Border and limits
- Thread starter Southpaw
- Start date
write a tirade to someone here and lace it with the N-word about 5 times and see what happensglueguy said:
i was cool with bp until he started his liberal use of the n-word then i began to abuse him- he actually has been writing me pms talking about how I was lying about him using it until i posted pictures of it then he told me he was being a man and defending his honor or some shit
let him go to a mexican board and run down racial epithets
edit***** my bad the above was bean pride talking about Que's relatives being raped by white men- in another thread he related a story of me being a panamanian bastard that was laced with the n-word
Last edited:
What Was Behind the Big Raid
What Was Behind the Big Raid
An informant triggered the nationwide sweep. Investigators say a plant in New York flaunted the law and mistreated its illegal workers.
By Nicole Gaouette
Times Staff Writer
April 22, 2006
WASHINGTON — When Peter Smith, a senior immigration enforcement agent in upstate New York, led the raid on a cavernous IFCO Systems wood products plant just outside of Albany this week, he was taken aback by what he saw.
"There was a lot of drilling, cutting, dismantling of old pallets, pneumatic nail guns, power saws. Most of these guys were working in jeans, tennis shoes, short-sleeve shirts; some had sawdust in their hair," he said. "No legal facility would let workers work in those conditions."
Wednesday's raid at the plant in Guilderland was one of about 40 at IFCO facilities in 26 states. The operation offered a look into the shadowy world of businesses that the government says do more than turn a blind eye to hiring illegal immigrants: They make such workers part of the basic business plan.
In IFCO's case, the government says, managers systematically recruited illegal immigrants — helping them procure false identification, assisting with transportation beyond the border, even coaching them on how to avoid trouble with the police. Then, the workers allegedly were given jobs in substandard conditions.
Officials at IFCO's Houston headquarters did not respond to calls for comment, but in a news release Friday the company said it was cooperating with authorities and had begun an internal investigation.
"We are now working to understand the facts and implement any additional changes necessary to further improve current procedures," the statement said.
Smith said he had never seen illegal hiring on such a large scale. About 1,200 workers were arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, and seven IFCO managers were charged with immigration-related crimes. The raids set a record for federal workplace-enforcement arrests in a single day.
Tina Sciocchetti, assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, whose office is overseeing the case because the investigation began in New York, called the numbers "eye-popping." As many as 53% of IFCO's 3,500 workers nationwide were using invalid Social Security numbers, she said.
At most sizable companies, Sciocchetti said, fewer than 1% of workers would have irregularities in their Social Security numbers.
In announcing the arrests Thursday, Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. attorney for the district, said that "being able to hire that cheap labor" gave a company a competitive advantage. Whereas workers in similar plants make $9 to $14 an hour, according to industry reports, IFCO employees in Houston were reportedly making about $6.50 an hour. And immigration authorities said a former IFCO bookkeeper had told them "Mexican workers" were underpaid for overtime.
Last year, IFCO Systems North America generated revenue of $576 million, according to the company, which is part of a Dutch conglomerate.
Drawing on testimony from a former employee and undocumented IFCO workers taken into custody in 2005, as well as the assistance of a confidential undercover informant, federal investigators put together a picture of how IFCO managers allegedly bent, broke and ignored the rules.
It was the company's seemingly unabashed use of illegal workers that first caught federal officials' attention, they said — specifically at the Guilderland plant.
The plant, which opened in 2004, specializes in pallet retrieval and recycling, and has listed Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. as among its customers.
The investigation began with an insider's tip: IFCO workers at the Guilderland plant were seen tearing up their W-2 tax forms, and a company manager explained that they were illegal immigrants and would not be paying taxes.
A day later, immigration officials got a tip that IFCO managers were arranging for illegal immigrants to be transported from Texas to the New York plant.
That triggered a full-scale investigation. One result was the filing of criminal charges against seven IFCO managers including Robert Belvin, James Rice and Dario Salzano of the Guilderland facility; Abelino Chicas, an assistant general manager in Houston; and Michael Ames, a general manager at a Boston-area plant. The company says it has placed the managers on temporary leave.
The managers are charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal immigrants and to encourage and induce them to stay in the U.S. for commercial advantage, a charge that carries a 10-year sentence.
Belvin and Salzano did not respond to requests for comment. Chicas, Rice and Ames could not be located for comment, and calls to their respective plants were not returned.
According to court documents, a former employee told immigration officials that IFCO commonly hired workers without Social Security cards, that IFCO seemed to do so nationwide, and that an assistant general manager had told the employee to minimize tax withholding from the workers' paychecks because they would not be filing taxes.
Once investigators planted an informant inside the New York facility, Sciocchetti said, they learned that Belvin and other managers seemed to spend time on helping employees work around their illegal status and on moving illegal workers from plant to plant.
The informant had helped authorities with a previous case, against smugglers of immigrants in Texas, according to court documents, which said he had no criminal record or charges pending and was paid for his informant work by officials.
Under the surveillance of immigration officials, the informant applied for a job with Belvin on April 6, 2005, saying he had no papers but would buy them over the weekend in New York. Agents reportedly recorded Belvin telling the informant he could start working and asked him to bring in papers the following Monday.
An affidavit filed with a federal court in New York details much of what the informant said he learned over the following months as he became a helper and translator for Belvin, Rice and other managers:
The informant listened as managers told workers they would be fired under their current name and rehired under a different one. He watched as the managers arranged the transportation of illegal workers among the plants. He consulted managers about his own fake ID, which bore someone else's photo, as agents recorded the conversation.
When Rice photocopied the informant's fake green card "to see what it looks like," he said, "It looks like you to me."
The informant sat in as managers from other plants discussed how to recruit workers by placing ads in Spanish-language newspapers; how to calm workers' nerves about immigration enforcement; and how Chicas, the Houston manager, often sent illegal workers to New York.
And the informant translated, the affidavit says, as Belvin gave employees tips on how to avoid arrest, such as not carrying their false papers in public.
In October 2005, the informant said, he was asked to help Ames recruit workers for a new Boston-area plant. They went to a bakery where Brazilian immigrants were known to gather.
The potential workers "have no documents, no papers, no permission to work in the United States," the informant was quoted as telling Ames.
Ames allegedly responded: "But you know how to work the deal…. I don't want it to end up where they can't be paid, because of identity, ID, you know what I'm saying."
According to government documents, the managers often asked the informant to help secure fake identification papers for illegal workers.
Though federal authorities have raided workplaces in the past, administration and immigration officials said, the IFCO crackdown marks the beginning of a new period of tougher work-site enforcement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig22apr22,0,1052363.story
What Was Behind the Big Raid
An informant triggered the nationwide sweep. Investigators say a plant in New York flaunted the law and mistreated its illegal workers.
By Nicole Gaouette
Times Staff Writer
April 22, 2006
WASHINGTON — When Peter Smith, a senior immigration enforcement agent in upstate New York, led the raid on a cavernous IFCO Systems wood products plant just outside of Albany this week, he was taken aback by what he saw.
"There was a lot of drilling, cutting, dismantling of old pallets, pneumatic nail guns, power saws. Most of these guys were working in jeans, tennis shoes, short-sleeve shirts; some had sawdust in their hair," he said. "No legal facility would let workers work in those conditions."
Wednesday's raid at the plant in Guilderland was one of about 40 at IFCO facilities in 26 states. The operation offered a look into the shadowy world of businesses that the government says do more than turn a blind eye to hiring illegal immigrants: They make such workers part of the basic business plan.
In IFCO's case, the government says, managers systematically recruited illegal immigrants — helping them procure false identification, assisting with transportation beyond the border, even coaching them on how to avoid trouble with the police. Then, the workers allegedly were given jobs in substandard conditions.
Officials at IFCO's Houston headquarters did not respond to calls for comment, but in a news release Friday the company said it was cooperating with authorities and had begun an internal investigation.
"We are now working to understand the facts and implement any additional changes necessary to further improve current procedures," the statement said.
Smith said he had never seen illegal hiring on such a large scale. About 1,200 workers were arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, and seven IFCO managers were charged with immigration-related crimes. The raids set a record for federal workplace-enforcement arrests in a single day.
Tina Sciocchetti, assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, whose office is overseeing the case because the investigation began in New York, called the numbers "eye-popping." As many as 53% of IFCO's 3,500 workers nationwide were using invalid Social Security numbers, she said.
At most sizable companies, Sciocchetti said, fewer than 1% of workers would have irregularities in their Social Security numbers.
In announcing the arrests Thursday, Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. attorney for the district, said that "being able to hire that cheap labor" gave a company a competitive advantage. Whereas workers in similar plants make $9 to $14 an hour, according to industry reports, IFCO employees in Houston were reportedly making about $6.50 an hour. And immigration authorities said a former IFCO bookkeeper had told them "Mexican workers" were underpaid for overtime.
Last year, IFCO Systems North America generated revenue of $576 million, according to the company, which is part of a Dutch conglomerate.
Drawing on testimony from a former employee and undocumented IFCO workers taken into custody in 2005, as well as the assistance of a confidential undercover informant, federal investigators put together a picture of how IFCO managers allegedly bent, broke and ignored the rules.
It was the company's seemingly unabashed use of illegal workers that first caught federal officials' attention, they said — specifically at the Guilderland plant.
The plant, which opened in 2004, specializes in pallet retrieval and recycling, and has listed Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. as among its customers.
The investigation began with an insider's tip: IFCO workers at the Guilderland plant were seen tearing up their W-2 tax forms, and a company manager explained that they were illegal immigrants and would not be paying taxes.
A day later, immigration officials got a tip that IFCO managers were arranging for illegal immigrants to be transported from Texas to the New York plant.
That triggered a full-scale investigation. One result was the filing of criminal charges against seven IFCO managers including Robert Belvin, James Rice and Dario Salzano of the Guilderland facility; Abelino Chicas, an assistant general manager in Houston; and Michael Ames, a general manager at a Boston-area plant. The company says it has placed the managers on temporary leave.
The managers are charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal immigrants and to encourage and induce them to stay in the U.S. for commercial advantage, a charge that carries a 10-year sentence.
Belvin and Salzano did not respond to requests for comment. Chicas, Rice and Ames could not be located for comment, and calls to their respective plants were not returned.
According to court documents, a former employee told immigration officials that IFCO commonly hired workers without Social Security cards, that IFCO seemed to do so nationwide, and that an assistant general manager had told the employee to minimize tax withholding from the workers' paychecks because they would not be filing taxes.
Once investigators planted an informant inside the New York facility, Sciocchetti said, they learned that Belvin and other managers seemed to spend time on helping employees work around their illegal status and on moving illegal workers from plant to plant.
The informant had helped authorities with a previous case, against smugglers of immigrants in Texas, according to court documents, which said he had no criminal record or charges pending and was paid for his informant work by officials.
Under the surveillance of immigration officials, the informant applied for a job with Belvin on April 6, 2005, saying he had no papers but would buy them over the weekend in New York. Agents reportedly recorded Belvin telling the informant he could start working and asked him to bring in papers the following Monday.
An affidavit filed with a federal court in New York details much of what the informant said he learned over the following months as he became a helper and translator for Belvin, Rice and other managers:
The informant listened as managers told workers they would be fired under their current name and rehired under a different one. He watched as the managers arranged the transportation of illegal workers among the plants. He consulted managers about his own fake ID, which bore someone else's photo, as agents recorded the conversation.
When Rice photocopied the informant's fake green card "to see what it looks like," he said, "It looks like you to me."
The informant sat in as managers from other plants discussed how to recruit workers by placing ads in Spanish-language newspapers; how to calm workers' nerves about immigration enforcement; and how Chicas, the Houston manager, often sent illegal workers to New York.
And the informant translated, the affidavit says, as Belvin gave employees tips on how to avoid arrest, such as not carrying their false papers in public.
In October 2005, the informant said, he was asked to help Ames recruit workers for a new Boston-area plant. They went to a bakery where Brazilian immigrants were known to gather.
The potential workers "have no documents, no papers, no permission to work in the United States," the informant was quoted as telling Ames.
Ames allegedly responded: "But you know how to work the deal…. I don't want it to end up where they can't be paid, because of identity, ID, you know what I'm saying."
