March 28, 2006
NEWARK, N.J., March 27 (UPI) -- An embarrassing hole in security surrounding former U.S. President Bill Clinton turned up when one of his chauffeurs was found to be a wanted man.
Shahzad Qureshi, 42, was in one of three cars awaiting Clinton at Newark Airport last week when a Port Authority policeman happened to check license plate numbers.The computer came back showing the Pakistani national had skipped a residency-status hearing in 2000, and a deportation order had been issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the New York Post reported.
Qureshi was still in jail Monday awaiting immigration processing, the report said.
Could it be that the Clintons, much like certain other liberal elitists, believe that the law does not apply to them?
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March 22, 2006
At a time when communities across the nation are considering efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, one small city south of downtown Los Angeles is charting a different course.In Maywood, where 96% of the residents are Latino, and more than half are foreign-born, the City Council has vowed to make the municipality a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants, and over the last few months it has set out to prove it.
First, the city eliminated the Police Department's traffic division after complaints that officers unfairly targeted illegal immigrants. Then it made it much more difficult for police to tow cars whose owners didn't have driver's licenses, a practice that affected mostly undocumented people who could not obtain licenses.In January, the City Council passed a resolution opposing a proposed federal law that would criminalize illegal immigration and make local police departments enforce immigration law. Now, some in the community are pushing to rename one of the city's elementary schools after former Mexican President Benito Juarez and debating measures to improve the lives of illegal immigrants.
Maywood leaders say they hope their actions will serve as a counterpoint to other cities, such as Costa Mesa in Orange County, that have moved forward with crackdowns on illegal immigrants and groups like the Minutemen border patrols.
"You just couldn't keep quiet. I think we needed to amplify the debate by saying that no human being is illegal," said Councilman Felipe Aguirre, 53. "These people are here Â… making your clothes, shining your shoes and taking care of your kids. And now you want to develop this hypocritical policy?"
Someone needs to tell this idiot that even if we accept his logic that no human beings are illegal, the actions of human beings can be – including illegally entering, residing, and working in the United States.
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February 26, 2006
In response, you are subject to a threat like this.
“We are going to be in front of their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are haters and snitches, that they are anti-criminal. They are going to hear from us.”
Such a threat ought to provoke outrage, and a strong governmental response to crack down on those who are supporting the enforcement of laws against those who break them.
But not in this case in Maryland.
Casa de Maryland, a taxpayer funded group that assists illegal immigrants, has made a public threat to the children of the grassroots Minuteman Civil Defense Corps that have made headlines since last fall monitoring day labor centers in the Washington DC area.An article published yesterday by the Sean Sands of Maryland Community Newspapers Online quoted Casa de Maryland’s Executive Director Gustavo Torres saying “We are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us.”
The Minutemen have been photographing contractors picking up illegal aliens for work at the Wheaton day laborer center in Maryland spurring conflict with the illegal immigrant supporters.
Casa de Maryland, according to their own website, was “designed to address the multiple conditions of poverty and disenfranchisement that control the lives of many Latino immigrants and refugees“ and “achieves its goals through programs in areas such as leadership, organizing, women's empowerment, tenant support, employment, legal services, health, education, social services, and immigration assistance.”
Casa de Maryland offers an email and phone number where someone can coordinate potential employers with “experts in construction, carpentry, landscaping, babysitting, housekeeping, painting tiling, moving, odd jobs and more.” Casa de Maryland claims to have placed approximately 5,760 men and women in different daily, temporary and permanent job settings in 2004.
Not only is this group open about breaking the law, but in Maryland, those who make threats against the children of those engaged in legal political activity are subsidized by the government -- because the laws they are breaking are those against immigration crimes and the criminals they are assisting are border-jumpers. Not only that, but they proudly trumpet their efforts to help illegal aliens find work with the assistance of local government, business, and labor groups.
How much government help do they get each year? Take a look.
From Casa de MarylandÂ’s 2004-2005 annual statement the Minuteman Civil Defense Press Corps found 51% of the groups $2.7 million came directly from grants issued on behalf of Montgomery County.
That's right -- over half of this group's money comes from the government. They are openly conspiring to break the laws of the united States, and tye are receiving government money to do it! I'd suggest that you contact Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and the Montgomery County Council to voice your displeasure over the county's use of taxpayer money to fund the breaking of immigration laws, violations of the civil rights and liberties of the Minutemen by grant recipients, and the stalking of innocent children. In addition, you might consider contacting those that violate federal law by participating in the job's program -- Clark Construction, Allentuck Landscaping Company and the AFL-CIO (how do members feel about their dues funding cheap illegal labor over American workers). And for all the good it will do, contact Gustavo Torres and tell him that he needs to reconsider engaging in pedophile-like child-stalking to intimidate American patriots whose only offense is supporting the laws of the United States.
The founder of the Minutemen puts it well.
In response to the threats, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox said, “Threatening children like this is outrageous. Casa de Maryland’s funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior."
And lest you think it is all hot air, we've already seen the first assault on a Minuteman monitoring CASA de Maryland's illegal immigrant jobs program.
