WHAT IF 20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS VACATED AMERICA?
Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, "Mexican visitor's lament" -- 10/25/07
. She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes. What happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?"
That's a good question - it deserves an answer. Over 80 percent of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you!
a. In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupted hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominate language again.
b. In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants plus their 300,000 kids and grandkids - would move back "home," mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 BIL) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.
c. Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.
d. Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop out/flunk out rate via thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado. Denver's four percent unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.
e. In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law and English.
f. In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.
If 20 million illegal aliens returned "home," the U.S. economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local state and city coffers.
No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must content with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.
We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country. In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the "18th Street Gang" would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans!
No more foreign rapists and child molesters!
Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!
Drain on America's economy; taxpayers harmed, employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to their home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.
At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia, and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupted out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act. Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country-brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.
Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the "progressives" on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Arizona border enforcement gets 21 more prosecutors...
Ariz. border enforcement gets 21 more prosecutors
By Brady McCombs
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), April 25, 2008
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona will receive 21 additional prosecutors as part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight border-related crime.
A total of 64 new prosecutors and 35 support staff members will be added to the five U.S. Attorney's Offices along the Southwest border from a $7 million allotment from the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip said Thursday in Tucson.
The District of Arizona will receive the most, with 21 additional prosecutors and 11 support staffers. Western Texas gets 16 prosecutors and seven support staffers; Southern Texas gets 13 prosecutors and seven support staffers; and New Mexico and Southern California each get seven prosecutors and five support staff members. Arizona has 133 assistant U.S. attorneys.
The federal prosecutors will be used to handle criminal immigration offenses such as human trafficking, drug and gun smuggling, violent crimes and money laundering, Filip said.
The influx of resources also will help support the U.S. Border Patrol's zero-tolerance initiative, which prosecutes illegal immigrants under the misdemeanor of illegal entry. The program, which started in January, prosecutes as many as 60 illegal entrants a day. Officials hope to increase the daily number of prosecutions to 100 by September.
In addition to touring the Nogales Port of Entry and flying along the border, Filip met with Robert W. Gilbert, Border Patrol Tucson Sector chief, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.
Despite the meeting, it was unclear if the additional prosecutors will allow the Border Patrol to expand the zero-tolerance initiative, said Jesús Rodriguez, Tucson Sector spokesman. The agency will see how the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona allocates the prosecutors before making that determination. Other agencies are involved in the program as well.
The funds are available immediately and for the next two years. The Justice Department has requested another $100 million in its fiscal 2009 budget to help fight criminal activity along the border, Filip said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/235999
By Brady McCombs
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), April 25, 2008
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona will receive 21 additional prosecutors as part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight border-related crime.
A total of 64 new prosecutors and 35 support staff members will be added to the five U.S. Attorney's Offices along the Southwest border from a $7 million allotment from the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip said Thursday in Tucson.
The District of Arizona will receive the most, with 21 additional prosecutors and 11 support staffers. Western Texas gets 16 prosecutors and seven support staffers; Southern Texas gets 13 prosecutors and seven support staffers; and New Mexico and Southern California each get seven prosecutors and five support staff members. Arizona has 133 assistant U.S. attorneys.
The federal prosecutors will be used to handle criminal immigration offenses such as human trafficking, drug and gun smuggling, violent crimes and money laundering, Filip said.
The influx of resources also will help support the U.S. Border Patrol's zero-tolerance initiative, which prosecutes illegal immigrants under the misdemeanor of illegal entry. The program, which started in January, prosecutes as many as 60 illegal entrants a day. Officials hope to increase the daily number of prosecutions to 100 by September.
In addition to touring the Nogales Port of Entry and flying along the border, Filip met with Robert W. Gilbert, Border Patrol Tucson Sector chief, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.
Despite the meeting, it was unclear if the additional prosecutors will allow the Border Patrol to expand the zero-tolerance initiative, said Jesús Rodriguez, Tucson Sector spokesman. The agency will see how the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona allocates the prosecutors before making that determination. Other agencies are involved in the program as well.
The funds are available immediately and for the next two years. The Justice Department has requested another $100 million in its fiscal 2009 budget to help fight criminal activity along the border, Filip said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/235999
Friday, April 25, 2008
"How Do You Admit The ILLEGALS!!?"
"How Do You Admit The ILLEGALS!!?"
Agent Ramos' youngest son is SEVERELY ill and under a physician's care.
Preliminary tests are being conducted - results pending, the youngster is extremely ill.
Agent Ramos' family does not have medical insurance....
T A K E A C T I O N
SEND A GET WELL CARD TODAY!!!
Get your kids or grand-kids to send a card too
Jacob Ramos
P.O. Box 972925
El Paso, TX 79997
FULL STORY BELOW
It's been 464 days on a 4015 day sentence!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
"How do you admit the illegals?"
Monica & Nacho's youngest son, has been hospitalized. Currently tests are being run so there has not been an absolute diagnosis, however hospital professionals are suspecting meningitis.
The hospital almost denied J's admittance since Monica does not have health insurance (a status of many Americans today). Monica of course is fierce! And she asked the hospital "How do you admit the illegals?" After some debate, the hospital did admit J, but demanded a $1000 deposit. Funds the Ramos family simply does NOT have at this time.
If you could ask your lists/listeners to send donations to the family, this would be useful for them in their time of need. Their address is Ramos Family, P.O. Box 972925, El Paso, TX 79997. Also PRAYERS!! And finally please ask all to call the White House (yet again) to DEMAND the release of Ramos & Compean!!! (Still no word from the appellate court, but of course the drug smuggler admitted in court last week to being a drug smuggler!!)
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
White House email: comments@whitehouse.gov
I love the Ramos family. J has definitely been the most affected child during this whole horrible ordeal with Nacho. How much more does this poor family need to go through? Is this how we pay back a hero who served and protected our country? Shame on this Bush administration!!!!!
Thank you everyone! Please use discretion when forwarding information. And I appreciate each of you!!
http://agentramos.blogspot.com/
Agent Ramos' youngest son is SEVERELY ill and under a physician's care.
Preliminary tests are being conducted - results pending, the youngster is extremely ill.
Agent Ramos' family does not have medical insurance....
T A K E A C T I O N
SEND A GET WELL CARD TODAY!!!
Get your kids or grand-kids to send a card too
Jacob Ramos
P.O. Box 972925
El Paso, TX 79997
FULL STORY BELOW
It's been 464 days on a 4015 day sentence!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
"How do you admit the illegals?"
Monica & Nacho's youngest son, has been hospitalized. Currently tests are being run so there has not been an absolute diagnosis, however hospital professionals are suspecting meningitis.
The hospital almost denied J's admittance since Monica does not have health insurance (a status of many Americans today). Monica of course is fierce! And she asked the hospital "How do you admit the illegals?" After some debate, the hospital did admit J, but demanded a $1000 deposit. Funds the Ramos family simply does NOT have at this time.
If you could ask your lists/listeners to send donations to the family, this would be useful for them in their time of need. Their address is Ramos Family, P.O. Box 972925, El Paso, TX 79997. Also PRAYERS!! And finally please ask all to call the White House (yet again) to DEMAND the release of Ramos & Compean!!! (Still no word from the appellate court, but of course the drug smuggler admitted in court last week to being a drug smuggler!!)
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
White House email: comments@whitehouse.gov
I love the Ramos family. J has definitely been the most affected child during this whole horrible ordeal with Nacho. How much more does this poor family need to go through? Is this how we pay back a hero who served and protected our country? Shame on this Bush administration!!!!!
Thank you everyone! Please use discretion when forwarding information. And I appreciate each of you!!
http://agentramos.blogspot.com/
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Hundreds riot at LA detention center for illegal aliens...
Hundreds riot at LA detention center for illegal aliens
The Associated Press, April 23, 2008
Lancaster, CA (AP) -- Hundreds of illegal aliens awaiting deportation rioted at a county-run detention center and had to be subdued with tear gas, authorities said Wednesday.
The riot Tuesday started as a fight between detainees from rival gangs and spread to the detention center's outdoor yard, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nearby sheriff's stations sent additional deputies to separate the detainees. The brawl was diffused 'within minutes' after tear gas was used, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Fights among incarcerated gang members periodically break out at state jails, prisons and immigrant detention facilities, sometimes sparking riots.
The federal Department of Homeland Security contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to staff and manage the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, which holds about 900 detainees who are in the process of being deported or awaiting resolution of their cases in immigration courts.
Ten detainees were treated for injuries, including two who suffered serious head injuries.
Sheriff's officials will evaluate how Mira Loma guards separate detainees based on gang affiliation, Whitmore said. About 45 detainees involved in the riot have been identified as suspected gang members and moved to other federal facilities.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUVBP4KnrdB3uWq
YNCx50Dl4B5UgD907V15G2
The Associated Press, April 23, 2008
Lancaster, CA (AP) -- Hundreds of illegal aliens awaiting deportation rioted at a county-run detention center and had to be subdued with tear gas, authorities said Wednesday.
The riot Tuesday started as a fight between detainees from rival gangs and spread to the detention center's outdoor yard, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nearby sheriff's stations sent additional deputies to separate the detainees. The brawl was diffused 'within minutes' after tear gas was used, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Fights among incarcerated gang members periodically break out at state jails, prisons and immigrant detention facilities, sometimes sparking riots.
The federal Department of Homeland Security contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to staff and manage the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, which holds about 900 detainees who are in the process of being deported or awaiting resolution of their cases in immigration courts.
Ten detainees were treated for injuries, including two who suffered serious head injuries.
Sheriff's officials will evaluate how Mira Loma guards separate detainees based on gang affiliation, Whitmore said. About 45 detainees involved in the riot have been identified as suspected gang members and moved to other federal facilities.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUVBP4KnrdB3uWq
YNCx50Dl4B5UgD907V15G2
Identity theft linked to illegal immigration...
Identity theft linked to illegal immigration
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), April 23, 2008
Kansas City, MO -- Nobody likes getting a letter from the IRS. So imagine Amanda Bien's reaction last Valentine's Day when the agency wrote to demand $3,300 in back taxes.
For jobs she never worked. Five of them. In multiple states.
A Lenexa, Kan., Taco Bell. A Wendy's restaurant. Two Target stores, one in California. The Engineered Air manufacturing plant in De Soto, Kan. Someone, somewhere, got Bien's name and Social Security number and gave it a workout.
A 28-year-old illegal alien was later arrested at the De Soto plant and faces ID theft charges.
Though illegal aliens aren't the only ones stealing identities, cases like Bien's illustrate the inability of disparate government agencies to tackle the problem.
While lawmakers in Washington debate ways to crack down on illegal immigration, the market for false documents and stolen Social Security numbers is booming.
Particularly vulnerable, authorities say, are legal residents with Hispanic last names. Or, as in Bien's case, names that could sound Hispanic.
As politicians know and Bien is finding out, it's a problem that defies easy solutions.
The IRS may suspect that multiple people are using the same Social Security number, but the agency doesn't investigate ID theft. Local police and prosecutors cannot deport illegal aliens they arrest.
'I feel like nobody's listening,' said Bien, 23, of Ottawa, Kan. 'If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And if we don't do something about it now, what's going to happen in 10 years?'
Federal estimates indicate that nearly 10 million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Officials can't say how many of those identities are being used by illegal workers, but prosecutors in Kansas say they see more cases of illegal aliens using fake credentials every year.
It mirrors an increase in overall cases related to illegal immigration. The Kansas U.S. attorney's office received 18 such cases in 1997; in 2007, the number was 106.
Experts expect the trend to continue, and they're finding ID theft in surprising places. Last fall, U.S. prosecutors in Missouri charged five noncitizens with ID theft after they were found working in the Kansas City Federal Building's cafeteria.
'We know there are thousands and thousands of people working here who aren't even supposed to be here,' said Brent Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney for Kansas. 'There is rampant ID theft going on ... and I'm afraid that given the situation we're in right now, this is just the beginning.'
Bien doesn't know how someone gained access to her information, but experts say it can happen in several ways.
Hackers steal databases. Workers with access to records sell them illegally. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone rifling through your mail or garbage for sensitive documents.
And illegal aliens are hardly the only perpetrators. Americans avoiding warrants or child support payments steal identities, too. Scam artists use the information to drain bank accounts or get credit cards.
After her identity was stolen, Linda Foley founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. She said identities can be bought for as little as $30 or much more for quality counterfeits. Often, as in Bien's case, the same identity is sold multiple times.
'Thirty dollars - that's how much your good name is worth,' she said. 'And if you're going to counterfeit a document, it's as easy to make five copies and sell all of them.'
Judy Ancel, director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Labor Studies, said it's wrong to compare immigrant workers to criminals who take out fraudulent credit cards.
'Identity theft is when you steal someone's identity in order to profit from them,' she said. 'The crime they (illegal aliens with fake identities) have committed is working under somebody else's Social Security number. The attempt to criminalize immigration is the wrong path. ... It's just going to make a bunch of families suffer.'
Once, a made-up name and Social Security number were enough to get a job. But as employers became more diligent, the demand has grown for real identities that can pass database checks.
Children and the elderly, who are less likely to work or watch credit scores, are especially susceptible, Foley said. When Utah officials checked a list of children on welfare against tax rolls, they found that 1,800 children, all under 13, were listed as working.
Bien, a wife and mother, is completing her student teaching, but had to delay her credentialing when she applied for a new Social Security number. She's lost sleep, and she worries that even more people are using her identity.
Still, she's fortunate: Many victims don't learn of the crime until their credit score drops or a loan is denied. In one recent Kansas case, a man found out when he was arrested for a crime committed by an illegal alien using his identity.
After Bien discovered the ID theft, she and her mother drove to De Soto to find the Engineered Air plant. When they asked a sheriff's deputy for directions, he said he had arrested an illegal alien there a week before.
The deputy followed Bien to the plant, where he arrested Rocio Diaz Cano, the woman allegedly claiming to be Amanda Bien. Cano pleaded not guilty last week.
Her attorney, James Conard, said he's handled 10 or 12 similar cases, and said roughly 85 percent of his business is now Spanish-speaking. He said he sympathizes with Bien and said she's a victim of the government's tacit acceptance of illegal immigration.
'I think the federal government is in cahoots with this whole problem,' he said.
Conard noted one example of the mixed messages: Probation, which his client is likely to receive if convicted, often requires the person to stay employed, which illegal aliens cannot do.
Engineered Air President Ric Rambacher said his company follows all employment laws and checks applicants against a federal database of legal workers. But that system doesn't catch ID thieves.
Bien would like to see ID thieves charged with federal crimes. She believes federal authorities could push for greater sentences, and be more likely to start deportation proceedings.
Yet so far, her thieves in other states haven't been charged, even though Bien has given information to local and federal authorities.
Prosecutors say the decision to file charges and deport comes down to manpower, resources and evidence. When local police make an arrest, the case often falls to the county prosecutor. Federal authorities say they must focus on the most serious crimes.
'Like all law enforcement agencies, we prioritize,' said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts. 'We have finite resources.'
Johnson County, Kan., District Attorney Phill Kline, whose office is prosecuting Cano, agreed that federal agencies often lack the manpower to take on lesser cases. When Kline was state attorney general, he said, his office helped U.S. authorities in a checkpoint where three vans of illegal aliens were stopped. Immigration officials arrested those in one van, but had to release the others.
Deportation, too, is a federal matter. And ID thieves prosecuted locally are likely to get probation if they have no prior record.
'You can have an illegal (alien) commit a felony with presumptive probation and they'll be right back on the street and not deported,' Kline said. 'We're left with no options.'
Kline has made it his policy not to offer diversion to illegal aliens. Diversion is when a suspect in a low-level crime can avoid a conviction through restitution and community service.
Foley, from the Identity Theft Resource Center, said federal authorities must do more. Too often, she said, agencies don't even share data that could pinpoint ID theft.
'There is no universal database. Who's going to collect it? The IRS is there to find out who isn't paying their taxes, not to look for ID theft,' she said. 'Create a new universal database and suddenly you've created a new target for ID theft.'
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/23/
20080423identity-theft0423-ON.html
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), April 23, 2008
Kansas City, MO -- Nobody likes getting a letter from the IRS. So imagine Amanda Bien's reaction last Valentine's Day when the agency wrote to demand $3,300 in back taxes.
For jobs she never worked. Five of them. In multiple states.
A Lenexa, Kan., Taco Bell. A Wendy's restaurant. Two Target stores, one in California. The Engineered Air manufacturing plant in De Soto, Kan. Someone, somewhere, got Bien's name and Social Security number and gave it a workout.
A 28-year-old illegal alien was later arrested at the De Soto plant and faces ID theft charges.
Though illegal aliens aren't the only ones stealing identities, cases like Bien's illustrate the inability of disparate government agencies to tackle the problem.
While lawmakers in Washington debate ways to crack down on illegal immigration, the market for false documents and stolen Social Security numbers is booming.
Particularly vulnerable, authorities say, are legal residents with Hispanic last names. Or, as in Bien's case, names that could sound Hispanic.
As politicians know and Bien is finding out, it's a problem that defies easy solutions.
The IRS may suspect that multiple people are using the same Social Security number, but the agency doesn't investigate ID theft. Local police and prosecutors cannot deport illegal aliens they arrest.
