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Iraqi pair nabbed in Mexico, headed to U.S. with fake IDs

Two more Iraqis with false Bulgarian passports were detained by Mexican officials in Monterrey – bringing the total to four this month. — Wisam Gorgies and Rana Nazar Peyoz reportedly flew from Madrid and landed in Monterrey, according to reports in two Mexican newspapers today

HERE.

You know we are getting somewhere when La Times notes the obvious truth: Enforcement works.

Too tough on illegal immigration

Excessively harsh laws do nothing to bring about real reform. ( Note from D.A. – HA!)
February 21, 2008

It’s getting ugly out there for illegal immigrants. States and cities are cracking down with harsh new ordinances, and the courts are upholding them. Not only are deportations at record highs, but immigrants are being detained at places previously understood to be off-limits, such as schools. The debate about illegal immigration, labor, social justice and international trade has devolved into open season on illegal immigrants.

Arizona penalizes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, suspending their business license for 10 days for the first offense, revoking it permanently for the second. Valley Park in Missouri fines businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Oklahoma not only forbids their hiring and bars them from receiving tax-supported services — except healthcare — it also makes it a felony for anyone to transport, shelter or conceal illegal immigrants.

It’s nothing new for states and municipalities to try to regulate immigration. California pioneered that trail in 1994 with the passage of Proposition 187, which sought to discourage illegal immigration by denying noncitizens a range of public services. Last year, Hazleton, Pa., caught the nation’s attention when it tried to criminalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that hire them. Until recently, however, the courts stood as a bulwark against this spate of angry — and often unconstitutional — ordinances, ruling that immigration is federal territory.

Not anymore. In Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma, business groups or immigration advocates sued to block the new laws, and in each case federal judges upheld them. The Oklahoma ruling is particularly pernicious. With the spirit of Dred Scott hovering over his pen, Judge James H. Payne wrote that illegal immigrants do not have the right to sue: “An illegal alien, in willful violation of federal immigration law, is without standing to challenge the constitutionality of a state law, when compliance with federal law would absolve the illegal alien’s constitutional dilemma.”

Unfortunately, Payne’s dehumanizing tone echoes the callous treatment that too often is accorded illegal immigrants. In Roswell, N.M., an 18-year-old pregnant student was turned in to immigration officials by her high school’s security officer and ultimately deported. In East Oakland, Calif., a pregnant mother was arrested at her daughter’s elementary school, even though immigration officials say schools should be off-limits and pregnant and nursing women should not be arrested.

That illegal immigrants living in the United States place an economic burden on schools, hospitals, prisons and other public services is undeniable, but it’s also true that they contribute to our economy and our society in myriad ways. Bullying them into leaving is counterproductive and downright mean. It’s also shortsighted. Many immigrant families are blended, made up of legal immigrants, illegal ones and U.S.-born citizens. Harsh laws and deportations may satisfy the popular hunger for instantaneous immigration reform, but the result will be a legacy of anguish and resentment among millions of people who aren’t going anywhere.

HERE.

HERE.

“The law, known as the Legal Arizona Workers Act, requires firms to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to check whether new employees are legally entitled to work in this country.”

Judge refuses to block employer sanctions law

East Valley Tribune – Pheonix, Arizona

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to block prosecutors from enforcing Arizona’s employer sanctions law while foes ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn it.

Judge Neil Wake, who earlier this month ruled the statute is valid, said the potential hardships on employers and others forced to follow the law is “minimal.” He said there is only a small cost for companies to obtain the necessary equipment to run computer checks on the legal status of new workers.

Wake said putting the law on “hold” could financially damage the state.

In his Tuesday ruling, the judge cited a study commissioned by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office by George Borjas, a professor of economic and social policy at Harvard University, which showed legal Arizona workers lose $1.4 billion a year because companies hire undocumented employees at lower costs.

And Wake specifically rejected other studies proffered by employers challenging the law. That includes one by Judith Gans, immigration policy program manager at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, which said the costs of illegal immigration are offset by the benefits.

