Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

Raided company says hirers duped by fake ID papers
IFCO Systems official says firm is investigating allegations

A Houston-based pallet recycler raided by federal authorities seeking illegal workers denied charges that it built record profits on a work force of undocumented immigrants.

"We believed we had proper documentation. Unfortunately, now it appears some of those documents were fraudulent," said Michael Hachtman, vice president for IFCO Systems North America Inc. in Houston.

On Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained 1,187 employees at 40 IFCO operations in 26 states. Agents also arrested seven former and current IFCO managers and supervisors.

In Houston, officers arrested 67 workers at two plants in northeast and northwest Houston.

Officials released 53 of those employees, who must stay in touch with ICE. The remaining 14 are in custody.

Hachtman said IFCO's employment policy is designed to comply with state and federal regulations.

He also said IFCO required two forms of ID from the workers it hired.

But he was unable to explain how a quarter of its work force was detained for violating immigration laws if federal employment laws were strictly enforced.

Hachtman said midlevel managers work autonomously and have the discretion to make hiring decisions based on the information provided them by prospective employees.

He said workers are hired based on the documents provided.

Luisa Deason, ICE spokeswoman in Houston, said most employers must maintain I-9 forms that verify the employment eligibility of employees hired after Nov. 6, 1986.

In the course of the yearlong ICE investigation, she said IFCO was notified of irregularities pertaining to the eligibility of its work force and told to correct the problems.

Wednesday's raids were in part based on evidence found in the company's I-9 files.

Hachtman said IFCO is investigating the allegations and will implement any changes needed to ensure people are not hired using false or altered documents.

"We were shocked and disturbed by the allegations, and they're truly contrary to what IFCO stands for," Hachtman said.

Until the investigation is completed, he said IFCO managers arrested Wednesday will remain on temporary leave.

"We are committed to vigorously search for what happened and, if need be, change employment procedures to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.

Hachtman said he has been in contact with some companies and that he knows of no one pulling out because of the raids.

However, the loss of so many workers has had an effect.

"It clearly has an impact on our operation," he said.

He said IFCO is trying to determine how many employees will be allowed to return to work. He said temporary workers will be hired to fill the gap.

Entry-level employees are hired at or near minimum wage, he said, but often earn much more based on production. He declined to detail how the company determines the piece rate for pallet assemblers, but he did say that a single worker can go through 400 to 600 pallets daily.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Data on illegal immigrants kept secret
2 agencies cite privacy in denying info to prosecutors



Two federal agencies are refusing to turn over a mountain of evidence that investigators could use to indict the nation's burgeoning work force of illegal immigrants and the firms that employ them.
The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration routinely collect strong evidence of potential workplace crimes, including names and addresses of millions of people who are using bogus Social Security numbers, their wage records, and the identities of the bosses who knowingly hire them.
But they keep those facts secret.
The two agencies don't analyze their data to root out likely immigration fraud, and they won't share their millions of records so that law enforcement agencies can do that, either.
Privacy laws, they say, prohibit them from sharing their files with anyone, except in rare criminal investigations.
But the agencies don't even use the power they have.
The IRS doesn't fine even the most egregious employers who repeatedly submit inaccurate data about their workers. Social Security does virtually nothing to alert citizens whose Social Security numbers are being used by others.
Evidence abounds within their files, according to an analysis by Knight Ridder Newspapers and the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.
One internal study found that a restaurant company had submitted 4,100 duplicate Social Security numbers for workers. Other firms submit inaccurate names or numbers reports for nearly all of their employees. One child's Social Security number was used 742 times by workers in 42 states.
"That's the kind of evidence we want," said Paul Charlton, the U.S. attorney in Arizona. He regularly prosecutes unauthorized workers, but says it's hard to prove employers are involved in the crime.
"Anything that suggests they had knowledge . . . is a good starting point. If you see the same Social Security number a thousand times, it's kind of hard for them to argue they didn't know."
On Thursday, immigration officials announced a new push toward busting bosses who hire unauthorized workers.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has asked Congress for access to the secret earnings files, a tool he says would help "get control of this illegal workforce."
The records at issue are the earnings reports, sent by employers along with money withheld for taxes and Social Security.
They contain workers' names and Social Security numbers, and when they don't match Social Security records, the information is set aside in what's called the Earnings Suspense File.
Typos and name changes can cause wage reports not to match Social Security records. But increasingly, officials cite unauthorized workers using bogus Social Security numbers as a driving force behind the mismatched files.
The incorrect worker files mushroomed during the 1990s, as migrants poured into the United States. Almost half of the inaccurate reports come from such industries as agriculture, construction and restaurants, which rely on unauthorized labor.
The IRS also receives the mismatch information. It tries to match workers involved to its records, then probes to see whether the workers are paying taxes.
To work lawfully in the United States, individuals must have valid Social Security numbers or authorization from the Department of Homeland Security.
But the law doesn't require companies to verify that workers give them names and numbers that match Social Security records.