According to government documents, the managers often asked the informant to help secure fake identification papers for illegal workers.
Though federal authorities have raided workplaces in the past, administration and immigration officials said, the IFCO crackdown marks the beginning of a new period of tougher work-site enforcement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig22apr22,0,1052363.story
Re: What Was Behind the Big Raid
Many Russian and Eastern European immigrants can't get visas to come to the US. So they go to Argentina and other spots in South America and get fake South American documents and then get visas to come here. When they arrive they link up with mafia people who get them jobs and they go out and buy automobiles from the same dealerships. Johnson and Johnson in NJ uses these illegal aliens. These people also engage in drug dealing and prostitution . The Russian Mafia has that shit on lock in the Tri-State area.
Many Russian and Eastern European immigrants can't get visas to come to the US. So they go to Argentina and other spots in South America and get fake South American documents and then get visas to come here. When they arrive they link up with mafia people who get them jobs and they go out and buy automobiles from the same dealerships. Johnson and Johnson in NJ uses these illegal aliens. These people also engage in drug dealing and prostitution . The Russian Mafia has that shit on lock in the Tri-State area.
Excerpts from American Genocide
by
David Stannard
by
David Stannard
Before Columbus
Combined, North America and South America cover an area of 16,000,000 square miles, more than a quarter of the land surface of the globe. To its first human inhabitants, tens of thousands of years ago, this enormous domain they had discovered was literally a world unto itself: a world of miles-high mountains and vast fertile prairies, of desert shrublands and dense tropical rain forests, of frigid arctic tundra and hot murky swamps, of deep and fecund river valleys, of sparkling water lakes, of canopied woodlands, of savannahs and steppes-and thousands upon thousands of miles of magnificent ocean coast. There were places where it almost never rained, and places where it virtually never stopped; there were places where the temperature reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and places where it dropped to 80 degrees below zero. But in all these places, under all these conditions, eventually some native people made their homes.
By the time ancient Greece was falling under the control of Rome, in North America the Adena Culture already had been flourishing for a thousand years. As many as 500 Adena living sites have been uncovered by modern archaeologists. Centered in present-day Ohio, they radiate out as far as Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. We will never know how many hundreds more such sites are buried beneath the modern cities and suburbs of the northeastern United States, but we do know that these early sedentary peoples lived in towns with houses that were circular in design and that ranged from single-family dwellings as small as twenty feet in diameter to multi-family units up to eighty feet across. These residences commonly were built in close proximity to large public enclosures of 300 feet and more in diameter that modern archaeologists have come to refer to as "sacred circles" because of their presumed use for religious ceremonial purposes. The buildings they constructed for the living, however, were minuscule compared with the receptacles they built for their dead: massive tombs, such as that at Grave Creek in West Virginia, that spread out hundreds of feet across and reached seven stories in height-and that were commonplace structures throughout Adena territory as early as 500 B.C..
In addition to the subsistence support of hunting and fishing, and gathering the natural fruit and vegetable bounty growing all around them, the ancient Adena people imported gourds and squash from Mexico and cultivated them along with early strains of maize, tubers, sunflowers, and other plant domesticates. Another import from the south-from South America-was tobacco, which they smoked through pipes in rituals of celebration and remembrance. From neighboring residents of the area that we now know as the Carolinas they imported sheets of mica, while from Lake Superior and beyond to the north they acquired copper, which they hammered and cut and worked into bracelets and rings and other bodily adornments.
Overlapping chronologically with the Adena was the Hopewell Culture that grew in time to cover an area stretching in one direction from the northern Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, in the other direction from Kansas to New York. The Hopewell people, who as a group were physiologically as well culturally distinguishable from the Adena, lived in permanent communities based on intensive horticulture, communities marked by enormous earthen monuments, similar to those of the Adena, that the citizenry built as religious shrines and to house the remains of their dead. Literally tens of thousands of these towering earthen mounds once covered the American landscape from the Great Plains to the eastern woodlands, many of them precise, geometrically shaped, massive structures of a thousand feet in diameter and several stories high; others-such as the famous quarter-mile long coiled snake at Serpent Mound, Ohio-were imaginatively designed symbolic temples.
No society that had not achieved a large population and an exceptionally high level of political and social refinement, as well as a sophisticated control of resources, could possibly have had the time or inclination or talent to design and construct such edifices. In addition, the Hopewell people had trade networks extending to Florida in one direction and Wyoming and North Dakota in the other, through which they acquired from different nations of indigenous peoples the copper, gold, silver, crystal, quartz, shell, bone, obsidian, pearl, and other raw materials that their artisans worked into elaborately embossed and decorative metal foil, carved jewelry, earrings, pendants, charms, breastplates, and other objets d'art, as well as axes, adzes, awls, and more. Indeed, so extensive were the Hopewell trading relationships with other societies throughout the continent that archaeologists have recovered from the centers of Hopewell culture in Ohio more materials originating from outside than from within the region.
To the west of the Hopewell there emerged in time the innumerable villages of the seemingly endless plains-large, usually permanent communities of substantial, multi-family homes and common buildings, the villages themselves often fortified with stockades and dry, surrounding moats. These were the progenitors of the people-the Mandan, the Cree, the Blood, the Blackfoot, the Crow, the Piegan, the Hidatsa, the Arikara, the Cheyenne, the Omaha, the Pawnee, the Arapaho, the Kansa, the Iowa, the Osage, the Kiowa, the Wichita, the Commanche, the Plains Cree, various separate nations of Sioux, and others, including the Ute and Shoshoni to the west-who became the classic nomads on horseback that often serve as the popular American model for all Indian societies. But even they did not resort to that pattern of life until they were driven to it by invading armies of displaced Europeans.
***
p49
Arawak is the general, post-Columbian name given to various peoples who made a long, slow series of migrations from the coast of Venezuela to Trinidad, then across open ocean perhaps first to Tobago, then Grenada, and on up the chain of islands that constitute the Antilles-St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Anguilla, St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba-then finally off to the Bahamas, leaving behind at each stop populations that grew and flourished and evolved culturally in their own distinctive ways. To use a comparison once made by Irving Rouse, the people of these islands who came to be known as Arawaks are analogous to those, in another part of the world, who came to be known as English: "The present inhabitants of southern Great Britain call themselves 'English,' and recognize that their ethnic group, the English people, is the product of a series of migrations from the continent of Europe into the British Isles, beginning with various prehistoric peoples and continuing with the Celts, Angles, Saxons, Vikings, and Normans of protohistoric time."
Similarly, Arawak (sometimes "Taino," but that is a misnomer, as it properly applies only to a particular social and cultural group) is the name now given to the melange of peoples who, over the course of many centuries, carried out those migrations across the Caribbean, probably terminating with the Saladoid people sometime around two thousand years ago. By the time of their encounter with Columbus and his crews, the islands had come to be governed by chiefs or caciques (there were at least five paramount chiefdoms on Hispaniola alone, and others throughout the region) and the people lived in numerous densely populated villages both ,' inland and along all the coasts. The houses in most of these villages were similar to those described by the Spanish priest Bartolome de Las Casas:
The inhabitants of this island . . . and elsewhere built their houses of wood and thatch in the form of a bell. These were very high and roomy so that in each there might be ten or more households.... On the inside designs and symbols and patterns like paintings were fashioned by using wood and bark that had been dyed black along with other wood peeled so as to stay white, thus appearing as though made of some other attractive painted stuff. Others they adorned with very white stripped reeds that are a kind of thin and delicate cane. Of these they made graceful figures and designs that gave the interior of the houses the appearance of having been painted. On the outside the houses were covered with a fine and sweet-smelling grass.
These large buildings conventionally were arranged to face the great house that was inhabited by the local cacique, and all of them in turn faced an open field or court where dances and ball games and other festivities and ceremonies were held. In larger communities, several such fields were placed at strategic locations among the residential compounds.
The people of these climate-blessed islands supported themselves with a highly developed level of agriculture-especially on Cuba and Hispaniola, which are among the largest islands on earth; Cuba, after all, is larger than South Korea (which today contains more than 42,000,000 people) and Hispaniola is nearly twice the size of Switzerland. In the infrequent areas where agricultural engineering was necessary, the people of the Indies created irrigation systems that were equal in sophistication to those existing in sixteenth-century Spain. Their staple food was cassava bread, made from the manioc plant yuca, which they cultivated in great abundance. But also, through so many long generations in the same benign tropical environment, the Arawaks had devised an array of unique methods for more than satisfying their subsistence needs-such as the following technique which they used to catch green sea turtles weighing hundreds of pounds, large fish, and other marine life, including manatees:
Noting that the remora or suckerfish, Echeneis naucrates, attached itself to the body of a shark or other larger fish by means of a suction disc in its head, the Arawaks caught, fed, and tamed the remora, training it to tolerate a light cord fastened to its tail and gill frame. When a turtle was sighted the remora was released. Immediately it swam to the turtle, attaching its suction disc to the under side of the carapace. The canoe followed the turtle, the Arawak angler holding a firm line on the remora which, in turn, held tightly to its quarry until the turtle could be gaffed or tied to the canoe.
In addition to this technique, smaller fish were harvested by the use of plant derivatives that stupefied them, allowing the natives simply to scoop up large numbers as though gathering plants in a field. Water birds were taken by floating on the water's surface large calabashes which concealed swimmers who would seize individual birds, one at a time, without disturbing the larger flock. And large aquaculture ponds were created and walled in to maintain and actually cultivate enormous stocks of fish and turtles for human consumption. A single one of these numerous reed marine corrals held as many as 1000 large sea turtles. This yielded a quantity of meat equal to that of 100 head of cattle, and a supply that was rapidly replenished: a fertile female turtle would lay about 500 eggs each season. Still, the Arawaks were careful not to disturb the natural balance of these and other creatures; the evidence for this is that for millennia they sustained in perpetuity their long-term supply of such natural foodstuffs. It was only after the coming of the Spanish-and, in particular, their release of dogs and pigs that turned feral and ran wild-that the wildlife ecology of the islands found itself in serious trouble.
In sum, as Caribbean expert Carl Sauer once put it, "the tropical idyll of the accounts of Columbus and Peter Martyr was largely true" regarding the Arawak. "The people suffered no want. They took care of their plantings, were dextrous at fishing and were bold canoeists and swimmers. They designed attractive houses and kept them clean. They found aesthetic expression in woodworking. They had leisure to enjoy diversion in ball games, dances, and music. They lived in peace and amity."
***
p54
AII that was to change, however, with shocking and deadly suddenness, once those first three Spanish ships bobbed into view on the rim of the Caribbean horizon. For it was then only a matter of months before there would begin the worst series of human disease disasters, combined with the most extensive and most violent programs of human eradication, this world has ever seen.
Mexico accused of abusing its illegals
Mexico accused of abusing its illegals
By Jerry Seper
Published March 24, 2005
The State Department says that the Mexican government, angry that a thousand American volunteers will begin an Arizona border vigil next month, consistently violates the rights of illegal immigrants crossing its southern border into Mexico.
Many of the illegals in Mexico, who emigrate from Central and South America, complain of "double dangers" of extortion by Mexican authorities and robbery and killings by organized gangs.
The State Department's Human Rights Practices report, released only last month, cites abuses at all levels of the Mexican government, and charges that Mexican police and immigration officials not only violate the rights of illegal immigrants, but traffic in illegal aliens.
Although Mexico demands that its citizens' rights be protected when they illegally enter the United States, immigrants who cross illegally into Mexico "are often ripped off six ways until sundown," says George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mary and a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
Mr. Grayson, who wrote a report for the center on Mexico's abuses of aliens, says "very little" is being done by Mexico to protect the welfare of the Central Americans and the others who cross into Mexico.
Mexican President Vicente Fox said last week that his government will sue in U.S. or international courts if the volunteers -- part of the Minuteman Project, which is designed to protest the Bush administration's lax immigration policies -- break the law.
"We totally reject the idea of these migrant-hunting groups," Mr. Fox said prior to yesterday's Baylor University summit in Waco, Texas, with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, at which the countries agreed to improve security and unify business practices.
"We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups ... will not have any opportunity to progress," Mr. Fox said last week.
