in new fees, Aytes said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Congress must not micromanage eligibility rules, or else even new computer systems won't be able to handle the workload. "The more documents you have . . . the more fraud you have -- that's the lesson from 1986," Chertoff said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Nuevo Laredo businesses are moving north

LAREDO — "We didn't cross the border; the border crossed us."

So goes a common saying among the communities that straddle the U.S.-Mexico border, where culture and language are nearly indistinguishable.

It's a sentiment being redefined in the sister cities of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, as Mexican businesses are opening branches north of the Rio Grande with unprecedented frequency.

Pushed by the narco-violence that plagues Nuevo Laredo and pulled by profit opportunities in Laredo, nearly a dozen such firms have shifted to Texas recently, and more are on their way.

Once an easy trip across an international bridge, leisure visits to Nuevo Laredo have steadily declined in the past two years as a turf war there between drug cartels has escalated.

More than 150 homicides have been registered in Nuevo Laredo this year, the majority attributed to the battle between the Gulf and Sinaloa drug cartels for control of lucrative smuggling routes.

 In Laredo, real-life horror stories from the neighboring city, such as too-close-for-comfort shootouts and murdered acquaintances, blend with tall tales — including the much-repeated but never confirmed one about diners getting locked in a restaurant so a drug capo could eat undisturbed.

The mix creates a tornado of warnings that keep Laredoans away, a fear factor that has undercut Mexican entrepreneurs who rely on tourist traffic.

The Laredo customer
In Nuevo Laredo, one would be hard-pressed to find a neighborhood without at least one hair salon centered on hair straightening. It is a very popular service in the city, costing about 150 pesos, or $15.

Most Laredo salons, by contrast, don't offer straightening as their exclusive service and often charge upwards of $45.

One Nuevo Laredo salon, Aliciada Express, for years had counted on the dollars of Laredo women, but when they began to stay away, the owner persuaded her sister, Laredo resident Teresa Martinez, to open a salon on the Texas side.

"She's doing fine. She has her customers over there," Martinez said of the Mexico salon. "But her customers from Laredo don't want to cross over anymore."

Since opening in January, the Laredo Aliciada Express has regained those customers and hopes to win over others by offering hair straightening at the Mexican price of $15.

"The wave of violence is ugly, but it's benefited us in Laredo because you don't have to cross, you don't have to do anything, to enjoy the same businesses," Martinez said. "If you walk into Nuevo Laredo, everything is closed."

About 40 businesses affiliated with the Nuevo Laredo Chamber of Commerce have closed, officials there said. No exact figures are available, but according to some estimates, more than 100 businesses and vendors have shut their doors in Nuevo Laredo.

The evidence is everywhere — in boarded up office spaces and "For Rent" signs on the doors of once-popular nightclubs such as Señor Frog's.

The new rule in Nuevo Laredo is this: Those who can, move. Those who can't, close.

The shift in Los Dos Laredos — The Two Laredos — is pronounced and expanding. But the economy of fast-growing Laredo is an equal or greater incentive to move than is the violence in Nuevo Laredo.

When El Rancho, possibly the best-known restaurant in Nuevo Laredo, opened a second location in Laredo in February, many customers assumed it was in reaction to the violence.

Alberto Manzilla, the good-natured owner of El Rancho, said business in Mexico has dropped about 30 percent, but that's not enough to cripple his investment there.

The violence "was not one of my reasons for coming," he said. "In my case it was about expansion and growth."

Opening a restaurant in San Antonio is the ultimate goal, but in the meantime an investment in Laredo made the most sense, Manzilla said.

The Laredo location opened with no advertising, yet many waiters were ready to quit after the first week because their feet were blistered trying to serve packed tables.

Word-of-mouth typically announces each shifting business.

At the hair salon, customers gossip about who's next. Supposedly, clients there say, a dance club is going to close in Nuevo Laredo and reopen its doors north of the border.

A larger trend
The movement to Laredo is part of a larger trend, chamber of commerce officials on both sides of the border agreed.

"I don't think it's strictly a Nuevo Laredo phenomena, but a borderwide trend," said Memo Treviño, chairman of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce.

Both Mexican businesses and individuals have begun to invest in the United States, he said.

Homero Villarreal Cerda, president of the Nuevo Laredo Chamber of Commerce, downplayed the push effect of the drug cartel war.

"The reality is that companies will go to where there is business, and right now there are a lot of opportunities in Laredo because of its fast growth," Villarreal said, adding he believes his city is on the path to recuperation.

Even if the violence recedes in Nuevo Laredo, the new Laredo locations are likely to stay.

