Saturday, December 14, 2002

Bordering on Chaos Congress Stormed Twice - U.S. Owned Maquila Taken Over Mexicans storm congress chambers on horseback. Anti-NAFTA protesters storm into Mexican Congress on horseback Anti-NAFTA protesters stormed the lower house of the Mexican Congress late Tuesday, riding horses into the lobby and breaking down an ornate wooden door as they spilled onto the legislative floor. A visibly shaken Beatriz Paredes, the legislature's president, begged for calm and called on federal authorities to intervene as more than 150 farmers, ranchers and teachers broke up a legislative session where legislators had been discussing next year's budget. Mexican Congress stormed again Protesters stormed Congress on Thursday for the second time in three days, breaking down a door before being pushed back by police and security guards. Mexican workers seize factory Some 250 workers took control of a border-city factory to prevent machinery from being removed by U.S. owners intent on closing the premises without giving the severance pay and Christmas bonuses required by law, La Jornada daily reported Thursday. Past Features   ABP Updates

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Cobb County clashes with the INS Sheriff Bill Hutson of Cobb County threatened last week to free 10 immigrants from his crowded jail by Jan. 1 if the federal government has not picked them up by then. -- "It's unfair to the local taxpayers of our county who have to maintain, house and provide medical care for inmates" held at the request of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he said. -- Thursday, the day after the sheriff's most recent letter to the INS about the problem, the agency picked up five of the immigrant inmates. It plans to pick up the others soon, said W. Fred Alexander, deputy director of the Atlanta office of the INS.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution INS ineptness continues Miguel Angel Gordoba is a pedophile. He is also an illegal immigrant. -- So last year, after he finished serving a four-year sentence for molesting a 2-year-old girl in rural Alma, Ga., everyone assumed that he would be deported to his native Mexico, as required by federal law. -- Everyone was wrong. -- Gordoba left prison and disappeared into the community because the Immigration and Naturalization Service never deported him.

Associated Press The malfeasance is unending More than 2,000 Hispanic [correction: Mexican illegal alien] residents of Elkhart County received identification cards from the Mexican Consulate this week that are designed to help them more easily open bank accounts, get driver's licenses and apply for credit. -- "It's a great tool to allow people to integrate into the community better," said Goshen Mayor Alan Kauffman, though he and others said official acceptance of the ID should begin at the state level.

Sham ID Cards

Merced Sun-Star Mexicans dole out sham IDs on Merced County fairgrounds Hundreds of Merced County's Mexican citizens sought assistance from the Fresno Office of the Mexican Consulate Friday afternoon at the Merced County Fairgrounds. -- The Merced Police Department sponsors consulate visits once a month, and despite Friday's rain, the line for assistance wrapped around the fairground's cafeteria. -- Juana Maria Ruiz said about 75% of the Mexican citizens who came out Friday applied for a matricula consular. -- The matricula consular is used only for identification and travel to Mexico. It is not recognized by all authorities, but Ruiz said consulates throughout the nation are working toward that goal.

Tucson Citizen -- Larry Vance (Published) Make Mexico pay for medical care Once again, our federal representatives are calling for the feds to pay for illegal alien care. B.S. I say. The American taxpayer should not pick up the tab. -- Mexico, or the country of origin of any illegal alien, should pay medical and all other costs run up by their citizens who have snuck into the U.S. deducted from foreign aid given to them by the American taxpayer....

Times Herald (Michigan) Agents stop 7 more illegals U.S. Border Patrol agents picked up seven Chinese nationals Thursday night attempting to enter the United States through Algonac. -- Thursday's bust is believed to be connected to the capture Dec. 9 of seven other illegal Chinese immigrants, said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Stan Rosas. -- Agents were patrolling an undisclosed area of the city when several people were seen jumping from the brush into a blue van. -- "They loaded up and they took off," Rosas said. "When they were on the highway, we made a stop on them."

Philippine Headline News 84 deportees arrive in Philippines Eighty-four Filipinos, most of whom had their hands or feet or both "restrained," arrived here yesterday on board a chartered passenger plane after being deported by the US government for being "undocumented aliens." -- At least 59 of the deportees were restrained with "flexicuffs" - which are more comfortable than metal handcuffs - for the duration of their flight on board a Boeing 737 Miami International aircraft that took off from San Diego, California. The plane stopped over in Honolulu and from Wake Island before landing here.

