Wednesday, January 15, 2003

American Border Patrol Featured in Tucson Citizen The American Border Patrol took this image of Roger Barnett escorting suspected illegal immigrants out to State Route 80 near Douglas. Glenn Spencer, president of the group, said the broadcasts are meant to focus attention on illegal immigration. -- Caption corrected by ABP Tucson Citizen - January 15    Live footage of illegal immigrants sneaking into the United States is being broadcast via the Internet in what the producer calls an unprecedented event.    Glenn Spencer, president of the Sierra Vista-based American Border Patrol, said the group's second and third official missions were the broadcasting of the live images during the past two weeks.    "Beautiful pictures," Spencer said. "Just exactly what we said we were going to do. I don't think that's ever been done before."    He said the broadcasts are meant to focus attention on the problem of illegal migrants and show the reality of the border situation. -- More... Additional images from 1/12 mission Past Features   American Border Patrol Updates

Today's American Border Patrol Mission Successful Watch for a Special Presentation on KMSB-11, Tucson (Fox Network) February 4

Media Watch

Glenn Spencer on Buchanan and Press Thursday MSNBC -- 11 AM Pacific - Check Your Local Listings

Atlanta Journal-Constitution   INS expands reach of registration rules The U.S. Department of Justice is expanding a controversial initiative that requires men from several largely Muslim nations to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. -- Students, tourists and businessmen from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait will join visa holders from 20 other countries required to register, according to documents to be published today in the Federal Register. -- The government also is giving a second chance to foreign nationals, mainly from the Middle East, who missed recent deadlines to register.

Christian Science Monitor Mexican migration moves off fast track Mexico's President Vicente Fox apparently realizes that his migration-policy desires must finally adjust to a post-Sept. 11 world. -- The appointment of a new foreign minister last week, following the resignation of Jorge Castañeda, indicates a new, go-slow approach to border issues, say experts. -- Since joining the Fox administration in 2001, Mr. Castañeda tried to forge a wide-ranging migration policy with the United States that would have opened the border to workers, trucks, and trade.....

Chicago Tribune (Free Registration)  Immigration policy risks support of U.S., Pakistan ambassador says Pakistan's ambassador to the United States warned Tuesday that new immigration requirements have caused a backlash among Pakistanis locally and in his home country. -- In a meeting with members of the Tribune's editorial board, Ashraf J. Qazi said he is pushing U.S. officials not to punish Pakistanis who might have lost their legal immigration status but are otherwise not a security threat. -- A new U.S. policy requires males 16 and older from 20 countries, including Pakistan, to register with the local office of the INS. The requirement does not apply to U.S. citizens or holders of green cards.

Associated Press Teen 'sniper' could face death A judge has ruled that 17-year-old sniper suspect John Lee Malvo [a Jamaican illegal] can be tried as an adult, making him eligible for the death penalty. -- Juvenile Court Judge Charles Maxfield issued his decision after a two-day hearing in which prosecutors said evidence tied Malvo to three fatal attacks and that he tried to extort $US10 million from authorities during last fall's killing spree. -- Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, 42, are accused of killing 13 people and wounding five others in Alabama, Georgia.....

Atlanta Journal-Constitution   Deportations to Muslim nations soar The U.S. government dramatically increased the deportation of people from Muslim nations in the year after Sept. 11, 2001, even as it eased up on illegal immigrants from Mexico and other countries. -- The numbers of foreign nationals expelled to their native countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia multiplied faster than for citizens of nearly all other nations from October 2001 to September 2002, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution computer analysis of INS records.

Associated Press Bush says Michigan affirmative action program unconstitutional President Bush, stepping into a major affirmative action case, asserted today that a program of racial preferences for minority applicants at the University of Michigan was "fundamentally flawed" and unconstitutional. -- The program "amounts to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes prospective students solely on their race," Bush said in announcing that his administration would file a legal brief in the case with the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Sierra Vista Herald Editorial [Short-lived link] ID plan for voters is a good idea There is no doubt many efforts have been made to get more Americans to vote. -- Voter registration drives, such as the one currently being undertaken by the Greater Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce, are good. They inform prospective voters of why they should register and vote. --- And --- For that reason, we support state lawmaker Linda Gray, R-Glendale, and her plan to mandate that would-be voters must first show either a card with a photograph or two other forms of identification with the person's name and address. -- Some will claim it is offensive to show ID to prove you're a citizen and have the right to vote. -- We say hogwash.

We Get E-Mail

Open Letter to Bush, Ashcroft, Congress What will you do about this? Clearly, Mexico has no business having as many consular offices in the United States as they do. Illegal aliens are not supposed to be here. They have circumvented the law, and the Mexican Government is aiding and perpetuating the situation. -- Now, it seems, they have taken their meddling to a whole new level. The Mexican Government, as a foreign governmental entity, is now interfering with our law enforcement procedures.

New York Post - N.Y State Assemblyman Tim Kirwan Illegal aliens' higher ed jackpot "Before this year, [New York] residents paid $3,400 annually to attend [SUNY.] If you were from out of state, no matter if your ancestor rowed the Mayflower over here or if your father was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, you paid double: $6,800 annually. Illegal aliens living in New York also paid double. This year the Mayflower rower's great-great-great-grandson and Medal of Honor [winner's] son will pay $6,800, but the illegal alien? The same as a state resident - $3,400. Why should [New York] taxpayers be forced to underwrite the college education of illegal aliens?"