'I feel like nobody's listening,' said Bien, 23, of Ottawa, Kan. 'If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And if we don't do something about it now, what's going to happen in 10 years?'
Federal estimates indicate that nearly 10 million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Officials can't say how many of those identities are being used by illegal workers, but prosecutors in Kansas say they see more cases of illegal aliens using fake credentials every year.
It mirrors an increase in overall cases related to illegal immigration. The Kansas U.S. attorney's office received 18 such cases in 1997; in 2007, the number was 106.
Experts expect the trend to continue, and they're finding ID theft in surprising places. Last fall, U.S. prosecutors in Missouri charged five noncitizens with ID theft after they were found working in the Kansas City Federal Building's cafeteria.
'We know there are thousands and thousands of people working here who aren't even supposed to be here,' said Brent Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney for Kansas. 'There is rampant ID theft going on ... and I'm afraid that given the situation we're in right now, this is just the beginning.'
Bien doesn't know how someone gained access to her information, but experts say it can happen in several ways.
Hackers steal databases. Workers with access to records sell them illegally. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone rifling through your mail or garbage for sensitive documents.
And illegal aliens are hardly the only perpetrators. Americans avoiding warrants or child support payments steal identities, too. Scam artists use the information to drain bank accounts or get credit cards.
After her identity was stolen, Linda Foley founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. She said identities can be bought for as little as $30 or much more for quality counterfeits. Often, as in Bien's case, the same identity is sold multiple times.
'Thirty dollars - that's how much your good name is worth,' she said. 'And if you're going to counterfeit a document, it's as easy to make five copies and sell all of them.'
Judy Ancel, director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Labor Studies, said it's wrong to compare immigrant workers to criminals who take out fraudulent credit cards.
'Identity theft is when you steal someone's identity in order to profit from them,' she said. 'The crime they (illegal aliens with fake identities) have committed is working under somebody else's Social Security number. The attempt to criminalize immigration is the wrong path. ... It's just going to make a bunch of families suffer.'
Once, a made-up name and Social Security number were enough to get a job. But as employers became more diligent, the demand has grown for real identities that can pass database checks.
Children and the elderly, who are less likely to work or watch credit scores, are especially susceptible, Foley said. When Utah officials checked a list of children on welfare against tax rolls, they found that 1,800 children, all under 13, were listed as working.
Bien, a wife and mother, is completing her student teaching, but had to delay her credentialing when she applied for a new Social Security number. She's lost sleep, and she worries that even more people are using her identity.
Still, she's fortunate: Many victims don't learn of the crime until their credit score drops or a loan is denied. In one recent Kansas case, a man found out when he was arrested for a crime committed by an illegal alien using his identity.
After Bien discovered the ID theft, she and her mother drove to De Soto to find the Engineered Air plant. When they asked a sheriff's deputy for directions, he said he had arrested an illegal alien there a week before.
The deputy followed Bien to the plant, where he arrested Rocio Diaz Cano, the woman allegedly claiming to be Amanda Bien. Cano pleaded not guilty last week.
Her attorney, James Conard, said he's handled 10 or 12 similar cases, and said roughly 85 percent of his business is now Spanish-speaking. He said he sympathizes with Bien and said she's a victim of the government's tacit acceptance of illegal immigration.
'I think the federal government is in cahoots with this whole problem,' he said.
Conard noted one example of the mixed messages: Probation, which his client is likely to receive if convicted, often requires the person to stay employed, which illegal aliens cannot do.
Engineered Air President Ric Rambacher said his company follows all employment laws and checks applicants against a federal database of legal workers. But that system doesn't catch ID thieves.
Bien would like to see ID thieves charged with federal crimes. She believes federal authorities could push for greater sentences, and be more likely to start deportation proceedings.
Yet so far, her thieves in other states haven't been charged, even though Bien has given information to local and federal authorities.
Prosecutors say the decision to file charges and deport comes down to manpower, resources and evidence. When local police make an arrest, the case often falls to the county prosecutor. Federal authorities say they must focus on the most serious crimes.
'Like all law enforcement agencies, we prioritize,' said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts. 'We have finite resources.'
Johnson County, Kan., District Attorney Phill Kline, whose office is prosecuting Cano, agreed that federal agencies often lack the manpower to take on lesser cases. When Kline was state attorney general, he said, his office helped U.S. authorities in a checkpoint where three vans of illegal aliens were stopped. Immigration officials arrested those in one van, but had to release the others.
Deportation, too, is a federal matter. And ID thieves prosecuted locally are likely to get probation if they have no prior record.
'You can have an illegal (alien) commit a felony with presumptive probation and they'll be right back on the street and not deported,' Kline said. 'We're left with no options.'
Kline has made it his policy not to offer diversion to illegal aliens. Diversion is when a suspect in a low-level crime can avoid a conviction through restitution and community service.
Foley, from the Identity Theft Resource Center, said federal authorities must do more. Too often, she said, agencies don't even share data that could pinpoint ID theft.
'There is no universal database. Who's going to collect it? The IRS is there to find out who isn't paying their taxes, not to look for ID theft,' she said. 'Create a new universal database and suddenly you've created a new target for ID theft.'
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/23/
20080423identity-theft0423-ON.html
Wayne County: Small town police chief frustrated with illegal aliens...
Wayne County: Small town police chief frustrated with illegal aliens
By Michael O'Mara
The WKYC News (Cleveland, OH), April 22, 2008
Apple Creek, OH -- 'We arrest them and the prosecutor's office lets them go,' Police Chief John Lowe said about the immigration concerns facing the small town of Apple Creek.
There are only 1,100 residents in this rural community where their Amish neighbors still plow the fields behind a team of draft horses.
In the last few years, there has been an increasing number of Hispanics moving into the area. The police chief says too many have false documents or counterfeit licenses.
Lowe pulls out a large file folder full of fake documents that have been handed to his police officers when making a traffic stop.
However, the chief claims that whenever the case is forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutors office, each case gets dismissed.
'My whole department is frustrated,' Lowe said. 'In fact, I think every agency in the county is frustrated. We're doing our job and court system is letting them go.'
In the last six years, there have been 20 arrests of suspected illegal Mexican drivers in Apple Creek and each case was tossed out.
'If he gets into a wreck and kills somebody, I'm going to notify the family that our prosecutor system screwed up,' Lowe said.
In this small town, most residents share the police chief's frustration.
At the nearby convenience store, Bonnie Tarleton said that the 'Hispanic workers should learn our language and abide by our laws. If we were going to live in Mexico, we would be expected to do the same thing.'
At the drive-through, Blake Meir, was even blunter.
'If they don't like it they can leave,' she said. 'If I got caught with false documents around here, I wouldn't get a break, so neither should they.'
Hispanic Americans living in Apple Creek like Juan Lopez have a much different perspective. Lopez has been in this country for 20 years after moving from his home in central Mexico. He has great empathy for his former countrymen.
'These people are just out there looking for a better life,' Lopez said. 'They have the dream of a new life. Everybody has a dream like that.'
Lopez has seen the news coverage of the recent raids across Northeast Ohio by I.N.S. agents targeting undocumented Mexican workers.
'Around here, my friends are happy to do the worst jobs in every plant,' Lopez said. 'But they get into trouble for traffic offenses or having false documents. They know they are breaking the law.'
The mounting frustration is not going to keep Lowe from enforcing the law.
'We plan to keep doing our job, no matter how frustrated we get,' Lowe said as he parked his cruiser in the modest police station. 'I'd just like to see the prosecutor's office do their job.'
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid
=87821
By Michael O'Mara
The WKYC News (Cleveland, OH), April 22, 2008
Apple Creek, OH -- 'We arrest them and the prosecutor's office lets them go,' Police Chief John Lowe said about the immigration concerns facing the small town of Apple Creek.
There are only 1,100 residents in this rural community where their Amish neighbors still plow the fields behind a team of draft horses.
In the last few years, there has been an increasing number of Hispanics moving into the area. The police chief says too many have false documents or counterfeit licenses.
Lowe pulls out a large file folder full of fake documents that have been handed to his police officers when making a traffic stop.
However, the chief claims that whenever the case is forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutors office, each case gets dismissed.
'My whole department is frustrated,' Lowe said. 'In fact, I think every agency in the county is frustrated. We're doing our job and court system is letting them go.'
In the last six years, there have been 20 arrests of suspected illegal Mexican drivers in Apple Creek and each case was tossed out.
'If he gets into a wreck and kills somebody, I'm going to notify the family that our prosecutor system screwed up,' Lowe said.
In this small town, most residents share the police chief's frustration.
At the nearby convenience store, Bonnie Tarleton said that the 'Hispanic workers should learn our language and abide by our laws. If we were going to live in Mexico, we would be expected to do the same thing.'
At the drive-through, Blake Meir, was even blunter.
'If they don't like it they can leave,' she said. 'If I got caught with false documents around here, I wouldn't get a break, so neither should they.'
Hispanic Americans living in Apple Creek like Juan Lopez have a much different perspective. Lopez has been in this country for 20 years after moving from his home in central Mexico. He has great empathy for his former countrymen.
'These people are just out there looking for a better life,' Lopez said. 'They have the dream of a new life. Everybody has a dream like that.'
Lopez has seen the news coverage of the recent raids across Northeast Ohio by I.N.S. agents targeting undocumented Mexican workers.
'Around here, my friends are happy to do the worst jobs in every plant,' Lopez said. 'But they get into trouble for traffic offenses or having false documents. They know they are breaking the law.'
The mounting frustration is not going to keep Lowe from enforcing the law.
'We plan to keep doing our job, no matter how frustrated we get,' Lowe said as he parked his cruiser in the modest police station. 'I'd just like to see the prosecutor's office do their job.'
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid
=87821
Illegal alien smuggler found guilty in deadly SoCal desert crash...
Illegal alien smuggler found guilty in deadly SoCal desert crash
AP State | Wednesday, Apr 23 2008 3:20 AM
A jury found a man responsible for a head-on crash in the Southern California desert that killed two suspected illegal aliens he was allegedly smuggling into the United States.
Daniel Cardiola Lopez, 36, of Mexico was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of murder, two counts of vehicular homicide with gross negligence causing great bodily harm and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the June 2007 crash.
Lopez was fleeing Border Patrol agents on a two-lane road near Ocotillo, a desert hamlet about 70 miles east of San Diego, when he swerved into oncoming traffic and slammed into another vehicle, authorities said.
Five other passengers in the truck Lopez was driving were seriously injured, as were the two occupants of the other vehicle, Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh said.
Deputy Public Defender Dawn Beebee had argued that the crash occurred when spike strips Border Patrol agents placed in the roadway to stop Lopez caused him to lose control of the truck.
Lopez could be sentenced to life in prison at a scheduled June 6 hearing, prosecutors said.
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/425073.html>
AP State | Wednesday, Apr 23 2008 3:20 AM
A jury found a man responsible for a head-on crash in the Southern California desert that killed two suspected illegal aliens he was allegedly smuggling into the United States.
Daniel Cardiola Lopez, 36, of Mexico was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of murder, two counts of vehicular homicide with gross negligence causing great bodily harm and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the June 2007 crash.
Lopez was fleeing Border Patrol agents on a two-lane road near Ocotillo, a desert hamlet about 70 miles east of San Diego, when he swerved into oncoming traffic and slammed into another vehicle, authorities said.
Five other passengers in the truck Lopez was driving were seriously injured, as were the two occupants of the other vehicle, Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh said.
Deputy Public Defender Dawn Beebee had argued that the crash occurred when spike strips Border Patrol agents placed in the roadway to stop Lopez caused him to lose control of the truck.
Lopez could be sentenced to life in prison at a scheduled June 6 hearing, prosecutors said.
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/425073.html>
FREE RAMOS AND COMPEAN!!!
Senators renew call to free jailed ex-border agents
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), April 22, 2008
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn have renewed their plea to President Bush to release Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are in jail for shooting a fleeing drug trafficker.
The two senators Monday sent Bush a letter, pointing out that the man who was shot at the U.S.-Mexico border, Aldrete Davila, pleaded guilty last week to transporting two loads of marijuana valued at a total of $2 million.
'As we have indicated previously, the penalty levied on these agents is excessive,' the senators wrote. 'We believe that this is a case of prosecutorial overreaching, and to allow agents Ramos and Compean to serve over a decade in prison would represent a serious miscarriage of justice.'
The two former agents have been in prison for more than a year and the senators want Bush to commute their sentences.
http://immigration.freedomblogging.com/2008/04/22/
senators-renew-call-to-free-jailed-ex-border-agents/a>
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), April 22, 2008
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn have renewed their plea to President Bush to release Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are in jail for shooting a fleeing drug trafficker.
The two senators Monday sent Bush a letter, pointing out that the man who was shot at the U.S.-Mexico border, Aldrete Davila, pleaded guilty last week to transporting two loads of marijuana valued at a total of $2 million.
'As we have indicated previously, the penalty levied on these agents is excessive,' the senators wrote. 'We believe that this is a case of prosecutorial overreaching, and to allow agents Ramos and Compean to serve over a decade in prison would represent a serious miscarriage of justice.'
The two former agents have been in prison for more than a year and the senators want Bush to commute their sentences.
http://immigration.freedomblogging.com/2008/04/22/
senators-renew-call-to-free-jailed-ex-border-agents/a>
San Juan Islanders bothered by ferry spot checks...
San Juan Islanders bothered by ferry spot checks
By Sara Jean Green
The Associated Press, April 22, 2008
Friday Harbor, WA (AP) -- The people of the San Juan Islands tend to be independent sorts, espousing a do-it-yourself, leave-me-be ethos as natural and ever-present as the tide.
But for many of the 17,000 people of this island county, the normal rhythms of small-town life have hit a dissonant chord lately.
A couple of months ago, the U.S. Border Patrol began occasional 'spot checks' of every vehicle and passenger arriving in Anacortes off state ferries, the lifeline between these islands and the mainland.
For some here, it seems like a good idea or, at worst, a minor inconvenience. But for a vocal and active faction, the federal agents' aggressive questioning and demands for identification have spurred outrage.
In the islands' coffee shops and the editorial pages of the local paper, then in a crowded, heated meeting last month, a number of people have complained that islanders are being unfairly treated and questioned, even though they haven't left the country and normally wouldn't be subject to such scrutiny.
Terms like 'police state' are hurled around, as they say the searches are illegal, unconstitutional and just a ruse to catch illegal immigrants and petty drug users.
The Border Patrol responds that the stops are annoying but necessary, the cost of keeping the country safe. It maintains that a terrorist could easily use the same maze of waterways and islands here that for generations has harbored smugglers, rumrunners and drug dealers.
But in this comparatively affluent county, where there isn't a single stoplight, angry islanders are unsatisfied. They've complained to their congressional delegates and recently asked the American Civil Liberties Union to monitor the situation and provide legal advice.
And they have rallied around a family who immigrated illegally from Mexico years ago and were recently caught up in the dragnet. They raised bail for them and paid their rent while they were detained.
The Border Patrol's actions are 'hurting good people, even if they are undocumented,' said the Rev. Raymond Heffernan, priest at Friday Harbor's St. Francis Catholic Church.
Island residents 'are concerned about the invasion to their own privacy and the damage it's doing to good people, people who are contributing to the community,' said the 77-year-old priest.
With their location 20 or so miles from Canada, the San Juan Islands have enticed smugglers for more than a century. Complex channels and isolated coves concealed the import of Chinese laborers and opium in the 1880s, moonshine during Prohibition, and more recently, potent marijuana known as 'B.C. bud.'
And the Border Patrol says terrorists could be next.
San Juan Islanders are used to customs inspections in Anacortes if they take the ferry that comes from Sidney, B.C. Before now, though, they were never subjected to checks on domestic ferry runs.
That changed in February, when federal agents started corralling everyone off domestic ferries into a fenced-off area in Anacortes and questioning them about their citizenship. It now happens once, maybe twice a week; no one has any way to know if they will be stopped.
When islanders talk about taking a ferry to the mainland, the joke around town these days is, 'I'm going back to America,' said David Jones, the mayor of Friday Harbor.
'There's a great surge of indignation underneath the surface here,' he said.
So much so that local attorney Carolyn de Roos recently asked three Seattle lawyers to come speak at two meetings about residents' rights and legal options.
Their advice: Don't answer any questions.
Because island residents who board domestic ferries don't cross an international border, they 'have a right not to reveal anything about their legal status,' said Matt Adams, an attorney with the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a member of the ACLU.
'Once they're inside the country, Immigration doesn't have the right to detain someone without reasonable suspicion,' Adams said. And ethnic background, skin color or language don't meet that threshold.
But if someone admits to being in the country illegally, Border Patrol can arrest the person.
Joe Giuliano, the Border Patrol's deputy chief patrol agent for the Blaine border sector, says he understands that the stops are a hassle for law-abiding citizens.
But he stresses that the threat of terrorism is no joke.
It's conceivable that someone could get to the islands by plane or boat, or board an international ferry in Sidney, B.C., and get off in Friday Harbor instead of Anacortes. Once in an island community, a person with nefarious intentions could mix with the locals and then board a domestic ferry in order to sneak into the country, Giuliano said.
'It's a vulnerability and we're worried that it could be exploited,' he said.