Brenda Walker

Published Letter to the El Paso Times Creating a hazard There is no worse idea on the American-policy plate than opening the nation to Mexican trucks. The demands of Mexico, voiced through the unelected NAFTA panel, have forced this idiocy at the worst possible time. -- Implications for facilitating terrorism are enormous. Officials are already overwhelmed with the need to somehow check all shipping containers entering the United States for bombs, bio-weapons and terrorists....

Chicago Tribune (Free Registration)  Arrogant Mexican officials carp over detention of illegals Mexican Consulate officials on Friday said the detention of six men after an airport security sting is discriminatory. -- This week's raid, targeting airport employees in possession of fraudulent security badges, concealing criminal records or in violation of their immigration status, led to charges against 25 workers and the detention by the INS of 26 other people. -- But six men, all related and undocumented Mexicans found at the home of an airport worker, also were detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Glenn R. Jackson

Etherzone.com Immigration steals American dreams....and the white guy provides the distraction Senator Strom Thurmond's 100th Birthday party. Yes, that Senator Lott is in a position to be this big an embarrassment to the Republican Party is testimony enough to the GOP being the Stupid Party. However, while many civil rights groups railed on against Lott calling for his ouster as a closet racist...

Sham ID Cards

Corpus Christi Caller-Times Mobile Mexican invasion station using public property Area Mexican nationals can get information on immigration, legal issues, passports and identification today at a mobile consulate at Del Mar College East Campus. -- The consulate will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Buddy Venters Building at Del Mar. "Basically, we are trying to establish communication with the Mexican community here," said Consul General Carlos Vidali of the San Antonio consulate.

Published Letters to the Arizona Republic

Indeed, America should learn from AZ In Monday's "My Turn" column, "Heed the message from Arizona," Ruben Beltran, Mexico's consular representative in Phoenix, asked the rest of the nation to look to Arizona for ideas to deal with illegal immigration. He entreated the rest of the country to listen to the voices of Arizonans. -- I, too, entreat my fellow countrymen to listen to our voices. A recent study published in late November indicated a shocking level of poverty among working adults in Arizona. Beltran cheerfully advises us to admit more unskilled laborers...

We wouldn't need vigilantes if the feds would do their job The reason we have "vigilantes" is that the government, particularly the federal government, is not doing its job, pure and simple. -- The responsibility for our borders rests with the federal gov't, headed by President Bush. The problem is he doesn't want to anger minority groups of a variety of nationalities and therefore the immigration laws are simply not enforced. Similar problems existed with the Clinton admin. We need a rational immigration policy that is enforced.

Tri City Herald 4 jailed in alleged auto theft ring Four residents of a Kennewick mobile home park pleaded innocent Friday to their alleged involvement in an auto theft ring with links to Mexico. -- The men are accused of running the operation out of their homes at the Columbia Mobile Village on Clearwater Avenue. They were arrested in a Dec. 5 raid for allegedly stealing at least a dozen vehicles around the state and altering the license plates or vehicle identification numbers.

Rocky Mountain News Lying Mexican pleads guilty A hazardous materials worker whom federal immigration authorities accused of gaining access to security installations in Colorado pleaded guilty Friday to one count of making a false claim of citizenship. -- Under a plea deal, Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette agreed to dismiss 10 other counts against Juan S. Stamatio-Martinez, an illegal immigrant. Those counts included misusing a Social Security number, perjury and misusing documents.

Tucson Citizen Reconquista Aztlan cheerleader Garcia upset by 'vigilantes' Those at a celebration of International Human Rights Day last night said the past year has given them few reasons to rejoice. -- About 75 people attended the event at St. John's Catholic Church. It was sponsored by the immigrant rights group Coalicion de Derechos Humanos. -- Most said there was little to celebrate because vigilante groups are forming in southern Arizona, where thousands of illegal immigrants enter the United States each year to find work. [They just sneak in to do the jobs Americans won't do.] -- "We've never had a terrorist struggling to get through the desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation," [the anti-American Isabel Garcia] said.

EFE Mexicans call for ban on U.S. trucks The [Mexican] Transportation Secretariat here [in Mexico City] on Friday urged the Economy Secretariat to ban U.S. trucks from Mexico in response to the United States' refusal to allow Mexican trucks on its highways. -- According to the local press, Transportation Secretary Pedro Cerisola said "the privileges of U.S. truck drivers can be suspended" under Article 2019 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). -- In a Dec. 10 letter to Economy Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, Cerisola explained the reasons for his displeasure with the current situation regarding trucks....