Sham ID Cards

Cybercast News Service Mexican Sham ID Cards Raise Nat'l Security Fears Identification cards issued by the Mexican government are gaining greater legitimacy in the U.S. That has some people worried that illegal aliens will be able to better conduct terrorist activities on U.S. soil. -- "You had zero leadership from the Bush administration or from any federal officials about the dire consequences of ... state and local governments treating these documents as credible," said David Ray, spokesman for the group, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

KNBC - Los Angeles High court: No discrimination The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that Democratic state legislators did not violate the civil rights of Hispanic voters in 2001 when they redrew district lines for the San Fernando Valley's two congressional seats. -- On Monday, the justices accepted a June ruling by a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles and rejected an appeal of a lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Star Tribune License plan sails through House panel The No. 1 item on the agenda of the House Republican majority -- driver's license changes intended to track foreign visitors -- sailed through its first committee hearing on Tuesday with only a few dissenting DFL votes. -- Olmsted County Sheriff Steve Borchardt told the House Transportation Policy Committee that the Minnesota Sheriffs Association supports the measure as "a real common-sense approach to keeping our country safe." [Other coverage]

Detroit News Illegal alien drunk who maimed teen sentenced to prison His wild driving left Tricia Taylor nearly dead, with one pint of blood in her veins, no blood pressure and ultimately no legs. -- But four months after the devastating accident, 18-year-old Taylor emerged a survivor. On Monday, it was her turn to leave Jose Carcamo to his own fate: prison. -- Surrounded by two dozen family members and friends, Taylor wheeled herself into an Oakland County courtroom to ask Circuit Judge John J. McDonald to give Carcamo, who smashed into Taylor and her friend Noah Menard as the pair walked down a Pontiac street on Aug. 31, 2002, the maximum sentence for his crimes.

Tucson Citizen Indian trackers help find 3,660 pounds of pot; 11 arrests made Eight recent seizures of marijuana in southern Arizona by Native American trackers, known as the Shadow Wolves, totaled 3,660 pounds and resulted in 11 arrests. -- The seizures, which began Friday, have an estimated street value of $3.66 million, said Customs spokesman Roger Maier. -- The trackers are based in the U.S. Customs office in Sells. -- The largest seizure was Sunday, when officers seized 1,598.3 pounds near Vamori. Maier said that load, which was backpacked into the United States may be the largest backpack load ever seized. But no arrests were made.

Press Release

Federation for American Immigration Reform Illegal Aliens Given OK to Use Documents Issued by Their Own Governments The continuing silence by the federal government regarding the growing acceptance of the Mexican government-issued matricula consular identity documents is yet another indication that in spite of the Bush Administration's promises to deal seriously with border security and illegal immigration, the official policy is still to look the other way at massive violations of our immigration laws, charges the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Houston Chronicle Miami man gets 5 months for role in license scheme A Miami man received a prison sentence Tuesday for acting as a middleman in a bribery scheme in which an estimated 100 unqualified truck drivers obtained commercial driver's licenses in Florida. -- In federal court in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman told Peter Gregus that he had endangered thousands of drivers by helping unqualified truckers obtain their licenses. The judge said the unskilled drivers became "10-ton torpedoes" on the nation's highways.

The Arizona Republic Border agents ready to quit National security soon could be jeopardized because thousands of immigration agents, including members of the Border Patrol, would quit before facing new regulations stripping them of all employee rights... -- The new Department of Homeland Security, which will officially begin doing business Jan. 24, assumes the duties of 22 federal agencies. -- The merger includes the INS, which is scheduled to be split into two new branches, one for immigrant services and another for law enforcement, on March 1.

Sham ID Cards

L.A. Daily News L.A. Co. Board votes to continue accepting sham Mexican IDs L.A. Co. will continue to accept matricular consular cards from illegal Mexican immigrants seeking services despite the district attorney's warning of potential security risks associated with the IDs. -- District Attorney Stephen Cooley and Supervisor Michael Antonovich expressed concern about security, noting that the consulate does not conduct fingerprint or criminal background checks or require sufficient verification. -- County Supervisor Gloria Molina disagreed the cards would be used for anything other than matching a face and name to perform regular tasks...

WorldNetDaily.com Mexicans accused of posing as U.S. agents, breaching U.S. sovereignty Mexican consulate staff posing as U.S. immigration agents interfered with a murder and smuggling probe following a border patrol chase of illegal aliens that ended in a fatal freeway crash near San Diego.-- The incident, which appears to be a breach of national sovereignty and security, began last Thursday... --- "We only suspected Mexico was running our immigration policy, but now we have it actually happening," said Michelle Malkin, author of the recently published book, "Invasion, How America Lets Terrorists, Torturers, and Other Foreign Criminals Right Through the Front Door." [See Michelle this month in New York on the 15th, or Tempe, AZ on the 25th]

EFE Arizona governor quickly kowtows to meddling Mexicans The governor of Arizona promised visiting Mexican lawmakers that she would sign legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants [foreign lawbreakers] in that state to obtain driver's licenses. -- Janet Napolitano met with five members of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Relations Committee last weekend, just days before she was scheduled to be sworn in as governor of Arizona. -- Granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants was a campaign promise Napolitano made to the state's Hispanic community. [Also see: Aiding, abetting illegals is a crime.]