Hat Tip -- Jo's Cafe
MORE AT: Dan Stein, Bryan's Space, Iceman Bloggeth, Real Debate Wisconsin, American Conservative Daily, Minutemen National Blog, God, Guns, Glory!, Modern Tribalist, Sixth Column, novatownhall, Quid Novi?, Blogging Man 2007, Two Malcontents, Gunn Nutt, Immigration Daily News
OPEN TRACKBACKING: Conservative Cat
, Stuck On Stupid, Blue Star, third world country, Bacon Bits, Voteswagon, Adam's Blog, Liberal Wrong Wing, Uncooperative Blogger, NIF, Stop The ACLU, Samantha Burns, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Bullwinkle Blog, Don Surber, Wizbang, Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Right Wing Nation, Point Five, Cao's Blog, The Real Ugly American
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February 25, 2006
What these fools overlooked is that such criminals have very little respect for the law, and would gladly engage in fraud to obtain the legal documents that make continuing their law-breaking easier.
Tennessee has ended its policy of issuing "certificates for driving" to illegal immigrants, citing federal investigations that uncovered applicants using fraudulent documents — and even bribing state workers — to obtain driving privileges, officials said Friday.The state began giving immigrants the certificates in July 2004, with the hope of balancing homeland security and traffic concerns. The cards give holders the legal right to drive but, unlike driver's licenses, they are not to be used for identification purposes. For instance, they cannot be used to board an airplane.
The Tennessee model was criticized early on from diverse quarters. Anti-immigration forces worried that it gave legitimacy to illegal immigrants. Immigration rights groups feared that police and others would be confused, and therefore inconsistent, in dealing with the cardholders.
Officials in the capital of Nashville grew concerned in recent months as federal investigations uncovered instances of fraud by illegal immigrants. Bob Corney, a spokesman for Tennessee's Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, said the governor's office was informed that immigrants were coming from other states to get the IDs, using forged residency documents.
Last month, a former worker at a driver's license office was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for issuing more than 40 certificates to unqualified immigrants, taking a $400 bribe for each fraudulent card.
So as you can see, trying to make life easier for criminals results in more crime. The proper solution to the problem of border-jumping immigration criminals is tough enforcement, including arrest, imprisonment, and deportation with a lifetime bar on reentry.
OPEN TRACKBACKING: Conservative Cat
, Stuck On Stupid, Blue Star, third world country, Bacon Bits, Voteswagon, Adam's Blog, Liberal Wrong Wing, Uncooperative Blogger, NIF, Stop The ACLU, Samantha Burns, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Bullwinkle Blog, Don Surber, Wizbang, Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Right Wing Nation
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February 23, 2006
No one is going to respect a citizenship that is so undemanding that it asks nothing. In fact our citizenship is quite a demanding obligation. It demands loyalty, tolerance and respect for fellow citizens and support for a rare form of government - democracy.We have a robust tolerance of difference in our society. But to maintain this tolerance we have to have an agreed framework which will protect the rights and liberties of all. And we are asking our citizens to subscribe to that framework.
I do not like putrid representations like Piss Christ. I do not think galleries should show them. But I do recognise they should be able to practise their offensive taste without fear of violence or a riot. Muslims do not like representation of the prophet. They do not think newspapers should print them. But so too they must recognise this does not justify violence against newspapers, or countries that allow newspapers to publish them.
We are asking all our citizens to subscribe to a framework that can protect the rights and liberties of all. These are Australian values. We must be very clear on this point. They are not optional. We expect all those who call themselves Australians to subscribe to them. Loyalty, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - values worth promoting, values worth defending. The values of Australia and its citizens.
Change the words “Australia†and Australian†to “America†and “American†and this entire speech clearly defines what the view of every American patriot should be.
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No one is going to respect a citizenship that is so undemanding that it asks nothing. In fact our citizenship is quite a demanding obligation. It demands loyalty, tolerance and respect for fellow citizens and support for a rare form of government - democracy.We have a robust tolerance of difference in our society. But to maintain this tolerance we have to have an agreed framework which will protect the rights and liberties of all. And we are asking our citizens to subscribe to that framework.
I do not like putrid representations like Piss Christ. I do not think galleries should show them. But I do recognise they should be able to practise their offensive taste without fear of violence or a riot. Muslims do not like representation of the prophet. They do not think newspapers should print them. But so too they must recognise this does not justify violence against newspapers, or countries that allow newspapers to publish them.
We are asking all our citizens to subscribe to a framework that can protect the rights and liberties of all. These are Australian values. We must be very clear on this point. They are not optional. We expect all those who call themselves Australians to subscribe to them. Loyalty, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - values worth promoting, values worth defending. The values of Australia and its citizens.
Change the words “Australia” and Australian” to “America” and “American” and this entire speech clearly defines what the view of every American patriot should be.
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February 20, 2006
By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.
Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.
So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"
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By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.
Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.
So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"
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February 12, 2006
About 400 Latinos concerned about the rights of immigrants who enter the country illegally to work met Saturday in Riverside to fight plans for increased enforcement from Washington and Costa Mesa.The Mexicano/Latino Leadership Immigration Summit focused mostly on legislation approved in the House of Representatives that would build a fence along parts of the Mexican border.
