Monday, December 30, 2002

More Border Problems Illegal Aliens Sought as Borders Remain Wide Open Associated Press - December 30 FBI seeking five Arab illegals With the New Year's holiday approaching, the FBI is searching for several men of Arab ancestry after receiving intelligence they crossed illegally into the U.S. from Canada and may have connections to others under watch in terrorism investigations, law enforcement officials said Monday. -- The FBI has no specific information the men are plotting a terrorist attack, but they want to question them about possible connections to individuals who are involved in terrorism.... More [Also see: Feds racing to thwart 19-man terror team] Past Features   ABP Updates

Washington Post -- Bill Ong Hing Ethnic studies prof. bemoans deportation of criminals Would we deport Winona Ryder for shoplifting? Of course not. In fact, for her felony conviction, Ryder will pay restitution, engage in community service and face no jail time. Yet, every day, the United States deports lawful immigrants and refugees who have been convicted of minor offenses such as shoplifting and writing bad checks. Yes, some have committed more serious crimes involving violence or narcotics, but all have been incarcerated....

International Herald Tribune / NY Times The welcome mat frays The U.S. has always been a special destination for those fleeing oppression. Sadly, that seems to be changing. A 1996 law gravely limited America's embrace of those fleeing persecution. Now, in the name of fighting terror, the Bush administration has put additional limits on asylum seekers. Caution after Sept. 11 is warranted, but some of the new regulations have no possible anti-terror justification. The U.S. can find ways to protect legitimate asylum seekers without admitting those who wish it ill.

H. Millard

We Attack At Dawn! I ran into Trailer-Park Dave last week. -- "It's the damn Mexican commies who've done this to California," said Dave. -- "What did they do?" I asked. I figured he meant the gigantic $ 34 billion dollar state deficit, or crime, or other problems that most intelligent people know are the result of California's wink and nod policies toward the millions of illegal aliens who are turning the state into a third world sewer and who are stealing all the benefits from safety net social programs so when citizens need them, they're not there.

Por (Translated) A Hispanic patrols the border against undocumented immigrants Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. -- (quepasa.com) - In contrast to his origin, Mexican American Henry Esparza has joined a paramilitary group, The Nation's Civic Defense [Civil Homeland Defense of Tombstone], in Arizona, to fight those whose goal is to illegally enter the U.S. via Mexico, even though he specifies those civilian patrols do not pursue racism. -- Esparza, whose grandmother entered legally, according to him, the U.S. in 1930, made it clear that it is not about promoting racism against immigrants, that it is about enforcing the laws of the American Union.

Michelle Malkin

Washington Times Echoes of another blown whistle A young, tenacious journalist did our country a great service this year by refusing to accept conventional wisdom and the status quo. He blew the whistle on powerful figures of authority, exposed deceit and forced change. But you won't see him celebrated on the cover of Time magazine. -- That's because Joel Mowbray, a Townhall.com columnist and reporter for National Review magazine and its online counterpart, is too politically incorrect and fearlessly skeptical of official lies to be embraced by the media elite. [See Michelle in January in New York or Tempe, AZ]

L.A Times (Free Registration)   In Orange Co., More Gang Deaths, Fewer Funds Orange County recorded a sharp increase in gang homicides this year, at a time when some local police departments are scaling back their gang-suppression programs because of budget cuts. -- Gang homicides -- which most police departments define as a killing that has some link to street gangs -- nearly doubled over the last year to 35, the most in five years, according to estimates from the district attorney's office. Santa Ana led the way with 15, up from 10 in 2001. Anaheim recorded 11 gang killings, up from two a year ago. [Both of these cities have large numbers of illegals.]

Canadian Press FBI looks for several Arab illegals: Could they have snuck in through Mexico? With the New Year's holiday approaching, the FBI is searching for several foreign-born men after receiving intelligence they crossed illegally into the U.S. from Canada and may have connections to others under watch in terrorism investigations, law-enforcement officials said Monday [see today's feature]. --- But RCMP spokesman Paul Marsh said Monday the FBI has said only that the men entered the U.S. by ground - which he said could mean they entered from Canada or Mexico. He stressed there is no proof that these people remain in the U.S..