[Soldier4Christ]

National Minuteman leader coming to Bellingham


Chris Simcox, the outspoken leader of the national Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, will come to Bellingham Thursday to defend his volunteer border watchers at a state Human Rights Commission meeting.
Simcox, 45, said testifying at the meeting would help balance the “fear and loathing” created by the ACLU and Minuteman opponents.

“I thought I’d stop by and hear what kind of inaccurate lies and rhetoric there’d be,” Simcox said in a telephone interview Tuesday morning from Phoenix, Ariz. “Too much is going on when they are able to create an atmosphere of hate with the inaccurate assumptions of our operations.”

Simcox already had planned a trip to the area to check in with the Washington Minuteman Detachment, which has conducted a month-long watch of Whatcom County’s border with Canada.

[Soldier4Christ]

Citizen-built border fence gains steam
Activists solicit help from ranchers, donors, state lawmakers

Taking matters into their own hands, some activists are working to build a fence along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S. southern border – with or without government participation.

Using the slogan "American Citizens Securing the Borders Themselves," The Border Fence Project hopes to raise enough money to build a fence along 90 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border that currently has no physical barrier.

According to the effort's website, the "fencing solution" will include the use of near-wholesale raw materials and use volunteer labor to build the structure.

Leaders from both parties in Washington have been reluctant to advocate a fence along the entire border, with some saying a "virtual fence" using high-tech surveillance equipment and drones can do the job of stemming illegal immigration.

States the Border Fence Project website: "Because Washington officials have consistently shown apprehension and outright consternation of the idea of a complete fence, it is unlikely they will ever cooperate, assuming the public continues to vote for special-interest candidates. Furthermore, most estimates show that because of the inefficiency of government labor and high markup on raw materials, the cost is likely to run $9 billion, only 23 percent of the Department of Homeland Security annual budget, but enough to receive grief from the open-borders lobby.

"We know we the civilian volunteers, in cooperation with Minuteman-like groups already on the border, can do the job for 1/400 of that cost!"

The organization, led by Jim Wood of Running Springs, Calif., believes an effective fence can be built for between $1.50 and $4 a foot. It would consist of a barbed-wire fence guarded by "solar motion lights with sirens, other motion sensors, electronic sensors that determine if the wire has been cut and a television-camera-unit for up to every quarter-mile of fencing depending on landscape," the site states.

Last week, Chris Simcox, leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border patrol group, said if the government was not going to build a fence, volunteers would do so.

''We're going to show the federal government how easy it is to build these security fences, how inexpensively they can be built when built by private people and free enterprise,'' Simcox told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, an Arizona state lawmaker is proposing legislation to allow ranchers who lease state land along the border to build fencing on government property.

State Rep. Russell Pearce told KVOA-TV the bill is still being drafted.

"I'm interested in helping to do that," Pearce said. "We don't have authority over federal land but we do over state land."

Simcox, who hopes to begin the fence project May 25, says he is supportive of the proposed legislation.

Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair called the response to the fence proposal unbelievable – "people wanting to donate, to help build a fence, people wanting a fence on their land," according to AP.

Said Simcox on the Minuteman website: "We have chosen a fence design that is based on the Israeli fences in Gaza and on the West Bank that have cut terrorist attacks there by 95 percent or more. In order to be effective, a fence should not be easy to compromise by climbing over it with a ladder, cutting through it with wire cutters, ramming it with a vehicle, or tunneling under it undetected."

The design includes a double fence with a six-foot trench on both sides and surveillance cameras. Simcox says the fence would cost no more than $150 a foot.

Border-area ranchers have long been active in opposing illegal immigration, since the entrants often vandalize their property and commit other crimes as they make their way north.

Meanwhile, WeNeedAFence.com, a leading organization in the effort to erect a fence, is hailing recent comments by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., supporting a physical barrier on the border.

"A physical structure is obviously important. A wall in certain areas would be appropriate," Clinton is quoted by the New York Daily News as saying.

"We commend Senator Clinton for supporting a secure physical barrier along our southern border," said WeNeedAFence.com President Colin Hanna. "We welcome the opportunity to work with senators on both sides of the aisle to build consensus in favor of a state-of-the-art border fence."

______________________

Note: For some reason this wall reminds me of the Berlin Wall.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush, Congress report progress on immigration reform bill


Bush, Congress report progress on immigration reform bill
Apr 25 6:57 PM US/Eastern
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President George W. Bush hailed progress made with members of the US Senate toward an overhaul of America's immigration laws, and said there were broad areas of agreement on a compromise bill.