"We're not terrorists, just hardworking people trying to make a living," said speaker Hector Preciado of the Greenlining Institute, a Northern California public policy and advocacy group.
Participants also mentioned Costa Mesa's decision to allow police to enforce some federal immigration laws and seek deportation of felony suspects. The Orange County Sheriff's Department is working on a similar proposal.
You may be hardworking people, Hector, but you are also lawbreakers. Go back where you came from, and then apply to come here the right way.
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February 08, 2006
A judge ruled Tuesday that organizers of Laguna Beach's annual Patriots' Day Parade have the right to exclude members of the volunteer border patrol group Minuteman Project.The group's co-founder, illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist, sought to be included in the parade lineup but the parade committee voted to ban the Minuteman Project on political grounds.
Parade organizers "have a right, within certain limits, to put on the parade they want to put on," Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner said.It was not clear whether Gilchrist would seek an appeal. A message left for his attorney, Richard Ackerman, was not immediately returned.
The Minuteman Project uses volunteer civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants. Two members of the group who live in Laguna Beach, a bohemian town of 24,000 tucked into coastal hills, filled out an application to enter a float in the March 4 parade.
The parade committee turned down the application because it found the group's participation would violate its bylaws, which ban organizations with a religious or political affiliation or message.
The committee also argued it could reject or accept whomever it wants because it is privately funded and receives no taxpayer money.
Duh. This is a simple issue – as a private group, the organizers have the right to include or exclude on whatever basis they choose. This is no different than the Catholic group in New York that refuses to include gay-rights groups because it offends their religious sensibilities – and is even more defensible, on the basis that it excludes ALL political groups. We can debate whether or not such prohibitions are appropriate, but we cannot deny that such exclusions are legitimate, even when that means that groups we support are excluded.
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February 07, 2006
President Bush's new budget again fails to fund the entire number of Border Patrol agents mandated by Congress but for the first time includes funds for his proposed guest-worker program.The budget calls for 1,500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents and 6,700 new detention beds for illegal aliens awaiting deportation -- far more than last year's budget, but still short of the 2,000 new agents and 8,000 new beds per year that he and Congress agreed to in the December 2004 intelligence-overhaul bill.
I have to disagree with the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security who was sent out to try to blow smoke up our buts.
"It's a very strong budget, and the request clearly reflects the priority that is placed on securing our borders," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, who said it reflects a comprehensive strategy that includes personnel, beds, technology such as sensors and drone aircraft, and fences like the one being built near San Diego.The budget includes money for 560 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention officers and agents, and 257 immigration lawyers as part of the administration's effort to return home more non-Mexican illegal aliens. The administration hopes that this will help end the "catch-and-release" policy, under which most non-Mexicans who are caught never are deported.
The 1,500 Border Patrol agents bring the total authorized to 13,819 -- a 42 percent increase since September 11, 2001, but still at least 1,000 short of the number for which the December 2004 bill called.
Short by 1000 agents – that is hardly a strong budget by any reasonable definition. It is a pathetic attempt to get around the clear demands of the American people to take border security seriously.
And rather than stop illegal immigration and get rid of the law-breakers, the budget sets the stage for legalization by fully funding the guest-worker program. HereÂ’s hoping that Congress diverts that $247 million to fully funding the needed personnel and detention beds instead of the PresidentÂ’s scheme to open the borders to temporary workers who will not leave when their time is up.
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January 30, 2006
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested a Mexican immigration official who was allegedly trying to help a group of undocumented migrants sneak into the United States, the Mexican government said Sunday.Immigration agent Francisco Javier Gutierrez was arrested at a checkpoint near Alamogordo, N.M., about 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Mexican Interior Department said in a news release.
Gutierrez had been fired on corruption allegations last year but returned to his job after winning a court case in which he claimed he had been unfairly dismissed, according to the National Immigration Institute.
The Mexican government promised to cooperate with U.S. authorities in the case. A spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, declined to comment Sunday.
Gutierrez's arrest comes just days after the Mexican and U.S. governments exchanged terse diplomatic notes about security on the border.
We must acknowledge that, in this, the Mexican government is our enemy, not our ally.
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January 26, 2006
Mexico's top diplomat suggested Thursday that American soldiers disguised as Mexican troops may have been in the military-style Humvee filmed earlier this week protecting a marijuana shipment on the border.Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez also told a news conference that U.S. soldiers had helped drug smugglers before. However, he offered no evidence.
* * *
Derbez said Thursday that the men photographed by Texas law enforcement could have been Americans.
"Members of the U.S. Army have helped protect people who were processing and transporting drugs," Derbez said. "And just as that has happened ... it is very probable that something like that could have happened, that in reality they were members of some of their groups disguised as Mexican soldiers with Humvees."
Yes, there have been stray individuals who have done so -- and they are arrested, indicted, prosecute, and imprisoned. These things do not happen in Mexico to police and military.
And then there is this little outrage.
Derbez also said his country will send a diplomatic note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding that U.S. officials tone down their comments on Mexico's security and immigration problems.
