Narco State Next Door

FBI Director conciliatory in narco state

The director of the FBI and Mexico' s new attorney general met Thursday in Mexico City, pledging to take joint efforts against crime to a new level. Emphasizing respect for the sovereignty of each country, FBI chief Louis Freeh said he sees the two countries working more closely together, including setting up more joint task forces, swapping more information and giving more U.S. training to Mexican police. -- The process has infuriated Mexico, which views it as a condescending and hypocritical exercise by the nation that is the world' s largest consumer of illegal drugs. -- "Our inability to control the use of drugs has inflicted a terrible burden on Mexico," Freeh said.

Dallas

Governor Perry greets 8 Mexican governors

Calling Texas and Mexico "old friends and neighbors," Texas Gov. Rick Perry welcomed eight Mexican governors to the Metroplex on Wednesday for a two-day trade summit to pave the way for increased trade between the United States and Mexico. "The time has come to open new doors, to transform our optimism into opportunities for citizens of both our nations," Perry said to hundreds gathered for the kickoff program at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas. "Trade with Mexico means jobs, economic development and greater opportunity all across our state." The conference continues today and includes an inauguration of the Mexico Trade Center in Dallas.

Project USA Update

Mass immigration hurts developing world

Dressing up self-interest in the garb of altruism is one of humanity's least attractive, but most enduring, habits. - For example, China has been engaged in the systematic destruction of the Tibetan culture for the last half century, but the average Chinese will maintain resolutely that China is just "helping Tibet modernize." -- Great Britain once colonized India, and to the average Briton, the British Empire was "spreading civilization." -- And today, America is engaging in the same hypocrisy through our immigration policies. Under the guise of "offering immigrants the American Dream" our government and globalist corporations are exploiting through mass immigration the poverty, desperation and cheap labor of the world's billions.

Des Moines

Senators say yes to official English

The Iowa Senate voted early today to declare English the state's official language after Democrats and Republicans clashed over the wisdom of the proposal. The Iowa English Language Reaffirmation Act was approved, 27-23. It would require, with several exceptions, that all official documents, proceedings and publications of state government be in English. The requirement also would apply to cities, counties and school districts. "This is an idea that helps knit the United States of America together," said Sen. Steve King, a Kiron Republican who guided debate. Senate Minority Leader Michael Gronstal, a Council Bluffs Democrat, called the proposed law "meaningless and irrelevant. It does nothing to welcome new Iowans to our state, to deal with the labor shortage that is hamstringing our economy, or to improve our communities."

Sun-Sentinel LTE

Mexico's real plan

The recent discussion between Vicente Fox and George Bush over amnesty and guest worker programs for the millions of illegal alien Mexicans living in the U.S. has made me think that Fox may be involved in a program to eliminate as much of his mestizo population as possible. He calls the people who leave Mexico illegally to get jobs in the U.S. heroes. He demands that these same people be given amnesty, so they will not come back to Mexico and will eventually get the rest of their families out of Fox's hair. He even wants them to vote here as dual citizens to influence American politics in Mexico's favor.

H. Millard

Oh, you're such an "N" word, you meany! Limbaugh is a kicked dog and he doesn't even know it

Rush Limbaugh, who presents a socially acceptable, and shallow version of "conservatism" to a world that rewards him handsomely for presenting his Ward and June Cleaver brand of quasi-right wing thinking, found it impossible to say the word "nigger," the other day on his radio program. -- In fact, Limbaugh spent the better part of an hour covering the recent statement made by Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) about "white niggers." Now, Limbaugh's apparent motive was to show that liberals, and especially liberal Democrats, have a double standard when it comes to racial matters.

Media Alert!

Tonight on A & E:

Border Patrol: America's Gatekeepers

Airs Thursday, March 8, 2001 at 10pm/9pm CT

Viewers go into the dangerous world of the U.S. Border Patrol, which battles everything from drug trafficking to the smuggling of illegal immigrants [aliens]. Agents patrol over 8,000 miles by car, boat, plane, horseback, snowmobile, motorcycle, and bicycle, and over 60 agents have been killed in the line of duty. Click the headline above to visit the A&E website (there is a message board there for your comments).