In response, Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, urged Mr. Fox to respect America's right to defend its borders and "demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border."
Mr. Kyl said Mr. Fox's "pre-emptive threats" to file lawsuits on behalf of those crossing the border unlawfully "is hardly helpful, since it presumes that illegal aliens have more of a right to break American law than American citizens have to peacefully assist authorities in enforcing it."
Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, says Mexico had "raised the bar on chutzpah" by criticizing efforts by the Minuteman volunteers to protest immigration enforcement by the U.S. government.
"Since when are 'Neighborhood Watch' citizens 'vigilantes'?" Mr. Tancredo asked. "President Fox thinks we should tear down the fence that keeps illegal aliens out? Then why doesn't he put up a welcome sign on his southern border with Guatemala instead of using his military to keep poor Guatemalans out? Such hypocrisy about borders defies historic parallel."
In a press conference yesterday in Waco, President Bush described the Arizona volunteers as "vigilantes."
Alfonso Nieto, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said the presence of "vigilantes" on the border "will only exacerbate a climate of unease and provide sources of confrontation that will not contribute to solving the flow of economic migrants demanded by the U.S. government."
Mr. Nieto would not comment on suspected immigrant abuses in his own country, but Mexican government officials earlier said Mr. Fox created a national program on human rights to address problems.
James Gilchrist, one of the Minutemen organizers, who expects to send 30 private planes aloft to patrol the border, said the volunteers will not confront the aliens, but report them to the Border Patrol. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona said it will post legal observers to monitor the Minutemen.
Mr. Grayson says most of Mexico's abuses occur along its 600-mile border with Guatemala, and that three groups -- criminals, local police and immigration agents -- account for most of the mistreatment. He said Mexico's efforts to promote professionalization among its own border officials "thus far have achieved limited success."
About 200,000 immigrants were detained last year on Mexico's southern border, most of them from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Most of them were trying to reach the United States.
Mr. Bush, to criticism by both Democrats and Republicans, proposes to hire 210 new Border Patrol agents instead of the 2,000 set out in the intelligence-overhaul bill that he signed in December. The Senate voted last week to provide additional funding for the 2,000 agents in next year's budget, signaling a willingness to challenge Mr. Bush on immigration security.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050324-121935-8473r.htm
Mexico accused of abusing its illegals
By Jerry Seper
Published March 24, 2005
The State Department says that the Mexican government, angry that a thousand American volunteers will begin an Arizona border vigil next month, consistently violates the rights of illegal immigrants crossing its southern border into Mexico.
Many of the illegals in Mexico, who emigrate from Central and South America, complain of "double dangers" of extortion by Mexican authorities and robbery and killings by organized gangs.
The State Department's Human Rights Practices report, released only last month, cites abuses at all levels of the Mexican government, and charges that Mexican police and immigration officials not only violate the rights of illegal immigrants, but traffic in illegal aliens.
Although Mexico demands that its citizens' rights be protected when they illegally enter the United States, immigrants who cross illegally into Mexico "are often ripped off six ways until sundown," says George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mary and a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
Mr. Grayson, who wrote a report for the center on Mexico's abuses of aliens, says "very little" is being done by Mexico to protect the welfare of the Central Americans and the others who cross into Mexico.
Mexican President Vicente Fox said last week that his government will sue in U.S. or international courts if the volunteers -- part of the Minuteman Project, which is designed to protest the Bush administration's lax immigration policies -- break the law.
"We totally reject the idea of these migrant-hunting groups," Mr. Fox said prior to yesterday's Baylor University summit in Waco, Texas, with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, at which the countries agreed to improve security and unify business practices.
"We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups ... will not have any opportunity to progress," Mr. Fox said last week.
In response, Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, urged Mr. Fox to respect America's right to defend its borders and "demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border."
Mr. Kyl said Mr. Fox's "pre-emptive threats" to file lawsuits on behalf of those crossing the border unlawfully "is hardly helpful, since it presumes that illegal aliens have more of a right to break American law than American citizens have to peacefully assist authorities in enforcing it."
Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, says Mexico had "raised the bar on chutzpah" by criticizing efforts by the Minuteman volunteers to protest immigration enforcement by the U.S. government.
"Since when are 'Neighborhood Watch' citizens 'vigilantes'?" Mr. Tancredo asked. "President Fox thinks we should tear down the fence that keeps illegal aliens out? Then why doesn't he put up a welcome sign on his southern border with Guatemala instead of using his military to keep poor Guatemalans out? Such hypocrisy about borders defies historic parallel."
In a press conference yesterday in Waco, President Bush described the Arizona volunteers as "vigilantes."
Alfonso Nieto, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said the presence of "vigilantes" on the border "will only exacerbate a climate of unease and provide sources of confrontation that will not contribute to solving the flow of economic migrants demanded by the U.S. government."
Mr. Nieto would not comment on suspected immigrant abuses in his own country, but Mexican government officials earlier said Mr. Fox created a national program on human rights to address problems.
James Gilchrist, one of the Minutemen organizers, who expects to send 30 private planes aloft to patrol the border, said the volunteers will not confront the aliens, but report them to the Border Patrol. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona said it will post legal observers to monitor the Minutemen.
Mr. Grayson says most of Mexico's abuses occur along its 600-mile border with Guatemala, and that three groups -- criminals, local police and immigration agents -- account for most of the mistreatment. He said Mexico's efforts to promote professionalization among its own border officials "thus far have achieved limited success."
About 200,000 immigrants were detained last year on Mexico's southern border, most of them from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Most of them were trying to reach the United States.
Mr. Bush, to criticism by both Democrats and Republicans, proposes to hire 210 new Border Patrol agents instead of the 2,000 set out in the intelligence-overhaul bill that he signed in December. The Senate voted last week to provide additional funding for the 2,000 agents in next year's budget, signaling a willingness to challenge Mr. Bush on immigration security.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050324-121935-8473r.htm
Re: Mexico accused of abusing its illegals
George W. Grayson article, "Mexico's Forgotten Southern Border: Does Mexico practice at home what it preaches abroad?
July 2002"
George W. Grayson article, "Mexico's Forgotten Southern Border: Does Mexico practice at home what it preaches abroad?
July 2002"
Black Activists Join To March With Minutemen
Black Activists Join To March With Minutemen
(CBS) LOS ANGELES Several black activists plan to join members of the Minutemen Project to protest illegal immigration, which organizer Ted Hayes touted as the "biggest threat to blacks in America since slavery."
The protest, organized by Hayes' Crispus Attucks Brigade and the American Black Citizens Opposed to Illegal Immigration Invasion, is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
Hayes, a homeless activist, alleged that most homeless people in Los Angeles are black and illegal immigration compounds the problem since blacks refuse to accept the "slave wages" that many illegal immigrants accept.
Many pro-immigration rallies were held in recent weeks; most of which, called for amnesty to the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Many Southland public officials, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, supported the protesters.
"While all Americans are suffering from this invasion, we blacks are suffering the most," Hayes said. "We feel like the leaders promoting this issue are being insensitive. This country wasn't built on the backs of immigrants like (Villaraigosa) says. It was built on the back of West African slaves."
Immigrant activist Nativo Lopez believes Hayes is out of step with most black leaders and that both blacks and Hispanics face the same problems.
"Unfortunately, (Hayes) thinks that way," Lopez said. "He has a right to express his opinion, but I don't agree with him. Many and most African American leaders think otherwise and we're appreciative of their support. I'm not interested in Latinos being pitted against African Americans," he said. "We are all in the same boat. We will pull ourselves up together."
The Minutemen Project formed by Jim Gilchrist, patrols the Mexican border. He may attend the protest along with other Minutemen Project members. Hayes said that Minutemen Project members have been unfairly portrayed as racist.
"I've been down to the border with them. They're not racist," Hayes said. "They don't care what color you are."
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_113105613.html
Black Activists Join To March With Minutemen
(CBS) LOS ANGELES Several black activists plan to join members of the Minutemen Project to protest illegal immigration, which organizer Ted Hayes touted as the "biggest threat to blacks in America since slavery."
The protest, organized by Hayes' Crispus Attucks Brigade and the American Black Citizens Opposed to Illegal Immigration Invasion, is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
Hayes, a homeless activist, alleged that most homeless people in Los Angeles are black and illegal immigration compounds the problem since blacks refuse to accept the "slave wages" that many illegal immigrants accept.
Many pro-immigration rallies were held in recent weeks; most of which, called for amnesty to the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Many Southland public officials, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, supported the protesters.
"While all Americans are suffering from this invasion, we blacks are suffering the most," Hayes said. "We feel like the leaders promoting this issue are being insensitive. This country wasn't built on the backs of immigrants like (Villaraigosa) says. It was built on the back of West African slaves."
Immigrant activist Nativo Lopez believes Hayes is out of step with most black leaders and that both blacks and Hispanics face the same problems.
"Unfortunately, (Hayes) thinks that way," Lopez said. "He has a right to express his opinion, but I don't agree with him. Many and most African American leaders think otherwise and we're appreciative of their support. I'm not interested in Latinos being pitted against African Americans," he said. "We are all in the same boat. We will pull ourselves up together."
The Minutemen Project formed by Jim Gilchrist, patrols the Mexican border. He may attend the protest along with other Minutemen Project members. Hayes said that Minutemen Project members have been unfairly portrayed as racist.
"I've been down to the border with them. They're not racist," Hayes said. "They don't care what color you are."
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_113105613.html
Minutemen to build border fence on private land
Minutemen to build border fence on private land
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times
Published April 21, 2006
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), which has placed hundreds of civilian volunteers on the Southwest border to stop illegal aliens from entering the country, announced plans yesterday to build a high-security fence on private land along the U.S.-Mexico border.
MCDC President Chris Simcox said six landowners and two construction companies have partnered with the organization to break ground and begin construction on a state-of-the-art security fence similar to one proposed last year by a Pennsylvania-based advocacy group.
Groundbreaking for the fence will be in Arizona on Memorial Day, Mr. Simcox said, unless President Bush deploys National Guard and Reserve troops "to immediately secure the out-of-control Southern border."
"The existing border crisis is a dereliction of duty by those entrusted with American security and sovereignty, leaving America vulnerable to terrorist infiltration and an unprecedented crime wave caused by drug smugglers, rapists, thieves, human traffickers and murderers who currently cross our border at will," he said.
Mr. Simcox said the Bush administration had taxed the wages of the American public "to pay for the protection of our country, and expended those dollars to subsidize millions of low-wage illegal workers with housing, education, medical care and welfare benefits."
Colin Hanna, president of WeNeedAFence.com, told The Washington Times in December a "secure continuous physical barrier" was absolutely essential for any comprehensive immigration legislation to succeed.
His organization's proposal calls for the construction of separate fences on both sides of the border, each 12 feet to 15 feet high and separated by a roadway to allow the passage of U.S. Border Patrol vehicles. Motion sensors would be buried in the road as part of the project, estimated to cost between $4 billion and $8 billion.
The structure would be 40 yards to 50 yards wide, with coiled barbed wire stacked eight feet high on each perimeter, and would include a ditch to prevent vehicles from approaching.
"Our proposal calls for 200 ports of entry, so that legitimate trade, commerce, tourism and commuting can take place without hindrance," Mr. Hanna said. "The fence is not intended to stop immigration, only to stop illegal immigration."
He said illegal entry is out of control, particularly across the Southern border, adding that some studies -- including a January 2005 report by Bear Stearns -- estimated that as many as 20 million illegal aliens live in the United States.
Nearly 700 miles of fence is proposed in a House-approved immigration reform bill, and about 200 miles of fence is proposed in a Senate bill, most of it in Arizona and well-traveled urban areas along the 1,951-mile U.S. Mexico border. The bills are now stalled. The government would have to purchase the land or declare eminent domain to build the fences.
Mr. Simcox said the two construction companies offered to inaugurate groundbreaking, coordinate volunteer construction crews and donate the use of heavy construction equipment. He said the fence will be built with privately donated funds, engineering and labor.
http://www.wpherald.com/print.php?StoryID=20060421-102029-5342r
Minutemen to build border fence on private land
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times
Published April 21, 2006
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), which has placed hundreds of civilian volunteers on the Southwest border to stop illegal aliens from entering the country, announced plans yesterday to build a high-security fence on private land along the U.S.-Mexico border.