Why don't we send some troops over the border into Mojado Land to do something about its security and immigration problems instead.
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January 24, 2006
Men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers, apparent drug suspects and Texas law enforcement officers faced off Monday on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, an FBI spokeswoman said today.Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.
Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said.
Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred requests for further details to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported today that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military, suspected drug smugglers and nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officers. It said Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.
The incident follows a story in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996.
Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper that Border Patrol agents called for backup and were joined by Hudspeth County deputies and DPS troopers. Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border, the newspaper said.Doyal said deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade that had been reported stolen from El Paso, and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside. He said Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river.
The site is near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso, it said.
Why no shooting in this situation (or any of the other 200+ incidents)?
"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal said. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."
The border in this area is clearly marked – it is called the Rio Grande – and such crossings are frequent. They are denied by the Mexican government.
It is time for the US to make this a shooting war. It might be the only thing that will get the attention of the Mexican authorities and make them realize that the US is serious about border security.
If we really are serious about border security.
MORE AT: Michelle Malkin, Jawa Report
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January 17, 2006
The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday.The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed.
It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to employ "shadows and camouflage" to conceal themselves and to "stay as quiet as possible."
Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora confirmed that a "military incursion" warning was given to Tucson agents, but said it was designed to inform them how to react to any sightings of military and foreign police in this country and how to properly document any incursion.
Mr. Zamora added that although incursions by the Mexican military do occur, they usually have taken place in areas of the border "not marked by monuments or signs." He said U.S. military units also have crossed mistakenly into Mexico.
Is it time for US border agents – or perhaps military personnel – to shoot to kill when confronted with invading military forces? Will we defend our sovereignty as we did in the 1840s and 1010s, or will we simply let foreign troops cross our frontier with impunity?
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January 04, 2006
Activists clashed in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night over the city's decision to become the nation's first authorizing its police department to enforce federal immigration laws.A 3-2 vote last month to train police officers to work with federal immigration officials and sheriff's deputies to determine the immigration status of suspects arrested for other crimes has made the city a battleground in the national controversy over immigration policy.
Mayor Allan Mansoor, who proposed the idea, has stressed that enforcement will focus on those accused of serious crimes and that no random sweeps will occur.
"The public has been demanding this," said Mansoor, who is also an Orange County sheriff's deputy.
About 80 activists massed before Tuesday's council meeting, singing in Spanish and carrying hand-painted signs reading "Nobody Is Illegal" and "Mansoor Is a Bigot." Other signs proclaimed the United States the property of Mexico and Americans as the interlopers.
Some 40 opponents of illegal immigration also gathered, some shouting, "America is a nation of laws!"
I have only one thing to say to the border jumpers and their supporters -- INTERLOPE THIS!
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January 03, 2006
Now the Mexican government, which protects its southern border, is using the incident to demand that the US not ratchet-up its own border security.
"This occurrence does no more than provide evidence that only a law that guarantees legal entry and is respectful of human rights can resolve the migratory problem both countries face," Ruben Aguilar, the chief spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said Monday.Many Mexicans oppose the U.S. measure, which would build more border fences, make illegal entry a felony and enlist military and local police to help stop undocumented migrants.
Aguilar said the death of Guillermo Martinez showed that extending border walls will not curb illegal immigration.
Martinez died Saturday in a Tijuana hospital, the Baja California state attorney general's office said. He died one day after he was shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near a metal wall separating that city from San Diego, according to witnesses cited by Mexican officials.
Raul Martinez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol said the agent had been "assaulted by an individual who threw a large size rock."
"The agent, fearing for his life at that time, fired one round at the individual, who fled back to Mexico," Martinez said Monday.
The spokesman, who is not related to the dead 18-year-old, said U.S. investigators were unsure if the victim had been struck by the bullet because he crossed back into Mexican territory.
Mexico's federal Attorney General's Office said the probe was opened against "whomever is found to have been responsible," but did not name a suspect. Mexico generally does not try to apply its laws to events that occurred in other nations.
Investigate all you want – the government of Mexico has no authority in this case. And please consider Mexico’s own policies before demanding that we open the borders to any Juan, Jose, and Pedro who wants to come to this country.
Mexican officials have grown increasingly vocal in their opposition to the House bill passed Dec. 16, which Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez branded as "stupid and underhanded." Fox has called it shameful.Officials of Mexico's federal Human Rights Commission have acknowledged that Mexico already employs some of the same methods in its own territory. But Aguilar again attacked the U.S. measure Monday, saying "walls and police crackdowns never will resolve migration problems."
But we really know what the issue is all about. It isnÂ’t one dead border jumpe.
In 2004, Mexican migrants in the United States sent home more than $16 billion in remittances, according to Mexico's central bank, giving the nation its second biggest source of foreign currency after oil exports.
It is all about the cash.
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January 02, 2006
When Congress returns to the unfinished business of immigration early in the new year, lawmakers will be trying to reconcile sometimes conflicting public attitudes on an issue that has become a crusade to some conservative Republicans but has defied effective solutions over the past three decades.A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken in mid-December found Americans alarmed by the federal government's failure to do more to block the flow of illegal immigration and critical of the impact of illegal immigration on the country but receptive to the aspirations of undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States.