"There is a common desire to have a bill that enforces the border, a bill that has interior enforcement," he said.

 "In other words, a bill that will hold people to account for hiring somebody who is here illegally -- but a bill that also recognizes we must have a temporary worker program," said Bush.

The president said that the legislation envisioned by both sides "does not grant automatic amnesty to people, but ... says, somebody who is working here on a legal basis has the right to get in line to become a citizen."

He added: "I strongly believe that we have a chance to get an immigration bill that is comprehensive in nature to my desk before the end of this year."

US Senate leaders have said a vote on immigration reform legislation is likely by the end of May.

Enormous differences remain however, with immigration legislation passed in the House of Representatives in December that would criminalize illegal residents and construct a fence along a vast section of the southern US border.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush violating duties on immigration?
McClellan defends boss on deporting illegals, cites 'reality of the situation'


Saying the "reality of the situation" is that millions of illegal aliens are here to stay, presidential press secretary Scott McClellan today defended President Bush's belief that deporting "undocumented people" is infeasible.

WND asked McClellan at the White House press briefing: "The president is the chief executive charged with enforcing the laws of the United States. And the law says an illegal entrant is to be deported. Yet yesterday he said mass deportation wouldn't work. And my question: By articulating that policy, isn't the president violating his executive duties?"

Responded the spokesman: "Les, the president has made very clear that we have a responsibility to enforce our laws. We are also a nation of immigrants, and we can be both. We can enforce our laws … and we can be a nation of immigrants."

McClellan then outlined steps that Bush has taken to improve enforcement, but added, "We also need to look at the reality of the situation."

Continued McClellan: "We have – I think it's an estimated 12 million undocumented people in this country. There is an economic need that some of those people are filling, jobs that Americans are not wanting to do. And the president believes that if we're going to fix the immigration system, we need to do it in a comprehensive way. And that means including a temporary guest worker program, which will help relieve pressure off the border.

We will enforce our laws, and we will continue to take steps to strengthen our borders. But we also need to address this problem and fix our immigration system. And if we're going to do so, you've got to do it in a comprehensive way."

WND also asked McClellan about the nuclear threat posed by Iran, saying, "London's Daily Telegraph quotes Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying, 'Of all the threats we face, Iran is the biggest. Since Hitler, we have not faced such a threat.' And my question: Does the Bush administration disagree with this statement and with a probable Israeli nuclear attack to prevent an Iranian nuclear bombing of Tel Aviv?"

Said McClellan: "Well, Les, we believe it is a serious threat, and that's why we're working with international community to resolve this in a diplomatic way and keep the pressure on the regime in Iran to change its behavior and to come into compliance with its international obligations. This is a regime that continues to isolate itself and its people from the rest of the international community."

[Soldier4Christ]

McCain-Kennedy: American 'coyotes'


Living in Phoenix, Ariz., makes me acutely aware of the ongoing impact illegal immigration has on our state and country. On a daily basis the evening news is packed with drug busts, car chases or Border Patrol dealing with lawbreakers.

We have the underworld of the "coyotes" (pronounced kai-o-tay) to thank for this problem. And now two new coyotes have entered the business.

If Congress goes along with the "amnesty" bill currently masquerading as the McCain-Kennedy bill, the biggest coyotes will be McCain and Kennedy.

They propose to have all illegal immigrants currently living in the United States pay a fine. What's the difference between this and illegals paying the coyotes?

Illegals save up thousands of dollars and pay a coyote to pack them like sardines into pickup trucks (which have been stolen in the United States) to make the voyage across the desert. With talk of the amnesty soon to be offered in America, illegals are saving their money, walking across the desert on their own with every intention to pay the coyotes who can give them a "pathway" to citizenship – the new coyotes that is.

I can only gather that McCain and Kennedy are spitting mad over the money going to the coyotes instead of going into government coffers to be wasted by fellow Washington bureaucrats. So they are going to offer illegals the option of paying them instead. This is not only insane, but should show the true intentions of the McKennedys in D.C.

Local news has been reporting an increase of border jumpers as the promise of "legal" citizenship is awaiting them in the form of the McKennedy bill. The predictions that anything short of sealing the border, rounding up the criminals and sending them home would cause a rise in crime are starting to come to pass.

We can fight all we want over this issue, but last week's ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids on the IFCO companies yielded very productive results. Dozens of illegals were sent home, and American businessmen were arrested and soon will be punished for breaking the law. That is what should happen. I salute Michael Chertoff at Homeland Security as well as ICE and Border Patrol for enforcing the law. It will hinder and hopefully stop the lawbreaking that is having a powerful effect on Arizona and America.