'You have to catch it all to make sure you're not dealing with a terrorist issue. And, if an immigration issue walks up to you, you're pretty much compelled to act on it.'
As for residents who refuse to cooperate or answer questions, Giuliano said, agents will still run their license-plate numbers and search databases, detaining them until it can be determined whether they are here legally. But if an agent doesn't have enough information to make that determination, or doesn't have probable cause to arrest someone, 'the thing is let go,' he said.
Between late February and last week, 43 people 38 of them from Mexico have been arrested in the ferry stops, Giuliano said. An additional 141 people from a total of 33 countries were interviewed by agents before they were let go.
Late last year, rumors began circulating among the islands' Hispanics that the Border Patrol was snaring illegal immigrants who rode the ferries to Anacortes.
So for three months, the Sanabria family Antonio, Amelia and their daughters Guadalupe, 18, and Carmen, 15 never left Friday Harbor.
When they didn't hear of any arrests, they decided to chance it in February so Guadalupe could take her driver's-license test on the mainland.
A Border Patrol agent approached their pickup truck as they got off the ferry in Anacortes. Antonio Sanabria whispered to his family in Spanish: 'Oh, no. They've got us.'
It never occurred to them that they could refuse to answer the agents' questions, said Guadalupe Sanabria, who was 2 when her parents illegally came to the U.S. from Michoacan, Mexico.
The family was sent to a federal detention facility in Pennsylvania. Even before the Sanabrias were escorted onto a plane, Guadalupe was phoning friends back in Friday Harbor.
As it will in small towns, news spread fast. Members of the community managed to raise enough money to get the family out on a $30,000 bond, and they were back in Friday Harbor by the end of March their plane tickets also courtesy of folks back home.
Even so, the Sanabrias know they will probably lose their bid to stay in the United States.
'I'm really thankful our community helped us because if not for them, we wouldn't be back,' Guadalupe said. 'It's in God's hands. We just hope someday there's a way for us to be legal.'
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/426622.
html
By Sara Jean Green
The Associated Press, April 22, 2008
Friday Harbor, WA (AP) -- The people of the San Juan Islands tend to be independent sorts, espousing a do-it-yourself, leave-me-be ethos as natural and ever-present as the tide.
But for many of the 17,000 people of this island county, the normal rhythms of small-town life have hit a dissonant chord lately.
A couple of months ago, the U.S. Border Patrol began occasional 'spot checks' of every vehicle and passenger arriving in Anacortes off state ferries, the lifeline between these islands and the mainland.
For some here, it seems like a good idea or, at worst, a minor inconvenience. But for a vocal and active faction, the federal agents' aggressive questioning and demands for identification have spurred outrage.
In the islands' coffee shops and the editorial pages of the local paper, then in a crowded, heated meeting last month, a number of people have complained that islanders are being unfairly treated and questioned, even though they haven't left the country and normally wouldn't be subject to such scrutiny.
Terms like 'police state' are hurled around, as they say the searches are illegal, unconstitutional and just a ruse to catch illegal immigrants and petty drug users.
The Border Patrol responds that the stops are annoying but necessary, the cost of keeping the country safe. It maintains that a terrorist could easily use the same maze of waterways and islands here that for generations has harbored smugglers, rumrunners and drug dealers.
But in this comparatively affluent county, where there isn't a single stoplight, angry islanders are unsatisfied. They've complained to their congressional delegates and recently asked the American Civil Liberties Union to monitor the situation and provide legal advice.
And they have rallied around a family who immigrated illegally from Mexico years ago and were recently caught up in the dragnet. They raised bail for them and paid their rent while they were detained.
The Border Patrol's actions are 'hurting good people, even if they are undocumented,' said the Rev. Raymond Heffernan, priest at Friday Harbor's St. Francis Catholic Church.
Island residents 'are concerned about the invasion to their own privacy and the damage it's doing to good people, people who are contributing to the community,' said the 77-year-old priest.
With their location 20 or so miles from Canada, the San Juan Islands have enticed smugglers for more than a century. Complex channels and isolated coves concealed the import of Chinese laborers and opium in the 1880s, moonshine during Prohibition, and more recently, potent marijuana known as 'B.C. bud.'
And the Border Patrol says terrorists could be next.
San Juan Islanders are used to customs inspections in Anacortes if they take the ferry that comes from Sidney, B.C. Before now, though, they were never subjected to checks on domestic ferry runs.
That changed in February, when federal agents started corralling everyone off domestic ferries into a fenced-off area in Anacortes and questioning them about their citizenship. It now happens once, maybe twice a week; no one has any way to know if they will be stopped.
When islanders talk about taking a ferry to the mainland, the joke around town these days is, 'I'm going back to America,' said David Jones, the mayor of Friday Harbor.
'There's a great surge of indignation underneath the surface here,' he said.
So much so that local attorney Carolyn de Roos recently asked three Seattle lawyers to come speak at two meetings about residents' rights and legal options.
Their advice: Don't answer any questions.
Because island residents who board domestic ferries don't cross an international border, they 'have a right not to reveal anything about their legal status,' said Matt Adams, an attorney with the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a member of the ACLU.
'Once they're inside the country, Immigration doesn't have the right to detain someone without reasonable suspicion,' Adams said. And ethnic background, skin color or language don't meet that threshold.
But if someone admits to being in the country illegally, Border Patrol can arrest the person.
Joe Giuliano, the Border Patrol's deputy chief patrol agent for the Blaine border sector, says he understands that the stops are a hassle for law-abiding citizens.
But he stresses that the threat of terrorism is no joke.
It's conceivable that someone could get to the islands by plane or boat, or board an international ferry in Sidney, B.C., and get off in Friday Harbor instead of Anacortes. Once in an island community, a person with nefarious intentions could mix with the locals and then board a domestic ferry in order to sneak into the country, Giuliano said.
'It's a vulnerability and we're worried that it could be exploited,' he said.
'You have to catch it all to make sure you're not dealing with a terrorist issue. And, if an immigration issue walks up to you, you're pretty much compelled to act on it.'
As for residents who refuse to cooperate or answer questions, Giuliano said, agents will still run their license-plate numbers and search databases, detaining them until it can be determined whether they are here legally. But if an agent doesn't have enough information to make that determination, or doesn't have probable cause to arrest someone, 'the thing is let go,' he said.
Between late February and last week, 43 people 38 of them from Mexico have been arrested in the ferry stops, Giuliano said. An additional 141 people from a total of 33 countries were interviewed by agents before they were let go.
Late last year, rumors began circulating among the islands' Hispanics that the Border Patrol was snaring illegal immigrants who rode the ferries to Anacortes.
So for three months, the Sanabria family Antonio, Amelia and their daughters Guadalupe, 18, and Carmen, 15 never left Friday Harbor.
When they didn't hear of any arrests, they decided to chance it in February so Guadalupe could take her driver's-license test on the mainland.
A Border Patrol agent approached their pickup truck as they got off the ferry in Anacortes. Antonio Sanabria whispered to his family in Spanish: 'Oh, no. They've got us.'
It never occurred to them that they could refuse to answer the agents' questions, said Guadalupe Sanabria, who was 2 when her parents illegally came to the U.S. from Michoacan, Mexico.
The family was sent to a federal detention facility in Pennsylvania. Even before the Sanabrias were escorted onto a plane, Guadalupe was phoning friends back in Friday Harbor.
As it will in small towns, news spread fast. Members of the community managed to raise enough money to get the family out on a $30,000 bond, and they were back in Friday Harbor by the end of March their plane tickets also courtesy of folks back home.
Even so, the Sanabrias know they will probably lose their bid to stay in the United States.
'I'm really thankful our community helped us because if not for them, we wouldn't be back,' Guadalupe said. 'It's in God's hands. We just hope someday there's a way for us to be legal.'
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/426622.
html
Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient...YA THINK?!!
Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient
By Arthur Rotstein
The Associated Press, April 23, 2008
Tucson, AZ (AP) -- The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted 'virtual fence' on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.
Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.
Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it 'did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future' developments.
A glaring shortcoming of the project was the time lag between the electronic detection of movement along the border and the transmission of a camera image to agents patrolling the area, the GAO reported.
Although the fence continues to operate, it hasn't come close to meeting the Border Patrol's goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington.
'Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn't meet their expectations.'
The Border Patrol had little input in designing the prototype but will have more say in the final version, officials said.
Agents began using the virtual fence last December, and the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 apprehensions since, said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington.
But that's just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross the border daily near southwest of Tucson.
The virtual fence is part of a national plan to use physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities to secure the Mexican border and eventually the Canadian boundary.
Boeing was awarded an $860 million contract to provide the technology, physical fences and vehicle barriers.
'Boeing has delivered a system that the Border Patrol currently is operating 24 hours a day,' Boeing spokeswoman Deborah Bosick said. She declined further comment.
Project 28 was not intended to be the final, state-of-the-art system for catching illegal immigrants, Giddens said. 'I think some people understood that and some didn't. We didn't communicate that well.'
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxS
Qno3N6gEdY-MAD907IGJO0
By Arthur Rotstein
The Associated Press, April 23, 2008
Tucson, AZ (AP) -- The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted 'virtual fence' on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.
Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.
Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it 'did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future' developments.
A glaring shortcoming of the project was the time lag between the electronic detection of movement along the border and the transmission of a camera image to agents patrolling the area, the GAO reported.
Although the fence continues to operate, it hasn't come close to meeting the Border Patrol's goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington.
'Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn't meet their expectations.'
The Border Patrol had little input in designing the prototype but will have more say in the final version, officials said.
Agents began using the virtual fence last December, and the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 apprehensions since, said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington.
But that's just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross the border daily near southwest of Tucson.
The virtual fence is part of a national plan to use physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities to secure the Mexican border and eventually the Canadian boundary.
Boeing was awarded an $860 million contract to provide the technology, physical fences and vehicle barriers.
'Boeing has delivered a system that the Border Patrol currently is operating 24 hours a day,' Boeing spokeswoman Deborah Bosick said. She declined further comment.
Project 28 was not intended to be the final, state-of-the-art system for catching illegal immigrants, Giddens said. 'I think some people understood that and some didn't. We didn't communicate that well.'
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxS
Qno3N6gEdY-MAD907IGJO0
Illegal alien accused of raping, impregnating Texas teen...
Illegal alien accused of raping, impregnating Texas teen
By Kristina De Leon
The WOAI News (San Antonio, TX), April 21, 2008
A man is in the Bexar County Jail, accused of sexually assaulting a child. That child gave birth over the weekend and she says her infant son belongs to him.
Police say 44-year-old Juan Manuel Cepeda was arrested Sunday night, after a 15-year-old girl came forward with the claims.
Cepeda's arrest affidavit claims the rape happened in August last year. The teenager told police it was the only sexual contact she has ever had.
The affidavit also shows the girl gave birth at Santa Rosa Children's Hospital on Sunday.
The teen says Cepeda was a family friend who she knew from church.
Police say Cepeda is an illegal alien and a flight risk. He is being held without bond.
http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content
_id=de7c54de-e64a-4adb-9182-b4186542a39e
By Kristina De Leon
The WOAI News (San Antonio, TX), April 21, 2008
A man is in the Bexar County Jail, accused of sexually assaulting a child. That child gave birth over the weekend and she says her infant son belongs to him.
Police say 44-year-old Juan Manuel Cepeda was arrested Sunday night, after a 15-year-old girl came forward with the claims.
Cepeda's arrest affidavit claims the rape happened in August last year. The teenager told police it was the only sexual contact she has ever had.
The affidavit also shows the girl gave birth at Santa Rosa Children's Hospital on Sunday.
The teen says Cepeda was a family friend who she knew from church.
Police say Cepeda is an illegal alien and a flight risk. He is being held without bond.
http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content
_id=de7c54de-e64a-4adb-9182-b4186542a39e
18 illegal aliens arrested in raid to be deported...
18 illegal aliens arrested in raid to be deported
By Jon Gambrell
The Associated Press, April 22, 2008
Little Rock (AP) -- Eighteen illegal aliens arrested at a north Arkansas poultry plant will be processed for deportation, but will not serve any jail time for using fake Social Security numbers and state identification cards, federal judges ruled Monday.
Magistrate Judge Beth Deere and U.S. District Judge James Moody accepted guilty pleas from 17 of those arrested at the Pilgrim's Pride Corp. plant in Batesville last week. Federal prosecutors dismissed the misdemeanor charges against one man, but said they planned to ask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings against him.
The guilty pleas will give the 17 arrested criminal records, which will allow prosecutors to pursue harsher penalties if they illegally return to the United States. The charges carry up to up to 2 years in prison and $205,000 in fines, but federal sentencing ranges would have given them a maximum six-month sentence.
U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said her office had no interest in seeing those arrested serve jail time, as they were 'otherwise law-abiding citizens.'
'They came here to better their lives and their family's lives by working,' Duke said after the hearings. 'There's really not a desire to see that kind of person incarcerated because the family they were trying to make a better life for would suffer.'
Three others face administrative charges of immigration violations after the raid Wednesday at the Pilgrim's Pride plant, part of a national sweep at company operations in Florida, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Duke said federal agents had not arrested anyone else in the days after the Batesville raid, though whoever supplied those arrested with the Social Security numbers and identification cards remains at large.
Those arrested all used their illegally obtained identifications to apply for jobs at Pilgrim's Pride, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ray White said. None had previous criminal records.
At an afternoon hearing, the men filed into the courtroom, most dressed in jeans and sneakers. Two wore rubber boots. The youngest was 18, while the oldest was 59. All wore headphones that allowed them to listen to the judge through a court interpreter.
Deere urged the men to be honest and tell federal public defender Jenniffer Horan if they had children living in the country who would be left behind. After the raid, state authorities said they took in no children. Those arrested during a July 27, 2005, raid on a Petit Jean Inc. poultry plant in Arkadelphia left behind about 30 children at schools and daycares.
'We don't want to leave minor children in a precarious situation,' Deere said.
The judge also tried to put the men at ease by describing Guatemala and Mexico as 'beautiful countries' and promising to learn Spanish. Most stood impassively by, staring straight ahead or at the courtroom's floor. One man audibly wept at one point during the hearing.
'While they did break the law, they are not criminals,' Horan told the judge. 'They came to this country to seek a better life.'
Most men passed at an opportunity to speak, though Gavino Aguillan-Bautista, 59, did. Horan said the man had been living in the country for at least 13 years.
'I want to thank God for the life and health I had in this country,' the Guatemalan told the court in Spanish. 'I ask God to bless all of you in the United States.'
Deere offered her own thoughts after sentencing the men to the terms of the plea bargain.
'I wish you all the best and God speed,' she said.
After the judge left the courtroom, the men placed their hands behind their back, waiting for the marshals to fasten their handcuffs.
http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/595516.html
By Jon Gambrell
The Associated Press, April 22, 2008
Little Rock (AP) -- Eighteen illegal aliens arrested at a north Arkansas poultry plant will be processed for deportation, but will not serve any jail time for using fake Social Security numbers and state identification cards, federal judges ruled Monday.
Magistrate Judge Beth Deere and U.S. District Judge James Moody accepted guilty pleas from 17 of those arrested at the Pilgrim's Pride Corp. plant in Batesville last week. Federal prosecutors dismissed the misdemeanor charges against one man, but said they planned to ask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings against him.
The guilty pleas will give the 17 arrested criminal records, which will allow prosecutors to pursue harsher penalties if they illegally return to the United States. The charges carry up to up to 2 years in prison and $205,000 in fines, but federal sentencing ranges would have given them a maximum six-month sentence.
U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said her office had no interest in seeing those arrested serve jail time, as they were 'otherwise law-abiding citizens.'
'They came here to better their lives and their family's lives by working,' Duke said after the hearings. 'There's really not a desire to see that kind of person incarcerated because the family they were trying to make a better life for would suffer.'
Three others face administrative charges of immigration violations after the raid Wednesday at the Pilgrim's Pride plant, part of a national sweep at company operations in Florida, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Duke said federal agents had not arrested anyone else in the days after the Batesville raid, though whoever supplied those arrested with the Social Security numbers and identification cards remains at large.
Those arrested all used their illegally obtained identifications to apply for jobs at Pilgrim's Pride, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ray White said. None had previous criminal records.
At an afternoon hearing, the men filed into the courtroom, most dressed in jeans and sneakers. Two wore rubber boots. The youngest was 18, while the oldest was 59. All wore headphones that allowed them to listen to the judge through a court interpreter.
Deere urged the men to be honest and tell federal public defender Jenniffer Horan if they had children living in the country who would be left behind. After the raid, state authorities said they took in no children. Those arrested during a July 27, 2005, raid on a Petit Jean Inc. poultry plant in Arkadelphia left behind about 30 children at schools and daycares.
'We don't want to leave minor children in a precarious situation,' Deere said.
The judge also tried to put the men at ease by describing Guatemala and Mexico as 'beautiful countries' and promising to learn Spanish. Most stood impassively by, staring straight ahead or at the courtroom's floor. One man audibly wept at one point during the hearing.
'While they did break the law, they are not criminals,' Horan told the judge. 'They came to this country to seek a better life.'
Most men passed at an opportunity to speak, though Gavino Aguillan-Bautista, 59, did. Horan said the man had been living in the country for at least 13 years.