MCDC President Chris Simcox said six landowners and two construction companies have partnered with the organization to break ground and begin construction on a state-of-the-art security fence similar to one proposed last year by a Pennsylvania-based advocacy group.
Groundbreaking for the fence will be in Arizona on Memorial Day, Mr. Simcox said, unless President Bush deploys National Guard and Reserve troops "to immediately secure the out-of-control Southern border."
"The existing border crisis is a dereliction of duty by those entrusted with American security and sovereignty, leaving America vulnerable to terrorist infiltration and an unprecedented crime wave caused by drug smugglers, rapists, thieves, human traffickers and murderers who currently cross our border at will," he said.
Mr. Simcox said the Bush administration had taxed the wages of the American public "to pay for the protection of our country, and expended those dollars to subsidize millions of low-wage illegal workers with housing, education, medical care and welfare benefits."
Colin Hanna, president of WeNeedAFence.com, told The Washington Times in December a "secure continuous physical barrier" was absolutely essential for any comprehensive immigration legislation to succeed.
His organization's proposal calls for the construction of separate fences on both sides of the border, each 12 feet to 15 feet high and separated by a roadway to allow the passage of U.S. Border Patrol vehicles. Motion sensors would be buried in the road as part of the project, estimated to cost between $4 billion and $8 billion.
The structure would be 40 yards to 50 yards wide, with coiled barbed wire stacked eight feet high on each perimeter, and would include a ditch to prevent vehicles from approaching.
"Our proposal calls for 200 ports of entry, so that legitimate trade, commerce, tourism and commuting can take place without hindrance," Mr. Hanna said. "The fence is not intended to stop immigration, only to stop illegal immigration."
He said illegal entry is out of control, particularly across the Southern border, adding that some studies -- including a January 2005 report by Bear Stearns -- estimated that as many as 20 million illegal aliens live in the United States.
Nearly 700 miles of fence is proposed in a House-approved immigration reform bill, and about 200 miles of fence is proposed in a Senate bill, most of it in Arizona and well-traveled urban areas along the 1,951-mile U.S. Mexico border. The bills are now stalled. The government would have to purchase the land or declare eminent domain to build the fences.
Mr. Simcox said the two construction companies offered to inaugurate groundbreaking, coordinate volunteer construction crews and donate the use of heavy construction equipment. He said the fence will be built with privately donated funds, engineering and labor.
http://www.wpherald.com/print.php?StoryID=20060421-102029-5342r
May 1 immigrant boycott aims to "close" US cities
May 1 immigrant boycott aims to "close" US cities
By Dan Whitcomb
Thu Apr 27, 8:22 PM ET
Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood America's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.
Such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s, though not all Latinos were comfortable with such militancy, fearing a backlash in Middle America.
"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it weighs the issue.
Immigration has split Congress, the Republican Party and public opinion. Conservatives want the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants returned to Mexico and a fence built along the border.
Others, including President George W. Bush, want a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship. Most agree some reform is needed to stem the flow of poor to the world's biggest economy.
"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."
Organizers have timed the action for May Day, a date when workers around the world often march for improved conditions, and have strong support from big labor and the Roman Catholic church. They vow that America's major cities will grind to a halt and its economy will stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and skip school.
In California on Thursday, the state senate passed a resolution recognizing "The Great American Boycott of 2006," saying it would educate the United States about the contributions made by immigrants. The measure passed 24-13 along party lines with dissenting Republicans arguing that it sanctioned lawbreaking and encouraged children to skip school.
Teachers' unions in major cities have said children should not be punished for walking out of class. Los Angeles school officials said principals had been told that they should allow students to leave but walk with them to help keep order.
In Chicago, Catholic priests have helped organize protests, sending information to all 375 parishes in the archdiocese.
CRITICS CHARGE INTIMIDATION
Chicago activists predict that the demonstrations will draw 300,000 people.
In New York, leaders of the May 1 Coalition said a growing number of businesses had pledged to close and allow their workers to attend a rally in Manhattan's Union Square.
Large U.S. meat processors, including Cargill Inc., Tyson Foods Inc and Seaboard Corp said they will close plants due to the planned rallies.
Critics accuse pro-immigrant leaders of bullying Congress and stirring up uninformed young Latinos by telling them that their parents were in imminent danger of being deported.
"It's intimidation when a million people march down main streets in our major cities under the Mexican flag," said Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman volunteer border patrol group. "This will backfire," he said.
Some Latinos have also expressed concerns that the boycott and marches could stir up anti-immigrant sentiment.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese, an outspoken champion of immigrant rights, has lobbied against a walkout. "Go to work, go to school, and then join thousands of us at a major rally afterward," Mahony said.
And Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has long fought for immigrant rights, has said he expects protesters to be "lawful and respectful" and children to stay in school.
In Washington on Thursday, immigrant-rights activists brushed off talk of a backlash.
"This is going to be really big. We're going to have millions of people," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Latino Movement USA. "We are not concerned at all. We believe it's possible for Congress to get the message that the time to act is now."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060428...W9g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTBidHQxYjh2BHNlYwN5bnN0b3J5
May 1 immigrant boycott aims to "close" US cities
By Dan Whitcomb
Thu Apr 27, 8:22 PM ET
Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood America's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.
Such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s, though not all Latinos were comfortable with such militancy, fearing a backlash in Middle America.
"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it weighs the issue.
Immigration has split Congress, the Republican Party and public opinion. Conservatives want the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants returned to Mexico and a fence built along the border.
Others, including President George W. Bush, want a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship. Most agree some reform is needed to stem the flow of poor to the world's biggest economy.
"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."
Organizers have timed the action for May Day, a date when workers around the world often march for improved conditions, and have strong support from big labor and the Roman Catholic church. They vow that America's major cities will grind to a halt and its economy will stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and skip school.
In California on Thursday, the state senate passed a resolution recognizing "The Great American Boycott of 2006," saying it would educate the United States about the contributions made by immigrants. The measure passed 24-13 along party lines with dissenting Republicans arguing that it sanctioned lawbreaking and encouraged children to skip school.
Teachers' unions in major cities have said children should not be punished for walking out of class. Los Angeles school officials said principals had been told that they should allow students to leave but walk with them to help keep order.
In Chicago, Catholic priests have helped organize protests, sending information to all 375 parishes in the archdiocese.
CRITICS CHARGE INTIMIDATION
Chicago activists predict that the demonstrations will draw 300,000 people.
In New York, leaders of the May 1 Coalition said a growing number of businesses had pledged to close and allow their workers to attend a rally in Manhattan's Union Square.
Large U.S. meat processors, including Cargill Inc., Tyson Foods Inc and Seaboard Corp said they will close plants due to the planned rallies.
Critics accuse pro-immigrant leaders of bullying Congress and stirring up uninformed young Latinos by telling them that their parents were in imminent danger of being deported.
"It's intimidation when a million people march down main streets in our major cities under the Mexican flag," said Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman volunteer border patrol group. "This will backfire," he said.
Some Latinos have also expressed concerns that the boycott and marches could stir up anti-immigrant sentiment.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese, an outspoken champion of immigrant rights, has lobbied against a walkout. "Go to work, go to school, and then join thousands of us at a major rally afterward," Mahony said.
And Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has long fought for immigrant rights, has said he expects protesters to be "lawful and respectful" and children to stay in school.
In Washington on Thursday, immigrant-rights activists brushed off talk of a backlash.
"This is going to be really big. We're going to have millions of people," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Latino Movement USA. "We are not concerned at all. We believe it's possible for Congress to get the message that the time to act is now."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060428...W9g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTBidHQxYjh2BHNlYwN5bnN0b3J5
Raid Rumors Spark Fear Among Immigrants
Raid Rumors Spark Fear Among Immigrants
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
Rumors of immigration roundups have prompted thousands of illegal immigrants to stay home this week and are making some afraid to participate in a national immigration protest planned for Monday.
Though federal immigration officials said they were unfounded, rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast Friday, prompting thousands of immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church.
The absences caused the rumors to build, as some thought their missing friends and co-workers had been arrested. Construction and agriculture were among the industries most affected.
Len Mills, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of South Florida, said he estimated at least 50 percent of workers on construction jobs in the region hadn't shown up for work. He said he believed even some legal workers were afraid.
"This is costing millions of dollars a day, and I don't know who is going to pay for it," he said.
Katie A. Edwards, executive director of Florida's Dade County Farm Bureau, said nearly a third of farmworkers didn't come to the fields earlier in the week.
Mari Ramos, a Peruvian nanny whose tourist visa ran out in 2003, listened when friends warned her not to take public transportation or risk arrest.
"That's when I became nervous. I stopped going to my night job," the 36-year-old Miami woman said.
"Everybody's edgy," said Chris Ruske, owner of a southern New Jersey nursery. "People are worried, and we're worried. There's an awful lot of rhetoric, and you wonder what's true. You wonder if the immigration Gestapo are coming to get you."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency has received hundreds of calls in recent days asking about immigration raids. He said such rumors were typical after a raid like the one last week in which more than 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide.
But he added, "any suggestions that our standard, day to day law enforcement actions are timed or being staged to retaliate are absolutely false."
ICE officials acknowledged they have stepped up arrests under their "Operation Phoenix," an existing program to find and deport fugitive illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
Many wondered whether the rumors would deter people from national immigration protests planned for Monday.
"It is the ugliest of rumors because it has intimidated people who are already afraid. They are living in the shadows of society, wondering who is going to knock on the door," said the Rev. Allan Ramirez, pastor of the Brookville Dutch Reform Church in Long Island, N.Y.
In Tuscaloosa, Ala., organizers of an annual Hispanic festival scheduled for Sunday briefly considered canceling it.
The National Immigration Law Center called on organizations across the country to sign a petition urging ICE to assure the public that it will not engage in any immigration arrests during Monday's protests.
The agency said its policy is not to discuss potential operations. "ICE will continue to operate as it does every day of the year," Boyd said.
Elias Bermudez, an activist and talk show host for a Spanish-language radio station in Phoenix, said many believe they are being punished for participating in recent protests in favor of legalizing the status of many illegal immigrants.
"Some people in our community think we're getting payback," he said.
The rumors affected a wide variety of businesses. In New Jersey and New York, day-laborer gathering sites drew only a trickle of workers.
In southern New Mexico, construction industry leaders said an unknown number of immigrant workers did not show up to work over fears of being rounded up, setting back plans for the Las Cruces Home Builders Association's spring Showcase of Homes next month.
In the rural town of Homestead, Fla., more than a dozen parents lined up early to take their kids out of Redondo Elementary School Wednesday for fear of a raid, said activist Jonathan Fried, who heads the nonprofit "We Count!"
"It's caused tremendous fear in our community, like I've never seen before," Fried said.
On Friday, ICE announced the arrests of 106 illegal immigrant fugitives and 19 immigration status violators throughout the Midwest over the last 10 days. Of those, 46 had criminal records, according to the department. Earlier this week, ICE announced the arrest of 183 fugitives in Florida alone.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association said Friday it believes some of the concerns may have been fueled by confusion over a widespread fugitive roundup by the U.S. Marshals Service. That roundup lead to more than 9,000 arrests of people wanted for a number of crimes, and ICE assisted in the effort but it said most of those detained were U.S. citizens.
Boyd said the agency makes arrests on a daily basis. "However, we don't conduct random sweeps. All our arrests are the result of investigations, evidence and intelligence," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429...2JI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Raid Rumors Spark Fear Among Immigrants
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
Rumors of immigration roundups have prompted thousands of illegal immigrants to stay home this week and are making some afraid to participate in a national immigration protest planned for Monday.
Though federal immigration officials said they were unfounded, rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast Friday, prompting thousands of immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church.
The absences caused the rumors to build, as some thought their missing friends and co-workers had been arrested. Construction and agriculture were among the industries most affected.
Len Mills, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of South Florida, said he estimated at least 50 percent of workers on construction jobs in the region hadn't shown up for work. He said he believed even some legal workers were afraid.
"This is costing millions of dollars a day, and I don't know who is going to pay for it," he said.