Last weekend in Arizona, we had the largest meth bust in the history of the country. Some 70 pounds of pure meth were seized along with tons of cash. When the smoke settled, who were the criminals? You guessed it: illegal aliens. Yet the local news referred to them as "undocumented migrants." WHAT? That is right. The news wouldn't even refer to them as illegal immigrants. Of course, the undocumented migrants were just here trying to make a better life for their families. They are hard-working people willing to do the jobs Americans refuse to do.

What is more frightening about my sarcasm is the fact some bleeding hearts in D.C. really want to convince themselves that most of the illegals are hardworking, law-abiding folks. They are not. If they broke the law to get here, they will cut corners if given the chance in the future. Show me a crook who got away with a crime and then just turned himself in. They normally continue in their illegal activity until they are caught and then they change. Not because they were wrong, but because they were caught.

I suspect if the meth dealers were skinheads out of Montana, you would have seen the liberal press go on a feeding frenzy. Yet here in Arizona, this whole story received little more than a patronizing yawn. How many young American lives would that meth have destroyed? How many inner-city youth would have been shot over dealing it? How many millions of taxpayer dollars would have been spent mopping up the mess that 70 pounds of pure meth would have created? Where is the outrage from Pelosi, Kennedy, Schumer, Kerry, McCain, Reid and Specter – or are they all too busy grandstanding about $3-per-gallon gasoline to deal with an issue that is slowly bleeding us to death and now, apparently, killing our kids?

I think this issue is so simple to fix. Seal the border, arrest and fine businesses that hire illegals, slowly round up the criminals and send them home. After that basic enforcement of the law, we can discuss the best way to provide the low-cost labor Mexico offers. Until then, we can still allow honest and more than likely hardworking Mexicans looking for a better life here in America to come through the current "Green Card" program.

Do it legally, and 99 percent of America's citizens will welcome you. Until then, stay out of our stinking country, Ese. That is unless you want to pay the new coyotes. Do it by the book and you will never have to look over your shoulder or be in debt to anyone. Do it with the McCain-Kennedy coyote company and, believe me, they will never let you forget how much you truly owe them.

[Soldier4Christ]

The victims of illegal immigration


President Bush accuses those of us who want to secure America's borders and fully enforce our immigration laws of lacking "compassion."

Huh. Well, I have yet to hear an ounce of compassion from President Bush for America's countless casualties of lax immigration enforcement. Where's the sympathy for innocent, law-abiding citizens who have lost their lives at the hands of illegal aliens and their open-borders enablers?

Nope, we haven't heard a word about the victims as the White House pours on its unadulterated pro-illegal alien rhetoric and "undocumented workers do the jobs Americans won't do" propaganda – all in support of a massive, ill-timed, bureaucratic nightmare-inducing amnesty plan that will inevitably increase illegal immigration.

Last week, a notorious illegal alien serial killer who traipsed freely across the U.S.-Mexican border during a 25-year, escalating crime spree popped up in the news again. The case of Angel Resendiz, a convicted death row murderer in President Bush's home state of Texas, is a timely reminder of the deadly costs of our continued homeland security chaos.

Time and again, illegal alien day laborer Resendiz broke the law getting into our country; broke more laws while in the country; and then broke the law repeatedly and brazenly after being released, deported and allowed to return. His most brutal acts included the slayings of 12 people, ranging in age from 16 to 81, which ended in 1999 when Resendiz surrendered to a Texas Ranger in El Paso. For the last seven years, Resendiz has been perched comfortably on Death Row – eating chocolate cream pies, watching Spanish-language television, whining about depression and selling locks of his hair on Internet auction sites.

His execution, scheduled for May 10, has been delayed pending yet another of his endless appeals claiming to be "insane."

As I recounted in my book "Invasion," Resendiz entered and exited our country at will. From the time he was 14, he racked up arrests and convictions ranging from trespassing, destruction of property, burglary, aggravated battery and grand theft auto to carrying a loaded firearm and false representation of U.S. citizenship. He had at least 25 encounters with U.S. law enforcement between August 1976 and August 1996, when he was arrested and released for trespassing in a Kentucky rail yard.

During that period, he was convicted at least nine times on several serious felony charges. He was deported to Mexico by the feds at least three times and was "voluntarily returned" to Mexico at least four times without formal proceedings. Throughout 1998, the Border Patrol continued its blind catch-and-release policy – apprehending Resendiz seven times and letting him go on his own recognizance despite his massive criminal record and three prior deportations. Shoddy fingerprint databases, immigration paperwork negligence and unpoliced borders led to:

    * The bludgeoning death of Florida teenager Jesse Howell and the rape and strangulation murder of his fiance, Wendy Von Huben.

