Not very – as exemplified by this catch-and-release story.

A federal judge in Pittsburgh on Tuesday sentenced an illegal immigrant to time served in jail for his 10th illegal entry into the country.

Uziel Jesus Lopez-Jiminez, 28, of Mexico has been deported nine other times between 1998 and 2007, prosecutors said. He was last deported in March, re-entered the country in May or June and was arrested in Beaver County on Aug. 16.

This is one of the folks that Obama wants to legalize – probably with an eye to granting citizenship and Democrat voter registration by 2012.

Just breaking the laws that Americans want enforced.

Posted by: Greg at 01:37 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Yeah, illegal immigrants would be covered under this proposal -- a sticking point for conservatives regarding the various incarnations of ObamaCare but a demand for most liberals -- but at least their care would be funded appropriately.

A Democrat congressman from Ohio has introduced innovative legislation that would require foreign countries to reimburse American taxpayers for the exorbitant medical expenses of illegal immigrants.

Appropriately titled, PAYBACK Act (Preventing All Your Bucks from Aiding non-Citizens is Key), the measure would save the U.S. government billions of dollars annually and ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund health care services for illegal immigrants, according to its author, U.S. Representative Zack Space.

Medical bills for illegal aliens would be passed along to their country of origin, according to the proposed law, which was introduced in the House this month. The government would mostly collect by deducting the cost of illegal immigrantsÂ’ healthcare from the foreign aid their home countries would normally get from the U.S.

If the U.S. does not offer foreign assistance the country would get billed for 110% of the medical costs. In the case where illegal immigrants are from nation’s to whom the U.S. owes money, the cost of medically treating their citizens would be reduced from the debt. The money would be applied to strengthening border security. “It is fundamentally unfair and outrageous to foot the bill for immigrants unlawfully in the United States,” said Space, who has represented Ohio’s 18th congressional district since 2007.

Sounds good to me -- send the bill to their country of origin, and require that they pay for the medical care of their citizens who are violating American sovereignty and lw by their mere presence in this country.

Now if they would only add an automatic deportation provision to the plan, it would be perfect. I'm just shocked it is coming from a Democrat.

H/T Don Surber

Posted by: Greg at 01:00 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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111,000

That is the number of criminal aliens identified by the federal government by checking data on arrestees in 95 jurisdictions around the country.

Got that -- ONLY 95 JURISDICTIONS

Immigration officials announced today that a fingerprint-based system that screens for suspected illegal immigrants in local jails resulted in the identification of more than 111,000 people classified as “criminal aliens” in its first year.

The Secure Communities program, first launched in October 2008 at the Harris County Jail, uses biometric technology to automatically check the immigration history of all suspects booked into local lockups. The system is now in place in 95 jurisdictions, including Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson, and Montgomery counties.

The Houston Police Department plans to have the system working in the city jails by the end of the year, city officials said.

Of those, 11,000 were guilty of serious offenses.

And that is just in 95 jurisdictions.

Imagine what will happen when it goes nationwide.

Seems to me that we need to get the machinery of deportation warmed up and in operation -- we need to get rid of an awful lot of those aliens who are simply committing the crimes that Americans won't commit.

Posted by: Greg at 12:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More proof that the reason ObamaCare wonÂ’t cover illegals only because Obama is going to act to legalize them all.

Although President Obama has put off an immigration overhaul until next year, the federal agency in charge of approving visas is planning ahead for the possibility of giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, the agencyÂ’s director said Thursday.

“We are under way to prepare for that,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of the agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in an interview. Mr. Obama has told immigration officials that a legalization program would be part of legislation the White House would propose, said Mr. Mayorkas, who became director in August. The agency’s goal, he said, is to be ready to expand rapidly to handle the gigantic increase in visa applications it would face if the legislation, known as comprehensive immigration reform, passed Congress.

Here’s a better plan – prepare for deportation hearings for those arrested by law enforcement. Don’t reward the bad behavior of those who break our laws and violate our sovereignty.

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Even if the president and his subordinates do not take most of AmericaÂ’s immigration laws seriously, at least they do seem interested in ridding the country of those illegal immigrants who break other laws.

The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.

By matching inmates' fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time and where inmates come and go more quickly.

The effort is likely to significantly reshape immigration enforcement, current and former executive branch officials said. It comes as the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress vow to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, rather than those who otherwise abide by the law.

Of course, every single illegal immigrant violates our nation’s laws by virtue of their presence on our soil. That said, I can accept the notion that it is best to get rid of the more serious lawbreakers among them. Still, it is too bad that there is a reluctance to work to remove every illegal from our soil – especially at a time that we are seeing so many leave voluntarily for economic reasons.

Posted by: Greg at 12:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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An immigrant whose American spouse dies before their paperwork for permanent residency has been processed by the government should not be ruled ineligible for that status. That the government has acted differently has always struck me as inappropriate (especially when such cases involve the widows of American servicemen killed in combat). Now a court has ruled that such a policy is, in fact, a violation of the law.

A federal judge tentatively ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reopen the cases of 22 people who were denied green cards because their American spouses died during the application process.
U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled the so-called widow penalty doesnÂ’t necessarily require that immigrantsÂ’ permanent residency applications be denied when their American spouses die. Citing a 2006 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Snyder ruled this week that applicants donÂ’t lose their status as spouses of U.S. citizens if the death occurs before the government rules on their applications.
The decision, if made final, would be a victory for more than 200 people across the country who have been affected by the widow penalty, said attorney Brent Renison, who filed the class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles.
“This case is very significant because it’s the first that follows the circuit court decision and gives guidance to the agency on what it can and cannot do in these situations,” Renison told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has argued the law requires that residency applications be rejected for immigrants whose American spouses die within two years of being married.

Now I realize that there could be fraudulent marriages with sick old folks that might qualify under these standards, but those should be easy to screen for. What is more common is for folks to die unexpectedly – perhaps in an accident – with the result that their immigrant spouse (who may have American citizen children) would no longer be eligible to stay in this country. The result is an injustice that compounds the tragedy of a family being rent apart by death. This decision goes a long way towards correcting that injustice.

Posted by: Greg at 10:10 AM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
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Just a reminder to those who argue that illegal immigrants are not criminals.

