Sights set on illegal immigrants
Found in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Written by Mary Lou Pickel
Posted on 2008-02-17

By Mary Lou Pickel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 02/17/08

Republican legislators have taken aim at illegal immigration this year with a package of nine bills. Some make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to drive cars. Driving without a license would become a felony, and police could seize cars that belong to illegal immigrants who violate traffic laws. Opponents say the bills could subject legal immigrants to harassment and also disrupt the state’s labor supply. Two years ago, legislators passed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, a law that cracked down on illegal immigrants through employment verification, the tax code and other ways. That law earned Georgia the reputation for taking a hard line on illegal immigration in the face of federal inaction.

—- MARY LOU PICKEL

No license means jail ( Note from D.A. this is SB 350 )

What it does: Makes driving without a Georgia license a felony on the fourth conviction within five years. The offense would carry jail time of one to five years. A similar measure was vetoed last year over concerns that out-of-staters who move to Georgia would be prosecuted if they don’t change their license within 30 days.

Behind the scenes: This year’s version would dismiss the case against anyone who could get a license before their court date. It will affect illegal immigrants more because they cannot get a Georgia driver’s license.

Sponsor: Sen. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw)

Status: Passed Senate

English-only constitutional amendment ( Note from D.A. This is HR 413)

What it does: Would ask voters to approve an amendment making English the official language of Georgia. Would prohibit laws that require the government to use other languages for documents.

Behind the scenes: This may be a crowd-pleaser that could get out the vote in November.

Sponsor: Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica)

Status: Before House committee

No birthright citizenship (Note from D.A. this is HR 127)

What it does: Urges Congress to deny automatic citizenship to children born of illegal immigrants.

Behind the scenes: Congress would have to amend the U.S. Constitution to make this happen.

Sponsor: Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill)

Status: Introduced in the House

Seize vehicles of illegal immigrants ( Note from D.A. Thi sis HB 978)

What it does: Allows police to seize cars driven by illegal immigrants who violate traffic laws.

Behind the scenes: Opponents say it’ll be difficult for officers to verify legal status during a traffic stop.

Sponsor: Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville)

Status: Before House Special Rules Committee

No sanctuary ( Note from D.A. This is SB 340)

What it does: Cuts money to public employers and welfare agencies that do not run a new worker or recipient through a federal database to make sure they are here legally. Cuts money to local governments that provide “sanctuary” to illegal immigrants or who don’t cooperate with federal officials enforcing immigration laws.

Behind the scenes: So far no Georgia city has declared itself a sanctuary city.

Sponsor: Sen. Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville)

Status: Passed Senate

Punishment for illegal immigrants applying for license plates ( Note from D.A. This is SB 25)

What it does: Establishes jail time of one to five years and a fine of up to $5,000 for anyone who lies when applying for a license plate or anyone who helps.

Behind the scenes: Tag agencies sometimes fill out tag renewal forms for clients who are illegal immigrants because there’s a loophole in current law that lets illegal immigrants renew their tag via mail. This bill may make agents think twice.

Sponsor: Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle)

Status: Before a Senate committee

Fees on wire transfers

What it does: Places a 2 percent fee on wire transfers. Allows a transfer company to keep 20 percent of that fee to cover their record-keeping costs. Allocates fees collected to be spent on trauma care programs, such as Grady Hospital.

Behind the scenes: Many immigrants —- both legal and illegal —- send money home to their families in foreign countries. This bill would tax such transfers.

Sponsor: Rep. Tom Rice (R-Peachtree Corners)

Status: Before a House committee

Out-of-state driver’s licenses

What it does: It would be a misdemeanor for an illegal immigrant to drive in Georgia under a license from another state.

Behind the scenes: Would crack down on illegal immigrants who go to other states to get a license because those states are not as strict as Georgia.

Sponsor: Rep. Ben Bridges (R-Cleveland)

Status: Before a House committee

English only ( Note from D.A. This is HR 335)

What it does: Prohibits state agencies from requiring an employee to speak or take training in another language to land a job or get a promotion. Employers cannot favor those with language skills over those who speak only English.

Behind the scenes: Police departments would not be able to require survival Spanish classes from officers or use such classes as basis for promotion. Police agencies say officers need to interview crime victims, witnesses and criminals, and Spanish can help.