Mar-la, a Nuevo Laredo breakfast chain for 15 years, just celebrated its one-month anniversary on the U.S. side.

"If this one becomes successful, regardless of the situation on the other side, I think we will open up another in Laredo," said Melissa de Muñoz, part owner of Mar-la.

As uniquely Nuevo Laredo businesses move to where the customers are, the border is once again crossing Laredo.

[Soldier4Christ]

Texas Security Operation Reduced Border Crime by at Least 65 Percent


Texas Governor Rick Perry announced the completion of Operation Laredo, a multi-agency border security operation to target international criminal enterprises and reduce crime and violence in a five-county region along the Texas-Mexico border. Across the five counties law enforcement officials report a 65 percent to 75 percent reduction in all crimes.

"I am pleased at the tremendous results of this operation, which greatly reduced all types of crime, led to dozens of arrests, and shut down the activities of international crime syndicates across a five-county region," Perry said. "The international drug cartels and human smuggling rings will not know when or where law enforcement operations like this will occur or how long they will last. The message we are sending to criminals who exploit our border is that the cost of doing business in Texas is going up substantially."

The effort was conducted as part of Operation Rio Grande, Perry's comprehensive border security initiative that coordinates local, state and federal assets. Planning began weeks before the operation was launched, and intelligence to support the operation was coordinated through the state Border Security Operations Center.

The operation brought together sheriffs from five counties, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Public Safety, the Texas National Guard, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Civil Air Patrol, the Texas National Guard and the Governor's Division of Emergency Management.

State assets involved in the operation included a team of DPS Highway Patrol troopers with communications support personnel, a DPS SWAT team, DPS helicopters and crew members providing 24-hour support, a team of Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens and ground Units with all-terrain vehicles.

"We are proving that the Texas model works: when we increase law enforcement patrols and coordination, we see a decrease in every kind of crime which protects our border and our communities," Perry said.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. flag upside down on immigration billboard
Local Republicans ask 'Had Enough?' with Mexican banner on top


2 billboards target illegal immigrants
Councilman Mumpower contributes to effort


ASHEVILLE – In the latest local move calling attention to the issue of illegal immigration, a group of Buncombe County Republicans has put up two billboards depicting an upside-down American flag and asking, “Had Enough?”

Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower contributed part of the $1,500 cost of the billboards, which also shows a Mexican flag flying above the inverted U.S. flag.

The Buncombe County Republican Action Club posted the billboards July 13 on Swannanoa River Road and Patton Avenue, where they will remain for a month.

“We’ve got this group of people who are all hot to do something, and we were all very upset about the illegal immigration situation,” said Kathie Lack, club president.

“We wanted something that would grab their attention and direct them to our Web site or telephone number so we can give them more information,” Lack said. An upside-down U.S. flag is a traditional distress signal.

The billboards have gone up in the wake of a national debate sparked by a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration. In May, thousands marched in downtown Asheville in a pro-immigration rally. This month, U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, announced eight Western North Carolina counties are exploring the idea of working with federal immigration agents to identify, process and in some cases detain illegal immigrants.

Lack said the billboards aren’t about targeting certain races or the area’s legal immigrants. “Our issue is with lawbreakers,” she said. “To just allow them to walk across the border, bring whatever diseases or bad habits they bring with them, and demand we should treat them like citizens is a bit over the top.”

Local immigrant community leaders are concerned that the billboards could offend and scare both legal and illegal immigrants.

“What I’m asking people to do is just ignore them. The folks who put them up there, I don’t know what their reason was,” said Asheville-based Hispanic advocate Edna Campos. “What we need right now is rational, intelligent dialogue about this issue.”

Campos said she has received several calls and e-mails about the billboards. She wants to see reasonable legislation proposed, and wants people on all sides of the issue to “remain calm.”

“I don’t want to see ethnic profiling going on, and I don’t want to see people, whether they’re documented or undocumented, feeling intimidated,” she said.

Mumpower said he is happy to support the cause. Last week, he proposed local legislation and actions to curb illegal immigration, including sanctions for businesses caught employing undocumented workers.

He countered the concerns that the billboards have upset local ethnic minorities.

“This is an anti-illegal immigration effort, not an anti-Latino effort,” he said. “There is a difference in resisting races versus resisting lawbreakers. This is about enforcing our laws within our borders.”

Vasiliy Draka, executive director of the Slavic Research Center in Asheville, said his clients are legally in this country, many of them refugees.

He does have concerns about stereotyping of immigrants, however, and the emotional impact the billboards could have. The nonprofit center helps Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking immigrants adapt to become economically self-sufficient.