"You wonder why politicians are not always consistent," said Republican pollster Glen Bolger. "It's because public opinion's not always consistent."
Immigration still ranks below the war in Iraq, terrorism, health care and the economy on the public's list of priorities, but in many parts of the country -- not just those areas near the Mexican border -- it has become an issue of pressing significance because of its economic, racial and, more recently, national security implications.
If there is any consensus today, it is on the need for enhanced border security, driven not only by traditional concerns about jobs and the strains illegal immigrants put on state and local resources but also by newer worries that the porous border makes America more vulnerable to terrorists. The public and politicians are far more divided on the difficult question of how to treat the roughly 11 million illegal migrants already in the country.
In other words, there isn't as great a split as the Post seems to think there is. Border security and immigration reform are generally supported -- so we want to stop the border hemmoraging that has gone on for years. The only place for division is over what to do with those who have already jumped the fence or breast-stroked across the Rio Grande. We are not sure about amnest or enforcement.
And I understand the ambivalence. My students here in Houston are 50% Hispanic. Of those, at least half are the children of non-citizens, including a number of children who are in this country ilegally themselves. Do I wish to see my students and/or their families deported? For the most part, no I don't (I always have the kid I want deported to the third ring of Hades or beyond the orbit of Pluto) -- my love for these kids as individuals prevents me from taking such a position. But how do we then deal with the issue of their immigration status? That is the sort of issue that confounds American public opinion on the issue.
So I'll ask you -- how do we deal with the 11 million?
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December 30, 2005
On a sweltering afternoon in this glitzy tourist resort, Alex Fernandez laughed and joked with a group of his fellow homeless teenagers until the subject of prostitution came up. Then his smile disappeared, and the face of the skinny 14-year-old turned to a cold, unblinking stare as he described how grown men, sometimes Mexicans and sometimes foreign tourists, regularly take him to hotels and pay to have sex with him."Yes, they buy me. The business gets me food. It gets me clothes," said Fernandez, sitting in the shade of a basketball stand to escape the blazing sun. "No one else helps me. What do you want me to do?"
Despite a concerted effort to crack down on pedophiles in both Mexico and the United States, child prostitution continues unabated in Mexican tourist resorts such as Acapulco and Cancun as well as border cities such as Ciudad Juarez. Investigators estimate the number of Mexican children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation — including prostitution, pornography and human trafficking — has increased to 20,000 from 16,000 in the past five years. Many of those who pay for sex with the boys and girls are American, Canadian and European tourists.
What's more, this child sex trade is also being brought north. We've had several arrests here in Texas in recent weeks related to children being smuggled from Mexico to become prostitutes.
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December 14, 2005
About 40 protesters, including Republican City Councilman M.J. Khan, appeared in front of City Hall on Tuesday to oppose a resolution that would require Houston police to enforce immigration law.City Councilman Mark Ellis has introduced the resolution, which is not expected to get support from a council majority. Critics led by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now gathered for a protest before the second public hearing on the proposal.
Khan made it clear he strongly opposes illegal immigration. But he said it is the responsibility of specially trained federal officials to check for valid visas and passports.
Asking Houston Police Department officers to enforce immigration law would invite racial profiling, Khan said.
"Chances are, someone with broken English who looks like me is going to get detained," said Khan, a native of Pakistan and a naturalized U.S. citizen.
City offices are officially nonpartisan, but Khan is widely known to be one of the council's eight Republicans. Ellis has said Khan and Shelley Sekula-Gibbs are the only Republicans who haven't supported his proposal.
Yeah, you are right – it is likely that folks who look like you with poor language skills are going to be detained. Unfortunately, such individuals are more likely to be in this country illegally. But the measure in question is not going to require HPD to go around conducting immigration raids – it will simply be a citizenship check in conjunction with other law enforcement contacts, doing away with the de facto sanctuary policy that has been in effect for years in Houston. It is much more probable that someone who looks like you – broken English or not – will not ever be asked about their citizenship at all.
Oh, and Shelley – don’t expect me to be offering you any support when you seek higher office after the end of your term-limited service on City Council unless you get behind this proposal NOW.
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About 40 protesters, including Republican City Councilman M.J. Khan, appeared in front of City Hall on Tuesday to oppose a resolution that would require Houston police to enforce immigration law.City Councilman Mark Ellis has introduced the resolution, which is not expected to get support from a council majority. Critics led by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now gathered for a protest before the second public hearing on the proposal.
Khan made it clear he strongly opposes illegal immigration. But he said it is the responsibility of specially trained federal officials to check for valid visas and passports.
Asking Houston Police Department officers to enforce immigration law would invite racial profiling, Khan said.
"Chances are, someone with broken English who looks like me is going to get detained," said Khan, a native of Pakistan and a naturalized U.S. citizen.
City offices are officially nonpartisan, but Khan is widely known to be one of the council's eight Republicans. Ellis has said Khan and Shelley Sekula-Gibbs are the only Republicans who haven't supported his proposal.