Sponsor: Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle)

Status: In Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee

My guest column in today’s Gwinnett Daily Post I have added several hyperlinks to educate the reader – and corrected a typographical error on my part in original column. The federal immigration law training course for local law enforcement is four to six weeks, I had written that it was two to six weeks. I regret the error and have sent same to the Post editor.

I thank the Gwinnett Daily Post for the space.

Link to original column here.

When it comes to immigration laws, enforcement works
By D.A. King

“Without this partnership, you don’t have any access to immigration fingerprints, and that’s what really identifies the status of an illegal alien in your community committing crimes.”
– James Pendergraph, executive director, Office of State and Local Coordination, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on use of the 1996 local law enforcement program aimed at illegal immigration.

I’m guessing what former Mecklenburg County, N.C., Sheriff Pendergraph meant to say was “committing additional crimes.”

Illegal immigration, like employing illegals, is a crime. As is manufacturing false IDs or stealing the identity of Americans to obtain a driver’s license or working illegally in the U.S.

Pendergraph is something of a hero to those who study the organized crime of illegal immigration. Before retiring as a sheriff, he was one of the first to take advantage of a now 12-year-old federal tool aimed at multiplying the force of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).

Some facts on the immigration law:

• In 1996, Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act. One of the amendments – section 287 (g) – provides for training of state and local law enforcement to expand their existing authority to assist ICE in immigration law enforcement.

• Any head of law enforcement in the nation can apply to ICE for the four to six-week training of their officers – or deputies – to gain authority to access a federal data base that identifies illegal aliens who have been apprehended for additional crimes.

• Sheriffs all over the nation are using 287 (g) authority to filter out illegals booked into their jails and begin deportation action.

Here in Georgia, after a unanimous recommendation from the Cobb Board of Commissioners to move ahead, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren has sent two classes of deputies to be trained by the feds under 287 (g) and on July 1 began screening all noncitizens booked into his jail using the federal database.

From July to January, Warren’s office booked 3,495 foreign-born people into his jail. ICE placed an immigration “hold” on 1,357 of those and has picked up more than 750 illegal aliens for possible deportation proceedings.

Besides the obvious result of having fewer illegals on the streets of Cobb County because of deportation, the knowledge that the law is being enthusiastically enforced and equally applied has resulted in illegals migrating out of Cobb.

On attacking illegal immigration, an obvious truth is being proven: enforcement works. The 287 (g) authority is a deterrent to the continued presence of illegals in the communities where law enforcement has shown the attention to duty and courage to implement the no-cost program.

This month, Georgia sheriffs in Hall and Whitfield counties began use of 287 (g) authority. Soon, the sheriff in Oconee County will as well.

According to Pendergraph, more than 30 local and state agencies, including Los Angeles County in California, are using 287 (g) and more than 90 agencies and 600 officers are waiting for training nationwide.

Because of its proven results, the program has received more than $25 million in federal funding for training and other costs this fiscal year, up from $15 million the previous year.

Not everyone is happy about the latest effort to rid Georgia of the taxpayer-subsidized illegal aliens who are lowering wages and straining our schools, hospitals, jails and common language.

The “undocumented worker’s” employers who worry more about being struck by lightning than being punished for hiring the black market labor are less than thrilled.

Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials angrily labeled Cobb Sheriff Warren “Wild West Warren” after he began use of 287 (g) and then Gonzalez organized public charges of “racial profiling” leveled at Cobb Police.

No word yet from Gonzalez on what race “illegal” is, but Americans of all descriptions proudly attended a December rally on the courthouse steps in Marietta to honor and thank Sheriff Neil Warren.

Gwinnett residents should be asking – and often – when they can expect to plan a similar rally in their own county.

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society, a nonprofit coalition actively opposed to illegal immigration.

Contact Gwinnett Commissioners here. Contact Gwinnett Sheriff here.

Letters to the Post editor HERE

HERE

Hat tip Peach Pundit.

Jurors on Wednesday heard the brutal details about the kidnapping and stabbing of a Tucson woman who authorities believe was set on fire while still alive.

Jesus Rafael Muro-Monge, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the October 2004 death of Patricia “Patsy” Rubalcaba, 27. If he is convicted, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

HERE.