'I want to thank God for the life and health I had in this country,' the Guatemalan told the court in Spanish. 'I ask God to bless all of you in the United States.'
Deere offered her own thoughts after sentencing the men to the terms of the plea bargain.
'I wish you all the best and God speed,' she said.
After the judge left the courtroom, the men placed their hands behind their back, waiting for the marshals to fasten their handcuffs.
http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/595516.html
Illegal aliens face twisting legal path...
Illegal aliens face twisting legal path
By Shawn McGrath
The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, IN), April 22, 2008
Chicago -- Diego Hernandez and Anh Phan have never met, but they may share something of a common path.
Both Hernandez, 40, a native of Mexico, and Phan, 27, a Vietnamese national, were held for immigration officials after they were arrested in Madison County, and will attend court hearings in Chicago to resolve their citizenship status.
Anderson police arrested Hernandez this month on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving and driving without ever having received a license.
Indiana State Police troopers arrested Phan in September at the Pendleton BMV branch when she allegedly tried to get an Indiana ID card using fraudulent Permanent Resident and Social Security cards.
Hernandez and Phan’s brushes with law enforcement represent how illegal aliens often come into contact with immigration officials. But not all people here illegally — even those who’ve been arrested — appear on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar.
'Unless they’ve been previously deported, they really don’t put a hold on them,' said Andy Williams, Madison County Jail commander. 'If it’s a minor offense, they don’t necessarily process them through.'
Hernandez had previously been deported to Mexico, and he’s had previous felony arrests.
Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for ICE’s Chicago district, admitted that many illegals fall off the radar even if they’ve come in contact with the criminal justice system, even if they’ve been arrested for petty crimes.
Being an illegal alien is a violation of federal law, Montenegro said, 'but like any law enforcement agency, we have to prioritize.
'Our top priority is any illegal alien accused of a violent crime,' Montenegro said. 'After that would be habitual criminals, such as numerous drunken driving arrests.'
Immigration officials lack the resources to remove all illegal aliens. There are over 15,000 people working for ICE, with offices around the world. The agency deporteed more 275,000 illegal aliens in fiscal year 2007, according to the agencies annual report, so the agency prioritizes the most serious violators: violent offenders, those convicted of major drug offenses and those who have already been deported.
Another priority is fugitive aliens, or illegal aliens that have gone through the deportation hearing process but absconded before they could be taken into custody. There are currently about 600,000 fugitive aliens in the United States, she said.
Along with Indiana and Illinois, the Chicago office covers Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. Most taken into custody in Madison County are transported to Marion County but then processed through an intake facility in Broadview, Ill., near Chicago.
Usually, a hearing before a judge with the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is under the U.S. Department of Justice umbrella, is then scheduled.
Detainees aren’t appointed a public defender if they can’t afford private counsel to represent them during in the hearing process. But ICE does provide detainees with a list of pro bono immigration attorneys. They’re also given information on how to contact their nation’s consulate office in Chicago, Montenegro said. She said criminal prosecution is possible in some cases, similar to Anh Phan’s case, where the person is alleged to have used phony documents to get an ID, or suspected of committing identity theft.
But it could be a while before an immigration violator is finally deported.
'There are some cases that go on for months or years,' Montenegro said. 'ICE does not detain everyone going through the deportation process.'
The individual has due process rights, and many cases are appealed to a higher federal court. In many cases, she said, suspected illegals are allowed to post bond. One hundred percent of the bond must be posted, and they start at $1,500, she said.
Locally, Williams said he doesn’t think many illegal aliens end up in the Madison County jail.
'I don’t know that the number has ever been tracked,' Williams said. 'I don’t believe it to be a very high number. It’s not statistically a lot.' The path to being the U.S. legally is varied. Citizens of foreign countries can apply for a legal permanent resident card, better known as a Green Card. Or they can apply for one of the various types of visa, such as student, work or training visa. The length of stay under the visas varies, but many are for six months.
And any charges illegal aliens face locally are resolved — including prison sentences — before ICE officials will take them into custody.
'If they face local charges, we don’t interfere,' Montenegro said. 'If you start to deport someone before the criminal process (is completed), in essence, it’s a get out of jail free card.'
As it stands, it’s up to Madison County authorities to notify ICE officials if they determine someone in custody is an illegal alien. But under a new initiative announced in March, ICE will begin the Security Communities plan where they automatically gain information on potential illegal aliens from the nation’s 3,100-some local jails.
ICE plans to send 'integration technology' to local law-enforcement agencies to connect them to FBI and Department of Homeland Security databases to check immigration history, according to an ICE press release announcing the initiative. The process would automatically notify ICE officials when an immigration violator has been taken into custody, streamlining the process.
Hernandez remained in the Madison County Jail Thursday, waiting picked up by ICE officials.
As for Phan, her mother and stepfather, who live in Fort Wayne, hired Anderson attorney Tom Godfrey to handle her criminal case. She is formally charged with application fraud, a Class D felony, and false government identification, a Class A misdemeanor.
Godfrey said Phan gave money to a friend who claimed to know someone who could obtain legitimate documents. Phan, who has since been released on her own recognizance so she can clear up the immigration issue, believed she had valid documentation, Godfrey said. Her trial is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. today in Madison County Court 2.
Montenegro said Phan’s plight isn’t uncommon.
'We see a lot of cases of where people are duped,' said Montenegro, adding Phan’s immigration hearing hadn’t yet been scheduled. 'There are all different types who try to take advantage of this vulnerable segment of our society. They could be crooked attorneys, notary publics, just about anybody.
'It’s a segment of the population that is vulnerable. Many think that if they pay enough money, they’ll be able to legitimize their status, but that isn’t the case.'
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story
_113084029.html?start:int=0
By Shawn McGrath
The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, IN), April 22, 2008
Chicago -- Diego Hernandez and Anh Phan have never met, but they may share something of a common path.
Both Hernandez, 40, a native of Mexico, and Phan, 27, a Vietnamese national, were held for immigration officials after they were arrested in Madison County, and will attend court hearings in Chicago to resolve their citizenship status.
Anderson police arrested Hernandez this month on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving and driving without ever having received a license.
Indiana State Police troopers arrested Phan in September at the Pendleton BMV branch when she allegedly tried to get an Indiana ID card using fraudulent Permanent Resident and Social Security cards.
Hernandez and Phan’s brushes with law enforcement represent how illegal aliens often come into contact with immigration officials. But not all people here illegally — even those who’ve been arrested — appear on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar.
'Unless they’ve been previously deported, they really don’t put a hold on them,' said Andy Williams, Madison County Jail commander. 'If it’s a minor offense, they don’t necessarily process them through.'
Hernandez had previously been deported to Mexico, and he’s had previous felony arrests.
Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for ICE’s Chicago district, admitted that many illegals fall off the radar even if they’ve come in contact with the criminal justice system, even if they’ve been arrested for petty crimes.
Being an illegal alien is a violation of federal law, Montenegro said, 'but like any law enforcement agency, we have to prioritize.
'Our top priority is any illegal alien accused of a violent crime,' Montenegro said. 'After that would be habitual criminals, such as numerous drunken driving arrests.'
Immigration officials lack the resources to remove all illegal aliens. There are over 15,000 people working for ICE, with offices around the world. The agency deporteed more 275,000 illegal aliens in fiscal year 2007, according to the agencies annual report, so the agency prioritizes the most serious violators: violent offenders, those convicted of major drug offenses and those who have already been deported.
Another priority is fugitive aliens, or illegal aliens that have gone through the deportation hearing process but absconded before they could be taken into custody. There are currently about 600,000 fugitive aliens in the United States, she said.
Along with Indiana and Illinois, the Chicago office covers Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. Most taken into custody in Madison County are transported to Marion County but then processed through an intake facility in Broadview, Ill., near Chicago.
Usually, a hearing before a judge with the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is under the U.S. Department of Justice umbrella, is then scheduled.
Detainees aren’t appointed a public defender if they can’t afford private counsel to represent them during in the hearing process. But ICE does provide detainees with a list of pro bono immigration attorneys. They’re also given information on how to contact their nation’s consulate office in Chicago, Montenegro said. She said criminal prosecution is possible in some cases, similar to Anh Phan’s case, where the person is alleged to have used phony documents to get an ID, or suspected of committing identity theft.
But it could be a while before an immigration violator is finally deported.
'There are some cases that go on for months or years,' Montenegro said. 'ICE does not detain everyone going through the deportation process.'
The individual has due process rights, and many cases are appealed to a higher federal court. In many cases, she said, suspected illegals are allowed to post bond. One hundred percent of the bond must be posted, and they start at $1,500, she said.
Locally, Williams said he doesn’t think many illegal aliens end up in the Madison County jail.
'I don’t know that the number has ever been tracked,' Williams said. 'I don’t believe it to be a very high number. It’s not statistically a lot.' The path to being the U.S. legally is varied. Citizens of foreign countries can apply for a legal permanent resident card, better known as a Green Card. Or they can apply for one of the various types of visa, such as student, work or training visa. The length of stay under the visas varies, but many are for six months.
And any charges illegal aliens face locally are resolved — including prison sentences — before ICE officials will take them into custody.
'If they face local charges, we don’t interfere,' Montenegro said. 'If you start to deport someone before the criminal process (is completed), in essence, it’s a get out of jail free card.'
As it stands, it’s up to Madison County authorities to notify ICE officials if they determine someone in custody is an illegal alien. But under a new initiative announced in March, ICE will begin the Security Communities plan where they automatically gain information on potential illegal aliens from the nation’s 3,100-some local jails.
ICE plans to send 'integration technology' to local law-enforcement agencies to connect them to FBI and Department of Homeland Security databases to check immigration history, according to an ICE press release announcing the initiative. The process would automatically notify ICE officials when an immigration violator has been taken into custody, streamlining the process.
Hernandez remained in the Madison County Jail Thursday, waiting picked up by ICE officials.
As for Phan, her mother and stepfather, who live in Fort Wayne, hired Anderson attorney Tom Godfrey to handle her criminal case. She is formally charged with application fraud, a Class D felony, and false government identification, a Class A misdemeanor.
Godfrey said Phan gave money to a friend who claimed to know someone who could obtain legitimate documents. Phan, who has since been released on her own recognizance so she can clear up the immigration issue, believed she had valid documentation, Godfrey said. Her trial is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. today in Madison County Court 2.
Montenegro said Phan’s plight isn’t uncommon.
'We see a lot of cases of where people are duped,' said Montenegro, adding Phan’s immigration hearing hadn’t yet been scheduled. 'There are all different types who try to take advantage of this vulnerable segment of our society. They could be crooked attorneys, notary publics, just about anybody.
'It’s a segment of the population that is vulnerable. Many think that if they pay enough money, they’ll be able to legitimize their status, but that isn’t the case.'
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story
_113084029.html?start:int=0
'Catch the Illegal Immigrant' roils Tech campus...
'Catch the Illegal Immigrant' roils Tech campus
By Marlena Hartz
The Morris News Service, April 22, 2008
Lubbock -- 'Illegal Immigrant' read the T-shirts' fronts. 'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN' read the backs.
Students in the Texas Tech chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas wore the T-shirts on campus one day as part of a game, 'Catch the Illegal Immigrant.'
Although the game goes against the university's mission to build a diverse and welcoming atmosphere, the students have a right to play it, Tech President Jon Whitmore wrote in a response letter Wednesday to two students who were deeply offended by the game.
'All members of our university community have a right to express themselves, even when you and I or others disagree with them,' his letter reads.
The version of hide-and-seek in which one student wears the T-shirt and others try to catch him or her, usually for a prize, has been causing uproars on college campuses since at least 2006.
The Young Conservatives at Tech played the game for the first time on Tech's campus March 31, members said.
Two students informed the university's president of the event in a protest letter dated April 11 and endorsed by 15 faculty members and six student organizations.
The game promotes violence toward not only illegal immigrants, but all foreigners, their letter reads.
'All this game is doing is creating this tension between students. ... It makes Texas Tech look like it does not welcome diversity. It makes all of us look bad,' said Tomas Resendiz, a Tech junior and one of the two Hispanic students who drafted the letter to Whitmore, in which they urged university administrators to clarify their stance on the game.
The Young Conservatives at Tech played the game during their 'Deportation Celebration.' The event and game were staged to protest state legislation that gives illegal immigrants tuition breaks and to raise awareness of the illegal immigration issue in general, said the chapter's chairman, Cullin Davis.
Most of the students who participated in the 'Deportation Celebration' are white, photos of the event show.
University officials have designated certain areas on the Tech campus 'free speech zones,' where students are permitted to have such demonstrations.
Resendiz said he wishes the president's admonishment of the game would have been stronger.
'This offends the Hispanic community as a whole,' said Resendiz.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/042208/new_1015884
0.shtml
By Marlena Hartz
The Morris News Service, April 22, 2008
Lubbock -- 'Illegal Immigrant' read the T-shirts' fronts. 'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN' read the backs.
Students in the Texas Tech chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas wore the T-shirts on campus one day as part of a game, 'Catch the Illegal Immigrant.'
Although the game goes against the university's mission to build a diverse and welcoming atmosphere, the students have a right to play it, Tech President Jon Whitmore wrote in a response letter Wednesday to two students who were deeply offended by the game.
'All members of our university community have a right to express themselves, even when you and I or others disagree with them,' his letter reads.
The version of hide-and-seek in which one student wears the T-shirt and others try to catch him or her, usually for a prize, has been causing uproars on college campuses since at least 2006.
The Young Conservatives at Tech played the game for the first time on Tech's campus March 31, members said.
Two students informed the university's president of the event in a protest letter dated April 11 and endorsed by 15 faculty members and six student organizations.
The game promotes violence toward not only illegal immigrants, but all foreigners, their letter reads.
'All this game is doing is creating this tension between students. ... It makes Texas Tech look like it does not welcome diversity. It makes all of us look bad,' said Tomas Resendiz, a Tech junior and one of the two Hispanic students who drafted the letter to Whitmore, in which they urged university administrators to clarify their stance on the game.
The Young Conservatives at Tech played the game during their 'Deportation Celebration.' The event and game were staged to protest state legislation that gives illegal immigrants tuition breaks and to raise awareness of the illegal immigration issue in general, said the chapter's chairman, Cullin Davis.
Most of the students who participated in the 'Deportation Celebration' are white, photos of the event show.
University officials have designated certain areas on the Tech campus 'free speech zones,' where students are permitted to have such demonstrations.
Resendiz said he wishes the president's admonishment of the game would have been stronger.
'This offends the Hispanic community as a whole,' said Resendiz.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/042208/new_1015884
0.shtml
Inland Rep. Joe Baca, other Hispanic Democrats slam party chiefs over immigration...
Inland Rep. Joe Baca, other Hispanic Democrats slam party chiefs over immigration
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Inland Rep. Joe Baca and other Hispanic Democrats in Congress railed against their own party leaders Wednesday, accusing them of failing to fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
Baca, D-Rialto, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and other proponents of a sweeping but stalled immigration bill accused Democrats of choosing to move forward with "piecemeal" bills that help only a small fraction of the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
"These bills are nothing more than a Band-Aid being used to cover up a gaping wound," Baca said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Baca told the story of Marine Cpl. Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of Rialto, an undocumented immigrant who died five years ago in Iraq. Because of his status, Gonzalez's family had to apply for special permission to have an American flag draped over his casket and to receive military benefits after the death.
"That is a shame," Baca said. "Jorge was willing to die to protect this country, but since he was an immigrant, there are some who would call him a criminal."
Baca called upon Democrats to support the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, also known as STRIVE. The bill calls for increased enforcement of laws against employing illegal immigrants, but would also create a guest-worker program to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States and eventually become citizens.
While that bill languishes, Democratic leaders have paved the way for hearings on other immigration bills, which stop short of the provisions laid out in the STRIVE Act.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, one of the bill's authors, went further than Baca, directing scathing remarks at fellow Democrats. He said the party's tactics amount to turning its back on most undocumented immigrants, while protecting a small percentage.
Gutierrez likened the debate to the civil rights and women's suffrage movements as he lashed out against supporters of bills that are not as far reaching.
"What they're saying -- what they would have said some 60, 70 years ago is: 'We're gonna let some women vote, but not all of you. But maybe we'll give you a new apron and some better pots and pans -- but you're still in the kitchen.' "
Baca, Gutierrez and others referred to a bill introduced by Rep. Heath Schuler, D-N.C., which does not include a path to citizenship. That bill appears to be moving forward.
"I only know that this would not happen without the blessing of the highest levels of leadership in the Democratic Party and caucus of the Congress of the United States," Gutierrez said.
Under questioning, he refused to name the individual lawmakers he held responsible. But shortly after the conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office deflected the criticism toward the White House and Republicans.