8 USC Sec. 1325

(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

Imprisonment doesn’t happen in civil cases – only in criminal cases. So would you care to come up with another explanation of why the border-jumping immigration criminals are NOT criminals, when federal law says differently.

H/T Hot Air, Stein Report

Posted by: Greg at 11:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I saw this from the New York Times this morning – and it certainly rings quite true for me. It is not the content that matters, but the kids.

ThatÂ’s the hard part, thinking more about the students than about the content. It is probably the biggest challenge for many career switchers. One doesnÂ’t have to be their buddy, but one has to build relationships of trust. Through that trust students become willing to try when they are struggling, or to go further even when at first it seems easy.

The most important thing I do, and the hardest, is getting to know the students, and building on those relationships. The pedagogical process of matching oneÂ’s instruction to the students is easy.

Building that relationship of trust is vital. If you canÂ’t do it then why should your students learn what you want to teach them? And if you can, become a teacher.

What does building a relationship accomplish? Usually, one hopes, higher grades. But it can be other things – like helping a kid redirect his or her life. And at times one gains the trust of students so that they will come to you with real problems – ill family members, for example, or unplanned pregnancies. Indeed, each year I tell my students that I want them to learn the subject matter I am teaching, but it is more important to me that they leave my class a better person than they entered it. After all, we teach the whole person, not just the brain.

Posted by: Greg at 12:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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But I canÂ’t help but think we should see more of this in the United States.

The clicking of dozens of news cameras drowned out the sobs of the 13-year-old girl, but her face explained what was happening in the departure hall of Japan's Narita International Airport.

Noriko Calderon, wearing her school uniform, was being forced to make one of the most wrenching choices of her young life: To stay in the country of her birth rather than join her parents being deported to the Philippines.

The scene was the emotional climax to a story a decade and a half in the making -- one that has tugged at heartstrings in Japan, but ultimately failed to sway unyielding bureaucracy.

The problem, of course, is one that we face on a much grander scale in this country – illegal alien parents with a child (or children) who are citizens. How does a country deal with such situations, when enforcing the law means splitting children and parents – or when keeping a family together requires rewarding the illegal conduct of parents?

We don’t, of course, have any problem splitting up parents and kids when mom or dad (or even mom and dad) gets shipped off to jail for an extended period of time. We acknowledge that it is but one more sad consequence of a parent’s decision to violate the law. I frankly see no reason to treat immigration law any differently – exactly the decision that the Japanese government has made in this case. Rather than blame the government, why can’t we put the blame on the shoulders of the ones whose initial decision to violate the law is truly the cause of the problem? And if we are going to reward with legal status every set of parents who manage to get an anchor baby, then how can we be said to really have control of our nation’s borders?

Does my heart break for young Noriko Calderon? Yes it does – just as it would break for every youngster faced with the same decision if we truly enforced our nation’s immigration laws. But while I sympathize with the child, my anger is directed against the adults who created the situation rather than the government that is merely enforcing reasonable laws.

Posted by: Greg at 06:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Immigrants – at least the legal kind – are a great blessing to this country. They revitalize our nation from generation to generation, and enrich our nation in so many ways. The list of immigrants who have contributed so much to the United States is long and illustrious – it includes individuals like Albert Einstein, Andrew Carnegie, and Irving Berlin, just to name a few.

Over the course of more than two centuries, the countries of origin of immigrants have varied. Today it is individuals from Latin America who make up a large percentage of those becoming Americans.

Nearly half of the record-setting 1 million new U.S. citizens sworn in last year were Latino immigrants — a 95 percent increase among that ethnic group from the previous year, according to an analysis by an Hispanic advocacy organization.

Department of Homeland Security data shows the number of immigrants naturalized in the U.S. grew from about 660,000 in 2007 to more than 1 million in 2008 — an increase of roughly 58 percent. The Houston metropolitan area saw more than 28,000 naturalizations last year, an increase of roughly 54 percent from 2007.

Nationally, Latino naturalizations jumped 95 percent from about 237,000 in 2007 to 461,000 in 2008, according to the analysis released Tuesday by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. NALEO used data from the DHSÂ’ Office of Immigration Statistics, counting immigrants who hailed from predominantly Spanish-speaking countries as Latinos.

So let me reemphasize – I think this is great, and that it benefits our country in so many ways.

Now some of you may ask how I reconcile this view with my opposition to illegal immigration. Easy – it all boils down to welcoming those who follow the rules, not the race or ethnicity of the newcomers. After all, I work with many students who are themselves immigrants or the children of immigrants from Latin America. So let me again offer a loud “hurrah” that we are bring into our nation so many wonderful new citizens who walk the same trail as so many of our ancestors.

Posted by: Greg at 12:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The bill they have passed in Colorado is shocking enough.

A proposal to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants passed out of a Colorado state Senate committee this week after Democrats moved up a vote on the bill to coincide with a Republican opponent's absence from the state on a family emergency.

* * *

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter has said he will sign the bill, which would give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who have attended a Colorado high school for at least three years. The students must also attend college within one year of graduation or earning their GED.

On the other hand, legal immigrants and US citizens who are not from Colorado will pay out of state tuition while these immigration criminals get rewarded for their ability to evade the law for a sufficient period of time.

But what is even more disgusting is the parliamentary stunt pulled to pass the bill out of committee.

Republican state Sen. Ted Harvey's father-in-law has Alzheimer's disease and his health began deteriorating so rapidly early this week that Mr. Harvey was forced to take a few days off to transport the ailing man from Florida to Colorado.

Even so, Mr. Harvey had planned to return to the state legislature in time for Friday's Appropriations Committee vote on Senate Bill 170, the in-state tuition bill. He had also planned to vote against it, which would have resulted in a 5-5 tie that would have killed the legislation.

Instead, the committee's Democratic chairman, state Sen. Abel Tapia, seized the opportunity and rescheduled the vote for Wednesday. Without Mr. Harvey, the bill passed 5-4 and now heads to the Senate floor.

Talk about your seedy political gamesmanship – make sure an opponent of the bill is unavailable to vote so that it can be passed. In this case it was clearly dishonorable to move the vote up. The US Congress has long had a practice called “pairing” to avoid such situations – when a critical piece of legislation is before the body and a situation like the one faced by Sen. Harvey arises, another member of the body who would have otherwise voted the opposite way abstains from the vote in order to avoid taking unfair advantage of the personal crisis. Would that the dishonorable Albert Tapia had done the same – or simply have had the decency to hold the vote when it was previously scheduled.