Yeah, you are right – it is likely that folks who look like you with poor language skills are going to be detained. Unfortunately, such individuals are more likely to be in this country illegally. But the measure in question is not going to require HPD to go around conducting immigration raids – it will simply be a citizenship check in conjunction with other law enforcement contacts, doing away with the de facto sanctuary policy that has been in effect for years in Houston. It is much more probable that someone who looks like you – broken English or not – will not ever be asked about their citizenship at all.
Oh, and Shelley – don’t expect me to be offering you any support when you seek higher office after the end of your term-limited service on City Council unless you get behind this proposal NOW.
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December 12, 2005
The average North Carolina resident probably assumes that local, state and federal governments are better coordinated to fight terrorism today than they were before the Sept. 11 attacks four years ago.But the case of Gilberto Cruz Hernandez -- illegal Mexican immigrant accused in a series of rapes -- suggests otherwise.
On his third try at illegal immigration, the 24-year-old Hernandez hit the jackpot in the Piedmont Triad, settling with unnerving ease into the mundane fabric of everyday life.
He landed a job at a Greensboro printing company and earned $44,000 a year.
Last year, the same federal government that twice deported him put its financial might behind a $123,000 Federal Housing Administration loan that allowed him to buy a brand-new house in Winston-Salem.
Although he was ticketed 11 times for speeding and other driving infractions by the Highway Patrol and police in High Point and Winston-Salem, none of the traffic stops resulted in his detention as an illegal immigrant, a prior deportee or a potential threat to public safety.
That's true even though at least one of his stops in High Point occurred after police officers suspected they'd interrupted a crime in progress when Hernandez pulled out of a closed car sales lot one night in December 2000.
Neighbors in two cities say he didn't arouse their suspicions. Officials at the company that sold him a home in Winston-Salem say it wasn't their job to check his immigration status.
His employer says Hernandez's documentation checked out "absolutely fine," although -- in hindsight -- some might have been forged.
Oh, yeah – the cops missed one other thing.
Police now contend that Hernandez's seemingly nondescript facade hid a night burglar, a masked man with a Spanish accent who terrorized women in Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem in a series of eight sexual assaults between May 2004 and Feb. 22, 2005.Today, Hernandez is in the Forsyth County jail awaiting trial in Forsyth and Guilford counties. Federal immigration authorities also have issued a detainer on him, meaning they want to deport him again once he is either acquitted of the state charges or is convicted and serves prison time.
So only now, after ignoring his immigration crimes and aiding him in setting up a new life, the government wants to deport this sex predator.
The only thing is, what will keep him from returning to the country for a fourth time?
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The average North Carolina resident probably assumes that local, state and federal governments are better coordinated to fight terrorism today than they were before the Sept. 11 attacks four years ago.But the case of Gilberto Cruz Hernandez -- illegal Mexican immigrant accused in a series of rapes -- suggests otherwise.
On his third try at illegal immigration, the 24-year-old Hernandez hit the jackpot in the Piedmont Triad, settling with unnerving ease into the mundane fabric of everyday life.
He landed a job at a Greensboro printing company and earned $44,000 a year.
Last year, the same federal government that twice deported him put its financial might behind a $123,000 Federal Housing Administration loan that allowed him to buy a brand-new house in Winston-Salem.
Although he was ticketed 11 times for speeding and other driving infractions by the Highway Patrol and police in High Point and Winston-Salem, none of the traffic stops resulted in his detention as an illegal immigrant, a prior deportee or a potential threat to public safety.
That's true even though at least one of his stops in High Point occurred after police officers suspected they'd interrupted a crime in progress when Hernandez pulled out of a closed car sales lot one night in December 2000.
Neighbors in two cities say he didn't arouse their suspicions. Officials at the company that sold him a home in Winston-Salem say it wasn't their job to check his immigration status.
His employer says Hernandez's documentation checked out "absolutely fine," although -- in hindsight -- some might have been forged.
Oh, yeah – the cops missed one other thing.
Police now contend that Hernandez's seemingly nondescript facade hid a night burglar, a masked man with a Spanish accent who terrorized women in Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem in a series of eight sexual assaults between May 2004 and Feb. 22, 2005.Today, Hernandez is in the Forsyth County jail awaiting trial in Forsyth and Guilford counties. Federal immigration authorities also have issued a detainer on him, meaning they want to deport him again once he is either acquitted of the state charges or is convicted and serves prison time.
So only now, after ignoring his immigration crimes and aiding him in setting up a new life, the government wants to deport this sex predator.
The only thing is, what will keep him from returning to the country for a fourth time?
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December 05, 2005
Imagine my anger when I came across this bit of information in a Houston Chronicle article on the difficulties faced by illegal immigrants who are in this country in violation of our laws. Look at the medical benefits they get!
For herself, Francisco, Ivonne and Gabriela, the family relies on the Harris County Hospital District's Gold Card for medical needs.For every office visit they pay $5 and every emergency room visit $25.
It takes them awhile to get an appointment, but they are nevertheless grateful to at least have that.