Katie A. Edwards, executive director of Florida's Dade County Farm Bureau, said nearly a third of farmworkers didn't come to the fields earlier in the week.
Mari Ramos, a Peruvian nanny whose tourist visa ran out in 2003, listened when friends warned her not to take public transportation or risk arrest.
"That's when I became nervous. I stopped going to my night job," the 36-year-old Miami woman said.
"Everybody's edgy," said Chris Ruske, owner of a southern New Jersey nursery. "People are worried, and we're worried. There's an awful lot of rhetoric, and you wonder what's true. You wonder if the immigration Gestapo are coming to get you."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency has received hundreds of calls in recent days asking about immigration raids. He said such rumors were typical after a raid like the one last week in which more than 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide.
But he added, "any suggestions that our standard, day to day law enforcement actions are timed or being staged to retaliate are absolutely false."
ICE officials acknowledged they have stepped up arrests under their "Operation Phoenix," an existing program to find and deport fugitive illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
Many wondered whether the rumors would deter people from national immigration protests planned for Monday.
"It is the ugliest of rumors because it has intimidated people who are already afraid. They are living in the shadows of society, wondering who is going to knock on the door," said the Rev. Allan Ramirez, pastor of the Brookville Dutch Reform Church in Long Island, N.Y.
In Tuscaloosa, Ala., organizers of an annual Hispanic festival scheduled for Sunday briefly considered canceling it.
The National Immigration Law Center called on organizations across the country to sign a petition urging ICE to assure the public that it will not engage in any immigration arrests during Monday's protests.
The agency said its policy is not to discuss potential operations. "ICE will continue to operate as it does every day of the year," Boyd said.
Elias Bermudez, an activist and talk show host for a Spanish-language radio station in Phoenix, said many believe they are being punished for participating in recent protests in favor of legalizing the status of many illegal immigrants.
"Some people in our community think we're getting payback," he said.
The rumors affected a wide variety of businesses. In New Jersey and New York, day-laborer gathering sites drew only a trickle of workers.
In southern New Mexico, construction industry leaders said an unknown number of immigrant workers did not show up to work over fears of being rounded up, setting back plans for the Las Cruces Home Builders Association's spring Showcase of Homes next month.
In the rural town of Homestead, Fla., more than a dozen parents lined up early to take their kids out of Redondo Elementary School Wednesday for fear of a raid, said activist Jonathan Fried, who heads the nonprofit "We Count!"
"It's caused tremendous fear in our community, like I've never seen before," Fried said.
On Friday, ICE announced the arrests of 106 illegal immigrant fugitives and 19 immigration status violators throughout the Midwest over the last 10 days. Of those, 46 had criminal records, according to the department. Earlier this week, ICE announced the arrest of 183 fugitives in Florida alone.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association said Friday it believes some of the concerns may have been fueled by confusion over a widespread fugitive roundup by the U.S. Marshals Service. That roundup lead to more than 9,000 arrests of people wanted for a number of crimes, and ICE assisted in the effort but it said most of those detained were U.S. citizens.
Boyd said the agency makes arrests on a daily basis. "However, we don't conduct random sweeps. All our arrests are the result of investigations, evidence and intelligence," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429...2JI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
World News
integration
<font size="5"><center>Five facts about France's new immigration law</font size></center>
05/02/2006
Immigrants must prove they are able to support themselves and show they are making an effort to integrate. Newcomers would be forced to take French lessons.
France's parliament started to debate a divisive immigration law on Tuesday supported by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy with the aim of attracting skilled workers while keeping less skilled ones out.
Immigrant groups and left-wing opposition parties say it discriminates against the poor and accuse Sarkozy of seeking to win voters on the far right ahead of a presidential poll next year in which he is expected to run.
Here are five facts about the proposed law:
According to a poll in the Liberation daily paper on Tuesday, 46 percent of French people beliegve immigration is an asset for France and 48 percent believe immigrants should be chosen according to economic needs.
http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24...mId=D28622&cl=/eitb24/internacional&idioma=en
integration
<font size="5"><center>Five facts about France's new immigration law</font size></center>
05/02/2006
Immigrants must prove they are able to support themselves and show they are making an effort to integrate. Newcomers would be forced to take French lessons.
France's parliament started to debate a divisive immigration law on Tuesday supported by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy with the aim of attracting skilled workers while keeping less skilled ones out.
Immigrant groups and left-wing opposition parties say it discriminates against the poor and accuse Sarkozy of seeking to win voters on the far right ahead of a presidential poll next year in which he is expected to run.
Here are five facts about the proposed law:
[1] The law would make it easier for qualified foreigners to stay in France for three years under a so-called "skills and talents" visa for those thought to be capable of contributing to economic development of France.
[2] The law would make it harder for family members to join a relative in France by lengthening the time before they follow from one year to 18 months after the person's arrival.
[3] Immigrants must prove they are able to support themselves and show they are making an effort to integrate. Newcomers would be forced to take French lessons.
[4] The law aims to crack down on marriages of convenience by extending from two years to fouryearas the duration of marriage before French nationality can be granted. The length of stay needed before a residency permit is issued would be increased from two to three years and this could be withdrawn if the ocuple stops living together.
[5] The law would scrape a measure that allows immigrants who have been living in France for 10 years the automatic right to apply for a long-term residency permit. Local authorities would make the decision on a case by case basis.
[2] The law would make it harder for family members to join a relative in France by lengthening the time before they follow from one year to 18 months after the person's arrival.
[3] Immigrants must prove they are able to support themselves and show they are making an effort to integrate. Newcomers would be forced to take French lessons.
[4] The law aims to crack down on marriages of convenience by extending from two years to fouryearas the duration of marriage before French nationality can be granted. The length of stay needed before a residency permit is issued would be increased from two to three years and this could be withdrawn if the ocuple stops living together.
[5] The law would scrape a measure that allows immigrants who have been living in France for 10 years the automatic right to apply for a long-term residency permit. Local authorities would make the decision on a case by case basis.
According to a poll in the Liberation daily paper on Tuesday, 46 percent of French people beliegve immigration is an asset for France and 48 percent believe immigrants should be chosen according to economic needs.
http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24...mId=D28622&cl=/eitb24/internacional&idioma=en
<font size="5"><center>Hill Impasse Spurs States to Tackle Illegal Immigration</font size></center>
Washington Post
By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A01
PHOENIX -- State legislatures around the nation are considering hundreds of proposals dealing with illegal immigration, reflecting the exasperation of many local officials with Congress's failure to contend with the millions of undocumented workers who have entered the nation in recent years.
Here in Arizona, the House has passed a proposal to set fines and other penalties for companies that hire undocumented workers. The bill, which had regularly failed in previous years, is expected to win Senate approval within days and is only one of many plans under consideration.
Others include bills to erect an 80-mile fence and a multimillion-dollar radar system along the Mexican border, designed to slow the nightly flow of migrants across the desert. Another bill would require police to check the citizenship of anyone stopped for a traffic offense. The state House, by a vote of 43 to 12, has passed a resolution calling on Washington to dispatch the U.S. Coast Guard to this landlocked, coast-free state to assist in patrolling the border.
For the most part, the new state measures are designed to get tough on illegal immigrants, on employers who give them jobs and on state officials who give them benefits. In some states, illegal immigrants can buy lottery tickets but cannot collect if they win a significant prize.
At the same time, though, some states are moving in the other direction -- making life easier for immigrants, legal or otherwise. In April, Nebraska's legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto to offer in-state college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants. Nine other states have formally authorized tuition breaks for undocumented immigrants, and many public universities employ a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for graduates of high schools in the states.
Maryland and Virginia lawmakers considered proposals to crack down on illegal immigrants in their recently concluded legislative sessions, but none passed.
The multistate approach, with some states at variance with others, threatens to create a maze of laws and regulations at a time when the nation as a whole is struggling with how to contend with an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration.
"We're not going to solve this problem with a patchwork approach at the state level. It's a national problem, and the need is to repair the national system," said Josh Bernstein of the National Immigration Law Center, which works to promote the rights of low-income immigrants. "We're not going to erect barriers between states."
Advocates on both sides said that Monday's economic boycott and rallies will work to their advantage. Opponents of illegal immigration said the protests hardened their resolve, while immigrants' rights activists predicted that the large turnout will sway lawmakers to their side.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has tallied 463 bills introduced this year in 43 states, by far the biggest crop of state immigration proposals ever recorded. Ann Morse, who tracks the issue for the NCSL, said this rush of legislation demonstrates that state legislators are no longer willing to cede this high-profile political concern to Congress.
Morse cited three reasons for the unprecedented interest in immigration at the state level. "First, there's the reaction to 9/11 and the concern that our borders are not safe," she said. "Another factor is the number of immigrants and a general sense that the influx is growing rapidly. And finally, we seem to have a Congress in gridlock on the issue. State legislators feel if they don't act, nobody will."
That last concern has been crucial in the legislature here, noted state Rep. Russell K. Pearce, a Republican who says he is "fed up" with his own party's management of the issue in Washington.
We had high hopes that Congress would do something this year," Pearce said. "But Washington is ducking its responsibility. Our constituents are outraged about that. So they are demanding -- and I mean demanding -- that we do the job instead."
With opinion surveys showing intense public concern about immigration this year, Congress has been sharply divided. The House passed a tough anti-immigration bill that included stiff criminal measures and costly new efforts in border control. In the Senate, many lawmakers favor a guest-worker program and finding a way to allow some illegal immigrants to seek citizenship. So far, however, the legislation has been mired in committee.
With the two houses seeming to be on divergent paths, state officials are losing hope for federal immigration initiatives this year. "If Congress were able to act, there would be much less activity in the state legislatures," Bernstein said.
The most common approach to immigration at the state level this year, the NCSL tally shows, is criminal legislation to impose sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. More than half the states are considering employment legislation in various forms, and many bills are expected to pass.
On April 17, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed a law that imposes fines on employers of undocumented workers and requires any company with a state contract to fire any employee who is not a legal resident. The Georgia law also requires that state offices verify an employee's status before paying unemployment benefits or workers' compensation. Similar provisions are found in pending bills in several other states.
Legislatures in Ohio, South Dakota and Arizona have passed bills this year requiring that state or local police check the immigration status of everybody they encounter, and report suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Several other states have similar bills pending.
Many police chiefs and mayors oppose this approach, fearing that immigrants will be frightened to contact the police when they need help. But proponents say that the initial police contact is the best time to catch somebody who should not be here. As Pearce puts it, "Deportation should start with the traffic stop."
More than a dozen states are considering legislation that would require proof of citizenship or of legal-resident status for anybody seeking a driver's license. Some would simply deny illegal immigrants the right to drive. Other proposals are similar to a bill that passed in Utah last year, offering undocumented applicants only a "driving privilege" certificate that is not supposed to be treated as legal identification. Virginia requires license applicants to offer proof of legal status.
There are also bills pending in several state capitols to help undocumented workers deal with the problems that come with their status. Several states seek to get tough on "notarios," people without a law degree who sell costly "consulting" services to immigrants seeking legal-residence status or citizenship. Some state governments help employers fill out the I-9 form that is required for immigrant workers under federal law.
Polls show that immigration is considered a bigger problem in Arizona than gasoline prices. Republican Sen. Jon Kyl and Jim Pederson, his Democratic challenger, are already saturating the airwaves for the November election -- and the ads deal mainly with immigration.
So far this year, the Republican-controlled legislature has passed several bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration; Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed several of them. Pearce, sponsor of the employer-crackdown legislation, said the anti-illegal-immigration majority in the legislature plans to package all the measures into a comprehensive bill. That would set up a new confrontation with the governor.
The bill that seems most likely to become law here this session is Pearce's employer-sanction plan. Napolitano said in January that she would sign an employer-sanction bill. Even business groups concede that approval is likely.
"Our position has been that employment of immigrants is a federal issue, and it deserves a federal response," said Farrell Quinlan of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "But if the federal government doesn't act, you're going to see the states try to fill the void."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201728.html
Washington Post
By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A01
PHOENIX -- State legislatures around the nation are considering hundreds of proposals dealing with illegal immigration, reflecting the exasperation of many local officials with Congress's failure to contend with the millions of undocumented workers who have entered the nation in recent years.