Posted by: Greg at 11:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I work.

I pay taxes.

I have a chronically ill spouse.

It might be nice to have the government pay for my wife's health care, but it does not. I pay for insurance through my employer, and I pay the expenses not covered by that insurance. So it really angers me to read stories like this one.

Jose Cedillo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, says he has nowhere to turn.

A day laborer since 1986, Mr. Cedillo has received notice from a Los Angeles County hospital that he must start paying out of pocket for the treatment he will need. "I have no choice because I have no insurance and can't work while I'm taking these treatments," he says, sitting in the tiny apartment he shares with his wife, a janitor.

The recession – and a big state deficit ­– is leading some California counties to cut back on nonemergency health services to illegal immigrants. In others, cutbacks in services for the uninsured are hitting illegal immigrants especially hard.

I'm offended. No, not that Jose is being cut off by LA County. No, I'm offended that he was receiving government-paid medical care at all, especially the non-emergency care. He is here illegally, taking a job that could be held by an American, and yet he and millions like him feel they are entitled to a free ride at the expense of the American taxpayer.

When times were good, some might have been able to craft a cogent argument for providing taxpayer-subsidized medical care to immigration criminals. But with the economy as it is, there can be no justification for such generosity. Now if private individuals or groups wish to engage in a charitable activity by picking up the tab, I think that is great. Personally, all I'm willing to do is pay for Jose's bus ride back south of the border.

Posted by: Greg at 02:16 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Imagine that you are a member of law enforcement. You are at your church. In a pew some rows ahead of you, you recognize someone who you know has a warrant out for his arrest and a history of previous violent crimes. What do you do?

HereÂ’s what one local ICE agent did.

On a Sunday morning, in a church sanctuary near Conroe, an off-duty immigration agent tapped Jose Juan Hernandez on the shoulder and asked him to step outside.

A 31-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico with three prior deportations, Hernandez quietly followed the agent and promptly was detained on suspicion of illegal re-entry after deportation, said Gregory Palmore, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in Houston.

The case would be unremarkable, except for the setting. The fact that Hernandez was detained in church has sparked controversy locally. Hernandez was arrested Oct. 26, pleaded guilty to the re-entry charge this month and is scheduled for sentencing in April. He remains in federal detention in Conroe. HernandezÂ’s attorney, Rick Soliz, said he plans to file a complaint against the ICE agent in connection with the arrest.

“I wonder what the agent was thinking, if he was thinking at all,” Soliz said. “How do you decide to do that in the middle of a religious service?”

I guess I donÂ’t see the problem. We donÂ’t recognize the concept of sanctuary under our laws. Indeed, it would be quite an offense against the First Amendment if our laws did so. And given that the entire incident came off in an unobtrusive manner that didnÂ’t create a disturbance, IÂ’d argue that the agent ought to be praised, not condemned.

Posted by: Greg at 12:25 PM | Comments (32) | Add Comment
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Those who knowingly hire illegal aliens are as guilty as the illegals themselves. That's why I fully support moves like this.

Seven executives and managers at IFCO, a Houston-based pallet company, were charged Friday with conspiring between 2003 and 2006 to harbor illegal immigrants.

In April 2006, immigration agents raided 40 IFCO pallet plants in 26 states and detained 1,182 undocumented workers. Two of the seven officials charged Friday were Spring residents Christopher Tiesman, 40, the senior vice president of finance and accounting; and Kenneth Gines Jr., 51, controller for pallet services.

Tiesman and Gines, along with two other top-level IFCO executives, are charged “in a related conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration by submitting false payroll-related information to those agencies, and to facilitate the misuse of Social Security numbers by IFCO employees,” said a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albany, N.Y.

Bock'em, Danno!

Posted by: Greg at 10:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One of the ongoing talking points of the Left is that those of us who seek to have our borders secured and our immigration laws respected are simply hate-mongers who hold Hispanics (especially Mexicans) in contempt. That we may have a reasonable basis for our positions is simply unfathomable to them. Perhaps they need to consider some of the information in this New York Times article and ask themselves whose position, theirs or ours, makes more sense.

Juárez and El Paso are divided only by the narrow Rio Grande and a couple of border checkpoints that have done little over the years to stop the steady back and forth of trade and family visits.

The two cities are so close that the mayor of El Paso can look out his office window to view downtown Juárez.

But in other ways the two cities are worlds apart these days.

El Paso still enjoys its status as one of the safest cities in the United States, while Juárez, a city of 1.5 million that has always been rough, has become a battleground for drug cartels. More than 1,550 people were killed there in drug wars last year.

Worse, other violent crimes — carjacking, extortion, armed robbery — have surged as the beleaguered authorities struggle to respond to daily gun battles.

“It’s strange to be the third-safest city in the United States right next to a war zone,” said Mayor John Cook of El Paso, as he gazed at the ramshackle neighborhoods of Juárez.

The reality is that Mexico is a troubled country today. It is completely dysfunctional. Failure to appropriately secure our border can only result in those problems crossing that border and infiltrating our own cities. We have seen some of this with gangs like the Central American MS-13 gang – do we need the ongoing epidemic of abductions and murders to take root in the United States before the supporters of open borders admit that there may be bona fide reasons of public safety at the heart of the positions taken by those of us?

Posted by: Greg at 02:42 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This is a proposal that only the most hard-core advocate of open borders could argue with. We need to deport those who, after having already disregarded our nation's immigration laws, turn around and break our criminal laws as well.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire wants illegal immigrants serving time in state jails deported, a move intended to save the state more than $9 million in the next two-year budget.

The deportation proposal is modeled after a program in Arizona that has saved the state more than $18.5 million since 2005, said Eldon Vail, Secretary of the state Department of Corrections.

"It's not an ideal choice, if revenue was there, I'd say have them do their time," Vail said. "Is justice better served? It's a tough question to wrestle with when you don't have resources."

New York and Arizona are already working with ICE to do this. Other states ought to consider it.

But more to the point, we need to start getting rid of those who have so little respect for America's laws that they cross our border illegally. After all, every illegal immigrant is a law-breaker, and therefore an undesirable alien.