    * The bludgeoning death of University of Kentucky student Christopher Maier and the rape and near-murder of his girlfriend, who survived the attack.

    * The murder of Leafie Mason, an elderly Texas woman whom Resendiz hammered to death with a fire iron.

    * The rape, stabbing and bludgeoning death of Baylor College of Medicine researcher Claudia Benton.

    * The sledgehammer bludgeonings of Texas pastor Norman Sirnic and his wife, Karen.

    * The bludgeoning death of Houston teacher Noemi Dominguez.

    * The murder of elderly Texas widow Josephine Konvicka, who was killed with a grubbing hoe.

    * The murders of George Morber, shot in the head, and Carolyn Frederick, clubbed to death.

The last four of Resendiz's victims were murdered after Resendiz had been released by federal immigration officials – even though there were already warrants outstanding for his arrest.

Resendiz made a bloody mockery of our homeland security chaos. Congress and the White House are now preparing to add grave insult to fatal injury by refusing to fix the persistent problems that facilitated Resendiz's crimes.

Campaigning for amnesty this week, President Bush mouthed the open-borders mantra against tough deportation policies and lectured immigration enforcement advocates about their lack of sensitivity.

"I can understand it's emotional," he said, but "we're talking about human beings, decent human beings that need to be treated with respect."

I don't think the victims of "undocumented worker" Angel Resendiz would agree.

[Soldier4Christ]

Star-studded. Star-Spangled. In Spanish?

 
A plan to enlist Mexican pop diva Gloria Trevi, reggaeton star Tito El Bambino and other Latin musicians to record a Spanish-language pop version of "The Star Spangled Banner" is being touted by organizers as a way immigrants can show their devotion to their new country.

But like most every aspect of the immigration debate, the symbolism is in the ear of the beholder. The idea of the nation's anthem in a foreign tongue is beginning to elicit a chorus of dissonant voices.

 In coming days, producers plan to send the single to Spanish-language radio stations in Chicago and nationwide. The proceeds from "Nuestro Himno," or "Our Anthem," will benefit groups organizing massive marches nationwide in support of legalizing illegal immigrants.

By embracing a song that symbolizes American values, immigrants hope to reinforce the message that their desire is to be part of this country, regardless of legal status. In that vein, some organizers have urged participants in a next Monday's march in the Loop to bring only American flags and leave Mexican banners at home.

"In our countries, national anthems are a beautiful expression of who we are," said Juan Carlos Ruiz, general coordinator of the Washington-based National Capital Immigration Coalition. "Our immigrant communities want to be a part of this country. We want the American dream."

But conservative columnists and groups that oppose illegal immigration say the song is a symbolic false note. For them, the project symbolizes a frightening prospect: that Hispanic immigrants do not want to assimilate but want to remake America on their terms.

Executives with Urban Box Office, a New York-based record label and marketing company, came up with the idea for the recording earlier this month. The project snowballed, and about 20 artists now will record their parts in studios from Madrid to Mexico, CEO Adam Kidron said.

The song is a rough translation of the anthem, supplemented by an English-language chant by preteen rapper P-Star. She chants: "See this can't happen, not only about the Latins/Asians, blacks, and whites and all they do is adding/more and more let's not start a war/with all these hard workers/they can't help where they were born."

The single will be part of an album called "Somos Americanos," or "We Are Americans." The album likely won't be released until next month, but the backlash over the song has already started.

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, in decrying the project, wrote: "Whose anthem, whose flag, whose country is it anyway?" Listeners of conservative radio shows and groups that oppose illegal immigration have seized on the issue, too, and let the studio know.

On the popular Free Republic conservative blog, one reader lamented: "Welcome to the United States of Mexico." Another added: "That makes me sick. Real Americans speak English." A reader of the Immigration Watchdog blog wondered: "'Our Anthem'? My freaking head is about to explode!"

"I've had more hate mail in the last 24 hours than I've experienced in my whole life," the recording company's Kidron said.

The back and forth over the anthem mirrors an ongoing subplot over flags that emerged in dozens of marches that have drawn millions nationwide. Protesters are urging Congress to pass a bill to legalize most of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants in addition to backing away from workplace immigration raids.

From the start, organizers of a massive March 10 march in Chicago urged participants not to antagonize opponents by carrying the Mexican flag. The result was that the American flag dominated, with some marchers bringing posters of Martin Luther King Jr. and George Washington. Young children led the crowd at Federal Plaza in the Pledge of Allegiance--in English.

But as marches moved to the border states in late March, the tone changed. Protesters were more defiant. The crowds in Los Angeles and other cities featured a sea of Mexican flags.