The Journal News Harassment suit set for trial Jury selection in a lawsuit accusing Brewster officials and a village landlord of harassing a deli owner whose customers are mainly Hispanic day laborers is expected to begin in about two weeks in U.S. District Court in White Plains. ---- The suit accuses former Village Attorney Kelly, now president of the state Environmental Facilities Corp., of asking county sheriff's deputies to disperse Hispanics from the deli's parking lot, among other things.

Tri-Valley Herald Bush: No free lunch without proof There will be no free lunch for kids whose parents can't prove they're poor enough to deserve one under a policy being considered by the Bush administration. -- "There may be families who see the requirement as a potential threat," cautioned Chila Silva-Martin, acting director of the California Department of Education nutrition services division. She noted that undocumented adult parents in particular might be skittish about the new rules.

Associated Press INS Blamed for Illegal Pakistanis in Virginia Four Pakistani sailors were mistakenly allowed into the U.S. by immigration officials who were not told by their bosses about new restrictions on foreign crewmen, a report on the incident has found. -- Of the four who deserted their ship in Norfolk, Va., in March, only two have been found. -- The Justice Department inspector general blamed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's poor internal communications for the error.

Bill O'Reilly -- CNS News The Villains Of 2002 ...Another federal villain is INS Director James Ziglar. Under his leadership, that agency has endangered all of us, and it was done with arrogance. Our borders remain wide open, and when the accused sniper triggerman, John Lee Malvo, was designated for deportation by the Border Patrol in Washington State, INS supervisor Blake Brown overruled the Patrol and released Malvo into the custody of his mother, also in this country illegally. The rest is history. But did Ziglar say a word about it or produce Brown to explain the situation? No way. So Ziglar is another bureaucratic villain who has now resigned.

Bob Scherr

Tucson Citizen Politicians refuse to stop illegal crossers Illegal immigration is the biggest threat to America today, and the politicians of both parties don't seem to care. -- They're afraid to take action or debate the issue because they fear offending the legal immigrants who are registered to vote. In fact, the politicians of both parties see this undocumented group of people as a pool of potential Democrat or Republican voters. They want to grant them amnesty and sign them up.

L.A Times (Free Registration)  MALDEF fights day labor restrictions Following the lead of Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, California has changed a law that tries to put some limits on people looking for day work on city streets. ---The law has been challenged in both cities by a Latino advocacy group that claims the laws limit the free speech rights of those looking for work. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund claims that cities pass such laws as anti-immigrant measures.

ConservativeAlerts.com Demand Sen. Murray resign Republican Sen. Trent Lott was ousted from power for praising Strom Thurmond. So what happens when a Democrat Senator praises terrorist leader Osama bin Laden? -- According to news sources, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) told a group of high-school students in her state that the U.S. should adopt Osama bin Laden's "nation- building tactics." And apparently, she's making the same comments to students all over Washington state.

Chicago Tribune (Free Registration)  Armed civilians form border patrol, Mechista Rep.-elect Grijalva upset The battle over immigration policy is heating up in the Arizona desert, where humanitarian organizations are setting up water stations to aid illegal immigrants and self-described "gun-toting patriots" are trying to catch people crossing the border illegally. -- The dispute is expected to grow as border traffic increases after the holidays... - It's become such a hot topic in these parts that Rep.-elect Raul Grijalva has asked the U.S. Border Patrol to keep close tabs on Chris Simcox's group because he fears "innocent people could get shot."

Chris Allen

FrontPageMag.com Immigration and Texas' Budget Crisis: The Elephant in the Room The coming session of the Texas Legislature has been billed as "the perfect storm" because of the looming $5 to $12 billion-dollar budget shortfall. Although the evidence suggests that immigration, both legal and illegal, is fueling the rapid growth in state spending on social services, this issue is almost entirely absent from the debate. -- It is well established that recent immigrants use more in services than they pay in taxes, particularly to state and local governments....