Posted by: Greg at 04:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And jumping the bail that they wonÂ’t jump.

Does this make you feel secure in your bed?

The bailiff called the murder suspect's name for the second time, scanning the courtroom. "Juan Sanchez?"

It was June 30, the day Sanchez's trial was scheduled to start in Harris County District Court in the killing of Gregorio Diaz, a 25-year-old paramedic and U.S. Navy veteran.

Even though Sanchez told Harris County jailers he was in the country illegally when he was booked on the murder charge in July 2007, he was released on $35,000 bail, according to Harris County Sheriff's Office records.

Now, he was nowhere to be found.

Judge Joan Campbell called Sanchez's defense attorney and the prosecutor to the bench. "I am revoking bond on Juan Sanchez," she said. "Now."

Under her breath, the judge said, "So much for that murder case."

A Houston Chronicle investigation found dozens of cases in Harris County involving suspected illegal immigrants who posted bail and absconded on criminal charges, including murder, aggravated sexual assault of a child and drug trafficking.

The Chronicle examined arrest and immigration records for 3,500 inmates who told jailers that they were in the country illegally during a span of eight months starting in June 2007, the earliest immigration records available.

The review found at least 178 cases involving suspects who absconded, meaning they had their bails revoked for missing court dates or allegedly committing more crimes. Of those, 30 cases involved felony charges and two-thirds had initial bails set below $35,000 — the minimum recommended in the county's bail schedule for illegal immigrants accused of felonies.

In other words, we are talking about 5% rate of illegal alien criminals going on to commit more crimes or jump bail. That is not good. And to see that 2/3 were given such low bail is distressing to me – and makes me wonder about how safe we were kept by all those GOP judges who were just voted out (not that the newly elected Democrats will be better, given their party’s “soft on illegal immigration” ideology).

In the end, it is very simple – why are we giving bail at all to illegal immigrants? When will we get serious about the issue and round them up, ship them back, and keep them out?

Posted by: Greg at 12:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hit the companies that employ illegal aliens and the executives who run them where they hurt.

The Shipley Do-Nut Co. president pleaded guilty today — and three current and former managers are expected to enter pleas next week — to charges stemming from an April immigration raid, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Company President Lawrence Shipley III pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen W. Smith to a misdemeanor charge of employing undocumented workers. He was sentenced to six months' probation and a $6,000 fine.

Shipley, 41, has served as president of the Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Co. since March 2005.

The criminal inquiry into the company began on April 16, with a predawn raid at the headquarters and warehouse complex on Houston's north side. Investigators reported that more than 40 percent of the company's employees were in this country illegally.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said this afternoon that company officials have agreed to pay $1.3 million in lieu of the federal government's confiscating various company-owned residences where undocumented workers were housed.

Others charged with hiring illegal immigrants were Christopher Halsey, 36, the company's warehouse supervisor; former warehouse manager Jimmy Rivera, 54; and current warehouse manager Julian Garcia, 38.

The three are expected to appear before a federal magistrate on Sept. 5.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of six months

Did you get that? This is going to cost the company $1.3 million in cash. That's a lot of donuts, folks. My only complaint is that it isn't more, and that the jail time and fines aren't more substantial.

Now if only we would see this done in every case where we see round-ups of the border-jumping immigration criminals who steal American jobs. After all, the employers are every bit as guilty as the aliens in most instances.

Posted by: Greg at 01:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Could you imagine a mainstream press source writing sympathetic articles about massive law-enforcement crackdowns on drug dealers, chop-shops, drunk drivers, or other illegal activity? Then why the sympathetic coverage about these law-breakers?

The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.

One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the Howard Industries transformer plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.

Not until one gets to the fourth paragraph does one find the actual numbers -- that close to 600 immigration criminals were caught, that 475 were held and another 100 given humanitarian release with ankle-bracelets so that they could care for family members. That is a whole lot better than "victims" of other law enforcement crackdowns on crime get.

My only regret in all this -- that no executives or managers of this company were arrested. We need more of that to discourage their illegal activity, too.

And the most absurd quote in the press coverage of the raid? Try this on for size, from the son of the pastor of many of the detainees.

“It was like a horror story. They got handled like they were criminals.”

Heaven forbid that we treat lawbreakers like lawbreakers!

When will the press take the side of the US and its immigration laws, rather than the foreigners (and American employers) who break those laws?

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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International kidnapping of Americans in border states -- including right here in Texas.

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico...

Mexican intelligence officials say Veronica is one of around 30 Americans abducted in southern California and taken to Tijuana since last November. Many of the victims are of Hispanic origin and hold double nationality.

"We have seen an increase in the number of kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Tijuana, including cross-border abductions," said FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth in San Diego.

Several Americans have also been kidnapped in Texas this year and held for ransom in Mexico, the FBI said...

It is fairly well-known that criminal gangs in Mexico make money tons of cash every year through massive kidnapping enterprises. Now it appears that they are becoming trans-national operations, grabbing Americans (and Mexican citizens in the US) for even higher stakes. Just call it one more aspect of our the failed policy that has effectively given us open borders and 15-20 million illegal aliens and their anchor babies.

But then again, maybe we should be celebrating this development as one more case of multiculturalism enriching our society.

H/T Jawa

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Well, none that they want to talk about, anyway -- like this situation in the San Antonio area.

The investigation began after Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen purged hundreds of names from the county's roll of more than 860,000 registered voters.

In a review of the past six years, Callanen said 330 undocumented people had registered to vote, and that 41 of them had voted — even though they later acknowledged they were not U.S. citizens.

The 330 people had received jury duty summons cards because their names were culled from the county's voter registration rolls.

Callanen said 41 people admitted voting, some in multiple elections, between 2001 and 2007. Each one said they were unaware they could not register or vote.

It could not be determined when or how they registered, but Callanen said there was “nothing to indicate a systematic effort to register noncitizens. But clearly, those folks should not have voted.”

I'm curious -- did they actually look for something systematic, or di they just skim the obvious fraudulent votes/registrations off the top? After all, it seems that the list of non-citizen jury summons responses was the source of their evidence? How many other illegals didn't show were ignored (failure to report for jury duty is rampant in San Antonio) or showed and sat on the jury so as not to get caught? What would a systematic check of registration in Bexar County show?