MALDEF: The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Note from D.A.- I am very proud of our work to shine some light on the far left open borders creatures at MALDEF, please see here, and here and here.

MALDEF will hold their annual fundraiser here in Atlanta again on April 17 @ 7:00PM at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel…stay tuned for info on another possible pro-American rally outside the event to educate the public. See here.

MALDEF
604 South Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA
90014

Phone :213-629-2512
URL: Website

The most influential Hispanic advocacy group in the United States
A creation of the Ford Foundation, from which is has received more than $25 million
Advocates open borders, free college tuition for illegal immigrants, lowered educational standards to accommodate Hispanics, and voting rights for criminals

To see other donors to MALDEF, click here and go to page 19.

Founded in 1968 with a $2.2 million “seed grant” from the Ford Foundation, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) describes itself as “the leading nonprofit Latino litigation, advocacy and educational outreach institution in the United States.” MALDEF’s mission is twofold: to “safeguard the civil rights of Latinos” and to “expand the opportunities for Latinos” in American society. MALDEF defines the category of Latinos to encompass both American citizens and illegal aliens. Consequently, the organization supports policies that run counter to American laws, especially American immigration laws.

In the course of its history, MALDEF has undertaken numerous legal campaigns to abet the cause of illegal immigration. In the 1980s, the organization threw its legal clout behind the claims of illegal immigrants in Texas, who demanded a right to a free education in the state at the taxpayers’ expense. In a successful lawsuit, MALDEF argued that denying the plaintiffs this “right” was unconstitutional. MALDEF has also brought suit against public colleges and universities, charging that they deny admission to illegal immigrants due to their “perceived immigration status.” (The schools have denied the allegation.) In a corollary campaign, MALDEF has sued to compel universities to charge low, in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. MALDEF also holds that failing to provide bilingual ballots for Hispanic voters is discriminatory, and equates English-language ballots with the racism-inspired literacy tests once used to disenfranchise black voters in the American South.

In 1994, MALDEF condemned Operation Gatekeeper, a U.S. government program intended to restore integrity to a portion of the California-Mexico border, across which many thousands of illegal aliens streamed each year. Condemning this program for callously “diverting” illegal border-crossers “from California to the harsh and dangerous Arizona desert,” MALDEF charged that Americans opposing unrestricted immigration were motivated largely by “racism and xenophobia.”

MALDEF has repeatedly placed its support for illegal immigration above American national security. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the organization spearheaded a protest campaign against Operation Tarmac, a federal crackdown on airport workers with immigration violations. According to MALDEF, such law-enforcement efforts amounted to “actions that harm the civil rights of Latinos rather than protect them.”

MALDEF was a signatory to a March 17, 2003 letter exhorting members of the U.S. Congress to oppose Patriot Act II on grounds that it contained “a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers … that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights.” In addition, MALDEF has endorsed the goals of the California-based Coalition for Civil Liberties, which tries to influence city councils nationwide to pass resolutions of noncompliance with the provisions of the Patriot Act. In 2004, MALDEF emerged as a leading champion of the Civil Liberties Restoration Act, which, under the rubric of promoting “our nation’s safety,” sought to impede the ability of federal authorities as well as state and local law agencies to enforce immigration laws.

MALDEF favors the issuance of drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. While acknowledging that this confers de facto citizenship and rewards lawbreaking, the organization nonetheless maintains that the measure is necessary to prevent “discrimination” against immigrants. In MALDEF’s view, biases against minority immigrants pervade virtually every aspect of American life, as expressed in MALDEF’s denunciation of the “customary practice of workplace discrimination” against Latinos.

Trumpeting the value of immigrants who currently reside in the U.S. in violation of immigration law, MALDEF states that America’s “failed immigration policy … has resulted in a complete lack of legal recognition of millions of immigrants who are the backbone of the U.S. economy … doing the jobs that U.S. citizens and residents do not want.” On the basis of these purported contributions to American society, MALDEF has exhorted Congress “to consider legalization” for all “undocumented persons living and working here in the U.S.”