L.A Times (Free Registration)  Health-Care Storm Brewing in California Threatens to Swamp U.S. An alarm bell is ringing in California. Will President Bush and the new Republican majority in Congress respond? -- The alarm is warning of an approaching catastrophe in the health-care system. It's a perfect storm collision of threatening trends. -- Even in good times, an unusually large share of Californians lack health insurance -- mostly because the state has so many small employers (who are less likely to provide coverage) and new immigrants, many of them here illegally, working in low-wage jobs that don't offer insurance. [See: Killing of 187 will kill Californians]

Concord Monitor (NH) Latino activists focus on Maine Activists from New England are gathering Saturday to develop ways to improve the quality of life for Latinos in the region. -- "We have an influx of people and we are trying to strategize to address their needs," LULAC's Laura Medrano said. -- Those needs can include getting a driver's license or opening a bank account, mundane matters that can be difficult for people who don't speak English or have Social Security numbers [read: illegal alien invaders]. -- Many of these issues have addressed in other states...

Stockton Record Latino DUI arrests high - culture cited Drunken-driving arrests are up in California for a third straight year -- a troubling-enough statistic. But buried within California's 178,950 DUI arrests last year is a more bothersome pattern -- Latinos make up a disproportionately high percentage of those arrested for driving drunk. -- In San Joaquin County, 30.5 percent of the population is Latino, yet more than half of DUI arrests by the local CHP and police departments of Stockton, Tracy and Lodi in 2001 were of Latinos. [Related information]

San Francisco Chronicle   Water woes plaguing overcrowded California With an uncertain water supply and memories of a near disastrous drought, Marin County's water lords are looking into an idea as old as Aristotle -- tapping the sea. -- Even in the absence of drought, experts say, there soon will not be enough water available for the number of people crowding into the state. Meanwhile, the costs for dams and pipelines -- and the concomitant environmental mitigation -- are shooting skyward, making it increasingly difficult to tap existing waterways. [Also see: Water Wars: Interior Dept. Plays its Hand]

Dan Walters

Sacramento Bee State has huge fiscal headache, which could get even worse California now has, officialdom has finally acknowledged, a financial headache that not only has grown to immense proportions but could plague the state's politicians and taxpayers for many years. -- A week before Christmas, Gov. Gray Davis declared that the deficit had reached nearly $35 billion for the remainder of the current fiscal year and all of the next. That amounts to more than a fourth of the budgeted spending during that period or, to put it another way, it's about $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the state. [Related feature]

Sham ID Cards

Times Herald Norristown ready to recognize Mexican IDs While criticized by some as a back-door immigration process, a recently revamped identification card for Mexican citizens [read: illegal aliens] living in the U.S. has been gaining support from governments and police around the country. -- "The sooner we can get them to be taxpaying citizens, the better off we're going to be," said Borough Council Vice President Olivia Brady. -- Council earlier this month voted unanimously in favor of a resolution accepting the card as valid identification.

Sacramento Bee California's boom gone bust California's fiscal fortunes peaked about May 2000, when Gov. Gray Davis revised his budget plan to take into account a stunning $12.3 billion windfall in tax revenues. -- On the heels of two years of pleasant budget surprises, it seemed like the sunny days could last forever. -- But Davis sounded a note of caution. The state shouldn't count on that money over the long haul, the governor warned. [Illegal alien-bloated California is now facing a $35 billion plus deficit.]

San Francisco Chronicle  Another reconquista law in Calif. With little fanfare, a state law takes effect Wednesday with the goal of protecting tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from abuse at the workplace -- where it's unlawful to employ them but, advocates say, common to exploit them. -- State Sen. Gloria Romero's SB1818 makes California the first state to respond to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that limited the rights of undocumented workers who are fired illegally, for reasons unrelated to immigration.

Arizona Daily Star -- Miguel Escobar-Valdez, Mexican Consul - Douglas, AZ Another meddling Mexican rants for a 'migration accord' Among the many issues that form the bilateral relation between the U.S. and Mexico, one stands out: Migration. -- No other topic demands so much a mutual understanding. -- I do not envision, in the next few years, a change of priorities in the always complex relationship between a developing country that shares one of the longest borders in the world with the most powerful nation of modern times... [More arrogant, desperate messages from Mexicans.]