U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) fumed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "If you are here illegally, and you want to fly the Mexican flag, go to Mexico to fly the Mexican flag!" In Arizona, Apache Junction High School students burned the Mexican flag after classmates raised it above their school.

After the rebukes, a follow-up series of marches April 10 primarily featured American flags.

But critics of illegal immigration say the American flags are merely a distraction to the in-your-face rhetoric of illegal immigrants who insist that the U.S. is their land.

"It's one thing to wave a Mexican flag at a restaurant or at your house. It's another thing when you bring it into the public discourse," said Joseph Turner, executive director of Save Our State, a California nonprofit group that opposes illegal immigration. "When you come to our country, you'd better adopt our values, our culture, our customs and our language. Period."

Still, immigration experts and the marchers themselves say that, if the symbols appear muddled, it is likely because national loyalties are often a complicated notion.

Julie Santos, secretary of a Chicago group called United Latino Family, said her members are families in which some members are U.S. citizens and others are illegal immigrants threatened with deportation. In a mixture of fear and pride, families that normally carry the Mexican flag and the Virgin of Guadalupe at group events brandished American flags at the March rally, Santos said.

"I carried an American flag because I am proud of this country. But your descent is something that you can't take away from anyone, whether you're Polish, Irish or whatever," she said. "No one should be put down because they are carrying their home country's flag. We can express ourselves in any way. That's the wonderful part of being in America."

Maria de los Angeles Torres, director of Latin American and Latino studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said technology and proximity have allowed Mexican immigrants to retain their cultural identities more closely than many previous immigrant waves.

But Torres said Chicagoans have always retained a "hyphenated" cultural identity, no matter their background. Americans, she said, should look at the desire of marchers to work and participate politically as consistent with American values.

"I worry that people feel that they are so vulnerable that they can't express both identities," she said. "The conception that you have to leave behind your culture to become an American is a most un-American conception of political citizenship."

[Soldier4Christ]

Seaboard pork plant to close for immigration rally

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Seaboard Corp. said it will close its Guymon, Oklahoma, pork plant on Monday to allow workers to attend rallies planned for that day in support of immigration reform, the company said.

The plant has a daily hog slaughter capacity of about 16,000 head, the company said.

On Tuesday, Cargill Inc. said its five beef plants and two hog plants will be closed on Monday for the rallies.

[Soldier4Christ]

Poll: Dems leap ahead of GOP on illegals
Reversal comes as DNC emphasizes enforcement of laws


By emphasizing enforcement of the law, Democrats have leaped ahead of Republicans in the latest poll asking Americans which party they trust more on the issue of illegal immigration.

As the immigration debate rose to the top of the national agenda this year, the GOP was favored by 37 percent to 31 percent over Democrats, said pollster Rasmussen Reports.

But the newest survey shows round two going to the Democrats as Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean declares enforcement of the border his party's top priority.

Now 42 percent trust Democrats more on this issue while 35 percent trust the GOP.

Rasmussen comments: "While the short-term benefit may accrue to those who favor a tougher enforcement policy, the long-term implications of the issue are less clear. At the moment, neither political party enjoys unity within its own ranks on the issue. Politicians from both sides are struggling with the nuances of the issue."

Prior to the debate's emergence this year Americans were evenly divided on which party they trusted.

Democrats have gained ground primarily by solidifying their base, Rasmussen says, as 77 percent of Democrats now trust their party more on the issue than Republicans, up from 60 percent earlier.

Democrats also have made gains among unaffiliated Americans.

Republicans still trust their own party more on the issue by a 70 percent to 12 percent margin.

Although Democrats have gained ground, they still are behind among the 53 percent of Americans who say immigration will be a very significant factor in terms of how they vote in November.

Among this group, 43 percent trust Republicans more and 33 percent trust Democrats.

Rasmussen also found 57 percent of Americans still favor building a barrier along the Mexican border. Among those who consider immigration very important, 73 percent want a barrier.

The poll indicated only 26 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the protesters who engaged in massive rallies for illegal immigrants. Fifty-four percent have an unfavorable view.

In an earlier survey, Rasmussen found that in a hypothetical race for Congress, a plurality of Americans would vote for the candidate who favors more enforcement of immigration laws.

Another poll found two-thirds of Americans think it doesn't make sense to debate new immigration laws until we can first control our borders and enforce existing laws.

The same survey found 40 percent of Americans favor "forcibly" requiring all an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to leave the U.S.

[Soldier4Christ]

McClellan touts Bush's own fences
But says he's not familiar with citizen efforts to build border barrier


Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan today said he was unfamiliar with citizen efforts to build a fence along the U.S. southern border, saying instead steps President Bush has taken will help stem the flow of illegal aliens, including putting up barriers "in some of the urban areas."