“Some people tell me straight to my face, ‘Why don’t you go back where you come from or your people go back?’” he said. “I say, ‘Are you (American) Indian? No? So your grandfather or grandmother came to this country just like me.’”

The Senate earlier this year passed a bipartisan immigration bill offering a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants and generally delivering on the goals President Bush has outlined, which include securing the nation’s borders and imposing tougher penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers. The legislation has stalled after the House last year passed a far more restrictive bill that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally.

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigration protesters scuffle in New York

Immigration activists clashed at the site of the World Trade Center on Wednesday when an anti-illegal immigration group called for secure borders to avoid a repeat of the September 11 attacks and counterprotesters yelled "racists go home."

Members of the Minuteman Project, which patrols the U.S.-Mexican border for illegal immigrants, pushed and shoved members of an immigrant rights group that showed up at the event.

Jim Gilchrist and Jerome Corsi, authors of "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders," were whisked away when some immigrant rights supporters broke through a police barrier and scuffled with Minutemen supporters.

Corsi, who also wrote a book critical of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, accused President Bush of leaving U.S. borders wide open.

"When the World Trade Center was attacked, we saw a failure of the Bush administration to protect our borders and to enforce our immigration laws. This tragedy could be repeated," Corsi said.

Gilchrist and Corsi said they held their event at Ground Zero to dedicate their book to the families of the September 11 victims.

About 50 immigrant rights advocates waved placards reading, "New York is an immigrant town -- Minuteman not welcome," while about 30 anti-illegal immigration protesters held banners that said, "Stop the invasion" and "U.S. jobs for U.S. citizens."

Polls show immigration reform is an important issue to many Americans, but negotiations over immigration reform have stalled in the U.S. Congress. The House of Representatives and the Senate have passed vastly different bills and it is increasingly unlikely the two sides will bridge differences ahead of the November congressional elections.

Senate legislation would give the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship, while the House bill that would criminalize illegal presence.

Stephen Durham, 58, was one of 50 activists who protested the Minutemen's appearance in New York.

"I'm really appalled that (the Minuteman Project) would use 9/11 to publicize a plan (to secure U.S. borders) which is fundamentally so unconstitutional and un-American," he said. "We are all immigrants. Immigrant labor built America."

[Soldier4Christ]

Aliens among us?
Don't ask, don't tell
Cities say immigration enforcement
not business of local police officers

In the blistering deserts along the U.S.-Mexico border, clusters of weary undocumented travelers climb through destroyed wire fence atop sand dunes.

The sight is so common that passersby – even on the U.S. side – rarely notice anymore.

But some big-city police departments have taken a similar "blind-eye" approach to immigration law enforcement – literally forcing officers to look the other way as well.

Local law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles Police Department and the Houston Police Department, prohibit officers from inquiring about citizenship status and reject policies and plans that would expand their role in federal immigration law enforcement.

A common belief among proponents of the sanctuary policies implemented by some big cities is that illegal immigration, if a concern at all, is solely a federal issue.

Back in 1979, the LAPD adopted a mandate by the L.A. City Council to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The internal policy, "Special Order 40," is clear, concise and to the point. It states: "Officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person. Officers shall not arrest nor book persons for violation of title 8, section 1325 of the United States Immigration code (Illegal Entry)."

LAPD Assistant Chief George Gascon said in a statement faxed to WND that Special Order 40 "prohibits our officers from inquiring into a person's immigration status, or working with federal authorities to enforce immigration matters when no other crime is present." "Our officers understand that they should arrest and report to federal authorities individuals suspected of having been previously convicted of serious offenses, who were deported and are now back preying on our communities," Gascon said.

Judicial Watch, a public-interest group sworn to fight government corruption, is in litigation opposing LAPD's use of taxpayer funds to enforce and maintain Special Order 40, which the organization claims "violates both federal immigration laws and California law and puts American citizens at risk."

According to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: "Special Order 40 is unlawful and dangerous. It prevents police officers from communicating freely with federal immigration officials and puts American citizens at risk from criminal illegal aliens."

Additionally, Judicial Watch has filed a "Texas Public Information Act Request" with the Houston Police Department. The department maintains a similar policy called HPD General Order 500-5. The policy reportedly prevents Houston police officers from asking about an individual's citizenship status or detaining illegal aliens.

Houston and Los Angeles officials expressed concerns that illegal immigrants will not be able to distinguish state and local police from deportation agents, possibly resulting in failure to report crimes and assist in investigations. Risk of deportation could silence them from reporting abuses, and the departments say they fear it will be more difficult for police to do their jobs.

