Wednesday, December 18, 2002 Abbreviated Posting Today - Webamster in Arizona

Paul M. Weyrich

CNSNews.com Bordering On Insanity: Lax US Policies On Immigration Immigration reform is the hot-button issue that many in the Republican establishment refuse to touch, but one that is not only good politics but also good policy. -- That is made clear in a recent story by The Washington Times' Stephen Dinan, who reported on a study by the Center for Immigration Studies that examined the attitudes held by elite opinion leaders and the public on immigration. What the study finds is a huge disconnect between the public and their leaders over the level of immigration that is acceptable.

WorldNetDaily.com Border militia targeted by Mexicans? Is the citizen border-patrol group formed to defend the U.S. against illegal aliens being targeted for cross-border retribution by opposition groups based in Mexico? -- So claims Tombstone Tumbleweed editor in chief Chris Simcox, founder of the Civil Homeland Defense Corps. He told WorldNetDaily that he and members of his Arizona group have been threatened "numerous times," and that the threats have increased in recent weeks.

Washington Times Lawmakers back bill on alien licenses Republican lawmakers in Virginia say they will back legislation at the upcoming General Assembly session that would require noncitizens who apply for driver's licenses to prove they are in the country legally. -- The reaction followed a statement from AG Jerry W. Kilgore, who said this week he would seek such legislation because seven of the 19 9/11 hijackers had illegally obtained driver's licenses issued in Virginia. - It is estimated that 80% of the state's illegal aliens live in Northern Virginia.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Cop kills previously deported Mexican The armed man who was killed by authorities last week after shooting a Las Vegas police officer had been deported but re-entered the United States illegally, the INS reported. -- Las Vegas police initially identified the man as Saul Morales-Garcia. The Clark County coroner's office on Tuesday identified him as Javier Duarte Chavez. Authorities haven't compared fingerprints for both identities, but they have evidence that Chavez lived under the alias of Saul Morales-Garcia or Saul Garcia-Morales.

Associated Press Mexico names colonizing council to meddle in U.S. Mexican officials have elected 100 people to advise the government on topics related to Mexicans living in the United States. -- "We have looked to open as much as possible the process of exchanging divergent ideas and opinions,'' said Candido Morales, president of the Institute of Mexicans Living Abroad. -- Among those chosen were Carlos Truan, a state senator from Texas, and Esperanza Chacon, a member of the Tepeyec Association of NY [a gang of reconquistas]. -- Many migrant groups opposed the move, saying they preferred the old office for migrant affairs, created by Fox and led by Juan Hernandez, whose off-the-cuff policy statements reportedly angered Jorge Castaneda.

Midland Reporter-Telegram Series of arrests lead to major marijuana seizures U.S. Border Patrol Marfa Sector, along with agents assigned to Alpine, Marfa and Sierra Blanca, seized 2,161 pounds of marijuana from Friday to Sunday. U.S. Customs Service seized 1,608 pounds of marijuana Sunday after surveying a remote area of Big Bend National Park. -- "Cocaine is popular to transport up to the Big Bend region. However, marijuana seems to dominate because there is so much of it," the official said. "The profit margin is pretty big and also the conditions in Mexico make it easy to manufacture and harvest pretty quickly."

San Diego Union-Tribune  Produce truck yields 8,600 pounds of pot U.S. Customs inspectors seized almost 8,600 pounds of marijuana from a produce truck, authorities announced yesterday. -- Nearly 1,000 packages of marijuana were found mingled with peppers and cucumbers in boxes inside a tractor-trailer rig with California license plates. -- The rig was searched Friday night after an X-ray examination detected something amiss...

San Diego Union-Tribune  Anger Over INS Arrests In peaceful Irvine, where Iranians who fled the Ayatollah Khomeini established a tight-knit community of professionals and young families, the last thing anyone expected was to be tossed in jail. --- The U.S. Department of Justice and the INS refused to say how many people had been apprehended in California or around the country in connection with the registration process. Santa Ana police said as many as 40 people detained at the INS center there were booked...

Knight-Ridder Newspapers  Immigration opposition seen The American public is much more opposed to immigration, both legal and illegal, than leaders who are shaping policy on the issue, according to a poll released Tuesday. -- In the survey taken during the summer, 70 percent of 2,862 people interviewed said that "controlling and reducing illegal immigration" should be a "very important" policy goal, compared with 22 percent of 400 leaders from Congress, business, the media, labor and religious and academic groups.

CNS News Immigration Groups Differ on New Homeland Security Agency ...During a conference call sponsored by the National Immigration Forum, Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza [The Race] said that the government's handling of immigration was "abominable" under the old Immigration and Naturalization Service. That, she predicted, is about to change. -- "The INS has essentially been abolished with the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security," she said. "The treatment of immigrants as a result of these 'reforms' will get worse than it has been at the hands of the INS."