Wake said such comparisons are inappropriate.

HERE.

2/21/2008 Gwinnett Daily Post

There is widespread support for enforcing immigration laws

Kudos to D.A. King and his column (“When it comes to immigration laws, enforcement works,” Perspective, Feb. 17), which addresses the 287 (g) program and this common-sense principal: When it comes to immigration laws, enforcement works.

I would like to take Mr. King’s message one step further. Our founding fathers envisioned the states as laboratories for experimentation. Given the federal government’s dereliction of duty, several states have responded to the will of their constituents and passed tough legislation aimed at the illegal alien community. Within weeks of the legislation taking effect, there were numerous reports of illegal aliens leaving those states either for their home country or for states that were perceived to be friendlier.

In the face of significant budget shortfalls, Rhode Island is engaged in bipartisan debates to deal with its illegal alien population. Clearly, their legislators and governor no longer buy in to the sophistry that these people represent a net plus to the economy.

I attended the Commission hearings last summer during which Gwinnett’s illegal alien ordinance was passed. There were so many proponents (including legal immigrants) of the ordinance that not all could speak, but their message was generally the same: Their love for a country and county that operates by the rule of law. There were two opponents. Both were lawyers. Neither were county residents. They spoke of hate and lawsuits against the county.

How ironic that the two people who took an oath to uphold the law are so afraid of it.

– Terry Fouchey
(Buford, Ga.) HERE.

Lawn & Landscape

Kentucky landscape contractor sentenced for employing illegals

Dean A. Hedges, owner of Hedges Landscape Specialists in Crestwood, Ky., was sentenced to 5 years probation for employing illegal aliens. — Hedges was sentenced in US District Court and was fined $24,000 His company was fined. He and the company previously agreed to forfeit $147,813 as part of the criminal punishment.

Hedges, who pled guilty in October, admitted that from September 2006 to September 2007, he, through his company, Hedges Landscape Specialists, knowingly employed at least 12 illegal aliens (a felony offense), and that he engaged in a pattern or practice of knowingly hiring illegal aliens (a misdemeanor offense).

HERE.

I would post a media report on this important news story if I could only find one, I think a few of the local TV stations did a story at 6PM yesterday while I was still at Capitol.

Good news from yesterday!

Despite the angry, race baiting howls from Gerardo (Jerry) E. Gonzalez (HERE) and the other anti-English language open borders proponents yesterday, Representative Tim Bearden’s House Resolution 413 passed its first committee.

AMERICANS FOR A COMMON LANGUAGE WIN IN GEORGIA! The vote was 10-4
It looks like the local media may be keeping this one a secret today!

This resolution is merely aimed at letting the voters of Georgia decide in November if we will amend the Georgia constitution to make English the official language. It must pass by a two thirds vote in the Senate and the House, so this is merely the beginning of the journey, but an important first step.

PLEASE call your state Reps and Senators to let them know that you want this to be on the ballot in November! Locate your elected officials here.

Please call Rep. Tim Bearden’s office to say THANK YOU! – He has taken a lot of abuse and been called a lot of names for this.

Many of us watched the House Judiciary (non-civil) committee ( nearly 3 hours) yesterday and many pro-English Americans spoke. The saddest part of the day was when we had to listen to the Georgia Representatives who voted to NO to allowing Georgia voters to decide this important issue in November make speeches saying that it was “clearly divisive” “anti-immigrant” “anti-refugee” and “aimed at our friendly neighbors to the south…”. Yada Yada.

Reminder to those legislators: If you mean Mexico: That sovereign nation has an official language…the U.S. does not. From me personally: A great big “YUCK!” !

Sheriff plans to pursue training deputies in deportation program

By Camie Young
Gwinnett Daily post
Senior Writer

LAWRENCEVILLE – Sheriff Butch Conway plans to train his deputies to begin deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants.

Conway, who has been in a public battle with Chairman Charles Bannister over the proposal for weeks, said he would like to start training 18 deputies in July, if he can hire enough personnel to fully staff the jail and get funding from commissioners.