Such policies are becoming more widespread in urban areas. The Major Cities Chiefs Immigration Committee consists of various large police departments including Houston, New York, Tucson, Miami-Dade and Los Angeles. The organization prepared a packet of recommendations intended for enforcement of immigration policies by local police departments. It states: "Without assurances that contact with the police would not result in purely civil immigration enforcement action, the hard won trust, communication and cooperation from the immigrant community would disappear."

The committee adds, "Local police agencies must meet their existing policing and homeland security duties and can not even begin to consider taking on the added burden of immigration enforcement until federal assistance and funding are in place to support such enforcement."

But the sanctuary policies that spurred such decisions predate homeland security concerns by decades. They date back, in fact, to the mid-1970s when President Jimmy Carter's attorney general, Griffin Bell, told local police departments they were not authorized to ask for identification on the pretext of enforcing federal immigration law.

Houston adopted its policy in 1992. But now it is being challenged by a group called "Protect Our Citizens." The group expects to collect 20,000 signatures for a November ballot initiative to amend the city charter to allow police to enforce immigration laws.

Feds offer enforcement training

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency offers local law enforcement officers extensive training in immigration and law procedures. The training shows how to determine whether an individual is an illegal alien and can be removed from the U.S. The five-week program costs only $520 per officer.

As of last month, 136 officers had received the training in four states – Alabama, Arizona, California and Florida. The trainees have made 820 immigration-related arrests since the program started in 2002. Several of the arrests relate to fraudulent documents, though others involve rape, drug possession, firearm possession, driving under the influence and burglary.

But due to the current city immigration law enforcement policies, officials of the Los Angeles Police Department and Houston Police Department told WND they have no intent to participate in the program.

Meanwhile, in smaller cities and towns across America, local officials are moving in what appears to be the opposite direction – passing laws banning the hiring of illegal aliens and renting to them.

On Wednesday, the Riverside, N.J., Township Council voted 5-0 to ban hiring or renting to illegal immigrants – joining a growing list of other local jurisdictions determined to stop the influx of illegals into their communities.

"We looked at what we could do to ensure the public safety and quality of life for our residents," Mayor Charles Hilton said before the vote.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Riverside's population was steady at 8,000 for the last 25 years. But Hilton said that number didn't include somewhere between 1,500 and 3,500 undocumented residents. Hilton criticized the situation as "an environment of exploitation" of illegal immigrants.

Under the new law, employers and landlords face a fine of $1,000 for each violation.

Small towns taking action

Riverside's action came amid a growing movement of small towns across the country that have decided to tackle what immigration advocates say has long been federal purview. Town leaders, like those in Hazleton, Pa., where a similar ordinance was adopted earlier this month, say the federal government is taking too long to remedy the problem.

The subject came up at an Elgin, Ill., city council meeting Wednesday night, too. Police Chief Lisa Womack defended her department's efforts to deal with illegal immigration, saying police do everything they can to deport illegals but claimed their efforts are limited by the priorities of federal authorities. The chief's presentation came in response to repeated appearances at council meetings by former school board member Doug Heaton and others who have said police don't do enough to deport illegals.

Womack said police alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to all serious misdemeanor and felony cases involving foreign-born suspects. In addition, all foreign-born non-citizens 18 and older who are known gang members are subject to residency verification and deportation, regardless of whether they have committed a crime, she said.

Police do not inform the agency about foreign-born individuals arrested for traffic violations because ICE has said it will not take any action "because of their priorities, their resources and their staffing levels," Womack said. Police did inform federal authorities about drunken driving cases involving potential illegals until about five years ago, when they were told agents no longer would be pursuing such cases, she said.

However, routine traffic violations and stops sometimes help to identify serious criminals, as Athens, Pa., police found out recently. A man apprehended two weeks ago and charged with being in the country illegally turned out to be a convicted rapist from Alabama. The man, who goes by a number of aliases, including Gasper Almilcar Guzman, has since been deported.

Guzman was picked up by the Athens Township Police with 25 other men during a routine traffic stop. The failure of the men to produce paperwork revealed they were living in the U.S. illegally. Local police turned them over to ICE. According to the federal agency, Guzman appeared before a federal court judge in Scranton Wednesday morning where he pleaded not guilty to his re-entry charge. ICE found the man was convicted in December 2005 for second-degree rape. His victim was a 14-year-old girl.

Officials could not explain why, or how, Guzman avoided a prison sentence for his rape conviction.