Well, we won't ever find out.

Adrianna Biggs, head of the district attorney's white-collar crime unit who led the investigation, said authorities were unable to determine who registered the undocumented people to vote, many of whom had limited English proficiency and who appeared to be politically unsophisticated.

In at least two cases, the district attorney's office decided not to prosecute because of extenuating circumstances that would not “serve the interest of justice,” Herberg said.

He noted that Reed made a series of recommendations to Callanen that would tighten voter registration procedures and also make it easier to prosecute future instances of voter fraud.

But County Judge Nelson Wolff rejected those recommendations because “turning Jacqui Callanen into a law enforcement agent is not the goal. Enfranchising people and getting more people to participate in the electoral process is her goal.”

In other words, the head of county government in Bexar County does not see protecting the integrity of elections in Bexar County to be a worthy goal -- he would rather get more folks registered and voting, even if they are illegal registrants/voters. Anyone want to take a wild guess about County Judge Nelson Wolff's party affiliation?

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There is no legitimate reason to give illegals bail.

When federal immigration agents raided a Houston rag factory and took 166 suspected illegal immigrants into custody, a Boston philanthropist and multimillionaire was ready to chip in bond money to help the workers.

Robert J. Hildreth, 57, is the public face of the National Immigrant Bond Fund, a fledgling organization that helps immigrants swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raids post bonds.

The controversial fund has the backing of major immigrant advocacy groups and religious leaders, but has drawn criticism from anti-illegal immigration organizations.

Since spring 2007, the fund has paid more than $180,000 to bond out immigrants snared in ICE raids in California, Massachusetts and Maryland.

Now I know that my point of view sounds harsh, but since there folks have no right to be in the US, they also have no right to walk free.

Detain, Deport. Deny re-entry.

Oh, yeah -- and bomb Mexico into submission after the latest act of war committed by the Mexican military on US soil. Unfortunately, it seems that the US is going to write it off as one more "accident" -- and do nothing.

H/T Malkin

Posted by: Greg at 03:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(Posted by Hube)

The city has stuck to their guns and said "no" to a Muslim request for "private time" at a city pool:

A group of Somali women have asked Portland Parks and Recreation to accommodate their Muslim faith by allowing an after-hours, women-only swim time at a city pool to be staffed only by female lifeguards.

The cityÂ’s response?

No way. Anti-discrimination employment law wonÂ’t allow it, Deputy City Attorney Lory Kraut wrote in an 11-page memo to the parks bureau June 23.

Ah, but the executive director of the local Center for Intercultural Organizing says "Portland should be flexible" and that it will "exclude" the Muslim community if it doesn't accommodate it.

Y'know what? Too bad. The Muslim community has to be accommodating too -- to their (in this case) new adopted homeland (the women are Somali). And this means recognizing that public facilities have to be religiously neutral.

One of the Somali women suggested renting the pool after hours as an accommodation. (It isn't clear from the article if this was the initial suggestion -- renting the pool -- or not.) The city still has said "no;" however, I don't see a problem with this. Where I live, religious groups (usually Christian) routinely rent [public] school auditoriums for services and other events on weekends, which, like the Portland pool situation, is after normal operating hours (obviously).

For traditionally liberal enclaves like Portland, situations like this must really pose a conundrum. They're reflexively hostile to religion, but at the same time, they're ridiculously PC when it comes to religious (and other) minorities.

Stay tuned.

Posted by: Hube at 06:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Whatever other issues may be raised by this story about the arrest of an illegal immigrant (and there are a bunch of them -- including misuse of government resources and outright fraud), this quote shows how some folks are so clueless that they don't even merit consideration in the immigration debate.

"To go after productive citizens who have been our neighbors and friends for years? It's insane," said Marilyn Tyler, a retired librarian from Burlington who knew the arrested woman. "We can't just stand by and let this happen."

Clearly Ms. Tyler's mind is going in her later years. After all, the precise problem is that Marxavi Angel Martinez IS NOT a citizen. She is a foreigner who has been making fraudulent use of an SSN to illegally obtain employment in this country. And while you can weep about the fact that her parents brought her to this country as a toddler and she grew up in the county. The reality is that that she appears to be guilty of four federal felonies and lied about her citizenship on her employment application to get a job for which she was not eligible.

Of course, Martinez is not responsible for having come to this country illegally. She is, however, responsible for staying and for engaging in illegal, fraudulent practices to do so and to obtain work. And for that, she should be treated like any other felon -- and then deported, like every other immigration criminal.

Posted by: Greg at 10:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Given that conviction for any number of crimes can be grounds for deportation, I don't see why anyone should object to this new law at all -- unless, of course, they carry a brief for border-jumpers and other lawbreakers.

A year after Prince William County launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Virginia has implemented a law that requires something similar for every jurisdiction in the state. Jail officials are now required to notify federal authorities of all foreign-born inmates regardless of their immigration status.

The little-noticed law went into effect July 1 and aims to make every corner of the state as unwelcoming as Prince William for illegal immigrants charged with crimes.

Why, exactly, shouldn't we be unwelcoming of criminal immigrants. We've seen what welcoming them does in places like San Francisco, where sanctuary policies reign.

If someone is in this country legally, all this measure does is put ICE on notice that they may be in violation of their immigration status. And if they are here illegally, it tells them to round 'em up and ship 'em back where they belong.

Will someone explain to me what is wrong with that?

Especially when one considers these numbers.

Through various enforcement programs, ICE says it identified 164,296 illegal immigrants who served time in local jails in fiscal 2007, including 2,738 in the District, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

ICE doesn't supply information on the disposition of these cases -- but I dare say that the deportation of even half of these miscreants would make this country a better place.

Posted by: Greg at 04:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you are going to adopt "sanctuary city" policies that allow violent criminals to run free when they should be deported, are you not an accomplice to their criminal activity?

The man charged with killing a father and two sons on a San Francisco street last month was one of the youths who benefited from the city's long-standing practice of shielding illegal immigrant juveniles who committed felonies from possible deportation, The Chronicle has learned.

Edwin Ramos, now 21, is being held on three counts of murder in the June 22 deaths of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. They were shot near their home in the Excelsior district when Tony Bologna, driving home from a family picnic, briefly blocked the gunman's car from completing a left turn down a narrow street, police say.