Here in Arizona, the House has passed a proposal to set fines and other penalties for companies that hire undocumented workers. The bill, which had regularly failed in previous years, is expected to win Senate approval within days and is only one of many plans under consideration.
Others include bills to erect an 80-mile fence and a multimillion-dollar radar system along the Mexican border, designed to slow the nightly flow of migrants across the desert. Another bill would require police to check the citizenship of anyone stopped for a traffic offense. The state House, by a vote of 43 to 12, has passed a resolution calling on Washington to dispatch the U.S. Coast Guard to this landlocked, coast-free state to assist in patrolling the border.
For the most part, the new state measures are designed to get tough on illegal immigrants, on employers who give them jobs and on state officials who give them benefits. In some states, illegal immigrants can buy lottery tickets but cannot collect if they win a significant prize.
At the same time, though, some states are moving in the other direction -- making life easier for immigrants, legal or otherwise. In April, Nebraska's legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto to offer in-state college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants. Nine other states have formally authorized tuition breaks for undocumented immigrants, and many public universities employ a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for graduates of high schools in the states.
Maryland and Virginia lawmakers considered proposals to crack down on illegal immigrants in their recently concluded legislative sessions, but none passed.
The multistate approach, with some states at variance with others, threatens to create a maze of laws and regulations at a time when the nation as a whole is struggling with how to contend with an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration.
"We're not going to solve this problem with a patchwork approach at the state level. It's a national problem, and the need is to repair the national system," said Josh Bernstein of the National Immigration Law Center, which works to promote the rights of low-income immigrants. "We're not going to erect barriers between states."
Advocates on both sides said that Monday's economic boycott and rallies will work to their advantage. Opponents of illegal immigration said the protests hardened their resolve, while immigrants' rights activists predicted that the large turnout will sway lawmakers to their side.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has tallied 463 bills introduced this year in 43 states, by far the biggest crop of state immigration proposals ever recorded. Ann Morse, who tracks the issue for the NCSL, said this rush of legislation demonstrates that state legislators are no longer willing to cede this high-profile political concern to Congress.
Morse cited three reasons for the unprecedented interest in immigration at the state level. "First, there's the reaction to 9/11 and the concern that our borders are not safe," she said. "Another factor is the number of immigrants and a general sense that the influx is growing rapidly. And finally, we seem to have a Congress in gridlock on the issue. State legislators feel if they don't act, nobody will."
That last concern has been crucial in the legislature here, noted state Rep. Russell K. Pearce, a Republican who says he is "fed up" with his own party's management of the issue in Washington.
We had high hopes that Congress would do something this year," Pearce said. "But Washington is ducking its responsibility. Our constituents are outraged about that. So they are demanding -- and I mean demanding -- that we do the job instead."
With opinion surveys showing intense public concern about immigration this year, Congress has been sharply divided. The House passed a tough anti-immigration bill that included stiff criminal measures and costly new efforts in border control. In the Senate, many lawmakers favor a guest-worker program and finding a way to allow some illegal immigrants to seek citizenship. So far, however, the legislation has been mired in committee.
With the two houses seeming to be on divergent paths, state officials are losing hope for federal immigration initiatives this year. "If Congress were able to act, there would be much less activity in the state legislatures," Bernstein said.
The most common approach to immigration at the state level this year, the NCSL tally shows, is criminal legislation to impose sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. More than half the states are considering employment legislation in various forms, and many bills are expected to pass.
On April 17, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed a law that imposes fines on employers of undocumented workers and requires any company with a state contract to fire any employee who is not a legal resident. The Georgia law also requires that state offices verify an employee's status before paying unemployment benefits or workers' compensation. Similar provisions are found in pending bills in several other states.
Legislatures in Ohio, South Dakota and Arizona have passed bills this year requiring that state or local police check the immigration status of everybody they encounter, and report suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Several other states have similar bills pending.
Many police chiefs and mayors oppose this approach, fearing that immigrants will be frightened to contact the police when they need help. But proponents say that the initial police contact is the best time to catch somebody who should not be here. As Pearce puts it, "Deportation should start with the traffic stop."
More than a dozen states are considering legislation that would require proof of citizenship or of legal-resident status for anybody seeking a driver's license. Some would simply deny illegal immigrants the right to drive. Other proposals are similar to a bill that passed in Utah last year, offering undocumented applicants only a "driving privilege" certificate that is not supposed to be treated as legal identification. Virginia requires license applicants to offer proof of legal status.
There are also bills pending in several state capitols to help undocumented workers deal with the problems that come with their status. Several states seek to get tough on "notarios," people without a law degree who sell costly "consulting" services to immigrants seeking legal-residence status or citizenship. Some state governments help employers fill out the I-9 form that is required for immigrant workers under federal law.
Polls show that immigration is considered a bigger problem in Arizona than gasoline prices. Republican Sen. Jon Kyl and Jim Pederson, his Democratic challenger, are already saturating the airwaves for the November election -- and the ads deal mainly with immigration.
So far this year, the Republican-controlled legislature has passed several bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration; Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed several of them. Pearce, sponsor of the employer-crackdown legislation, said the anti-illegal-immigration majority in the legislature plans to package all the measures into a comprehensive bill. That would set up a new confrontation with the governor.
The bill that seems most likely to become law here this session is Pearce's employer-sanction plan. Napolitano said in January that she would sign an employer-sanction bill. Even business groups concede that approval is likely.
"Our position has been that employment of immigrants is a federal issue, and it deserves a federal response," said Farrell Quinlan of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "But if the federal government doesn't act, you're going to see the states try to fill the void."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201728.html
<font size="6"><center>After Protests, Backlash Grows</font size>
<font size="4">Opponents of Illegal Immigration Are Increasingly Vocal</font size></center>
Washington Post
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A10
While a series of marches focused much of the nation's attention on the plight of illegal immigrants, scores of other Americans quietly seethed. Now, with the same full-throated cry expressed by those in the country illegally, they are shouting back.
Congressional leaders in Washington have gotten bricks in the mail from a group that advocates building a border fence, states in the West and South have drawn up tough anti-immigrant laws, and ordinary citizens, such as Janis McDonald of Pennsylvania, who considers herself a liberal, are not mincing words in expressing their displeasure.
"Send them back," McDonald said. "Build a damn wall and be done with it."
The anger evoked a word that immigrant organizers who opposed Monday's boycott feared: backlash. McDonald and other Americans were particularly disturbed by Monday's boycott and civil action, attended in large part by people who entered the country illegally and are now demanding rights enjoyed by U.S.-born citizens and immigrants who entered the country legally.
"How dare they," said McDonald, a research specialist for the University of Pittsburgh who said she voted for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in the 2004 presidential election. "If they are so active, why aren't they in Mexico City, why aren't they forcing their leaders there to deal with the quality of life? If you don't like it here, go home."
That strong sentiment was heard across the country, on a radio program in Los Angeles, where talk-show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou encouraged listeners to participate in a "Great American Spend-a-Lot" to offset the effect of the boycott. They vowed to reimburse listeners picked in a drawing.
In the Washington area, African American radio listeners kept bringing up the immigration issue as Leila McDowell, a guest host on the Joe Madison show, tried to discuss abuse of black and Latino workers at a North Carolina meat-processing plant.
"I would say that the majority of comments were hostile, but it wasn't an overwhelming majority," said McDowell. "A lot of people said immigrants were trying to make ends meet just like us. And then there were those who said that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our services, that they shouldn't be legal, that my forefathers were slaves, and these people haven't paid their dues."
In Kansas City, Mo., Joyce Mucci, the executive director of the Mid-America Immigration Reform Coalition, said she didn't see much impact from the march in her city.
"Frankly I think they're overplaying their hand," she said, adding, "I think people who may have been sitting on the fence are not sitting on the fence anymore. These marches are not helping the people they're intending to help."
Congress is considering several immigration reform proposals. One would hand out temporary work permits to foreigners outside the country, allow illegal residents already here to pay a fine and work, possibly toward legal residency. Another would make it a felony to enter the country illegally and to offer assistance to anyone who does, and would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. A third would force illegal immigrants here to go home before being allowed to work.
Whether the anger expressed by some Americans will translate into votes in November is anybody's guess. Fred Yang, a Democratic consultant in Washington, guessed that it will not.
"This is going to be like a tug of war," he said. "I think Republicans are trying to exploit voter concerns about immigration. It's not a winning strategy. I think voters are more concerned about health-care costs, the cost of higher education and gasoline and energy than immigration."
Immigration opponents are also concerned about the costs of public services immigrants use at the expense of taxpayers. Don Stewart, a spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), said his state spends $2 billion a year on health care and education for people in the country illegally. Arizona and California officials said their expense for detaining illegal immigrants who commit crimes is a combined $950 million per year, a fraction of which is reimbursed by the federal government.
"It's an enormous burden on taxpayers," Stewart said. "It's funny that people think that going out on the streets will make people change their minds. There are very strong opinions on this issue."
Cornyn is one of many politicians who got a gift from Send-a-brick.com, which allows visitors to purchase a brick for about $11 and mail it to their representative, a weighty hint to build a border fence. The site's operators could not be reached for comment.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), one of the most vocal lawmakers arguing for a tough approach to illegal immigrants, said he recently attended a dinner at which an employer received rousing applause for his stand against an immigrant worker who wanted to take Monday off. "He said he told him that if you don't come to work Monday, don't bother coming in on Tuesday."
Staff writers Sonya Geis in Los Angeles and Kari Lydersen in Chicago contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201789.html
<font size="4">Opponents of Illegal Immigration Are Increasingly Vocal</font size></center>
Washington Post
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A10
While a series of marches focused much of the nation's attention on the plight of illegal immigrants, scores of other Americans quietly seethed. Now, with the same full-throated cry expressed by those in the country illegally, they are shouting back.
Congressional leaders in Washington have gotten bricks in the mail from a group that advocates building a border fence, states in the West and South have drawn up tough anti-immigrant laws, and ordinary citizens, such as Janis McDonald of Pennsylvania, who considers herself a liberal, are not mincing words in expressing their displeasure.
"Send them back," McDonald said. "Build a damn wall and be done with it."
The anger evoked a word that immigrant organizers who opposed Monday's boycott feared: backlash. McDonald and other Americans were particularly disturbed by Monday's boycott and civil action, attended in large part by people who entered the country illegally and are now demanding rights enjoyed by U.S.-born citizens and immigrants who entered the country legally.
"How dare they," said McDonald, a research specialist for the University of Pittsburgh who said she voted for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in the 2004 presidential election. "If they are so active, why aren't they in Mexico City, why aren't they forcing their leaders there to deal with the quality of life? If you don't like it here, go home."
That strong sentiment was heard across the country, on a radio program in Los Angeles, where talk-show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou encouraged listeners to participate in a "Great American Spend-a-Lot" to offset the effect of the boycott. They vowed to reimburse listeners picked in a drawing.
In the Washington area, African American radio listeners kept bringing up the immigration issue as Leila McDowell, a guest host on the Joe Madison show, tried to discuss abuse of black and Latino workers at a North Carolina meat-processing plant.
"I would say that the majority of comments were hostile, but it wasn't an overwhelming majority," said McDowell. "A lot of people said immigrants were trying to make ends meet just like us. And then there were those who said that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our services, that they shouldn't be legal, that my forefathers were slaves, and these people haven't paid their dues."
In Kansas City, Mo., Joyce Mucci, the executive director of the Mid-America Immigration Reform Coalition, said she didn't see much impact from the march in her city.
"Frankly I think they're overplaying their hand," she said, adding, "I think people who may have been sitting on the fence are not sitting on the fence anymore. These marches are not helping the people they're intending to help."
Congress is considering several immigration reform proposals. One would hand out temporary work permits to foreigners outside the country, allow illegal residents already here to pay a fine and work, possibly toward legal residency. Another would make it a felony to enter the country illegally and to offer assistance to anyone who does, and would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. A third would force illegal immigrants here to go home before being allowed to work.
