Franklin, Tennessee

Bush's education support appeals to growing Hispanic electorate

Days before the general election, U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson gave the cheering GOP crowd here what it wanted. He had just come from Washington -Thompson told the throng - where President Clinton and the Democrats were trying to pass legislation that would let all those "illegal aliens" stay in the country. Thompson promised that he and the GOP were not going to let that happen. The crowd cheered lustily. Immigration, legal or otherwise, gets the juices of the Republican faithful going. And the fear- heightening face of immigration is that of people who look like me, my parents and my grandparents. But the great irony from the election is that the same face now holds the best, new hope for the GOP in the wake of its race relations disaster with African- Americans over Florida voting irregularities.

Cultural Calamity in Columbus

Somali migrants say, "People have to accept us!"

The grip of discrimination may be in something as supple as a handshake, which can be a surprisingly complicated gesture. Ask any Somali, or a stranger who's tried to shake a Somali's hand. "In our religion, a man shouldn't take the hand of a woman, or the woman the hand of another man,'' said Maryan Warsame, who runs the Somali Women's Center on Cleveland Avenue. "A woman shouldn't touch any man's hand, unless he's her husband, brother or father.'' Ignorance of religious or ethnic customs can lead some people to feel uneasy around immigrants, Warsame said. "And something simple like that can make people discriminate against us. -- "People have to accept us. We live here legally. We are a part of Columbus.''

Los Angeles, Calif.

Your tax dollars at work: Aiding and abetting illegal aliens

Recently a shoddy apartment building in Echo Park, an L.A. suburb, collapsed. The building was apparently occupied by several groups illegal aliens. This whiny article in the criminal-friendly Los Angeles Times describes how your tax dollars are being used to relocate the illegals to the tune of $5,000 a pop. -- "She and Avalos arrived separately in the last 18 months, borrowing money from relatives already in Los Angeles to pay coyotes (smugglers) to guide them across the border. They met at a Westwood restaurant where both worked. Before striking out for the north [sneaking into the U.S.], Avalos, with a sixth- grade education, drifted from job to job -- farmhand, petroleum-industry laborer, and, finally, assembly-line worker in U.S.- owned factories in Tijuana." Unbelievable. Where is the INS? - See reader e-mail

Enforcement

Anti-terrorist program criticized as incoherent

One of the United States' foremost anti-terrorist experts blasted U.S. anti-terrorism policies as a "failure" and said the arrest of alleged terrorist Ahmed Ressam near Seattle a year ago was "pure luck." "Despite efforts by Canadian and U.S. governments, there are no known barriers to prevent terrorists from crossing this border," said Vincent Cannistraro, former counterterrorism chief for the CIA. Ressam, who was arrested last December crossing into the United States at Port Angeles, is accused of being a part of a conspiracy of Algerian nationals living in the United States and Canada to disrupt millennial celebrations in U.S. cities. He had reserved a room at a downtown hotel near the Space Needle. Mayor Paul Schell canceled the city's New Year's Eve festivities last year as a precaution.

We Get E-Mail

Re: Bush and illegal immigration

As a border state, is it possible to find out how the newly sworn in Governor Perry of Texas will treat the issue giving us some idea of how Bush will act? You are the voice (much appreciated) of people like me all over the state who are frustrated by the illegal immigrant situation and I hope you will be able to talk to the President Elect Bush on our behalf. Like you I voted for Bush because it just seemed that there was too big of a threat of Gore being elected. Otherwise, I would have voted for Buchanan. This election was a close call and I am not at all sure if the new president's team is concerned about the dilution of our votes due to the influx of aliens who are being pushed to citizenship. Someone needs to tell the Media and elected officials that we are sick to death of the glorification of diversity and the overuse of the word minority and that we resent being manipulated in this fashion.

Santa Ana, California

Architects pressured by [vehement reconquista] Nativo Lopez

Architects vying for up to $350 million in construction work for the overcrowded Santa Ana Unified School District said they were hit with a flurry of campaign fund- raising appeals this year from trustees who were deciding which companies would get the coveted jobs. Some hopeful companies said they saw the solicitations as a possible conflict of interest, and others said they felt pressured when contacted by school board members--some seeking funds for reelection and others hoping to retire 1998 campaign debts. School board member Nativo V. Lopez [director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, which provides services to 'immigrants'], recently reelected to a second term, collected the most contributions from architects bidding for school jobs, according to campaign documents -- nearly $24,000.