Ramos, a native of El Salvador whom prosecutors say is a member of a violent street gang, was found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile - a gang-related assault on a Muni passenger and the attempted robbery of a pregnant woman - according to authorities familiar with his background.

In neither instance did officials with the city's Juvenile Probation Department alert federal immigration authorities, because it was the city agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Had city officials investigated, they would have found that Ramos lacked legal status to remain in the United States.

Edwin Ramos murdered three American citizens, aided and abetted by the City of San Francisco. This wasn't an oversight or a case of human error. This was a policy decision by the elected officials of the city to allow rabid beasts like Ramos to roam the streets when there was a legitimate way to promote public safety by turning him over to federal officials for deportation. That is a violation of federal law -- and makes those officials complicit in the murder of Tony, Michael, and Matthew Bologna. Will some courageous prosecutor -- state or federal -- hold Gavin Newsom and the members of the City Council accountable for their actions by indicting them and taking them to trial?

More At Michelle Malkin, Patterico

Posted by: Greg at 09:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Now I'll be honest -- I have some problems with the treatment this woman received. Some of what was done probably should not have been.

However, this quote shows a certain arrogance on her part that infects a great many border-jumping immigration criminals.

“I felt like they were treating me like a criminal person,” Mrs. Villegas said, speaking in Spanish in a telephone interview. The phone in her room was turned off, and she was not permitted to speak with her husband when he came to retrieve their newborn son from the hospital on July 7 as she returned to jail, she said.

Let's see -- she was driving in a manner just one step below what would get her charged for reckless driving. She had no driver's license (and presumably no insurance). She was in the country illegally, and had reentered the US after having been deported once before for illegally living and working in this country.

Imagine that -- she was treated like she was a lawbreaker!

Round 'em up. Ship 'em back! Build a wall!

Posted by: Greg at 01:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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But then again, are we surprised? They've been supporting illegal immigrants all along.

Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

What is the horrible abuse? It seems that the federal government is not merely deporting these alien invaders -- it is also prosecuting them for the crimes they have committed by stealing the social security numbers and other identifying information of American citizens in order to illegally take jobs from Americans.

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing peopleÂ’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Yeah, right.

When these same identity thieves use those same papers to get credit cards and loans that impact the credit ratings of the American citizens from whom they were stolen, that profound difference is no difference at all.

And when these same American citizens get letters from the IRS demanding back taxes, complete with interest and penalties, because of the income reported on the stolen SSNs, the difference between the two is equally inconsequential.

The American citizens in question will be required to spend countless hours resolving the issues created by the "desperate breadwinners", and may need to spend countless dollars on legal fees to solve the problems -- not to mention the difficulty these folks may have buying a house, purchasing a car, or even getting a credit card due to the impact on their credit ratings. I don't see how it is reasonable to argue that such folks are no less harmed by the theft of their identifying information than those whose identities are stolen by rip-off artists.

But somehow the New York Times does -- because those who violate our nation's sovereignty and steal the jobs and identities of American citizens are somehow more worthy of respect and protection than actual Americans.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:22 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I happen to agree with Congressman Ted Poe about the recent immigration raids here in Houston and around the country.

"Once again the federal government has it backwards," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, a former state judge and prosecutor. "It is a waste of time if we don't go after the business owners who are knowingly hiring illegals.

"If we eliminate the illegal job opportunities, we can start to eliminate the problem."

Unfortunately, only 75 owners and mangers were arrested in conjunction with these raids -- and prosecutions are much more difficult to undertake than they are for the illegal workers.

Seems to me that this is one more reason to require electronic verification of employability -- so that we can begin prosecuting the major players who take jobs from Americans to give them to illegal aliens.

Posted by: Greg at 04:48 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Why are we withdrawing needed support from our porous southern border?

Members of Congress are split on whether the National Guard should end its deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, as planned.

On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted the border would not be secured until 2011.

* * *

The final withdrawal for the National Guard working in Operation Jump Start is planned for July 15.

The National Guard's Noller said that Operation Jump Start is winding down because of a presidential directive. As in all military operations, he said, about 150 guardsmen will remain for administrative duties after the mission ends.

As of June 11, 2,284 Guard members were on active duty at the border.

Git that? The border will be unsecured for three more years -- but we are pulling a couple of thousand bodies away from the task of securing it.

This is one of those things that leaves so many of us so pissed off at the Bush Administration -- its utter fecklessness when it comes to immigration and border policy. Even when the Administration has conceded a need to do more, it does so in such a half-hearted way as to be utterly useless.

And the notion that the Guard should remain deployed has bipartisan support.

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch recommended keeping the troops along the border for another year or so.

"We can get a long way between now and 2011," Lynch said. "Make an assessment in 2009 or 2010 and see where we are, and if we can afford to move them off our border, then we can do that."

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) was also in favor of waiting.

"My advice would be to favor their continued deployment until the border's judged as secure," he said.

Mr. Bush -- don't undercut the enforcement efforts along our nation's southern border.

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Now they can't travel freely because their identification might be checked, leading to their deportation.

Pedro Perez has not left Orcas Island in more than four months. Not for weekend trips with his family, not for cheaper groceries on the mainland, not for medical care—not for anything.

He is afraid border agents will stop him and send him back to Mexico, wrecking the quiet life he has built on one of Washington's remote San Juan Islands.

"I had my eyes on this place for my kids to grow up in," Perez, who is married with two young children, said in Spanish. "There's no gangs here, no crime. It's the kids who suffer."

Perez—who does odd jobs, mostly landscaping—is one of perhaps dozens of illegal immigrants on the islands who have been essentially trapped since February, when the U.S. Border Patrol began checking IDs on ferry runs from the islands to the mainland.

Boo-frickin'-hoo! You are in this country in violation of the law. You ought to be afraid -- very afraid. Indeed, you ought to be so afraid that you go back home and wait in line to enter this country legally.

But there is some good news.

Others have taken the risk and paid the price: As of late May, 49 people had been arrested by the Border Patrol and face deportation. All but one were Latin American.

It is really very simple -- we don't need to deport all the illegal aliens in this country. We simply need to turn the heat up enough that they leave on their own.