[Soldier4Christ]

Town bans hiring or housing illegal immigrants


TRENTON, N.J. -- The southern New Jersey community of Riverside has banned the hiring and housing of undocumented immigrants.

The Township Council unanimously approved the "Illegal Immigration Relief Act," making renting or leasing property to a person who cannot prove he or she is legally in the United States a violation punishable by fines starting at $1,000. Employing such individuals would incur a similar penalty, and could cost employers their local business license.

The five-member council affirmed the proposal Wednesday before a noisy crowd of several hundred people, whose numbers forced the group to relocate from town hall to a high school auditorium.

The ordinance mirrors one passed earlier this month in Hazleton, Pa. Local governments across the country _ from California to Idaho to Florida _ are considering similar actions. This is believed to be the first such ordinance passed in the Garden State.

A spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber said Thursday the office's Division of Civil Rights will review Riverside's ordinance.

A town of 8,000 located in Burlington County located about halfway between Camden and Trenton, Riverside Township is unofficially home to between 1,500 and 3,500 illegal immigrants, mostly from Brazil, according to Mayor Charles Hilton.

Municipal leaders say the influx has crowded schools and housing, strained public services and made parking spaces scarce.

Newspaper reports of the meeting describe a jeering, flag-waving crowd that shouted down a Latino minister who raised concerns about racial profiling. A recess was called and several people were escorted out by eight police officers _ half the town's force.

It was not clear how soon the ordinance would take effect, who would enforce it, or the cost of training township employees in verifying federal immigration documents. Riverside Township's solicitor told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Thursday's editions that an amendment to clarify the language would be forthcoming. Neither Hilton nor top township officials returned several phone messages left Thursday.

Angela Mateo-Gonzalez, director of Servicios Latinos de Burlington County, said many longtime Riverside residents are legitimately frustrated about such public safety issues as overcrowded apartments catering to low-wage residents.

But such concerns should be addressed by enforcing existing codes applying to all building owners, she said. She called the mood at the council meeting disturbing.

"I think it's going to increase racial tension," Mateo-Gonzalez said. "A veteran told me he was at the grocery store and he got racial comments. He fought in two wars for this country. You don't want to go back to a time where if you have different color skin, people will look at you differently."

Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance, said Riverside's new law would be discussed at a board meeting this weekend, and a lawsuit to oppose it could be forthcoming.

He said his group met with leaders in Freehold last year to urge them away from ordinances over crowded housing that he said were discriminatory.

"It's a housing code problem, not an immigration problem," Perez said. "Often they realize the problem is more complicated than they thought at first."

[Soldier4Christ]

Bill tackles voting by illegals
Tancredo proposal would penalize states for not requiring ID at poll

Leading immigration-reform advocate Rep. Tom Tancredo has introduced a bill that would penalize states refusing to require proof of U.S. citizenship for voting.

Under the Colorado Republican's Voter Integrity Protection Act, states would need to see a valid photo ID proving U.S. citizenship for voting or be penalized by having their federal highway funding cut by as much as 40 percent.

Tancredo, chairman of the 104-member House Immigration Reform Caucus, noted that in some parts of the U.S. "all residents are granted a de facto right to vote, regardless of whether or not they are citizens."

"Such widespread voter fraud blurs the line between residency and citizenship, and it reinforces the message that you don't need to be an American to have every right and privilege of American citizenship," he said. If even non-citizens can vote, what value does American citizenship have anymore?"

Tancredo, author of WND Books' "In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security," believes voter fraud is widespread, pointing as an example to comments to a largely Hispanic audience by Democrat Francine Busby during her unsuccessful campaign for the 50th congressional district seat in California: "You don't need papers for voting."

While Busby lost to Republican Brian Bilbray, illegal votes might have made the difference in other races, including Republican Rep. Bob Dornan's 1996 loss in Orange County, California, to Loretta Sanchez by fewer than 1,000 votes. State elections officials discovered at least 300 votes were cast by non-citizens.

"In many states today, you can register to vote without ever being required to show that you are a citizen," Tancredo said.

Motor-voter registration and a rise in absentee ballots have only exacerbated voter fraud, he insisted.

"If certain states are really so committed to protecting illegal aliens who vote, let them put their money where their mouth is and take a hard hit in federal funding," Tancredo declared.

The congressman's bill stipulates, beginning in 2008, that non-compliant states would sacrifice 10 percent of their federal highway funding, with an additional cut of 10 percent annually, up to four years. If a state complies during the first four years, it would receive its entire lost federal highway funding.

The bill also provides funding to make free photo identifications available in order to avoid any challenges based on the 24th Amendment's prohibition of poll taxes.