Education is another focus of MALDEF’s activism. The organization has repeatedly filed lawsuits aimed at forcing states to mandate bilingual education in public schools, and has sought to suppress successful ballot initiatives — such as California Proposition 227 and Arizona’s Proposition 203 — to ban bilingual education. After California voters passed Proposition 227 in 1998, MALDEF, along with the ACLU, filed for a temporary restraining order to keep the state’s largest school district from implementing the will of the voters. MALDEF has also waged a prolonged legal battle to lower educational standards to accommodate Latinos.

The organization’s campaign against the use of standardized tests to evaluate students is of a piece with this effort. In the late 1990s, MALDEF filed a class-action suit against the state of Texas to prevent the state’s schools from conditioning a high-school diploma on a student’s ability to pass a basic academic achievement test, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Attorneys for MALDEF argued, unsuccessfully, that because some students, including a quarter of Hispanic students, failed the test, it was “unfair to all students,” and to “minority students” in particular.

A staunch defender of affirmative action programs, MALDEF has sought, by means of lawsuits and legislative proposals, to stop universities from using standardized test scores in the admissions process. In 2004, MALDEF filed suit against California State University, claiming that the school “misuses standardized test scores” and thereby creates a system that is “dysfunctional and unfair” to minority students. In support of this accusation, MALDEF adduced the fact that the university “attaches great weight to an applicant’s SAT or ACT score.”

Although MADLEF professes a commitment to expanding opportunities for Latinos, that commitment has observably wavered whenever the individuals in question have deviated, even if only hypothetically, from the organization’s uncompromising support for unrestricted immigration. Thus, in 2001 and in subsequent years, MALDEF declared against the nomination of Miguel Estrada, a Honduran immigrant, to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Among its objections, MALDEF cited the possibility that Estrada could fail to “protect the labor and employment rights” of “undocumented workers.” In January 2005, MALDEF opposed the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to the post of U.S. Attorney General. The organization praised Gonzales’s personal history — he is of Mexican ancestry — as “compelling,” but expressed concern that he might allow states to enforce immigration laws.

In December 2006, MALDEF — in conjunction with the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and the Hispanic National Bar Association — called on U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to place a moratorium on worksite raids designed to turn up illegal aliens. Said MALDEF President and General Counsel John Trasviña, “Federal officials have the obligation to enforce the immigration laws consistent with civil rights laws and good judgment. Putting over 1,200 immigrants, only 5 percent of whom have criminal charges, in jails across the country and separating them from family members raises concerns.”

As part of its advocacy campaigns, MALDEF has repeatedly portrayed its political opponents as racists who hold Latinos in low esteem. In the organization’s view, supporters of making English the official language of the United States are “motivated by racism and anti-immigrant sentiments,” while advocates of sanctions for employers reliant on illegal labor seek to discriminate against “brown-skinned people.” Similarly, opposition to the distribution of drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants is rooted in “fear and prejudice.”

Significantly, however, MALDEF has its own connections to racist sentiments and groups. MALDEF’s Founder, Mario Obledo, said in 1998: “California is going to be a Hispanic state and anyone who doesn’t like it should leave. They should go back to Europe.”

Additionally, MALDEF has long partnered with Latino organizations like the National Council of La Raza (“the Race”), which openly seek to advance what they perceive to be their interests as a distinctive racial group.

Composed of a 35-member board of directors and a staff of 75 employees (including 22 attorneys), MALDEF is not a membership organization. Thus its funding derives primarily from a few corporations and large foundations, most notably the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation. It has also received generous funding from the Ahmanson Foundation, the AT&T Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Verizon Foundation.

here

The Washington (D.C.) Times – 2/5

McCain and friend

By Mark Cromer

While Sen. John McCain is clearly more embittered than humbled by the crushing defeat that a furious American people dealt his mass amnesty plan last summer, the co-architect of the scheme to grant as many as 30 million illegal aliens instant legal status now swears he has found religion on immigration and is ready to secure the border.

Correctly assessing that his chances of winning the Republican nomination would be somewhere south of Rep. Ron Paul’s if he were to continue to promote his plan for comprehensive immigration reform, Mr. McCain now blurts out the sound bite “I’ll secure the border” anytime he is within five feet of a microphone.

While it has been met with skepticism among many Americans, Mr. McCain’s tough talk on border security must sound quite appealing en espanol, as it has attracted a very interesting supporter to his campaign.