Whether the anger expressed by some Americans will translate into votes in November is anybody's guess. Fred Yang, a Democratic consultant in Washington, guessed that it will not.
"This is going to be like a tug of war," he said. "I think Republicans are trying to exploit voter concerns about immigration. It's not a winning strategy. I think voters are more concerned about health-care costs, the cost of higher education and gasoline and energy than immigration."
Immigration opponents are also concerned about the costs of public services immigrants use at the expense of taxpayers. Don Stewart, a spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), said his state spends $2 billion a year on health care and education for people in the country illegally. Arizona and California officials said their expense for detaining illegal immigrants who commit crimes is a combined $950 million per year, a fraction of which is reimbursed by the federal government.
"It's an enormous burden on taxpayers," Stewart said. "It's funny that people think that going out on the streets will make people change their minds. There are very strong opinions on this issue."
Cornyn is one of many politicians who got a gift from Send-a-brick.com, which allows visitors to purchase a brick for about $11 and mail it to their representative, a weighty hint to build a border fence. The site's operators could not be reached for comment.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), one of the most vocal lawmakers arguing for a tough approach to illegal immigrants, said he recently attended a dinner at which an employer received rousing applause for his stand against an immigrant worker who wanted to take Monday off. "He said he told him that if you don't come to work Monday, don't bother coming in on Tuesday."
Staff writers Sonya Geis in Los Angeles and Kari Lydersen in Chicago contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201789.html
Re: American Smugglers, Migrant Cargo
Wow I didn't know Democrats can be racist.
Dolemite said:
Wow I didn't know Democrats can be racist.
Dolemite said:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ word up
Hey I think I will go join AARP, not pay any dues, not really join, make some counterfeit membership cards, attend their meetings, protest anything they do that I dont like, take advantage of all their benefits and when they find out Im doing this I will get all my friends who are doing the same thing and protest and picket with NRA shirts on since we also are real card carrying members of the NRA
So you are admitting that you are a Republican?????????
Re: American Smugglers, Migrant Cargo
Signs of being fed up with "illegals" thinking they are above the laws of my beloved country.
elexington1989 said:Wow I didn't know Democrats can be racist.
Signs of being fed up with "illegals" thinking they are above the laws of my beloved country.
Re: American Smugglers, Migrant Cargo
Well some of the Democrat(and possibly Republican) Politicians have the illegals to believe that especially when they instruct the local city and state police to not question the Latino Immugrants on their imigration status when they try to report crimes in their communities.
GET YOU HOT said:Signs of being fed up with "illegals" thinking they are above the laws of my beloved country.
Well some of the Democrat(and possibly Republican) Politicians have the illegals to believe that especially when they instruct the local city and state police to not question the Latino Immugrants on their imigration status when they try to report crimes in their communities.
Re: American Smugglers, Migrant Cargo
<font size="5"><center>Arrests Target Use of Illegal Workers</font size></center>
Washington Post
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page A03
Federal authorities announced the arrests yesterday of four construction supervisors and 76 illegal immigrants at a Kentucky home-building company, continuing a promised government crackdown on employers that rely on illegal labor.
The arrests at Fischer Homes, a leading builder in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, followed the April 19 arrests of seven current and former managers and more than 1,100 workers for Ifco Systems North America Inc., a subsidiary of a Dutch manufacturer of plastic crates and wooden pallets.
The effort comes as Congress debates plans to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.
"We will continue to bring criminal actions against employers who are consistently harboring illegal aliens," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
The four Fischer Homes managers were charged in a criminal complaint with aiding and abetting or harboring illegal immigrants for commercial or private financial gain. They face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Calls to company headquarters last night were not returned.
In recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has charged the owner of an Indiana stucco company in connection with an illegal employment scheme, won guilty pleas and the forfeiture of more than $1 million by operators of three Baltimore restaurants for conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants, and indicted two Ohio temporary-employment agencies and nine people on charges of hiring and harboring illegal immigrants.
The arrests have attracted employers' attention and sparked rumors of sweeps of illegal workers nationwide. But advocates on both sides of the debate said recent U.S. practice makes them skeptical that the arrests are more than a public relations effort.
From 1999 to 2004, the number of criminal employer cases referred for prosecution by the federal government fell from 182 to four, and the amount of fines collected dropped from $3.7 million to $212,000, according to a congressional report.
"These are cosmetic efforts to persuade Congress to pass an amnesty," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocate of stronger workplace enforcement.
He was referring pejoratively to White House-backed Senate legislation that would create a guest-worker program for foreign nationals, offer a path to citizenship for illegal residents and toughen border enforcement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6050901471.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
<font size="5"><center>Arrests Target Use of Illegal Workers</font size></center>
Washington Post
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page A03
Federal authorities announced the arrests yesterday of four construction supervisors and 76 illegal immigrants at a Kentucky home-building company, continuing a promised government crackdown on employers that rely on illegal labor.
The arrests at Fischer Homes, a leading builder in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, followed the April 19 arrests of seven current and former managers and more than 1,100 workers for Ifco Systems North America Inc., a subsidiary of a Dutch manufacturer of plastic crates and wooden pallets.
The effort comes as Congress debates plans to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.
"We will continue to bring criminal actions against employers who are consistently harboring illegal aliens," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
The four Fischer Homes managers were charged in a criminal complaint with aiding and abetting or harboring illegal immigrants for commercial or private financial gain. They face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Calls to company headquarters last night were not returned.
In recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has charged the owner of an Indiana stucco company in connection with an illegal employment scheme, won guilty pleas and the forfeiture of more than $1 million by operators of three Baltimore restaurants for conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants, and indicted two Ohio temporary-employment agencies and nine people on charges of hiring and harboring illegal immigrants.
The arrests have attracted employers' attention and sparked rumors of sweeps of illegal workers nationwide. But advocates on both sides of the debate said recent U.S. practice makes them skeptical that the arrests are more than a public relations effort.
From 1999 to 2004, the number of criminal employer cases referred for prosecution by the federal government fell from 182 to four, and the amount of fines collected dropped from $3.7 million to $212,000, according to a congressional report.
"These are cosmetic efforts to persuade Congress to pass an amnesty," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocate of stronger workplace enforcement.
He was referring pejoratively to White House-backed Senate legislation that would create a guest-worker program for foreign nationals, offer a path to citizenship for illegal residents and toughen border enforcement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6050901471.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
Re: American Smugglers, Migrant Cargo
Thats a good read, but that seems to only occure mostly in parts of the deep south and west which is more then likely anti-Immigrant Red States. Now when they start printing out stories of the Federal Authorities arresting/depoprting Several Illegal Mexican/Central American Immigrants in Illegal Immigrant freindly Blue states/cities like Maryland, DC, New Jersey, New York, Massachusettes, etc. then that would display signs of accomplishments being made to crack down on Illegal Immigration.
QueEx said:
Thats a good read, but that seems to only occure mostly in parts of the deep south and west which is more then likely anti-Immigrant Red States. Now when they start printing out stories of the Federal Authorities arresting/depoprting Several Illegal Mexican/Central American Immigrants in Illegal Immigrant freindly Blue states/cities like Maryland, DC, New Jersey, New York, Massachusettes, etc. then that would display signs of accomplishments being made to crack down on Illegal Immigration.
Smuggling & Espionage Along America's Borders
Smuggling & Espionage Along America's Borders
Congress demands a report on illegal immigration. Authorities investigate smuggling and false documents. The public is in an uproar.
That scenario could be culled from today's newspapers, but it actually describes the situation a century ago. And the migrants weren't Latino: There were no restrictions on Mexicans in those days.
Instead, they were from Japan, China, Greece and Syria, among other places. And they were crossing both borders, north and south, using professional smugglers and false documents.
Ellis Island, built in 1892, was virtually an open door for Western Europeans, though there were restrictions. The United States did not want newcomers who were sick, criminals or likely to become a ward of the state. It wasn't partial to Asians either, a point made clear in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
But as Ellis Island was experiencing the greatest influx of immigrants this country had known, others were sneaking across the borders. There was no Border Patrol to beef up -- it wasn't created until 1924 -- so the immigration agency sent inspectors out into the world to figure out what was happening.
In 1911, an enterprising inspector named Luther Steward went undercover to investigate. Marian Smith, historian for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says Steward had himself smuggled into Cuba, then over to Mexico and up through California.
One of Steward's more famous counterparts, inspector Marcus Braun, also carried out a groundbreaking investigation in Europe.
What they found was corruption on the part of the steamship corporations in Europe that brought migrants to America. Got a disease that would bar you from Ellis Island? You could travel from Marseille to Mexico and cross into the United States from there.
The motive was the big money to be made from passengers' fare. Apparently, a number of people were shipped to America against their will!
Here's an excerpt from a 1905 report by U.S. immigration inspector Maurice Fishberg. He recounts a "disagreeable feature" about steamship agents in Germany:
-- Jennifer Ludden
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395
Smuggling & Espionage Along America's Borders
Congress demands a report on illegal immigration. Authorities investigate smuggling and false documents. The public is in an uproar.
That scenario could be culled from today's newspapers, but it actually describes the situation a century ago. And the migrants weren't Latino: There were no restrictions on Mexicans in those days.
Instead, they were from Japan, China, Greece and Syria, among other places. And they were crossing both borders, north and south, using professional smugglers and false documents.
Ellis Island, built in 1892, was virtually an open door for Western Europeans, though there were restrictions. The United States did not want newcomers who were sick, criminals or likely to become a ward of the state. It wasn't partial to Asians either, a point made clear in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
But as Ellis Island was experiencing the greatest influx of immigrants this country had known, others were sneaking across the borders. There was no Border Patrol to beef up -- it wasn't created until 1924 -- so the immigration agency sent inspectors out into the world to figure out what was happening.
In 1911, an enterprising inspector named Luther Steward went undercover to investigate. Marian Smith, historian for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says Steward had himself smuggled into Cuba, then over to Mexico and up through California.
One of Steward's more famous counterparts, inspector Marcus Braun, also carried out a groundbreaking investigation in Europe.
What they found was corruption on the part of the steamship corporations in Europe that brought migrants to America. Got a disease that would bar you from Ellis Island? You could travel from Marseille to Mexico and cross into the United States from there.
The motive was the big money to be made from passengers' fare. Apparently, a number of people were shipped to America against their will!
Here's an excerpt from a 1905 report by U.S. immigration inspector Maurice Fishberg. He recounts a "disagreeable feature" about steamship agents in Germany:
"They look upon every eastern European emigrant as one who must go to the United States, whether he desires to or not.
Many of the emigrants arriving in Germany who are brought by the police to the 'control station,' on being asked where they are bound for, say that they are en route to England. The agent sees very little commission in the sale of the ticket for London, and besides, suspects that the emigrant intends upon his arrival in England to embark on a vessel owned by one of the English or American companies.
The emigrant passing through Germany is considered the legitimate prey of the German steamship companies and their agents."
Fishberg described how one immigrant was forced to show all his money to a steamship agent, who then took enough for a steerage ticket to New York. The coercion continued.
"No amount of pleading on the part of the unfortunate alien is of avail. He is not sold a ticket to England, France, or any other country. 'America or home' is the verdict of the steamship company's agents, and the gendarme concurs."
Many of the emigrants arriving in Germany who are brought by the police to the 'control station,' on being asked where they are bound for, say that they are en route to England. The agent sees very little commission in the sale of the ticket for London, and besides, suspects that the emigrant intends upon his arrival in England to embark on a vessel owned by one of the English or American companies.
The emigrant passing through Germany is considered the legitimate prey of the German steamship companies and their agents."
Fishberg described how one immigrant was forced to show all his money to a steamship agent, who then took enough for a steerage ticket to New York. The coercion continued.
"No amount of pleading on the part of the unfortunate alien is of avail. He is not sold a ticket to England, France, or any other country. 'America or home' is the verdict of the steamship company's agents, and the gendarme concurs."
-- Jennifer Ludden
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395
Illegal Immigration Turning Calif. Into 'Apartheid State,' Expert WarnsBy Steve Brown
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 20, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - California may evolve into an "apartheid state" unless major changes are made in immigration policy, a panel of immigration experts warned Tuesday.