WND asked McClellan about efforts to build a fence at 1/400 of what it would cost the federal government to erect.

"Would the president support such an effort if it costs the government nothing in labor or material, if it stemmed the massive flow of illegal immigrants daily crossing our southern border?" asked WND.

"I have not seen what they have said, but what we are doing – let me tell you what we are doing," responded McClellan. "We are deploying new technologies along the border to stop people from entering this country illegally. We are ending the catch and release program and moving to a catch and return program. The president has called on Congress to add more manpower -- that means more Border Patrol agents.

"We've already added a significant number since the president has been in office, to deploy new technology along the border, such as infrared cameras and motion sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles, and also to work to strengthen the infrastructure along the border, as well, with some state-of-the art fencing in some of the urban areas where we have already put some state-of-the-art fencing in some of those urban areas. And there's some areas where we might need to put some additional fencing. The president has talked about that."

WND also noted that Tony Snow, the man tapped to replace McClellan as press secretary comes from the ranks of the New Media.

Said WND: "The fact that Tony Snow is now, as I understand it, a talk radio host, means that the president recognizes that talk radio is, along with the Internet, America's new major media thrust, replacing most newspapers and old liberal TV and magazines, doesn't it?"

"I think it's healthy to have a diversity of viewpoints from within the media," demurred McClellan.

[Soldier4Christ]

I knew it was just a matter of time.

______________

Muslims to join pro-illegals protest in L.A.
Millions of activists expected to 'close' major cities May 1

Muslims in Los Angeles and elsewhere are being urged to join millions of Latino protesters in the streets May 1 to demonstrate in favor of leniency toward illegal aliens currently living in the United States unlawfully.

"In solidarity with immigration activists around the country, the Muslim Public Affairs Council as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Los Angeles, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the L.A. Latino Muslim Association, the Muslim American Society - Los Angeles, and the Muslim Students Association - West are calling on American Muslims to participate in a day of action on May 1, 2006," says a statement from the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

"Islam's message is one of social justice, economic fairness, and fair treatment in the workplace. The Quran urges the proper treatment and respect of workers."

Choosing May 1, the day Communists worldwide celebrate the worker, activists have vowed to "close" major American cities as millions of Latinos, both legal and illegal, mark what some organizers are calling "a day without an immigrant" and others refer to as the "Great American Boycott." They are urging supporters not to go to work, school or spend money on that day.

"It is to show the amount of work, the purchasing power, the contributions that illegal and undocumented workers make on a daily basis," Chris Banks, a volunteer for ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, told the Desert Dispatch in California.

"RealIy, it is no different from the transit strike that took place in New York last December, and they shut the city down and it was to show the value of their work – the labor that they do," he said. "The labor they (illegal aliens) do for our collective well being is enormous."

The Muslim organization pushing participation is urging the faithful in Southern California to attend a march near downtown Los Angeles at 4 p.m. Monday.

"American Muslim organizations are calling for a comprehensive immigration reform that includes provisions for a pathway to lawful permanent residence for the undocumented currently in the United States, a temporary worker program that matches willing workers with willing employers, and a reduction in the current backlogs in family-based immigration to the United States," said the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Failing to agree on an immigration reform bill earlier this month, members of Congress and President Bush continue to push various measures meant to deal with the flow of illegals into the country and those already here.

Jorge Rodriguez is a union official who helped organize earlier pro-illegals rallies.

"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez told Reuters. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."

As WorldNetDaily reported, large protests held by pro-illegal-alien activists early this month actually had a negative effect on the demonstrators' cause, a poll found.

[Soldier4Christ]

Star-Spangled Banner -- in Spanish -- drawing protest, rage

 MIAMI -- British music producer Adam Kidron says he just wanted to honor the millions of immigrants seeking a better life in the U.S. when he came up with the idea of a Spanish-language version of the national anthem.

The initial version of Nuestro Himno, or Our Anthem comes out Friday and features artists such as Wyclef Jean, hip-hop star Pitbull and Puerto Rican singers Carlos Ponce and Olga Tanon.

 Some Internet bloggers and others are infuriated by the thought of The Star-Spangled Banner sung in a language other than English, and the version of the song has already been the target of a fierce backlash.

``Would the French accept people singing the La Marseillaise in English as a sign of French patriotism? Of course not,'' said Mark Krikorian, head of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter immigration controls.

``Nuestro Himno'' uses lyrics based closely on the English-language original, said Kidron, who heads the record label Urban Box Office.