It costs my wife and I $25 to see our general practitioner, and $45 to see a specialist. It costs us 30% of the ER charges if there is an emergency. And I have to wait for appointments, too. I'm willing to suspect that they pay less for prescriptions than we do, too.
Now tell me, is there somethign wrong with me for being outraged by the fact that a family of border-jumping immigration criminals has better and cheaper health care than I do -- especially since I pay for both mine and theirs?
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November 22, 2005
A marijuana-laden dump truck got stuck in the Rio Grande between Texas and Mexico until men who looked like Mexican troops yanked the truck into Mexico, according to authorities.Hudspeth County Chief Deputy Mike Doyal told the El Paso Times: "Everyone had the presence of mind not to cause an international incident or start shooting."
Excuse me?
Mexican troops?
Thursday evening, Border Patrol agents tried to stop the dump truck on Interstate 10, sheriff's officials said. The truck fled to Mexico in the Neely's Crossing area.
The truck got stuck in the riverbed, and the driver took off running. Doyal said the driver returned with armed men, including men who arrived in official-looking vehicles with overhead lights and what appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform and with military-style rifles.
Helping the drug smugglers avoid detention by rescuing them from American terrirory?
The standoff ended when the "soldiers" used a bulldozer to pull the dump truck into Mexico, sheriff's department officials said.
This damned well should have turned into a shooting incident! There should have been a whole mess of dead Mexicans "soldiers" when they did not stand down and permit the apprehensions of criminals on American soil. Wanna bet that we would likely see a serious decrease in border incidents involving mexican military and law enforcement personnel?
When, oh when, are we going to simply point our troops south and stop the violations of American sovereignty and security that come from Mexico every day?
HAT TIP: Blognomicon and The War On Guns.
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November 10, 2005
Garcia Hayden's parents think Austin police knew Diaz was a Mexican citizen living in the country illegally and should have called immigration authorities."What happened (to Jenny) happened because he was illegally in the country and was not deported," Garcia said.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Austin, names Police Chief Stan Knee and Assistant Chief Rudy Landeros as defendants.
It claims the city and police department have illegal policies that restrict employees from communicating with federal authorities about the immigration status of people in Austin.
The suit seeks a court order to prevent such restrictions by the city.
The city's lawyer, Anne Morgan, said Austin doesn't have a policy to prohibit employees from calling immigration officials.The City Council has approved a resolution labeling Austin a "safety zone" where all people "are treated equally, with respect and dignity regardless of immigration status," Morgan added.
Given this is Austin, it is likely that the order was given that officers not report border-jumpers and over-stayers encountered during the course of ordinary police work. As a result, a girl is dead.
It is time for the courts to give the order that all immigration criminals be reported to immigration authorities by police.
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October 19, 2005
But the delay is now somewhere around five years, because immigration authorities have not yet complete the Byzantine process of writing regulations and creating paperwork.
A group of illegal immigrants who were victims of violent crimes sued the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, demanding that immigration authorities issue them visas for cooperating with law enforcement.Under a law passed in 2000, illegal immigrants are eligible for visas if they help law enforcement agencies in the investigation or prosecution of some crimes, including rape, domestic violence, murder and human trafficking. The visas would enable them to work and live in the United States without fear of deportation — and to apply for permanent residency after three years.
"It is outrageous and unconscionable that five years after the Crime Victims Act was passed by Congress, the government has not even issued an application form for crime victims to apply for visas," Peter Schey, the lead attorney for the nine immigrants in the suit, said at a news conference. "As a result, thousands of violent crimes continue to go unreported because immigrants are reluctant to cooperate with police, fearing they will be deported."
The suit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, and the plaintiffs are from California, Texas and Arizona. Their attorneys are from three Southern California organizations that provide services to immigrants.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acknowledged Tuesday that none of the special "U visas" for crime victims have been issued anywhere in the country because the department was hammering out the procedures. Spokesman Bill Strassberger said he did not know when the agency would finish writing the regulations but stressed that it was "not on the back burner" and that they needed to be "thorough, concise and clear."
"It's unfortunate that it's been a long time," Strassberger said. The potential visa "is a good law enforcement tool. But before we get the regulations out, they need to be properly written."
No. You know what the intent of Congress. Act upon it. Now.
And in the mean time, normalize the status of those cooperating aliens who have documented their assistance to law enforcement and who have no crimes outside of their immigration related violations.
ItÂ’s the right thing to do.
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October 05, 2005
Hutchison, R-Texas, planned to propose legislation Wednesday that would allow local officials to arrest and detain illegal immigrants for immigration violations. She also planned to propose a Border Patrol marshals program that allows states to license police officers, marshals and FBI agents who want to volunteer to patrol the border.Using local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws has been a divisive issue among police and other law enforcement officers. Some want the authority to enforce immigration laws, but others say they don't have the resources to do so and that doing so hurts their ability to investigate other crimes involving the immigrant community or that may have been witnessed by immigrants.
It is about time someone has taken action to try to get immigration criminals arrested, deorted and securely place on the right side of the border.