California State University, Fresno professor Victor Davis Hanson, a member of the panel hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in Washington, D.C., described some central California cities that are composed entirely of recent Mexican immigrants and their families, many of whom live in "a shadow community" because of their illegal status.
"These are like test tube cases of what not to do," said Hanson. "You reject American integration and diversity, and you allow apartheid societies of people who basically serve more affluent people in a shadow community without legality."
Hanson predicted the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico will be raised either in the current California recall campaign or in the 2004 presidential election, saying he expects the debate will be "demagogued in a way that's going to be quite infamous before the actual elections come around."
Part of the reason the issue of illegal immigration is such a highly charged political issue is because relatively few Americans have first-hand experience with it, according to San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Joseph Perkins, who was also on the panel.
Another facet of the debate centers on the supply of cheap labor, which favors an "open-border" mindset in some business quarters.
"Most of these folks have not actually seen the consequences of that policy," said Perkins. "The fact is California, the nation's most populous state, has been transformed by immigration, particularly illegal immigration."
According to Perkins, who opposes open-border policies after having supported them as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. "If my friends in New York who continue to advocate open borders were to have 100,000 Chinese immigrants heading into New York harbor year by year and suddenly becoming part of New York State's population... then they might feel differently."
Steve Camarota, director of research for the CIS, dismissed many of the economic theories used to support an open-border policy.
While some argue that Mexican immigration - legal or otherwise - is crucial to the economy, Camarota introduced statistical data showing that Mexican immigrants comprise nearly one-third of California's population but account for approximately 3 percent of the state's economic output.
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 20, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - California may evolve into an "apartheid state" unless major changes are made in immigration policy, a panel of immigration experts warned Tuesday.
California State University, Fresno professor Victor Davis Hanson, a member of the panel hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in Washington, D.C., described some central California cities that are composed entirely of recent Mexican immigrants and their families, many of whom live in "a shadow community" because of their illegal status.
"These are like test tube cases of what not to do," said Hanson. "You reject American integration and diversity, and you allow apartheid societies of people who basically serve more affluent people in a shadow community without legality."
Hanson predicted the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico will be raised either in the current California recall campaign or in the 2004 presidential election, saying he expects the debate will be "demagogued in a way that's going to be quite infamous before the actual elections come around."
Part of the reason the issue of illegal immigration is such a highly charged political issue is because relatively few Americans have first-hand experience with it, according to San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Joseph Perkins, who was also on the panel.
Another facet of the debate centers on the supply of cheap labor, which favors an "open-border" mindset in some business quarters.
"Most of these folks have not actually seen the consequences of that policy," said Perkins. "The fact is California, the nation's most populous state, has been transformed by immigration, particularly illegal immigration."
According to Perkins, who opposes open-border policies after having supported them as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. "If my friends in New York who continue to advocate open borders were to have 100,000 Chinese immigrants heading into New York harbor year by year and suddenly becoming part of New York State's population... then they might feel differently."
Steve Camarota, director of research for the CIS, dismissed many of the economic theories used to support an open-border policy.
While some argue that Mexican immigration - legal or otherwise - is crucial to the economy, Camarota introduced statistical data showing that Mexican immigrants comprise nearly one-third of California's population but account for approximately 3 percent of the state's economic output.
<font size="5"><center>Bush May Widen National Guard Patrols at Border</font size>
<font size="4"> possibly with a wider deployment of the National Guard</fnt size></center>
Washington Post
By Jonathan Weisman and Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 13, 2006; Page A01
President Bush will push next week for a broad overhaul of the nation's immigration laws and plans to tighten security on the borders, possibly with a wider deployment of the National Guard, White House officials said yesterday.
The officials said Bush will use a prime-time television address Monday to outline his plans and then visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday to highlight the problem of illegal immigration.
Officials say he is considering substantially increasing the presence of National Guard troops, some of whom are already deployed under state of emergency declarations in New Mexico and Arizona. Administration officials are exploring ways to allow governors to deploy troops across state lines to help seal the porous border with Mexico.
The militarization of border security would be a dramatic -- and controversial -- gesture in the ongoing political war over illegal immigration. The military has long maintained a small presence under the auspices of drug interdiction, but conservatives in Congress have been pushing for a far more visible and substantial effort.
An administration official stressed that no final decisions have been made on deploying National Guardsmen along the border.
But congressional Republicans who back Bush's call for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants say that is precisely what they need to win over House conservatives. Otherwise, the president's stand will run headlong into a House bill, passed in December, that would make illegal immigrants felons and build hundreds of miles of fence along the Mexican border without offering avenues to legality for undocumented workers.
"I think members of the House will like what the president has to say on border security," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to upstage Bush's address.
White House officials were intentionally vague on the National Guard deployment, instead emphasizing a plan to hire more contractors to fill administrative posts with the Border Patrol so more agents could be deployed to the frontiers. Pentagon officials emphasized that any military support would be limited.
"Any additional [Defense Department] support for Customs and Border Protection operations would be temporary in nature and allow CBP to recruit and train additional personnel," said military spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith. The main responsibility for border security lies with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, with the military performing "a limited support role," she said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said he was concerned that the administration had not consulted directly with him and other governors of border states. "While the immediate deployment of troops may create a short-term fix, it creates further problems and concerns regarding our National Guard troops who may be called upon to respond to other emergencies and natural disasters," he said.
The Monday night speech, Bush's first prime-time television address since December, will come the same day the Senate takes up immigration again, more than a month after a bipartisan compromise measure collapsed amid partisan acrimony. This time, Senate leaders from both parties are confident that a bill will emerge before Memorial Day, and they are already preparing for difficult negotiations with the House.
Rallies that have brought millions of illegal immigrants and their supporters to the streets of Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago have convinced politicians they must act, Republicans and Democrats say.
"The winds have shifted," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who will serve on the conference committee that will negotiate a final deal with the House. "The American people are outraged at all of us for not controlling our borders and coming up with a legal system that works. They are not looking for revenge. They are looking for results."
With their agreement Thursday to bring the immigration bill back to the floor Monday, Senate leaders practically guaranteed contentious, protracted negotiations with the House. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had said he would give up parliamentary delaying tactics only if he received assurances that the conference committee would not be stacked against a final bill that tightened border security, offered a new temporary work permit for future immigrants and granted illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had to assure conservatives opposed to such legislation that they would have a seat at the table as well.
What they agreed to was an ideological split. Senate negotiators will include some of the strongest supporters of the compromise legislation: Sens. Graham, Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) But the committee will also include three of its most ardent opponents, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
Across the table from them will be House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), the main author of the House immigration bill, who is considered one of the toughest negotiators the House has to offer.
"Everyone is skeptical that anything can come out of conference," conceded a House Judiciary Committee aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not cleared to speak to the media. "We've never had bills as divergent as these."
Republicans who support the president on the issue say Bush must create the momentum for those negotiations by forcefully making the case that it is unrealistic to think 12 million illegal immigrants can be deported, and by making serious commitments to seal the borders. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said Americans still remember the 1986 immigration law, when they were promised that an amnesty for illegal immigrants would be coupled with border security and a crackdown on businesses that employ undocumented workers. They got the amnesty, he said, but the flow of illegal immigrants went on unabated.
Martinez told the National Press Club yesterday that "the president probably misplaced what the Americans needed to hear" as this debate was launched. "He needed to have spoken first about border enforcement. He spoke about a guest-worker program," said the senator from Florida.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the House Republican Conference, said a tough border security bill with a temporary worker program has the support of a majority of Republicans and enough Democrats to secure House passage. But the idea that illegal immigrants should also be offered a path to citizenship, embraced by most senators and by the president, will still give most House Republicans pause, he said. Sensenbrenner is dead set against it, according to Judiciary Committee spokesman Jeff Lungren.
Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6051200641.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
<font size="4"> possibly with a wider deployment of the National Guard</fnt size></center>
Washington Post
By Jonathan Weisman and Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 13, 2006; Page A01
President Bush will push next week for a broad overhaul of the nation's immigration laws and plans to tighten security on the borders, possibly with a wider deployment of the National Guard, White House officials said yesterday.
The officials said Bush will use a prime-time television address Monday to outline his plans and then visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday to highlight the problem of illegal immigration.
Officials say he is considering substantially increasing the presence of National Guard troops, some of whom are already deployed under state of emergency declarations in New Mexico and Arizona. Administration officials are exploring ways to allow governors to deploy troops across state lines to help seal the porous border with Mexico.
The militarization of border security would be a dramatic -- and controversial -- gesture in the ongoing political war over illegal immigration. The military has long maintained a small presence under the auspices of drug interdiction, but conservatives in Congress have been pushing for a far more visible and substantial effort.
An administration official stressed that no final decisions have been made on deploying National Guardsmen along the border.
But congressional Republicans who back Bush's call for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants say that is precisely what they need to win over House conservatives. Otherwise, the president's stand will run headlong into a House bill, passed in December, that would make illegal immigrants felons and build hundreds of miles of fence along the Mexican border without offering avenues to legality for undocumented workers.
"I think members of the House will like what the president has to say on border security," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to upstage Bush's address.
White House officials were intentionally vague on the National Guard deployment, instead emphasizing a plan to hire more contractors to fill administrative posts with the Border Patrol so more agents could be deployed to the frontiers. Pentagon officials emphasized that any military support would be limited.
"Any additional [Defense Department] support for Customs and Border Protection operations would be temporary in nature and allow CBP to recruit and train additional personnel," said military spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith. The main responsibility for border security lies with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, with the military performing "a limited support role," she said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said he was concerned that the administration had not consulted directly with him and other governors of border states. "While the immediate deployment of troops may create a short-term fix, it creates further problems and concerns regarding our National Guard troops who may be called upon to respond to other emergencies and natural disasters," he said.
The Monday night speech, Bush's first prime-time television address since December, will come the same day the Senate takes up immigration again, more than a month after a bipartisan compromise measure collapsed amid partisan acrimony. This time, Senate leaders from both parties are confident that a bill will emerge before Memorial Day, and they are already preparing for difficult negotiations with the House.
Rallies that have brought millions of illegal immigrants and their supporters to the streets of Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago have convinced politicians they must act, Republicans and Democrats say.
"The winds have shifted," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who will serve on the conference committee that will negotiate a final deal with the House. "The American people are outraged at all of us for not controlling our borders and coming up with a legal system that works. They are not looking for revenge. They are looking for results."
With their agreement Thursday to bring the immigration bill back to the floor Monday, Senate leaders practically guaranteed contentious, protracted negotiations with the House. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had said he would give up parliamentary delaying tactics only if he received assurances that the conference committee would not be stacked against a final bill that tightened border security, offered a new temporary work permit for future immigrants and granted illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had to assure conservatives opposed to such legislation that they would have a seat at the table as well.
What they agreed to was an ideological split. Senate negotiators will include some of the strongest supporters of the compromise legislation: Sens. Graham, Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) But the committee will also include three of its most ardent opponents, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
Across the table from them will be House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), the main author of the House immigration bill, who is considered one of the toughest negotiators the House has to offer.
"Everyone is skeptical that anything can come out of conference," conceded a House Judiciary Committee aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not cleared to speak to the media. "We've never had bills as divergent as these."
Republicans who support the president on the issue say Bush must create the momentum for those negotiations by forcefully making the case that it is unrealistic to think 12 million illegal immigrants can be deported, and by making serious commitments to seal the borders. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said Americans still remember the 1986 immigration law, when they were promised that an amnesty for illegal immigrants would be coupled with border security and a crackdown on businesses that employ undocumented workers. They got the amnesty, he said, but the flow of illegal immigrants went on unabated.
Martinez told the National Press Club yesterday that "the president probably misplaced what the Americans needed to hear" as this debate was launched. "He needed to have spoken first about border enforcement. He spoke about a guest-worker program," said the senator from Florida.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the House Republican Conference, said a tough border security bill with a temporary worker program has the support of a majority of Republicans and enough Democrats to secure House passage. But the idea that illegal immigrants should also be offered a path to citizenship, embraced by most senators and by the president, will still give most House Republicans pause, he said. Sensenbrenner is dead set against it, according to Judiciary Committee spokesman Jeff Lungren.
Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6051200641.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
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