Illegal Alien-Bloated Los Angeles

Study: Illegal aliens drain county funds

Almost one-fourth of county jail inmates are subject to deportation, a population costing Los Angeles taxpayers more than $150 million a year, the Sheriff's Department reported. The recently released study found that 23% of county inmates fall under the "deportable criminal alien" category, which includes illegal immigrants and legal immigrants who have committed serious crimes and therefore lost their legal status. A 1990 study by a countywide multiagency task force found 11% of county inmates were subject to deportation. Processing the criminal immigrants through the justice system, including attorney, court and Sheriff's Department fees, cost taxpayers more than $150 million. Housing the inmates in county jails cost $83 million, the report said.

New York

Deportation of Haitian from U.S. sought

In his heyday, Emmanuel "Toto" Constant intimidated an entire nation. Now he's the strongman next door. Wanted for murder and mayhem in Haiti, Constant, 43, has lived with relatives in a quiet Caribbean neighborhood in Queens for the past four years. The fugitive paramilitary leader once boasted that voodoo -- as well as the CIA -- protected him from harm. But a vocal group of Haitian- American activists wants to break the spell. The group has been demanding that he be deported to Haiti and tried for atrocities committed after a military coup -- charges he denies. "I can't believe this guy is living in our midst," Ray LaForest, a labor organizer and head of the Haiti Support Network, said recently. "It's an outrage."

Milwaukee

Latin Kings member gets 10-year term

Latin Kings member Jorge Espada, who marked Frank Garza for death when he pointed him out in a barbershop, was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison. Espada was one of 33 Latin Kings named in a June 1998 indictment that alleged they were responsible for nine murders, 21 attempted murders, nine robberies, three arsons and an attempted arson, five kidnappings and a drug trafficking conspiracy. Another defendant was added to the case later. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karine Moreno-Taxman said it was clear that Espada "was enamored with the power of the Latin Kings. The Kings issued an "SOS" - which stood for either "Smash On Sight" or "Shoot on Sight" - for Garza, and that order was in effect when Espada saw Garza in a National Ave. barbershop in in February 1997.

Washington

Unskilled Hispanics vulnerable in strained economy

...The nation also is counting on the Hispanic couple [drop-outs described in the article] to graduate, not only from high school but from college. Anything else means they will be stuck in low- paying jobs -- part of a growing, vast underclass of working poor that could spell disaster for the U.S. economy. Experts warn that those without the insulation that comes with education would be among the first to lose their jobs, perhaps adding to the welfare burden. They also say the dramatic growth in working poor Hispanics will mean fewer tax dollars to pay for such government entitlement programs as Social Security and Medicare, programs becoming more costly as the population ages.

The News - Mexico City

Mexican newspaper appears concerned with Ashcroft

On Saturday Bush tapped conservative Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general. Ashcroft is expected to be the center of controversy. A Republican from Missouri, Ashcroft is a deeply conservative senator who lost his reelection bid last month to a dead man. However, Bush went to bat for Ashcroft, saying ''will be faithful to the law, pursuing justice without favor. He will enforce the law and he will follow the truth.'' -- Ashcroft undoubtedly will be a major link in many meetings between Mexico and the United States. Therefore, we wish Ashcroft and other Bush collaborators the best luck, hoping they can strengthen Mexico-U.S. relations even more.

Cheap Labor Madness

Bracero program veterans share views on proposed labor plans

As politicians, activists and business interests argue the merits of reviving a guest worker program for agriculture, the men who took part in the first such program watch quietly from the sidelines. These men, who worked in the bracero program during the 1940s, are now retired and look back with mixed views on the days when they were invited to come from Mexico to fill labor shortages caused by World War II. The bracero program came about through a treaty between Mexico and United states to help fill the gaps in agriculture and railroad work as Americans left to join the battle lines. The program shut down in the mid-1960s. Now there is talk of restarting a guest worker program.

B. Meredith Burke

Saving Santa Barbara: Resisting population growth

Ecologist Garrett Hardin, eminent UCSB professor emeritus, said it first and said it best. There is no shortage of fixed resources: There is a "longage" of people. I bore this in mind as I read News-Press stories on three sequential days dealing with growth-related problems. In addition to an article on a proposed expansion of the municipal airport to accommodate a projected doubling of passenger traffic by 2015 there were stories each day on soaring Santa Barbara County housing prices. The County's Planning and Development Office's just-released updated projections envision population growth of 162,000 people in the next 30 years, creating a demand for 59,000 more homes.