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September 16, 2005
How can an illegal alien be arrested again and again, yet sent home only once? Maybe because it’s official L.A.P.D. policy that officers can’t ask about a suspect’s citizenship. “Special Order 40, enacted in 1979, bars police from enforcing federal immigration laws,” is how the ACLU put it in a 2001 news release. And, it noted, “the Police Commission’s own Independent Review Panel noted how critical the Order is to ensure public safety.” Tell that to Michael Sprinkles.The ACLU claims that Special Order 40 is “essential.” But a better word for it would be “illegal.” The state’s penal code reads, “Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.” Not much ambiguity there.
Special Order 40 is useful, though. It explains why the United States is facing an illegal immigration crisis: We donÂ’t take illegal immigration seriously.
So because Los Angeles police wonÂ’t follow state law and help enforce federal law, a good man died.
Nice going, Los Angeles – here is hoping that Sprinkle’s family ends up owning your city by the time litigation is finished, and that several city officials end up in jail. After all, city officials acted illegally in order to aid a known criminal, resulting in Sprinkle’s death. That is more than mere negligence.
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September 14, 2005
Today the Houston Chronicle weighs in, taking a thouroughly predictable position.
On any given day, dozens of would-be laborers mill about Washington and Shepherd streets. Residents, many of them Latino, complained that the men were disrupting traffic by wading into the street whenever potential employers passed. So the local HPD unit devised a plan: Masquerading as contractors, officers hired dozens of day laborers from the street, then promptly arrested them. The ruse didn't yield the burglar; it did lead to 30 charges of solicitation by pedestrians — a Class C misdemeanor. Days later, most of the men were back on the streets.Neighborhood residents were delighted, but the police sweep smacked of entrapment. It also sent the wrong message to Houston's immigrants, compromising public safety. Police, the arrests implied, were the enemy of people just trying to get work.
Actually, the arrests implied that if you break the law you are subject to arrest. In all honestly, the bulk of those cited should have been turned over to federal officials for deportation. -- but they weren't. Some laws, you see go unenforced by the Houston Police.
My question to the Chronicle and its supporters is a simple one -- When will you accept that these people are in violation of our nation's laws, and that they should be treated accordingly?
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September 08, 2005
An undercover police tactic that led to the arrests of at least 30 day laborers brought protests Wednesday as immigrant rights activists demanded an investigation.But the unusual operation brought praise from residents of the neighborhood around Shepherd and Washington, who called it a much-needed crime-fighting measure.
The undercover officers posed as paint contractors last week, luring day laborers into their trucks and arresting them, police said.
Thirty were charged with soliciting work in the roadway, a misdemeanor, and two of those 30 also were charged with drug possession, said Houston police spokesman Lt. Robert Manzo.
Manzo said a police tactical unit set up the operation partly to search for a burglar known to be in the area and partly in response to frequent complaints of crime and trespassing.
He added that the effort does not reflect a change in policy at his department, which traditionally does not enforce immigration laws.
Of course, the activists are outraged – and the law-breaking immigration criminals are scared.
An undercover police tactic that led to the arrests of at least 30 day laborers brought protests Wednesday as immigrant rights activists demanded an investigation.But the unusual operation brought praise from residents of the neighborhood around Shepherd and Washington, who called it a much-needed crime-fighting measure.
The undercover officers posed as paint contractors last week, luring day laborers into their trucks and arresting them, police said.
Thirty were charged with soliciting work in the roadway, a misdemeanor, and two of those 30 also were charged with drug possession, said Houston police spokesman Lt. Robert Manzo.
Manzo said a police tactical unit set up the operation partly to search for a burglar known to be in the area and partly in response to frequent complaints of crime and trespassing.
He added that the effort does not reflect a change in policy at his department, which traditionally does not enforce immigration laws.
There would not, of course, be any need for the Minutemen if law enforcement (on all levels) were doing its job. But even if they were working with the Minutemen, what would be the problem? After all, this is about seeing that the laws of the United States, Texas, and Houston are followed.
Local residents are ecstatic.
Lisa Flores, who lives nearby, said she was "ecstatic" that police mounted the operation.Flores said two men broke into her house in November and threatened her husband with knives, also threatening to kill the baby sitter and Flores' 6-month-old baby. Flores said she thinks one of the burglars, whom the baby sitter saw in the area recently, gathers with day laborers in the neighborhood
* * *
. HPD has received many complaints about day laborers, however, particularly around Shepherd and Washington. A community meeting in July drew more than 70 residents.
Officers at the meeting talked about one elderly woman who said she had a $500 water bill in one month because of day laborers drinking from her outdoor faucet and using it to wash themselves.
There also were complaints of drug use, prostitution and burglaries associated with the day laborers.
"It's a free-for-all in our neighborhood," Flores said. "As much as people want to make it a race issue, it's not. It's a safety issue."
So to all the activists – shut up, and start doing something for the US citizens impacted by these people.
And to the illegals – GO HOME!
Good job, HPD – keep it up.
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September 07, 2005
Boillat told swissinfo that some immigrants remained on the margins of society because of poor language skills, lack of work or involvement in the local community."Lack of integration creates divisions between immigrants and the rest of society which can translate into tensions," he said.
Let’s implement this here – so that American citizens do not have to learn a language other than English in order to live and work in the United States.
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