"Speaker Pelosi is committed to balanced, fair and bipartisan immigration reform legislation, but unless the President and the Republican leadership engage Democrats in a positive way, instead of using this issue to score partisan political points, members will only grow more frustrated with the process," spokesman Nadeam Elshami said in an e-mail.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_
Local_D_baca24.41eadd2.html
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Inland Rep. Joe Baca and other Hispanic Democrats in Congress railed against their own party leaders Wednesday, accusing them of failing to fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
Baca, D-Rialto, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and other proponents of a sweeping but stalled immigration bill accused Democrats of choosing to move forward with "piecemeal" bills that help only a small fraction of the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
"These bills are nothing more than a Band-Aid being used to cover up a gaping wound," Baca said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Baca told the story of Marine Cpl. Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of Rialto, an undocumented immigrant who died five years ago in Iraq. Because of his status, Gonzalez's family had to apply for special permission to have an American flag draped over his casket and to receive military benefits after the death.
"That is a shame," Baca said. "Jorge was willing to die to protect this country, but since he was an immigrant, there are some who would call him a criminal."
Baca called upon Democrats to support the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, also known as STRIVE. The bill calls for increased enforcement of laws against employing illegal immigrants, but would also create a guest-worker program to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States and eventually become citizens.
While that bill languishes, Democratic leaders have paved the way for hearings on other immigration bills, which stop short of the provisions laid out in the STRIVE Act.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, one of the bill's authors, went further than Baca, directing scathing remarks at fellow Democrats. He said the party's tactics amount to turning its back on most undocumented immigrants, while protecting a small percentage.
Gutierrez likened the debate to the civil rights and women's suffrage movements as he lashed out against supporters of bills that are not as far reaching.
"What they're saying -- what they would have said some 60, 70 years ago is: 'We're gonna let some women vote, but not all of you. But maybe we'll give you a new apron and some better pots and pans -- but you're still in the kitchen.' "
Baca, Gutierrez and others referred to a bill introduced by Rep. Heath Schuler, D-N.C., which does not include a path to citizenship. That bill appears to be moving forward.
"I only know that this would not happen without the blessing of the highest levels of leadership in the Democratic Party and caucus of the Congress of the United States," Gutierrez said.
Under questioning, he refused to name the individual lawmakers he held responsible. But shortly after the conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office deflected the criticism toward the White House and Republicans.
"Speaker Pelosi is committed to balanced, fair and bipartisan immigration reform legislation, but unless the President and the Republican leadership engage Democrats in a positive way, instead of using this issue to score partisan political points, members will only grow more frustrated with the process," spokesman Nadeam Elshami said in an e-mail.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_
Local_D_baca24.41eadd2.html
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Arizona Legislation Will Outlaw MEChA And Mexican-American Studies...It's About Time!!!
The Appropriations Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives
has approved provisions to a "Homeland Security" measure that would
essentially destroy the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan
(MEChA) and Mexican-American study programs in the state's public
schools, colleges and universities.
The anti-Mexican provisions to SB1108 were approved yesterday and the
bill is now scheduled for a vote by the full House. The provisions
would withhold funding to schools whose courses "de[...]te American
values and the teachings of European based civilization." One section
of SB1108 would bar public schools, community colleges and
universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it
is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision
Rep. Russell Pearce said is aimed at MEChA. Pearce is a Republican
and the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee out of Mesa,
Arizona.
According to Chairman Pearce, SB1108 would also bar teaching
practices that "overtly encourage dissent from American values" such
as Raza Studies at the Tucson Unified School District. In addition,
SB1108 mandates the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to
confiscate books and teaching materials that are deemed anti-
American. Chairman Pearce said some of the teaching materials amount
to "sedition" by suggesting that the current border between the
United States and Mexico disappear with La Raza taking over the
American Southwest. One book that would be confiscated mentioned by
Pearce is "Occupied America - A History of Chicanos" by Professor
Rodolfo Acuna.
FULL STORY BELOW
April 16, 2008 - 9:51PM
Measure backs 'American values' in state schools
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Arizona schools whose courses "de[...]te American values and the teachings of Western civilization" could lose state funding under the terms of legislation approved Wednesday by a House panel.
SB1108 also would bar teaching practices that "overtly encourage dissent" from those values, including democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious tolerance. Schools would have to surrender teaching materials to the state superintendent of public instruction, who could withhold state aid from districts that broke the law.
Another section of the bill would bar public schools, community colleges and universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said is aimed at MEChA, the Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, a student group.
The 9-6 vote by the Appropriations Committee sends the measure to the full House.
The legislation appears aimed largely at the Tucson Unified School District, whose "Raza Studies" program has annoyed some people. Tucson resident Laura Leighton read lawmakers sections of some books used in classrooms which she said promote hatred.
If the proposal becomes law, however, it would have a statewide reach. And that concerned even some lawmakers who voted for it, saying the language of what would and would not be prohibited is "vague."
Tucson school officials have said the program under fire has helped Hispanic students improve their academic achievement by building pride and focusing on their cultural heritage.
But Pearce, who crafted the measure, said the program doesn't stop there. He said taxpayers are funding "hate speech paid for by tax dollars."
And Pearce said some of the teachings amount to "sedition" by suggesting that the current border between the United States and Mexico disappear, with Mexico - and Hispanics - taking over the American Southwest.
Leighton had specific problems with a text called "Occupied America," a book touted by its publisher as examining Chicano history from the coming of the Spanish in 1519.
She read one line which said "kill the gringos." Another talked about a plan to take back the U.S. Southwest and deport all the Europeans.
A closer look, at the book, though, showed the line about the gringos was a quote from someone referenced. And that the plan to take back the area was not urging current action but instead detailing one pushed by Mexico in 1915.
Leighton, however, said she and others who reviewed the course work believe it is unacceptable.
"We find hate and revolution is being taught in their books," she testified. "We found a de[...]tion and disparagement of American values and a subversion of our history."
Anna Graves said she believes schools are promoting a double standard with such programs.
"If we were to have a group of white citizens teaching white culture only for the white children, it would be totally and absolutely inappropriate in a country that is a country of diversity," said Graves, a Mexican immigrant now a U.S. citizen.
"I absolute deplore people who come from another country and do not want anything to do with the culture, the language or anything that has to do with the government," Graves said. She said they are in this country to send back money to relatives elsewhere and "are not here to provide loyalty."
Rep. Peter Rios, D-Dudleyville, said that kind of attitude ignores the United States as a "culture of diversity."
"What is the downside of students learning about their culture along with the American culture, value and mores?" he asked. Graves said nothing - as long as it's not just Hispanic culture being taught.
More to the point, Graves said it's the job of parents to teach children about their own ethnic background and culture.
"Not everybody had what you had," Rios responded. "So some of these children have to pick up some of this positive self-image building at the school because they're not getting it at home, they're not getting it in the barrios of the neighborhood."
And Rios suggested there was a reason to have programs aimed at teaching Hispanic youngsters about their heritage.
"At the end of the day, we all know the history books are written by the victors," he said. "And we didn't win too many of our battles coming from a Hispanic culture."
Pearce said nothing in the Legislature precludes teaching about various cultures. What he opposes, he said, are the "hateful, despicable comments" becoming part of public education. What would be illegal, Pearce said, are "race-based" classes.
"Nobody would stand here, I suspect, and try to defend the KKK teachings at a Tucson school or anywhere else," he said.
House Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-Tucson, said lawmakers should butt out of the controversy. He said decisions of curriculum should be left to local school boards.
But Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said lawmakers are entitled to regulate the use of tax dollars taken from Arizonans and "demand that our publicly funded education teach and inculcate our youth, our children with the values that make America what it is, the greatest and most free nation in the world."
Biggs, however, conceded the language of what would be prohibited is "somewhat vague" and probably needs work.
Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, said it is more than vague. He questioned what it means to "overtly encourage dissent" from the values of American democracy and Western civilization.
School board and superintendents' lobbyists signed in as opposed to the measure but did not speak. Nor did Sam Polito, Tempe schools lobbyist, saying it made no sense to try to derail Pearce's bill in a committee he chairs.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114048p>
has approved provisions to a "Homeland Security" measure that would
essentially destroy the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan
(MEChA) and Mexican-American study programs in the state's public
schools, colleges and universities.
The anti-Mexican provisions to SB1108 were approved yesterday and the
bill is now scheduled for a vote by the full House. The provisions
would withhold funding to schools whose courses "de[...]te American
values and the teachings of European based civilization." One section
of SB1108 would bar public schools, community colleges and
universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it
is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision
Rep. Russell Pearce said is aimed at MEChA. Pearce is a Republican
and the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee out of Mesa,
Arizona.
According to Chairman Pearce, SB1108 would also bar teaching
practices that "overtly encourage dissent from American values" such
as Raza Studies at the Tucson Unified School District. In addition,
SB1108 mandates the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to
confiscate books and teaching materials that are deemed anti-
American. Chairman Pearce said some of the teaching materials amount
to "sedition" by suggesting that the current border between the
United States and Mexico disappear with La Raza taking over the
American Southwest. One book that would be confiscated mentioned by
Pearce is "Occupied America - A History of Chicanos" by Professor
Rodolfo Acuna.
FULL STORY BELOW
April 16, 2008 - 9:51PM
Measure backs 'American values' in state schools
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Arizona schools whose courses "de[...]te American values and the teachings of Western civilization" could lose state funding under the terms of legislation approved Wednesday by a House panel.
SB1108 also would bar teaching practices that "overtly encourage dissent" from those values, including democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious tolerance. Schools would have to surrender teaching materials to the state superintendent of public instruction, who could withhold state aid from districts that broke the law.
Another section of the bill would bar public schools, community colleges and universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said is aimed at MEChA, the Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, a student group.
The 9-6 vote by the Appropriations Committee sends the measure to the full House.
The legislation appears aimed largely at the Tucson Unified School District, whose "Raza Studies" program has annoyed some people. Tucson resident Laura Leighton read lawmakers sections of some books used in classrooms which she said promote hatred.
If the proposal becomes law, however, it would have a statewide reach. And that concerned even some lawmakers who voted for it, saying the language of what would and would not be prohibited is "vague."
Tucson school officials have said the program under fire has helped Hispanic students improve their academic achievement by building pride and focusing on their cultural heritage.
But Pearce, who crafted the measure, said the program doesn't stop there. He said taxpayers are funding "hate speech paid for by tax dollars."
And Pearce said some of the teachings amount to "sedition" by suggesting that the current border between the United States and Mexico disappear, with Mexico - and Hispanics - taking over the American Southwest.
Leighton had specific problems with a text called "Occupied America," a book touted by its publisher as examining Chicano history from the coming of the Spanish in 1519.
She read one line which said "kill the gringos." Another talked about a plan to take back the U.S. Southwest and deport all the Europeans.
A closer look, at the book, though, showed the line about the gringos was a quote from someone referenced. And that the plan to take back the area was not urging current action but instead detailing one pushed by Mexico in 1915.
Leighton, however, said she and others who reviewed the course work believe it is unacceptable.
"We find hate and revolution is being taught in their books," she testified. "We found a de[...]tion and disparagement of American values and a subversion of our history."
Anna Graves said she believes schools are promoting a double standard with such programs.
"If we were to have a group of white citizens teaching white culture only for the white children, it would be totally and absolutely inappropriate in a country that is a country of diversity," said Graves, a Mexican immigrant now a U.S. citizen.
"I absolute deplore people who come from another country and do not want anything to do with the culture, the language or anything that has to do with the government," Graves said. She said they are in this country to send back money to relatives elsewhere and "are not here to provide loyalty."
Rep. Peter Rios, D-Dudleyville, said that kind of attitude ignores the United States as a "culture of diversity."
"What is the downside of students learning about their culture along with the American culture, value and mores?" he asked. Graves said nothing - as long as it's not just Hispanic culture being taught.
More to the point, Graves said it's the job of parents to teach children about their own ethnic background and culture.
"Not everybody had what you had," Rios responded. "So some of these children have to pick up some of this positive self-image building at the school because they're not getting it at home, they're not getting it in the barrios of the neighborhood."
And Rios suggested there was a reason to have programs aimed at teaching Hispanic youngsters about their heritage.
"At the end of the day, we all know the history books are written by the victors," he said. "And we didn't win too many of our battles coming from a Hispanic culture."
Pearce said nothing in the Legislature precludes teaching about various cultures. What he opposes, he said, are the "hateful, despicable comments" becoming part of public education. What would be illegal, Pearce said, are "race-based" classes.
"Nobody would stand here, I suspect, and try to defend the KKK teachings at a Tucson school or anywhere else," he said.
House Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-Tucson, said lawmakers should butt out of the controversy. He said decisions of curriculum should be left to local school boards.
But Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said lawmakers are entitled to regulate the use of tax dollars taken from Arizonans and "demand that our publicly funded education teach and inculcate our youth, our children with the values that make America what it is, the greatest and most free nation in the world."
Biggs, however, conceded the language of what would be prohibited is "somewhat vague" and probably needs work.
Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, said it is more than vague. He questioned what it means to "overtly encourage dissent" from the values of American democracy and Western civilization.
School board and superintendents' lobbyists signed in as opposed to the measure but did not speak. Nor did Sam Polito, Tempe schools lobbyist, saying it made no sense to try to derail Pearce's bill in a committee he chairs.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114048p>
Mexican Matricula Consular Card Can Be A Perfect Breeder Document...
Testimony of Steve McCraw, Assistant Director of The Office of Intelligence, FBI
Before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims on Consular ID Cards
"Consular ID Cards in a Post-9/11 World"
Chairman Hostettler, Ranking Member Jackson-Lee, and Members of the Subcommittee, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the important issue of consular ID cards. The Department of Justice and the FBI have been charged by the President, with the support of Congress, to protect the American people from the continuing threats of terrorism and the crimes associated therewith. It is in the context of our post-9/11 world that we present our views and concerns to the Subcommittee today.
Over the past two years, we have all seen a dramatically increased effort to promote and utilize consular ID cards as forms of identification for foreign nationals who are present in the United States. The Government of Mexico has been particularly aggressive in marketing the use of its consular ID card, the Matricula Consular. As a result of the extensive efforts to promote the use of the Matricula Consular, a number of other foreign countries are now considering the issuance of their own consular ID cards. The crucial element in the acceptance of any consular ID card is the ability to verify the actual true identity of the bearer of the card. In today's post-9/11 world, this element is all the more important because, in order to protect the American people, we must be able to determine whether an individual is who he purports to be. This is essential in our mission to identify potential terrorists, locate their means of financial support, and prevent acts of terrorism from occurring.
Since Mexico's Matricula Consular is currently the predominant consular ID card in existence, I will focus my comments today on this particular card. It is believed that consular ID cards are primarily being utilized by illegal aliens in the United States. Foreign nationals who are present in the U.S. legally have the ability to use various alternative forms of identification "most notably a passport" for the purposes of opening bank accounts, gaining access to federal facilities, boarding airplanes, and obtaining a state driver's license. In addition, foreign nationals who are present in the United States, either legally or illegally, have the ability to obtain a passport from their own country's embassy or consular office.
The U.S. Government has done an extensive amount of research on the Matricula Consular, to assess its viability as a reliable means of identification. The Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder. The following are the primary problems with the Matricula Consular that allow criminals to fraudulently obtain the cards:
First, the Government of Mexico has no centralized database to coordinate the issuance of consular ID cards. This allows multiple cards to be issued under the same name, the same address, or with the same photograph.
Second, the Government of Mexico has no interconnected databases to provide intra-consular communication to be able to verify who has or has not applied for or received a consular ID card.
Third, the Government of Mexico issues the card to anyone who can produce a Mexican birth certificate and one other form of identity, including documents of very low reliability. Mexican birth certificates are easy to forge and they are a major item on the product list of the fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world. A September 2002 bust of a document production operation in Washington state illustrated the size of this trade. A huge cache of fake Mexican birth certificates was discovered. It is our belief that the primary reason a market for these birth certificates exists is the demand for fraudulently-obtained Matricula Consular cards.
Fourth, in some locations, when an individual seeking a Matricula Consular is unable to produce any documents whatsoever, he will still be issued a Matricula Consular by the Mexican consular official, if he fills out a questionnaire and satisfies the official that he is who he purports to be.
In addition to being vulnerable to fraud, the Matricula Consular is also vulnerable to forgery. There have been several generations of the card; and even the newest version can be easily replicated, despite its security features. It is our estimate that more than 90 percent of Matricula Consular cards now in circulation are earlier versions of the card, which are little more than simple laminated cards without any security features.
As a result of these problems, there are two major criminal threats posed by the cards, and one potential terrorist threat.
The first criminal threat stems from the fact that the Matricula Consular can be a perfect breeder document for establishing a false identity. It is our understanding that as many as 13 states currently accept the Matricula Consular for the purpose of obtaining a drivers' license. Once in possession of a driver's license, a criminal is well on his way to using the false identity to facilitate a variety of crimes, from money laundering to check fraud. And of course, the false identity serves to conceal a criminal who is already being sought by law enforcement. Individuals have been arrested with multiple Matricula Consular cards in their possession, each with the same photograph, but with a different name. Matching these false Matriculas are false driver's licenses, also found in the criminals' possession. Such false identities are particularly useful to facilitate the crime of money laundering, as the criminal is able to establish one or more bank accounts under completely fictitious names. Accounts based upon such fraudulent premises greatly hamper money-laundering investigations once the criminal activity is discovered. As the Subcommittee is well aware, the FBI is particularly concerned about fraudulent financial transactions in the post 9/11 environment, given the fact that foreign terrorists often rely on money transferred from within the United States.