Posted by: Greg at 02:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Congressman Tom Tancredo gave a rather interesting speech on the Pope and immigration. It has caused a stir, mainly due to certain ill-considered suggestions in the latter half of the speech which should not have been made -- but the first half appears to me to be dead on. Watching the video, you'll see where he strays outside the realm of polite criticism into the sort of speculation that is not helpful to the discussion and which clearly obscures his larger, much more important point.

Like I said, part of the speech obscures the much more revealing information that precedes and follows it.

And so the Democrats are trying to make political hay out of Tancredo's less than diplomatic insinuations.

As John McCain attends the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on the Republican nominee to denounce insulting comments made by one of his campaign surrogates, Rep. Tom Tancredo. Tancredo issued a press release yesterday attacking the "Pope's comments regarding U.S. immigration policy" and accusing his position of stemming from an interest in "recruiting new members." Dean issued the following statement:

"If John McCain is serious in his pledge to run a respectful campaign, he should immediately denounce Tom Tancredo's insulting remarks about Pope Benedict XVI.

It is, all-in-all, a dishonest statement on the part of the Democrats, beginning with the headline calling Tancredo a McCain surrogate -- despite the fact that the comments in question were made as a member of the House of Representatives on the floor of the House. I guess that for Democrats, the speech and debate clause protects hiding evidence of bribes in one's office, but not actual speech and debate. But I digress.

Since Tancredo was not speaking as a surrogate for John McCain, I see no obligation to denounce or repudiate anything. And given the regular strident attacks on the Catholic Church and various popes on the issue of abortion by more Democrats than I can count, I don't see where Howard Dean can insist upon respect for this pronouncement without engaging in hypocrisy of the rankest sort.

But I decided I would go to an authoritative source on what the Catholic Church teaches about immigration. Indeed, I found it in the most authoritative of teaching documents -- The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.

Well, let's consider this bit by bit.

The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.

As Tancredo clearly points out, we already do this. We take more immigrants than any country on the planet -- legally. One can argue about how many are enough, but no one can legitimately dispute that the US complies with Catholic teaching here. And given the current economic climate, it is legitimate to question if we are ABLE to legalize those currently here without further damaging our economy, much less admit even more hoping legally while absorbing the next wave awaiting the next amnesty.

Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

Again, we do that . We educate the children. We give whole families medical care at government expense while our own citizens are forced to provide such care for themselves. We legally protect the rights of workers to be paid even if they have no legal rights to work, and we prosecute crimes against illegal immigrants. But I would remind the Holly Father that guests enter through the front door at the invitation of the host -- those who do otherwise are trespassers and, dare I say it, invaders whose uninvited presence does not merit a generous welcome.

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption.

Oh, it seems that the Holy Father and so many others have ignored this little element of Catholic teaching on immigration. Doesn't the duty of immigrants towards the United States include FOLLOWING THE LAW by entering in an orderly fashion, with all required paperwork completed? Doesn't that include the right of the host country to set reasonable limits upon who can enter and when -- and how long they are permitted to stay? After all, the official compendium of Catholic teachings does not call for open borders here.

Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.

Yeah, there is is -- immigrants are required to obey the laws. You know, like not entering the country illegally or working illegally. If they cannot do that much, everything else the Pope calls for is irrelevant. Under the teachings of the Church itself, the US has no obligation to accept or keep illegal aliens.

Indeed, I'd like to go back to that quote from Cardinal Giacomo Biffi that Tancredo quotes -- "There is no such thing to a right of invasion." Orderly, controlled immigration is a right -- pell-mell rushes for the border in order to unlawfully enter a country to illegally seek employment or government benefits in another country is not.

But I do have a suggestion for Benedict XVI, if he really wishes to help out some of those illegal immigrants.

Why not load up a few thousand on specially chartered Alitalia flights and take them home to the Vatican with you. Between the Holy See itself and your summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, you can find a place for them all. Give them Vatican passports and offer them Vatican citizenship -- pay their medical bills, feed them, clothe them, and educate their children.

In other words, put your money where your mouth is -- and if you won't, I respectfully suggest that you shut it on this issue, because the US government and US taxpayer are already doing more on behalf of illegal immigrants in a manner consistent with Catholic teaching than you are.

And as for Howard Dean, until the Democrats add a plank to their platform calling for a ban on abortion, he should shut his mouth as well.

H/T Hot Air, Michelle Malkin

UPDATE: Now criticizing the Pope's comments on immigration is being declared "anti-Catholic".

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There is something beautiful about this story -- and the story of every service member who is seeking American citizenship. After all, they recognize the special nature of America in a way that we who were born here likely never will.

Evan Eskharia fled Iraq in 1990 when he was 9 years old, crossing into Turkey on foot one night with his parents and siblings.

On Saturday morning, Eskharia, now a U.S. Marine, strode into a palace built for the man his family had fled and recited the oath of citizenship.

He was among 159 service members who obtained U.S. citizenship during the largest overseas naturalization ceremony in history.

"When they called my name, I looked down and said: 'It happened! It's done!' " Eskharia said, standing under a grand chandelier that lights up the main hall of the Al Faw Palace, built as a retreat for Saddam Hussein. "It's ironic that I fled this country from a dictator and came back to get my citizenship here."

The numbers and the stories are staggering -- and heart-warming.

Since 2004, when Bush signed into law the new regulations that streamlined the citizenship process for service members, more than 5,000 soldiers have become U.S. citizens. Roughly 20,000 active service members are eligible to apply, according to immigration officials.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 140 foreign-born U.S. soldiers have died while on active duty. Some have been naturalized posthumously.

The new rules allowed Army Spec. Sheikh Qaisar, 34, of Houston to become a citizen less than two years after he moved to the United States.

"I joined the Army the same month," said Qaisar, who was born in Pakistan and has been stationed in the city of Mosul since November. "I wanted to learn about the U.S. culture and system."

U.S. Army Spec. Myakol Mayom, 35, of Sioux Falls, S.D., who fled southern Sudan in 2001, said U.S. support for the people of his region, which was embroiled in a years-long civil war, allowed him to escape.

"When I came to the United States, I never felt like a refugee," said Mayom, holding a folded U.S. flag. "The U.S. saved my life. If I die tomorrow, I would die smiling because I did the right thing."