Washington

INS ignores ruling, will deport DWI violators

The Immigration and Naturalization Service will continue deporting foreigners convicted of repeatedly driving drunk, despite a recent court ruling that seemed to prohibit such action. After a conference-call meeting Wednesday, INS legal officials also decided they will likely appeal any court ruling that restricts their ability to deport legal immigrants with multiple convictions of driving while intoxicated. "I don't think this is over yet," said Tomas Zuniga, an INS spokesman based in Dallas. Immigration attorneys expressed surprise at the INS policy decision. "It strikes me as short-sighted and wasteful of resources" to continue deporting immigrant drunken drivers after the court ruling, said Brian Bates, a Houston attorney.

Narco State Next Door

Mexican broadcasters take 'narco-ballads' off the air

Do violent lyrics in popular music foment violence? Do songs about illegal drugs glorify the drug trade and turn traffickers into heroes? Those might sound like questions for American rapper Eminem. But they're being asked in Mexico, where a surge in drug-related killings this year has rekindled a search for solutions. One idea: banning narco-corridos or "narco- ballads." Songs with drug themes have become increasingly common - and wildly popular - over recent years as Mexico's troubador musical groups sing of the social conditions around them. Last week the radio and television association of Sinaloa state banned narco- ballads and other songs glorifying violence from the airwaves.

Aztlan Express Update

U.S. Racing Against Time On Mexican Trucks Policy

The United States won't meet Thursday's deadline to allow Mexican trucks full access to American roads, but U.S. officials say they're making progress toward forming a full-fledged policy on the issue and don't expect Mexico to impose trade sanctions against the U.S. David DeCarme, a Department of Transportation division chief, said U.S. commitment to free trade with Mexico was reiterated during meetings between President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox last month and at a more recent meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and his Mexican counterpart, Trade Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez. Also see this action alert.

It's the Mexican Way

Fight to end corruption meets up with reality

Juarez - Cruising through this seedy border city, police Lt. Jesus Benavides snickered at the mention of President Vicente Fox's promise to combat corruption. "We're realists. Corruption is never going to end. It's a culture going back generations," Benavides said. "If you have someone in the back of your patrol car and he says to you, 'Take the money or I'll kill your family,' which one would you pick?" Mexico's new Attorney General Rafael Macedo met with top U.S. law-enforcement officials in Washington this week to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking and corruption. But this drug- corridor city shows it's not a simple battle.

After Years of Clinton-Gore Intentional Neglect...

U.S. Hispanic population grows by 58%

The growth in the nation's Hispanic population, resulting partly from higher immigration than demographers had accounted for, raised the prospect of greater competition between African- Americans and Hispanics for political and economic power, though some leaders from both groups saw opportunity for joint action. It also underscored the impact Hispanic culture could have in the new century. While the Census Bureau won't officially release the race and Hispanic data from the 2000 census until next week, statistics the bureau has made available for other purposes also reveal that significantly more people indicated multiracial heritage than the bureau had expected. [Also see this 1992 VCT item and this Atlanta J-C article]

Sarita, TX

78 Illegals captured at checkpoint

Border Patrol agents at the Sarita checkpoint on Wednesday found 78 undocumented immigrants [illegals] of various nationalities inside a tractor-trailer full of rotting grapefruit, officials said. It is the third time in about a month that agents have found immigrants being smuggled into the country in tractor- trailers. Agents at the Falfurrias checkpoint on Feb. 5 found 99 immigrants [illegals], and officials at Sarita on March 1 found 50 people crowded into a tractor- trailer. Border Patrol officials have said that more immigrants [illegals] are hiring smuggling organizations to sneak them past surveillance and patrols along the river. They said smugglers often pack their human cargo into 18- wheelers.

Tucson

Captured illegals complain about Border Patrol manners

The two men traveling with Roberto Chavez Resendiz when he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent said the shooting could have been avoided. "My brother had his hands behind his head. He said, 'OK, OK,'" the victim's brother Ignacio Chavez Resendiz said yesterday in an interview with the Star. "He grabbed my brother and forced him down. We were just looking for work. The officer could have stepped back."-- Ignacio Chavez and Bautista-Perez[two other illegals] said they understand how an accidental shooting could have occurred, but they want "justice" served and would like to see Rivera spend time in prison for the shooting. -- The [meddling] Mexican government has called for a thorough investigation.