Friday Night on KOLD-13 News American Border Patrol - 6 and 11 PM MST A news crew from KOLD-TV, Tucson, interviews and videotapes Mike King, American Border Patrol Technical director, and the group's headquarters in Sierra Vista, Arizona late Friday afternoon. Past Features   ABP Updates

Friday, December 20, 2002 Updates will be very sporadic through 12/21/02

Nogales International At War on the Border ..."My idea is that if people around the country can go online and watch, in real time, illegals walking right into this country, maybe they'll ask why the government doesn't stop it. What's wrong with a little competition for the [U.S.] Border Patrol, right?" -- In Glenn Spencer's view, this human traffic is overwhelming the country's health care and education systems. It is importing poverty. It allows within our borders an army whose leaders seek nothing less than the takeover by Mexico of the American Southwest.

Associated Press Flaws found in U.S. visa programs State Department procedures for awarding visas to foreigners are inadequate for preventing terrorists from traveling to the United States, an internal report finds. -- The report, requested by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, concluded that such procedures were so flawed the State Department "at every level must rethink its approach to this task and devote the necessary resources and effort to it." -- Findings were based on visits by investigators to 27 overseas U.S. posts, mostly in the Middle East. The report studied nonimmigrant visas, which cover foreigners considered to be only temporary U.S. visitors. Such visas are often issued by junior workers at U.S. consuls.

UPI INS problems with homeland defense The plan to dismantle the Immigration and Naturalization Service and reestablish its functions in two separate sub-agencies of the new Department of Homeland Security is a formidable task that raises many problematic issues, a top Bush administration immigration official and other policy experts said Thursday at a Washington think tank forum.

NWITimes.com (Published) Mexico isn't a good neighbor for the United States I find ironic that the Mexican Consulate would have concerns oover the recent sweeps of airports. -- Let's take a look at the whole picture. -- Americans are under attack. We must protect our legal Americans first. We have some sleaze balls who knowingly hire illegals, putting a bigger dollar in their greedy pockets. -- Take a look at how Mexicans and their government treat their own....

KOLD-TV Congressman-Elect Grijalva Urges Militia Investigation Racists -- that's what Congressman-Elect Raul Grijalva believes makes up citizen militia groups patrolling the border. He wants the FBI to investigate. -- Grijalva is referring to militia groups like American Border Patrol, Ranch Rescue and the Civil Homeland Defense, which are on the lookout for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. -- A Border Patrol spokesman says militias have the same right to operate as those who oppose their efforts. So far, no violence has been linked to the groups.

WTVH s- Indianapolis Large scale operation busted Police arrested five people in the drug bust in Columbus, one a 17-year-old in what they say was a large-scale drug operation set up in Bartholomew County. -- Columbus Police Chief Matt McCord thinks, "this is the largest seizure in the history of Bartholomew County." -- Adrian Avitia was arrested with his cousin. Avitia, an illegal alien from Mexico, says that he's been in Columbus for seven months working as a landscaper and was only visiting family and friends when he was arrested. "I don't know what was in the house. I don't know."

EFE Mexicans whine about border security Authorities on Wednesday urged U.S. citizens and officials to reflect on the value of the work done in their nation by immigrants from south of the border and to respect them rather than treat them as "terrorists and enemies." -- Marking the International Day of the Immigrant, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) also reported that, along the Mexico-California border alone, more than 3,000 Mexican immigrants have died since Operation Guardian went into effect nine years ago.

KGUN-TV (Short Lived Link) Napolitano to keep an eye on 'militias' Arizona Governor-elect Janet Napolitano is promising to keep an eye on militia groups along the U.S.-Mexico border. Currently, three civilian border patrols monitor illegal immigration activity. The question is-- are they taking it too far? With a growing number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S., Napolitano says tension and frustration are building on the border. -- "This border is something that we need to manage and we need the federal government to step up and put more resources here," said Napolitano.

Associated Press About 500 Mideastern Immigrants Detained Since Monday Immigration lawyers estimate at least 500 Middle Eastern immigrants have been detained in California since Monday. -- That's when male visa holders, age 16 and older, from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria were asked to register at local immigration offices or risk being deported. -- The INS has refused to release any official figures. But Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez says the total number of people detained in Southern California was "in the low 200s."