Conway made a presentation on the plan Monday but did not discuss it with the media until Bannister issued a press release saying he would seek support from other commissioners to pressure the sheriff into the federal program.

“I want to do it, and I think we can do it with 18 (deputies),” Conway said, adding that he was furious Bannister once again brought the issue to the media before talking to him about it. “If Mr. Bannister will put his money where his mouth is, I think we can get this going in the next few months.”

Conway said he believed the program would cost between $2 and $3 million in 2008, but its implementation hinges on relief of the jail’s overcrowded conditions. To qualify, the jail must meet federal standards, which include not having inmates sleep on mats on the floor.

After another public battle with Bannister over pay disparity between deputies and police officers, deputy salaries were raised in January, and Conway said he has had a lot more luck at hiring new staffers. He said he hopes to have the county’s $75 million jail tower expansion completely opened by July.

HERE.

10 illegal immigrants found in truck
Group accused of entering country as part of human smuggling ring

Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE – Nearly a dozen people accused of entering the country as part of a possible human smuggling ring were taken into custody by Gwinnett County police Monday.

An officer from the department’s Interdiction Unit stopped a 2001 Dodge pickup truck on a stretch of Interstate 85 north just south of Buford Drive after spotting the suspicious vehicle with an Arizona license plate and excessively tinted windows.

The driver, identified as 28-year-old Jose Santiago Cruz, handed police a Mexican driver’s license and told authorities he was on his way to New York from Phoenix, Ariz., said Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman.

Police discovered six people in the bed of the pickup hidden under blankets and a small camper shell. Four others, including Cruz, were packed in the cab of the truck, police said.

According to authorities, all 10 alleged aliens are from Puebla, Mexico – a town 60 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Spellman said the arrest is the first of its nature she’s heard of in Gwinnett and could not recall any other incidents with this number of suspected immigrants.

Cruz reportedly told police he was taking his passengers to the Big Apple to find employment, but authorities said he was unable to provide an exact destination in New York.

HERE.

Bill would let police seize vehicles driven by illegal immigrants
If bill was passed, police could take vehicle if it was involved in a traffic accident and driven by an illegal immigrant

By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/18/08

A proposal to allow police to seize cars from illegal immigrants prompted an emotional public hearing before a legislative committee Monday.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville), would allow police to seize any vehicle involved in a traffic violation or accident if it’s driven by an illegal immigrant. That includes rented and leased vehicles if the owner should have known the driver was an illegal immigrant.

Stacey Malegni, a Cherokee County woman, spoke in favor of the bill, recounting through her tears the loss of her 5-year-old son and mother-in-law in a car accident in 2004. An 18-year-old illegal Mexican immigrant with no license plowed into the car Malegni’s mother-in-law was driving.

Malegni argued the bill should be passed for safety reasons.

“I’m putting the memory of my son in your hands,” Malegni told the House Special Rules Committee.

Other witnesses agreed, arguing that people can’t violate traffic laws repeatedly if they don’t have a car.

A spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, saying it would create an atmosphere of “seize first and ask questions later.” It could also create an atmosphere for racial profiling in traffic stops, the spokesman said.

The racial profiling argument drew a strong denial from committee chairman Calvin Hill (R-Woodstock), who asked witnesses to stay on point. “I don’t want misinterpretation . . . that this is about racial profiling,” Hill said.

Opponents say the measure is unconstitutional because it doesn’t provide due process for taking the car. Under the proposal, the vehicle seizure would work similar to property seizure in drug cases.

“This legislation is opening up a slippery slope to where the state is taking private property,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. “Where do we stop? Next, should we take their homes, their businesses? If there’s an immigration raid in a poultry plant, should we seize that?” Gonzalez asked.

Opponents say it would be difficult for a police officer to correctly ascertain a driver’s legal status during a traffic stop.

The legislation is part of a package of proposals introduced this legislative session aimed at punishing illegal immigration in Georgia.

HERE