From time to time I have been accused of being anti-immigrant. I'm not, and attempt to clearly make the distinction between those who come to America legally and those who do not. And growing up in a military family, it was my privilege to know men (and a few women) who served this country while seeking citizenship -- and heard from my father that they were often the finest soldiers and sailors in terms of character and devotion to duty.

And so I honor these men and women who serve our country and who through that service seek citizenship. They are always welcome here as the exemplary Americans they are.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to Michelle Malkin for supplying it.

“People who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are deportable should be required to leave.”

How evil.

How hateful.

How racist.

How true.

Now only if it were original to Malkin herself.

It isn't.

It comes from the report of a commission on immigration reform led by Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (D-TX), one of the greatest figures to walk the halls of Congress in the last half of the twentieth century -- and a liberal African-American woman. Would that the Democrats could find a few more of her type in their midst -- the party might be worth something again.

Posted by: Greg at 08:22 AM | Comments (50) | Add Comment
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Not only are they here in violation of our laws, border, and sovereignty (three ways of saying the same thing), they are then violating laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

More than 30 illegal immigrants who work as security guards face weapons charges, Dallas police said. Police teamed up with state and federal agents for the joint operation, which aimed to identify armed and unarmed security officers who were in the country illegally.

The people arrested face weapons charges, because it is illegal for non-citizens to carry or own guns.

The investigation targeted 26 Dallas-based businesses, most of which were nightclubs.

Now I am not sure what the laws are in this state for security guards, but I know that ARMED security guards have required licenses (and not just carry permits) in other states where i have lived. Part of that has required weapons testing by local law enforcement personnel at a law enforcement firing range. If anything remotely similar is the case here in Texas, it strikes me that we have a much bigger problem than armed illegals -- we may have local law enforcement granting licenses to violate the law to illegal immigrants. This matter needs a much closer look.

H/T Malkin

Posted by: Greg at 10:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It is so nice to see the NY Times use these words with regard to a proposed government regulation on business.

The burden on law-abiding companies would be great: thousands of dollars to comply with the rules, and thousands more to fire and replace workers.

Of course, it would happen to be a regulation that involves protecting our borders and putting an end to the scourge of illegal immigration. But still, it is progress. Will the NY Times use this standard in the future -- namely that the burden on law-abiding companies of being required to spend "thousands of dollars" (much less millions of dollars like some regulations cost business) overrides the importance of ensuring that businesses are complying with the law? Or is it only the fact that the editorial staff of the paper, with their illegal gardeners, nannies, and household help, fear having to pay American wages to American workers -- therefore imposing "thousands of dollars" in additional costs on their own personal budgets?

Posted by: Greg at 10:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I fail to see how anyone can object to this program.

PHOENIX — The police in this city at the center of the immigration debate will soon ask all people arrested whether they are in the United States legally and will in certain cases report the information to the federal authorities, Mayor Phil Gordon announced on Friday.

People stopped for civil traffic violations like speeding will not be questioned, nor will crime victims or witnesses.

All those arrested on criminal charges like drunken driving and murder will be asked by officers whether they are in the United States legally.

The police may decide to recommend checking by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The change includes having the police notify the immigration agency about people who are detained but not arrested who officers have “reasonable basis” to believe are illegal immigrants.

This seems like a commonsense solution to me. In asking the question of those reasonably believed to be involved in criminal activity, the police will be targeting folks based upon conduct and not ethnicity. Furthermore, those involved in criminal activity are, the last time I checked, considered undesirable by the overwhelming majority of Americans, except for the open borders extremists among us.

Posted by: Greg at 05:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Once we get rid of the current crop of border jumpers and figure out how to avoid turning this into an anchor baby creation program, this proposal might not be too bad.

Mexican president Felipe Calderon called for a return to the bracero programme of the 1950s as a way to address issues of immigration and illegal workers between the US and Mexico. Calderon made the statements in an address to the California legislature, where he said that immigration "carries off the best among us" and vowed to create economic conditions that would allow Mexicans to find well-paid work at home.

"While my government is committed to protecting the rights of all Mexicans, including those living beyond our borders, we are taking great efforts to ensure that in the future no Mexican needs to leave our country to find job opportunities elsewhere," he said.

Calderon reminded legislators that Mexico is the top destination for California exports, and he recalled the bracero programme from the 1940s-60s as a system that met both countries' needs.

"We need to make migration legal, safe and organized," said Calderon, who met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And I think Calderon hit on one point – Mexico needs to clean up its act politically and economically so that border jumping ends. After all, the current immigration situation is indicative of the reality that, at this point in time, MEXICO SUCKS! I know that is a harsh statement to make, but the reality is that the country is currently a kleptocracy in which the common people are oppressed by corrupt government officials on the one hand and criminal gangs on the other -- to the degree that the two are not one and the same.

And let me say it again – I am not opposed to Mexicans coming to work, or even live permanently, in the United States. I object to their doing those things in violation of our nation's laws and sovereignty.

Posted by: Greg at 11:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Pass a law to make it exonomically difficult for those in this country illegally to stay in your state, and many of them leave.

And where are they going? In many cases, back home.

Property managers report that families have uprooted overnight, with little or no notice. Carlos Flores Vizcarra, the Mexican consul general in Phoenix, said while he could not tie the phenomenon to a single factor, the consulate had experienced an “unusual” five-fold increase in parents applying for Mexican birth certificates for their children and other documents that often are a prelude to moving.

Hasta la vista, baby! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Lawbreakers are not welcome here.

But if you go get in line with the honest people seeking legal admittance to this country, you'll be welcomed back with open arms.

Posted by: Greg at 11:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Not only are Mexicans crossing our border illegally, but now some of their kidnapping gangs are targeting Americans for kidnapping when they cross the border.

Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents.

Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday. In 2006, at least 11 county residents had been kidnapped in the three communities.

“Some of the 26 were recovered, some were hurt and some were killed,” said agent Alex Horan, who directs the FBI's violent-crime squad in San Diego.

“It's not a pleasant experience. Victims have reported beatings, torture and there have been rapes. . . . Handcuffs and hoods over the head are common,” he said.

Now that is 26 from the San Diego area -- that we know about. There may be more, and certainly are more in other areas along the border. How much longer until these gangs start operating on the US side of the border, bringing one more Mexican social problem into the United States.

Posted by: Greg at 11:27 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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