The second criminal threat is that of alien smuggling, a crime that has resulted in many deaths within the past year. Federal officials have arrested alien smugglers who have had as many as seven different Matricula Consular cards in their possession. The cards not only conceal the identity of the smuggler, they also serve as a magnet for the victims who are enticed to entrust their lives to the smugglers, believing that the Matricula Consular that awaits them will entitle them to all sorts of benefits within the United States.
These criminal threats are significant, but it is the terrorist threat presented by the Matricula Consular that is most worrisome. Federal officials have discovered individuals from many different countries in possession of the Matricula Consular card. Most of these individuals are citizens of other Central or South American countries. However, at least one individual of Middle Eastern descent has also been arrested in possession of the Matricula Consular card. The ability of foreign nationals to use the Matricula Consular to create a well-documented, but fictitious, identity in the United States provides an opportunity for terrorists to move freely within the United States without triggering name-based watch lists that are disseminated to local police officers. It also allows them to board planes without revealing their true identity. All of these threats are in addition to the transfer of terrorist funds, mentioned earlier.
In addition, it is important to note that the White House Homeland Security Council is currently chairing an interagency working group that is developing recommendations on Federal policy for Federal acceptance of these cards as well as guidance to state and local governmental agencies on acceptance. The interagency group is examining policy for acceptance of all consular identification cards. They are also specifically examining counterfeit and fraud concerns with the Mexican consular identification card that would impact its acceptance for identification purposes. The Department of Justice is an active participant in that group.
The events of 9/11 forever changed our world. As unpleasant as it may be, we must face the realities of our current world as they relate to protecting the people of the United States. This requires continual vigilance, particularly when it comes to being able to detect and deter those who might abuse the system to directly cause harm, or those who might aid and abet the financing of terrorist operations. Thank you.
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mccraw062603
.htm
Before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims on Consular ID Cards
"Consular ID Cards in a Post-9/11 World"
Chairman Hostettler, Ranking Member Jackson-Lee, and Members of the Subcommittee, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the important issue of consular ID cards. The Department of Justice and the FBI have been charged by the President, with the support of Congress, to protect the American people from the continuing threats of terrorism and the crimes associated therewith. It is in the context of our post-9/11 world that we present our views and concerns to the Subcommittee today.
Over the past two years, we have all seen a dramatically increased effort to promote and utilize consular ID cards as forms of identification for foreign nationals who are present in the United States. The Government of Mexico has been particularly aggressive in marketing the use of its consular ID card, the Matricula Consular. As a result of the extensive efforts to promote the use of the Matricula Consular, a number of other foreign countries are now considering the issuance of their own consular ID cards. The crucial element in the acceptance of any consular ID card is the ability to verify the actual true identity of the bearer of the card. In today's post-9/11 world, this element is all the more important because, in order to protect the American people, we must be able to determine whether an individual is who he purports to be. This is essential in our mission to identify potential terrorists, locate their means of financial support, and prevent acts of terrorism from occurring.
Since Mexico's Matricula Consular is currently the predominant consular ID card in existence, I will focus my comments today on this particular card. It is believed that consular ID cards are primarily being utilized by illegal aliens in the United States. Foreign nationals who are present in the U.S. legally have the ability to use various alternative forms of identification "most notably a passport" for the purposes of opening bank accounts, gaining access to federal facilities, boarding airplanes, and obtaining a state driver's license. In addition, foreign nationals who are present in the United States, either legally or illegally, have the ability to obtain a passport from their own country's embassy or consular office.
The U.S. Government has done an extensive amount of research on the Matricula Consular, to assess its viability as a reliable means of identification. The Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder. The following are the primary problems with the Matricula Consular that allow criminals to fraudulently obtain the cards:
First, the Government of Mexico has no centralized database to coordinate the issuance of consular ID cards. This allows multiple cards to be issued under the same name, the same address, or with the same photograph.
Second, the Government of Mexico has no interconnected databases to provide intra-consular communication to be able to verify who has or has not applied for or received a consular ID card.
Third, the Government of Mexico issues the card to anyone who can produce a Mexican birth certificate and one other form of identity, including documents of very low reliability. Mexican birth certificates are easy to forge and they are a major item on the product list of the fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world. A September 2002 bust of a document production operation in Washington state illustrated the size of this trade. A huge cache of fake Mexican birth certificates was discovered. It is our belief that the primary reason a market for these birth certificates exists is the demand for fraudulently-obtained Matricula Consular cards.
Fourth, in some locations, when an individual seeking a Matricula Consular is unable to produce any documents whatsoever, he will still be issued a Matricula Consular by the Mexican consular official, if he fills out a questionnaire and satisfies the official that he is who he purports to be.
In addition to being vulnerable to fraud, the Matricula Consular is also vulnerable to forgery. There have been several generations of the card; and even the newest version can be easily replicated, despite its security features. It is our estimate that more than 90 percent of Matricula Consular cards now in circulation are earlier versions of the card, which are little more than simple laminated cards without any security features.
As a result of these problems, there are two major criminal threats posed by the cards, and one potential terrorist threat.
The first criminal threat stems from the fact that the Matricula Consular can be a perfect breeder document for establishing a false identity. It is our understanding that as many as 13 states currently accept the Matricula Consular for the purpose of obtaining a drivers' license. Once in possession of a driver's license, a criminal is well on his way to using the false identity to facilitate a variety of crimes, from money laundering to check fraud. And of course, the false identity serves to conceal a criminal who is already being sought by law enforcement. Individuals have been arrested with multiple Matricula Consular cards in their possession, each with the same photograph, but with a different name. Matching these false Matriculas are false driver's licenses, also found in the criminals' possession. Such false identities are particularly useful to facilitate the crime of money laundering, as the criminal is able to establish one or more bank accounts under completely fictitious names. Accounts based upon such fraudulent premises greatly hamper money-laundering investigations once the criminal activity is discovered. As the Subcommittee is well aware, the FBI is particularly concerned about fraudulent financial transactions in the post 9/11 environment, given the fact that foreign terrorists often rely on money transferred from within the United States.
The second criminal threat is that of alien smuggling, a crime that has resulted in many deaths within the past year. Federal officials have arrested alien smugglers who have had as many as seven different Matricula Consular cards in their possession. The cards not only conceal the identity of the smuggler, they also serve as a magnet for the victims who are enticed to entrust their lives to the smugglers, believing that the Matricula Consular that awaits them will entitle them to all sorts of benefits within the United States.
These criminal threats are significant, but it is the terrorist threat presented by the Matricula Consular that is most worrisome. Federal officials have discovered individuals from many different countries in possession of the Matricula Consular card. Most of these individuals are citizens of other Central or South American countries. However, at least one individual of Middle Eastern descent has also been arrested in possession of the Matricula Consular card. The ability of foreign nationals to use the Matricula Consular to create a well-documented, but fictitious, identity in the United States provides an opportunity for terrorists to move freely within the United States without triggering name-based watch lists that are disseminated to local police officers. It also allows them to board planes without revealing their true identity. All of these threats are in addition to the transfer of terrorist funds, mentioned earlier.
In addition, it is important to note that the White House Homeland Security Council is currently chairing an interagency working group that is developing recommendations on Federal policy for Federal acceptance of these cards as well as guidance to state and local governmental agencies on acceptance. The interagency group is examining policy for acceptance of all consular identification cards. They are also specifically examining counterfeit and fraud concerns with the Mexican consular identification card that would impact its acceptance for identification purposes. The Department of Justice is an active participant in that group.
The events of 9/11 forever changed our world. As unpleasant as it may be, we must face the realities of our current world as they relate to protecting the people of the United States. This requires continual vigilance, particularly when it comes to being able to detect and deter those who might abuse the system to directly cause harm, or those who might aid and abet the financing of terrorist operations. Thank you.
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mccraw062603
.htm
Friday, April 18, 2008
Illegal Alien Is Accused Of DWI, Killing Boy...
Suspect missed court date
He is accused of DWI, killing boy
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
SMITHFIELD, NC - A drunken-driving suspect charged Thursday with second-degree murder after a 7-year-old boy was struck and killed had been wanted by police since December for failing to show up in court to answer a previous drunken-driving charge, according to prosecutors.
Hipolito Camora Hernandez, 30, of Parkertown Road in Four Oaks is now in the Johnston County jail on a host of charges related to the death of Marcus Lassiter, who was struck near Four Oaks on Sunday and died at Duke Hospital the next night.
An order for Hernandez's arrest was issued in December when he failed to show up for court, but he eluded arrest until this week.
Authorities say Hernandez is in the country illegally. On Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him, meaning that if convicted, he will likely face deportation after he completes his sentence, said Tom O'Connell, resident agent in charge of the agency's local office.
Hernandez has been charged with drunken driving at least four times before but has never been convicted, according to court records. The December court date he missed stems from a pending drunken-driving charge from March 2007.
Two other DWI cases -- in 2004 and 2005 -- were dismissed. On Thursday, a Johnston County prosecutor said the state was unable to try the cases because prosecuting witnesses did not show up for court.
"The law officers in both cases were out of place," said Paul Jackson, a Johnston County assistant district attorney.
Johnston County court records indicate that just before midnight on Aug. 4, 2004, a Four Oaks police officer stopped Hernandez on U.S. 301 South and charged him with driving while impaired and driving left of center. His blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest was 0.22, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, the traffic citation shows. On Jan. 7, 2005, the charges were dismissed because the investigating officer was not in court.
Six months later, on the night of Feb. 6, 2005, a Smithfield patrol officer charged Hernandez with speeding and driving while impaired. Hernandez again had a blood alcohol content of 0.22, court records show. The charges were dismissed nine months later when the police officer failed to show for court, records show.
In a 2006 DWI case, Hernandez was convicted of reckless driving to endanger, for which he paid a $25 interpreter's fee and $210 in court costs and fines, court records show.
Jackson said he was not sure why Hernandez was allowed to plead to a lesser offense for the 2006 DWI charge. But, Jackson said, speaking in general terms, allowing a defendant to plead to a lesser charge suggests prosecutors could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
In 2006, Johnston County had the lowest conviction rate for drunken-driving cases among Triangle counties; prosecutors dismissed 45 percent of all impaired-driving charges in Johnston that year, compared with 14 percent dismissed statewide, according to an analysis of data from the state Administrative Office of the Courts.
Jackson said he does not think the statistics tell the entire story of how DWI cases are tried in the county. He pointed to a variety of factors that could lead to a dismissal of DWI charges, including absent witnesses and a judge's denial of a prosecutor's request to delay a case before it goes to trial.
"If I can emphasize, DWI cases are the highest priority in District Court," Jackson said. "It's important because drunk drivers pose an obvious danger to everyone in the community. We are committed to prosecuting those cases."
This week, the Highway Patrol originally charged Hernandez with felony hit and run, felony assault, DWI, possession of a stolen vehicle, driving without a license, speeding and reckless driving.
Marcus was standing on the side of the road when a car went out of control on a curve, ran onto the shoulder and struck him, a witness told investigators. The car was going 70 mph, or 25 mph above the speed limit, the patrol said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/johnston/story/104
1597.html
He is accused of DWI, killing boy
Thomasi McDonald, Staff Writer
SMITHFIELD, NC - A drunken-driving suspect charged Thursday with second-degree murder after a 7-year-old boy was struck and killed had been wanted by police since December for failing to show up in court to answer a previous drunken-driving charge, according to prosecutors.
Hipolito Camora Hernandez, 30, of Parkertown Road in Four Oaks is now in the Johnston County jail on a host of charges related to the death of Marcus Lassiter, who was struck near Four Oaks on Sunday and died at Duke Hospital the next night.
An order for Hernandez's arrest was issued in December when he failed to show up for court, but he eluded arrest until this week.
Authorities say Hernandez is in the country illegally. On Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him, meaning that if convicted, he will likely face deportation after he completes his sentence, said Tom O'Connell, resident agent in charge of the agency's local office.
Hernandez has been charged with drunken driving at least four times before but has never been convicted, according to court records. The December court date he missed stems from a pending drunken-driving charge from March 2007.
Two other DWI cases -- in 2004 and 2005 -- were dismissed. On Thursday, a Johnston County prosecutor said the state was unable to try the cases because prosecuting witnesses did not show up for court.
"The law officers in both cases were out of place," said Paul Jackson, a Johnston County assistant district attorney.
Johnston County court records indicate that just before midnight on Aug. 4, 2004, a Four Oaks police officer stopped Hernandez on U.S. 301 South and charged him with driving while impaired and driving left of center. His blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest was 0.22, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, the traffic citation shows. On Jan. 7, 2005, the charges were dismissed because the investigating officer was not in court.
Six months later, on the night of Feb. 6, 2005, a Smithfield patrol officer charged Hernandez with speeding and driving while impaired. Hernandez again had a blood alcohol content of 0.22, court records show. The charges were dismissed nine months later when the police officer failed to show for court, records show.
In a 2006 DWI case, Hernandez was convicted of reckless driving to endanger, for which he paid a $25 interpreter's fee and $210 in court costs and fines, court records show.
Jackson said he was not sure why Hernandez was allowed to plead to a lesser offense for the 2006 DWI charge. But, Jackson said, speaking in general terms, allowing a defendant to plead to a lesser charge suggests prosecutors could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
In 2006, Johnston County had the lowest conviction rate for drunken-driving cases among Triangle counties; prosecutors dismissed 45 percent of all impaired-driving charges in Johnston that year, compared with 14 percent dismissed statewide, according to an analysis of data from the state Administrative Office of the Courts.
Jackson said he does not think the statistics tell the entire story of how DWI cases are tried in the county. He pointed to a variety of factors that could lead to a dismissal of DWI charges, including absent witnesses and a judge's denial of a prosecutor's request to delay a case before it goes to trial.
"If I can emphasize, DWI cases are the highest priority in District Court," Jackson said. "It's important because drunk drivers pose an obvious danger to everyone in the community. We are committed to prosecuting those cases."
This week, the Highway Patrol originally charged Hernandez with felony hit and run, felony assault, DWI, possession of a stolen vehicle, driving without a license, speeding and reckless driving.
Marcus was standing on the side of the road when a car went out of control on a curve, ran onto the shoulder and struck him, a witness told investigators. The car was going 70 mph, or 25 mph above the speed limit, the patrol said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/johnston/story/104
1597.html
Illegal Alien Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15...
Illegal Alien Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15
POSTED: 3:47 pm MST April 17, 2008
UPDATED: 4:06 pm MST April 17, 2008
GUADALUPE, Ariz. -- An illegal immigrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl at her Guadalupe home, Maricopa County sheriff's deputies said.
The MCSO Special Victims Unit arrested Jose Dolores Montoya Sanchez, 24.
Sanchez was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Wednesday on one count of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping and two counts sexual abuse.
Sheriff's deputies said they began investigating the case when the victim disclosed that Sanchez sexually assaulted her at a Guadalupe home.
The 15-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, MCSO said. A forensic evaluation confirmed an assault, according to sheriff's investigators.
Sheriff's deputies said Sanchez has been in the country illegally for the past 10 years.
"This suspect sexually assaulted a young innocent girl and this is yet another example of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien in Maricopa County," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "The deputies working in Guadalupe did a professional and thorough investigation."
http://www.kpho.com/news/15915499/detail.html
POSTED: 3:47 pm MST April 17, 2008
UPDATED: 4:06 pm MST April 17, 2008
GUADALUPE, Ariz. -- An illegal immigrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl at her Guadalupe home, Maricopa County sheriff's deputies said.
The MCSO Special Victims Unit arrested Jose Dolores Montoya Sanchez, 24.
Sanchez was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Wednesday on one count of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping and two counts sexual abuse.
Sheriff's deputies said they began investigating the case when the victim disclosed that Sanchez sexually assaulted her at a Guadalupe home.
The 15-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, MCSO said. A forensic evaluation confirmed an assault, according to sheriff's investigators.
Sheriff's deputies said Sanchez has been in the country illegally for the past 10 years.
"This suspect sexually assaulted a young innocent girl and this is yet another example of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien in Maricopa County," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "The deputies working in Guadalupe did a professional and thorough investigation."
http://www.kpho.com/news/15915499/detail.html
Prosecutors said owners of the agencies that supplied illegal Hispanic workers were immigrants from China...
Six plead not guilty in labor ring case;
Prosecutors said owners of the agencies that supplied illegal Hispanic workers were immigrants from China.
By Mary Lou Pickel
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 18, 2008
Defendants in an illegal labor ring that supplied undocumented Hispanic workers to Chinese restaurants on the East Coast pleaded not guilty Thursday before a federal magistrate judge.
Prosecutors said the owners of the Chamblee employment agencies that supplied the workers were immigrants from China. Many lived in Gwinnett County. Some worked with Hispanics to recruit, transport and harbor the workers, according to five federal indictments. All of the agencies were located at 3245 Chamblee Dunwoody Road.
Lin Chen, 31, of Norcross, ran the Da Zhong Employment Agency. She was denied bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker because she already has a standing order of deportation back to China.
Hong Mei Li, 40, of Tucker, also was denied bond because she was considered a flight risk. She ran the Ji Chang Sen Employment Agency and came to the United States in 2001 seeking political asylum. She claimed she was persecuted because she practiced Christianity in China, a federal agent testified at her hearing.