Pro-immigration protests are planned around the country for Monday, and the record label is urging Hispanic radio stations nationwide to play the cut at 7 p.m. EDT Friday in a sign of solidarity.

A remix to be released in June will contain several lines in English that condemn U.S. immigration laws. Among them: ``These kids have no parents, cause all of these mean laws ... let's not start a war with all these hard workers, they can't help where they were born.''

Bryanna Bevens of Hanford, Calif., who writes for the immigration-focused Web magazine Vdare.com, said the remix particularly upset her.

``It's very whiny. If you want to say all those things, by all means, put them on your poster board, but don't put them on the national anthem,'' she said.

Kidron, a U.S. resident for 16 years, maintains the changes are fitting. After all, he notes, American immigrants borrowed the melody of the Star Spangled Banner from an English drinking song.

``There's no attempt to usurp anything. The intent is to communicate,'' Kidron said. ``I wanted to show my thanks to these people who buy my records and listen to the music we release and do the jobs I don't want to do.''

Kidron said the song also will be featured on the album ``Somos Americanos,'' which will sell for $10, with $1 going to the National Capital Immigration Coalition, a Washington group.

James Gardner, an associate director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, said Americans have long enjoyed different interpretations of the Star Spangled Banner, including country or gospel arrangements.

``There are a number of renditions that people aren't happy with, but that's part of it _ that it means enough for people to try to sing,'' he said.

Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, said this country was built by immigrants, and ``the meaning of the American dream is in that record: struggle, freedom, opportunity, everything they are trying to shut down on us.''

[Soldier4Christ]

 Squaring up for a drugs war on streets of Laredo


On the far side of the Rio Grande, a Mexican drug runner raised his AK47 at US lawmen.

The man and five companions were goading the Americans, 100 yards across the border.

"Hey! We're ready to play now," screamed the gunman, who was probably trying to recover the marijuana abandoned on the American side after a chase earlier that day.

The threat didn't work. The Texan sheriff's deputy, Abel Hinojosa, stayed where he was, with the drug gang in his sights and his finger tightening on the trigger of his rifle.

Reliving the moment, he said quietly: "There was no doubt in my mind - if the guy had fired a round, I'd have shot him."

A fire fight across a border, even when provoked by drug runners, would spark an international incident. Yet the bloodshed on Mexico's northern border is now so serious that an international showdown could hardly make matters worse.

The Americans at the sharp end, the lawmen patrolling 2,000 miles of border, are profoundly anxious. With narcotics gangs controlling swathes of northern Mexico and the forces of the state in retreat, they are the next target and some have already been shot.

Sheriff Rick Flores, whose area covers a vast border region, said he would not be intimidated: 'They're testing us, pushing and pushing. The Border Patrol has started shooting back and we're going to do the same."

Drive-by shootings have begun on the American side, weaponry is being seized and safe houses uncovered. Sheriff's deputies who once wore only side arms, now shoulder machineguns and body armour.

According to Sheriff Flores the drug-runners are even better equipped.

Is it a war? "Oh yeah, it's a war. These people are sophisticated and they are organised. They wear body armour and helmets, just like our soldiers in Iraq. They have no respect for life and are not afraid of law enforcement on this side.

"Over in Iraq, you have Iraqi militias willing to give up their lives just to cause us harm - these people are the same way," he said.

Two gangs are reportedly battling for control of a critical route through which an estimated $14 billion (£8 billion) worth of drugs pass annually.

Interstate 35, the great highway which runs from Laredo to the Canadian border, is the main artery for South American drugs.

Whoever controls the Mexican side controls the last distribution point before drugs enter the American market.

Across the border lies Nuevo Laredo, described by many as the drug cartels' heart of darkness. The body count this year stands at 88. Officials predict it will hit 300 by the year's end, double last year's figure.

Killers walk free and half the local police have been fired for links to cartels while the other half are either too cowed to act or still in the pay of the gangs.

One police chief was murdered eight hours after taking the job.

Americans from the twin city of Laredo do not visit the narrow streets or the pretty plazas of the old town any more, even though many have relatives there.

Despite close ties of blood and affection there is only a vague sense of what is really happening on the far side of the Rio Grande.

The anxiety is being fed by an effective media blackout in Nuevo Laredo, following a machinegun attack on the newspaper office there.

Sheriff Flores said his sources spoke of a huge gun battle among the cartels in recent weeks with 15 or so men shot, but said that no word of the battle appeared in print. Diana Fuentes, the editor of the Laredo Morning Times, the American town's lively newspaper, said she too heard rumours of the battle, but could not confirm it.

She said the Mexican authorities were unable to match words with action, despite the deployment of hundreds of agents and troops to Nuevo Laredo. "The feeling is that the Mexican authorities are just not in control."