Aleck Ki Man Hui, 70, of Suwanee, was released on bond. He is alleged to have worked as a driver for the Dong Sheng Employment Agency. Also released on bond was Deng Yao Wen, 44, of Lilburn, who ran the Grand China Employment Agency.
Francisco Martinez Anaya, 31, of Chamblee, was denied bond because he is in the country illegally from Mexico. Prosecutors allege he helped recruit and drive illegal workers to Chinese restaurants in other states for two agencies.
On Tuesday, defendant Pik To Cheng, 48, of Norcross, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. She ran the Number One Employment Agency.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/
04/18/iceraid0418.html
Prosecutors said owners of the agencies that supplied illegal Hispanic workers were immigrants from China.
By Mary Lou Pickel
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 18, 2008
Defendants in an illegal labor ring that supplied undocumented Hispanic workers to Chinese restaurants on the East Coast pleaded not guilty Thursday before a federal magistrate judge.
Prosecutors said the owners of the Chamblee employment agencies that supplied the workers were immigrants from China. Many lived in Gwinnett County. Some worked with Hispanics to recruit, transport and harbor the workers, according to five federal indictments. All of the agencies were located at 3245 Chamblee Dunwoody Road.
Lin Chen, 31, of Norcross, ran the Da Zhong Employment Agency. She was denied bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker because she already has a standing order of deportation back to China.
Hong Mei Li, 40, of Tucker, also was denied bond because she was considered a flight risk. She ran the Ji Chang Sen Employment Agency and came to the United States in 2001 seeking political asylum. She claimed she was persecuted because she practiced Christianity in China, a federal agent testified at her hearing.
Aleck Ki Man Hui, 70, of Suwanee, was released on bond. He is alleged to have worked as a driver for the Dong Sheng Employment Agency. Also released on bond was Deng Yao Wen, 44, of Lilburn, who ran the Grand China Employment Agency.
Francisco Martinez Anaya, 31, of Chamblee, was denied bond because he is in the country illegally from Mexico. Prosecutors allege he helped recruit and drive illegal workers to Chinese restaurants in other states for two agencies.
On Tuesday, defendant Pik To Cheng, 48, of Norcross, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. She ran the Number One Employment Agency.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/
04/18/iceraid0418.html
Deployment to send Guard troops to Mexican border...
Deployment to send Guard troops to Mexican border
Isanti County News (MN), April 2008
Approximately 40 Minnesota Army National Guard soldiers, including those from the Cambridge-based 850th Engineer Company, will conduct their scheduled annual training in support of 'Operation Jump Start.'
This federal initiative uses National Guard soldiers from across the nation to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The 40 soldiers will support construction projects near Deming, New Mexico, for two weeks.
In addition to the Cambridge company, the deploying unit involves soldiers from the Willmar-based Headquarters, 682nd Engineering Battalion, and the Litchfield-based 849th Engineer Company. Their mission will include anti-vehicle fence installation and road construction to remote entry points.
http://isanticountynews.com/index.php?option=com_co
ntent&task=view&id=3143&Itemid=1
Isanti County News (MN), April 2008
Approximately 40 Minnesota Army National Guard soldiers, including those from the Cambridge-based 850th Engineer Company, will conduct their scheduled annual training in support of 'Operation Jump Start.'
This federal initiative uses National Guard soldiers from across the nation to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The 40 soldiers will support construction projects near Deming, New Mexico, for two weeks.
In addition to the Cambridge company, the deploying unit involves soldiers from the Willmar-based Headquarters, 682nd Engineering Battalion, and the Litchfield-based 849th Engineer Company. Their mission will include anti-vehicle fence installation and road construction to remote entry points.
http://isanticountynews.com/index.php?option=com_co
ntent&task=view&id=3143&Itemid=1
Maine governor signs license bill...
Maine governor signs license bill
By Glenn Adams
The Associated Press, April 18, 2008
Augusta (AP) -- Acknowledging that it was a tough issue for lawmakers, Gov. John Baldacci signed into law a bill to tighten standards for getting a Maine driver' license, a measure that was dreaded as an affront to civil liberties and defended only as a stopgap.
Baldacci wasted little time before signing the bill after the Senate approved it by a 19-15 vote Thursday night.
With the bill's enactment, Maine joins 44 other states, including the rest of New England, in making legal presence a requirement for getting a driver's license, the governor said. It also helps ensure Mainers won't be put through extra security screening when they board airplanes or go to federal buildings.
'This was a difficult issue for many people in the Legislature,' Baldacci said in a statement. 'But we have done the right thing. The laws regarding Maine's driver's licenses have been too lax. The Legislature has put the best interest of our people first.'
The bill was submitted by Baldacci under pressure from the federal government, which noted that Maine is among the few states that currently have no rules limiting licenses to legal U.S. residents.
After winning barely enough votes in the House on Wednesday to pass, the bill gained momentum when lawmakers stripped away a provision that called for 50 percent increases in driver's license fees to pay for the licensing changes.
'They made a bad bill better, but not good enough,' said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which lobbied hard against passage. The MCLU and other critics believe it would single out immigrants while eroding everyone's privacy rights.
'Slowly but surely, our freedoms are being picked off one by one,' Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono, warned during an hourlong Senate debate.
Baldacci submitted the bill after the federal Department of Homeland Security rejected Maine's request for an extension of the March 31 deadline to show action toward compliance with the Real ID Act of 2005.
While Baldacci and others try to disassociate the bill from Real ID, critics see a connection and say the DHS is effectively deputizing Maine and other states to act as immigration enforcement agents. Last year, Maine passed a law barring compliance with Real ID.
'We said no then and we should say no now,' Sen. Dennis Damon, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said during Thursday's debate. The Trenton Democrat also warned of long-term costs of compliance, which he said could add up to $71 million in Maine alone.
Other senators were alarmed by the hasty deliberations they say were forced by federal edict. The bill was introduced shortly after Baldacci agreed to its general terms April 2. This year's legislative session is due to end this week.
'We are being told we have to rush this through right now. We do not,' said Sen. Philip Bartlett II, D-Gorham, who called for a more complete analysis over the next few months so the next Legislature can act in early December.
Bartlett and others expressed doubt the bill's provisions will accomplish their objective to make the country safer.
But Sen. Bill Diamond urged senators to act, saying that failure to do so could mean that Mainers' licenses and state IDs will no longer be acceptable credentials and residents using them will be subjected to extra security screening at airports and federal buildings after Dec. 15.
'This bill, ladies and gentlemen, buys us time,' said Diamond, D-Windham, and also a member of the Transportation panel that hastily reworked Baldacci's bill.
The measure requires Maine licenses to expire when a holder's legal duration of stay in the U.S. ends, that photos of applicants be taken at the start of the licensing process, that the state find ways to avoid duplication of licenses and that motor vehicles officials check with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program to determine whether an applicant is residing in the U.S. legally.
A proposal to increase the fee for a six-year noncommercial driver's license from $30 to $45, and other fees as well, was cut out of the bill.
Sen. Christine Savage of Union, the senior Republican on Transportation who also supported the bill, said it does no more than ensure the integrity of Maine licenses. She also noted that other state agencies already utilize the SAVE program.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2
0080418/NEWS0104/122954441
By Glenn Adams
The Associated Press, April 18, 2008
Augusta (AP) -- Acknowledging that it was a tough issue for lawmakers, Gov. John Baldacci signed into law a bill to tighten standards for getting a Maine driver' license, a measure that was dreaded as an affront to civil liberties and defended only as a stopgap.
Baldacci wasted little time before signing the bill after the Senate approved it by a 19-15 vote Thursday night.
With the bill's enactment, Maine joins 44 other states, including the rest of New England, in making legal presence a requirement for getting a driver's license, the governor said. It also helps ensure Mainers won't be put through extra security screening when they board airplanes or go to federal buildings.
'This was a difficult issue for many people in the Legislature,' Baldacci said in a statement. 'But we have done the right thing. The laws regarding Maine's driver's licenses have been too lax. The Legislature has put the best interest of our people first.'
The bill was submitted by Baldacci under pressure from the federal government, which noted that Maine is among the few states that currently have no rules limiting licenses to legal U.S. residents.
After winning barely enough votes in the House on Wednesday to pass, the bill gained momentum when lawmakers stripped away a provision that called for 50 percent increases in driver's license fees to pay for the licensing changes.
'They made a bad bill better, but not good enough,' said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which lobbied hard against passage. The MCLU and other critics believe it would single out immigrants while eroding everyone's privacy rights.
'Slowly but surely, our freedoms are being picked off one by one,' Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono, warned during an hourlong Senate debate.
Baldacci submitted the bill after the federal Department of Homeland Security rejected Maine's request for an extension of the March 31 deadline to show action toward compliance with the Real ID Act of 2005.
While Baldacci and others try to disassociate the bill from Real ID, critics see a connection and say the DHS is effectively deputizing Maine and other states to act as immigration enforcement agents. Last year, Maine passed a law barring compliance with Real ID.
'We said no then and we should say no now,' Sen. Dennis Damon, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said during Thursday's debate. The Trenton Democrat also warned of long-term costs of compliance, which he said could add up to $71 million in Maine alone.
Other senators were alarmed by the hasty deliberations they say were forced by federal edict. The bill was introduced shortly after Baldacci agreed to its general terms April 2. This year's legislative session is due to end this week.
'We are being told we have to rush this through right now. We do not,' said Sen. Philip Bartlett II, D-Gorham, who called for a more complete analysis over the next few months so the next Legislature can act in early December.
Bartlett and others expressed doubt the bill's provisions will accomplish their objective to make the country safer.
But Sen. Bill Diamond urged senators to act, saying that failure to do so could mean that Mainers' licenses and state IDs will no longer be acceptable credentials and residents using them will be subjected to extra security screening at airports and federal buildings after Dec. 15.
'This bill, ladies and gentlemen, buys us time,' said Diamond, D-Windham, and also a member of the Transportation panel that hastily reworked Baldacci's bill.
The measure requires Maine licenses to expire when a holder's legal duration of stay in the U.S. ends, that photos of applicants be taken at the start of the licensing process, that the state find ways to avoid duplication of licenses and that motor vehicles officials check with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program to determine whether an applicant is residing in the U.S. legally.
A proposal to increase the fee for a six-year noncommercial driver's license from $30 to $45, and other fees as well, was cut out of the bill.
Sen. Christine Savage of Union, the senior Republican on Transportation who also supported the bill, said it does no more than ensure the integrity of Maine licenses. She also noted that other state agencies already utilize the SAVE program.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2
0080418/NEWS0104/122954441
Tancredo slams pope on immigration...
Tancredo slams pope on immigration
By Anne C. Mulkern
The Denver Post, April 17, 2008
Washington, DC -- As thousands packed into a Washington, D.C., stadium to see Pope Benedict XVI, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo attacked the pontiff for statements about immigration.
Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, accused the pope of welcoming illegal immigrants to the U.S. in order to build membership in the church.
The Catholic leader, while in Washington today, said: 'I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home.'
Tancredo cited a March 1 editorial in the Wall Street Journal that said the Catholic Church 'has been losing members rapidly — as much as a third of the native-born Catholic population. Meanwhile, it has gained members among foreign-born (mostly Latino) residents.'
The Journal editorial added: 'We'd encourage our friends on the right who want to limit immigration to consider the health of our churches.'
'I suspect the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church,' Tancredo said. 'This isn't preaching; it is faith-based marketing.'
Tancredo was raised Catholic but now attends Cherry Hills Community Church, an evangelical Christian church.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8960784
By Anne C. Mulkern
The Denver Post, April 17, 2008
Washington, DC -- As thousands packed into a Washington, D.C., stadium to see Pope Benedict XVI, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo attacked the pontiff for statements about immigration.
Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, accused the pope of welcoming illegal immigrants to the U.S. in order to build membership in the church.
The Catholic leader, while in Washington today, said: 'I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home.'
Tancredo cited a March 1 editorial in the Wall Street Journal that said the Catholic Church 'has been losing members rapidly — as much as a third of the native-born Catholic population. Meanwhile, it has gained members among foreign-born (mostly Latino) residents.'
The Journal editorial added: 'We'd encourage our friends on the right who want to limit immigration to consider the health of our churches.'
'I suspect the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church,' Tancredo said. 'This isn't preaching; it is faith-based marketing.'
Tancredo was raised Catholic but now attends Cherry Hills Community Church, an evangelical Christian church.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8960784
3 traffic stops near Camp Verde, Az. net 35 illegal aliens...
3 traffic stops near Camp Verde net 35 illegal aliens
Reported by: Deborah Stocks
Last Update: 4/16 2:49 pm
Within a one-hour period, three traffic stops along Interstate 17 near Camp Verde led Yavapai County Sheriff's deputies to arrest 35 undocumented immigrants.
At about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, a deputy stopped a van traveling north on I-17 that they said was obviously heavily loaded.
It was also weaving in its lane and traveling at a speed significantly slower than the 75 mph highway speed limit.
The driver was unlicensed and he and the 15 other people in the van were found to be undocumented immigrants from Mexico, according to a police report.
In a second stop, around 12:30 a.m., a deputy pulled over a van that also appeared to be heavily loaded and was traveling only 38 mph on I-17 near Camp Verde.
The deputy found that the driver was from Mexico, unlicensed and had six passengers in the van who were also from Mexico.
All seven were determined to be undocumented immigrants.
Around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, a YCSO deputy stopped another van on I-17 near Camp Verde that appeared to be heavily loaded and was traveling much slower than the posted speed limit.
When the van stopped, the driver fled across four lanes of the highway and ran into a nearby residential area.
The deputy was able to detain the other 12 people in the van, who were determined to be undocumented immigrants.
Documents in the van indicated it had previously been used to transport immigrants to Colorado.
All 35 immigrants were taken to the Camp Verde jail to be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for transport to Phoenix and deportation processing.
http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_
id=9281514d-76dc-435a-852b-acd636867d6c
Reported by: Deborah Stocks
Last Update: 4/16 2:49 pm
Within a one-hour period, three traffic stops along Interstate 17 near Camp Verde led Yavapai County Sheriff's deputies to arrest 35 undocumented immigrants.
At about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, a deputy stopped a van traveling north on I-17 that they said was obviously heavily loaded.
It was also weaving in its lane and traveling at a speed significantly slower than the 75 mph highway speed limit.
The driver was unlicensed and he and the 15 other people in the van were found to be undocumented immigrants from Mexico, according to a police report.
In a second stop, around 12:30 a.m., a deputy pulled over a van that also appeared to be heavily loaded and was traveling only 38 mph on I-17 near Camp Verde.
The deputy found that the driver was from Mexico, unlicensed and had six passengers in the van who were also from Mexico.
All seven were determined to be undocumented immigrants.
Around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, a YCSO deputy stopped another van on I-17 near Camp Verde that appeared to be heavily loaded and was traveling much slower than the posted speed limit.
When the van stopped, the driver fled across four lanes of the highway and ran into a nearby residential area.
The deputy was able to detain the other 12 people in the van, who were determined to be undocumented immigrants.
Documents in the van indicated it had previously been used to transport immigrants to Colorado.
All 35 immigrants were taken to the Camp Verde jail to be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for transport to Phoenix and deportation processing.
http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_
id=9281514d-76dc-435a-852b-acd636867d6c
Two abandoned boats found in San Diego...
Two abandoned boats found in San Diego
SAN DIEGO Immigration authorities say two boats found abandoned along San Diego's coast may have been used for human smuggling.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says a boat measuring about 26 feet long washed ashore Wednesday morning in San Diego's upscale Torrey Pines area, about 20 miles north of the Mexican border.
Lifeguards reported another abandoned boat off the shores of Coronado Wednesday.
ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack says immigration authorities in San Diego have found about two dozen boats since last summer that were apparently used for human smuggling - some with people on board.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1344290~Two_abandoned_boa
ts_found_in_San_Diego.html
SAN DIEGO Immigration authorities say two boats found abandoned along San Diego's coast may have been used for human smuggling.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says a boat measuring about 26 feet long washed ashore Wednesday morning in San Diego's upscale Torrey Pines area, about 20 miles north of the Mexican border.
Lifeguards reported another abandoned boat off the shores of Coronado Wednesday.
ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack says immigration authorities in San Diego have found about two dozen boats since last summer that were apparently used for human smuggling - some with people on board.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1344290~Two_abandoned_boa
ts_found_in_San_Diego.html
Cops: Texas campus locked down after illegal-alien chase...
Cops: Texas campus locked down after illegal-alien chase
The Associated Press, April 17, 2008
Kingsville, TX (AP) -- A truckload of suspected illegal immigrants fled during a traffic stop near the Texas A&M University at Kingsville campus Wednesday, forcing a lockdown of the school for three hours as police chased them, officials said.
The driver of the truck and five illegal immigrants were taken to a Border Patrol station, agency spokesman Daniel Doty said. He did not know about any others who may have also fled the truck or the immigration status of the driver.
The truck driver said he had been forced at gunpoint to take the illegal immigrants to Kingsville, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Eric Hinojosa. University spokeswoman Jill Scoggins had said one person with a gun was taken into custody, but Doty said that had not been confirmed.
Scoggins said no one was hurt.
A state trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding, and about 12 people got out of the truck and fled, Hinojosa said.
'Everybody ran from the vehicle,' DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange told The Associated Press. It wasn't immediately clear whether all the people who had run from the truck have been caught.
No one was allowed leave campus when the lockdown began, and students and staff were advised to stay inside buildings. Campus activities were canceled Wednesday night, but Scoggins said the school would return to its regular schedule Thursday.
School president Rumaldo Juarez said the safety of students, faculty and staff was the utmost concern.
'We took the appropriate measures that we needed. Our staff reacted the way we needed to react, the way we had rehearsed,' said Juarez, who was on campus during the lockdown.
The school has an emergency e-mail alert and voice messaging system, Scoggins said.
A&M-Kingsville has enrollment of about 6,200 and 1,100 faculty and staff, on a campus located 40 miles southwest of Corpus Christi.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5ukiFY06MtHv6EU
HZmJDXwUT1pQD903D1J00
The Associated Press, April 17, 2008
Kingsville, TX (AP) -- A truckload of suspected illegal immigrants fled during a traffic stop near the Texas A&M University at Kingsville campus Wednesday, forcing a lockdown of the school for three hours as police chased them, officials said.
The driver of the truck and five illegal immigrants were taken to a Border Patrol station, agency spokesman Daniel Doty said. He did not know about any others who may have also fled the truck or the immigration status of the driver.
The truck driver said he had been forced at gunpoint to take the illegal immigrants to Kingsville, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Eric Hinojosa. University spokeswoman Jill Scoggins had said one person with a gun was taken into custody, but Doty said that had not been confirmed.
Scoggins said no one was hurt.
A state trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding, and about 12 people got out of the truck and fled, Hinojosa said.
'Everybody ran from the vehicle,' DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange told The Associated Press. It wasn't immediately clear whether all the people who had run from the truck have been caught.
No one was allowed leave campus when the lockdown began, and students and staff were advised to stay inside buildings. Campus activities were canceled Wednesday night, but Scoggins said the school would return to its regular schedule Thursday.
School president Rumaldo Juarez said the safety of students, faculty and staff was the utmost concern.
'We took the appropriate measures that we needed. Our staff reacted the way we needed to react, the way we had rehearsed,' said Juarez, who was on campus during the lockdown.
The school has an emergency e-mail alert and voice messaging system, Scoggins said.
A&M-Kingsville has enrollment of about 6,200 and 1,100 faculty and staff, on a campus located 40 miles southwest of Corpus Christi.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5ukiFY06MtHv6EU
HZmJDXwUT1pQD903D1J00
Upstate NY restaurateur accused of hiring illegal alien workers...
Upstate NY restaurateur accused of hiring illegal alien workers
By Carolyn Thompson
The Associated Press, April 16, 2008
Buffalo, NY (AP) -- The owner of several Mexican restaurants and 10 of his restaurant managers were arrested Wednesday for recruiting illegal Mexican immigrants to staff the businesses in exchange for little pay and dismal housing, federal authorities said.
Simon Banda, who went by the name Jorge Delarco, was arrested at his home in the Buffalo suburb of Depew during morning raids by federal, state and local law enforcement agents in five states.
Banda owns or operates seven restaurants in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. His sister's Georgia home was also searched.
The raids on the restaurants and 12 apartments used to house workers also netted 45 illegal immigrants, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Lev Kubiak, acting special agent in charge of ICE in Buffalo, said Banda entered the United States illegally an unknown number of years ago and created a false identity using the birth certificate of a Honduran man. As Delarco, Banda was granted temporary protected status and permission to work in this country, according to court documents.
To find workers for his restaurants, Banda 'would contact friends and family in Mexico looking for individuals who would pay $2,700 to be smuggled into this country,' U.S. Attorney Terrance Flynn said.
Once at the restaurants, Banda would pay off the workers' smuggling debt and then force them to work it off with 72-hour work weeks while living in substandard apartments, Flynn said.
Banda, meantime, would skim 50 percent of each restaurant's profits and stash the proceeds in bank safe deposit boxes and at his sister's house, according to an ICE investigator's affidavit, which was based in part on interviews with unidentified cooperating witnesses. An ICE financial auditor estimated Banda skimmed about $140,000 from each of his restaurants each year.
The restaurant managers went along with Banda's hiring and bookkeeping practices, officials said. They, along with Banda, face charges of conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. Some of the managers were in the country illegally themselves, authorities said.
Banda appeared in court without a lawyer Wednesday and was given until Friday to hire one. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered him detained until then, based on the government's assertion that Banda is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally.
Six of Banda's restaurant managers, including two of his brothers, also made an initial appearance. Javier Banda of Depew was released on $5,000 bail, whole Honorio Banda of Bradford, Pa., was held because he is allegedly in the country illegally.
One other manager was released on bail, another was held because of outstanding warrants and the others were detained because of their illegal status.
In all, law enforcement agents executed 26 search and arrest warrants as part of an investigation that began two years ago.
The searched restaurants are located in Bradford, Pa.; Mentor, Ohio; Wheeling and Martinsville, W.Va., and Cheektowaga, Dunkirk and Allegany in New York.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-b
c-ny--immigrationarrest0416apr16,0,6591767.story
By Carolyn Thompson
The Associated Press, April 16, 2008
Buffalo, NY (AP) -- The owner of several Mexican restaurants and 10 of his restaurant managers were arrested Wednesday for recruiting illegal Mexican immigrants to staff the businesses in exchange for little pay and dismal housing, federal authorities said.
Simon Banda, who went by the name Jorge Delarco, was arrested at his home in the Buffalo suburb of Depew during morning raids by federal, state and local law enforcement agents in five states.
Banda owns or operates seven restaurants in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. His sister's Georgia home was also searched.
The raids on the restaurants and 12 apartments used to house workers also netted 45 illegal immigrants, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Lev Kubiak, acting special agent in charge of ICE in Buffalo, said Banda entered the United States illegally an unknown number of years ago and created a false identity using the birth certificate of a Honduran man. As Delarco, Banda was granted temporary protected status and permission to work in this country, according to court documents.
To find workers for his restaurants, Banda 'would contact friends and family in Mexico looking for individuals who would pay $2,700 to be smuggled into this country,' U.S. Attorney Terrance Flynn said.
Once at the restaurants, Banda would pay off the workers' smuggling debt and then force them to work it off with 72-hour work weeks while living in substandard apartments, Flynn said.
Banda, meantime, would skim 50 percent of each restaurant's profits and stash the proceeds in bank safe deposit boxes and at his sister's house, according to an ICE investigator's affidavit, which was based in part on interviews with unidentified cooperating witnesses. An ICE financial auditor estimated Banda skimmed about $140,000 from each of his restaurants each year.
The restaurant managers went along with Banda's hiring and bookkeeping practices, officials said. They, along with Banda, face charges of conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. Some of the managers were in the country illegally themselves, authorities said.
Banda appeared in court without a lawyer Wednesday and was given until Friday to hire one. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered him detained until then, based on the government's assertion that Banda is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally.
Six of Banda's restaurant managers, including two of his brothers, also made an initial appearance. Javier Banda of Depew was released on $5,000 bail, whole Honorio Banda of Bradford, Pa., was held because he is allegedly in the country illegally.
One other manager was released on bail, another was held because of outstanding warrants and the others were detained because of their illegal status.
In all, law enforcement agents executed 26 search and arrest warrants as part of an investigation that began two years ago.
The searched restaurants are located in Bradford, Pa.; Mentor, Ohio; Wheeling and Martinsville, W.Va., and Cheektowaga, Dunkirk and Allegany in New York.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-b
c-ny--immigrationarrest0416apr16,0,6591767.story
L.A. Contends Federal Raids Hurt Region's Economy: More B.S. From Villaraigosa!!!
Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants Spurs Backlash Among Locals
L.A. Contends Federal Raids Hurt Region's Economy
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2008; Page A4
The federal government's crackdown on factories employing illegal immigrants is triggering a backlash among local officials including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who says the federal raids could damage his region's economy.
Mr. Villaraigosa is due to meet Thursday in Washington with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees immigration. The meeting follows letters to Mr. Chertoff by the mayor and the president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce protesting actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Los Angeles is home to the largest immigrant population in the U.S. More than one-third of its 9.9 million residents and nearly half of its work force are foreign-born. An estimated 450,000 to 480,000 of the city's workers are believed to be in the U.S. illegally.
The government has stepped up raids recently. On Wednesday, ICE agents raided Pilgrim's Pride Corp. poultry plants in five states and arrested more than 280 unauthorized workers. In Buffalo, N.Y., ICE officials arrested 11 people for conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants smuggled into the U.S. to work at Mexican restaurants in four states. About 45 illegal immigrants were arrested.
ICE arrested a record 4,077 employees for immigration violations during worksite enforcement nationally in the year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, compared with 685 in 2004. In a phone interview Wednesday, ICE chief Julie L. Myers said workplace operations will continue across the country, including L.A. 'We can't exempt any city or state from the governing immigration laws,' she said.
Concern over immigration raids in L.A. spiked after ICE agents rounded up more than 130 illegal workers at Micro Solutions Enterprises, a manufacturer of computer imaging supplies, in February. Earlier this month, agents arrested an additional 69 workers during a routine inspection of warehouses next to the Los Angeles port complex.
ICE officials have also been asking Los Angeles businesses, including garment maker American Apparel Inc., to submit I-9 hiring forms and other payroll documents for scrutiny. Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for ICE investigations in seven Southern California counties, wouldn't divulge the name of any other companies that had been served with a notice to present documents, saying only that there has been a 'significant increase.'
In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, American Apparel said that as a result of the ICE investigation, it 'could experience very substantial turnover of employees on short or no notice, which could result in manufacturing and other delays.'
Some agricultural businesses, also highly dependent on undocumented workers, have in past years urged the U.S. Border Patrol to look the other way during harvest season. But it is unusual for a city to take such a public stance on federal immigration enforcement. Los Angeles is the biggest city to demand that federal immigration authorities back off from their crackdown.
Since Congress's failure last year to enact a comprehensive immigration overhaul, several cities and states, notably Arizona and Oklahoma, have passed local laws to punish employers who hire illegal workers. In Phoenix, however, Mayor Phil Gordon has begun publicly decrying the get-tough actions carried out by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose deputies have been arresting suspected illegal immigrants.
Mr. Villaraigosa expressed his concerns to Mr. Chertoff in a three-page letter dated March 27. 'I am gravely concerned that ICE's current focus on nonexploitative employers in and around the City of Los Angeles could have severe and lasting effects on our local economy,' he wrote. The mayor said it was 'nonsensical' to spend limited ICE resources to target 'established, responsible employers' in industries that employ 'workforces that include undocumented immigrants.'
Mr. Chertoff has contended that he has no choice but to attack the root cause of illegal immigration -- employment -- until Congress passes a bill to provide employers a legal means to address their labor needs.
'I'm in favor of immigration reform,' said Ms. Myers, the ICE chief. 'Until Congress takes action, we will continue to enforce the current laws.'
Until recently, ICE mainly slapped businesses that hired illegal immigrants with fines, up to $2,000 per employee. 'Those fines were sometimes even negotiated down,' says Mr. Schoch, the ICE official in California. 'It wasn't an effective deterrent. In the last couple years we stepped up efforts to bring criminal charges against employers.'
The ICE has beefed up its teams of special agents and auditors. In fiscal 2007, the agency arrested 863 people, including company owners and executives, for purposefully hiring illegal immigrants and other crimes. That is up from 160 in 2004.
That has sent alarm bells through business communities, especially in immigrant-heavy areas like Los Angeles. Of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., about one million live in Los Angeles, according to the Migration Policy Institute. New York City is home to 500,000 illegal immigrants. Almost half of the Los Angeles work force is foreign-born compared with 15% nationally, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonpartisan research center.
'Employment of unauthorized workers is a national problem that we see on a larger scale here because of the mass of humanity in Los Angeles,' said Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, who also wrote a letter to Mr. Chertoff. He said that 200 business leaders accompanying the mayor to Washington are taking their concerns about ICE enforcement activities to elected officials.
Los Angeles city and business officials say immigrants are crucial to both high-tech and low-tech industries here. In particular, manufacturing, transportation and entertainment are believed to rely on large numbers of improperly documented immigrants. 'These people are embedded in our economy,' said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the Los Angeles-based California Fashion Association, which represents apparel-related businesses.
A February study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit group, concluded that stepped-up immigration enforcement could cost the region's economy millions of dollars if it forces businesses to move away from the region.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839057726721343.
html?mod=googlenews_wsj
L.A. Contends Federal Raids Hurt Region's Economy
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2008; Page A4
The federal government's crackdown on factories employing illegal immigrants is triggering a backlash among local officials including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who says the federal raids could damage his region's economy.
Mr. Villaraigosa is due to meet Thursday in Washington with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees immigration. The meeting follows letters to Mr. Chertoff by the mayor and the president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce protesting actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Los Angeles is home to the largest immigrant population in the U.S. More than one-third of its 9.9 million residents and nearly half of its work force are foreign-born. An estimated 450,000 to 480,000 of the city's workers are believed to be in the U.S. illegally.
The government has stepped up raids recently. On Wednesday, ICE agents raided Pilgrim's Pride Corp. poultry plants in five states and arrested more than 280 unauthorized workers. In Buffalo, N.Y., ICE officials arrested 11 people for conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants smuggled into the U.S. to work at Mexican restaurants in four states. About 45 illegal immigrants were arrested.
ICE arrested a record 4,077 employees for immigration violations during worksite enforcement nationally in the year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, compared with 685 in 2004. In a phone interview Wednesday, ICE chief Julie L. Myers said workplace operations will continue across the country, including L.A. 'We can't exempt any city or state from the governing immigration laws,' she said.
Concern over immigration raids in L.A. spiked after ICE agents rounded up more than 130 illegal workers at Micro Solutions Enterprises, a manufacturer of computer imaging supplies, in February. Earlier this month, agents arrested an additional 69 workers during a routine inspection of warehouses next to the Los Angeles port complex.
ICE officials have also been asking Los Angeles businesses, including garment maker American Apparel Inc., to submit I-9 hiring forms and other payroll documents for scrutiny. Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for ICE investigations in seven Southern California counties, wouldn't divulge the name of any other companies that had been served with a notice to present documents, saying only that there has been a 'significant increase.'
In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, American Apparel said that as a result of the ICE investigation, it 'could experience very substantial turnover of employees on short or no notice, which could result in manufacturing and other delays.'
Some agricultural businesses, also highly dependent on undocumented workers, have in past years urged the U.S. Border Patrol to look the other way during harvest season. But it is unusual for a city to take such a public stance on federal immigration enforcement. Los Angeles is the biggest city to demand that federal immigration authorities back off from their crackdown.
Since Congress's failure last year to enact a comprehensive immigration overhaul, several cities and states, notably Arizona and Oklahoma, have passed local laws to punish employers who hire illegal workers. In Phoenix, however, Mayor Phil Gordon has begun publicly decrying the get-tough actions carried out by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose deputies have been arresting suspected illegal immigrants.
Mr. Villaraigosa expressed his concerns to Mr. Chertoff in a three-page letter dated March 27. 'I am gravely concerned that ICE's current focus on nonexploitative employers in and around the City of Los Angeles could have severe and lasting effects on our local economy,' he wrote. The mayor said it was 'nonsensical' to spend limited ICE resources to target 'established, responsible employers' in industries that employ 'workforces that include undocumented immigrants.'
Mr. Chertoff has contended that he has no choice but to attack the root cause of illegal immigration -- employment -- until Congress passes a bill to provide employers a legal means to address their labor needs.
'I'm in favor of immigration reform,' said Ms. Myers, the ICE chief. 'Until Congress takes action, we will continue to enforce the current laws.'
Until recently, ICE mainly slapped businesses that hired illegal immigrants with fines, up to $2,000 per employee. 'Those fines were sometimes even negotiated down,' says Mr. Schoch, the ICE official in California. 'It wasn't an effective deterrent. In the last couple years we stepped up efforts to bring criminal charges against employers.'
The ICE has beefed up its teams of special agents and auditors. In fiscal 2007, the agency arrested 863 people, including company owners and executives, for purposefully hiring illegal immigrants and other crimes. That is up from 160 in 2004.
That has sent alarm bells through business communities, especially in immigrant-heavy areas like Los Angeles. Of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., about one million live in Los Angeles, according to the Migration Policy Institute. New York City is home to 500,000 illegal immigrants. Almost half of the Los Angeles work force is foreign-born compared with 15% nationally, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonpartisan research center.
'Employment of unauthorized workers is a national problem that we see on a larger scale here because of the mass of humanity in Los Angeles,' said Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, who also wrote a letter to Mr. Chertoff. He said that 200 business leaders accompanying the mayor to Washington are taking their concerns about ICE enforcement activities to elected officials.
Los Angeles city and business officials say immigrants are crucial to both high-tech and low-tech industries here. In particular, manufacturing, transportation and entertainment are believed to rely on large numbers of improperly documented immigrants. 'These people are embedded in our economy,' said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the Los Angeles-based California Fashion Association, which represents apparel-related businesses.
A February study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit group, concluded that stepped-up immigration enforcement could cost the region's economy millions of dollars if it forces businesses to move away from the region.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839057726721343.
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