But Juan Hernandez is one endorsement that Mr. McCain won’t be trumpeting in front of the cameras.

Mr. Hernandez, who now serves as one of Mr. McCain’s Hispanic Outreach Directors, is no amateur in the debate over illegal immigration into the United States. Though largely unknown to the public, he’s been at the center of the policy maelstrom for years, a critical frontline player for the proponents of open borders and an unflinching advocate for strident Mexican nationalism.

Though born in the United States to a father from Mexico and a mother from Texas, Mr. Hernandez has left no doubt as to where his loyalties lie. Serving as a cabinet member to Mexican President Vincente Fox — the first American in Mexico’s history to do so — Mr. Hernandez has tirelessly fought against assimilation in America.

In an interview with ABC’s Nightline, Mr. Hernandez said Mexican Americans must always think “Mexico first,” whether they are one generation in the United States or have been here for seven generations.

In public remarks both before and after the terror attacks of September 11, Mr. Hernandez declared that Mexicans in the United States must never surrender their loyalty to Mexico, but rather must always keep “one foot in Mexico.” Now that’s straight talk; just not the kind that Mr. McCain wants voters to hear between now and the convention, or November if he wins the nomination. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that Mr. McCain played dumb when a voter asked him about his association with Mr. Hernandez during a town hall meeting in Florida.

Questioned by a woman who recited Mr. Hernandez’s comments that illegal immigrants are forced to steal citizens’ Social Security numbers because they couldn’t find work without them — which shifts the guilt to Americans — Mr. McCain quickly went into his stock stump mantra promising border security.

“He’s on my staff because he supports my policies and my legislative proposal to secure the borders first,” Mr. McCain asserted. “I don’t know what his previous positions are or other positions are, he supports mine.” Mr. Hernandez does indeed support Mr. McCain — and that speaks volumes.

The fundamental question that American voters must ask themselves is: Why would a zealous Mexican nationalist who has dedicated much of his life to eliminating the border between Mexico and the United States now suddenly support a candidate who claims to favor securing the border once and for all? Could it be that Mr. McCain’s assertions translate a little differently to Mr. Hernandez’s ear? Indeed, that wide grin Mr. Hernandez likes to flash suggests that what he’s hearing from Mr. McCain has a familiar ring to it, perhaps not unlike that of a Tijuana police chief vowing to crack down on corruption.

The bottom line is that Mr. Hernandez is a savvy man with enough sophistication to know that what Mr. McCain is not saying is equally important — if not more — than his pablum about “border security.” And Mr. McCain is not saying he will support vigorous enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws in the interior of the country, particularly at job sites; he’s not saying that he supports deporting any significant number of illegal aliens already in the country; and he is surely not saying that he will end the chain migration laws that strike to the core of encouraging illegal immigrants to get into the nation at all costs and then wait for an amnesty that will allow them to bring their extended families north.

No, Mr. McCain is saying none of these things.

Mr. Hernandez hears the senator’s “straight talk” loud and clear, and it seems to be music to his ears.

Mark Cromer is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization.

Public Forums on Immigration: “Our Changing Community: What Are the Facts?”
Written by Cartersville Chamber of Commer
Event Date: 19 February, 2008
Event Time: 7:00 PM

Contact Information
Contact Name: Karen White
Contact Telephone: 770-382-1466, e
Contact Email: karen@cartersvillechamber.com

Location

Anheuser-Busch Room in the Chamber Building
122 W. Main Street
Cartersville, GA

7 p.m. Feb. 19, Lessons Learned

· Dr. Aquiles Martinez, Reinhardt College

· Lynda Coker, Cobb County Sheriff Department

· Sherri Henshaw, Keep Bartow Beautiful

· Elise Shore, Regional Council of MALDEF
HERE.

Jerome R. Corsi — WorldNetDaily.com

John McCain funded by Soros since 2001

As Sen. John McCain assumes the GOP front-runner mantle, his long-standing, but little-noticed association with left-wing donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry is receiving new attention among his Republican critics. — In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to…

HERE

More on Arizona law HERE

I missed the below story this morning, an want to thank “Jerry” ( GERARDO E.) Gonzalez for posting it on his bossman Sam Zamarippa’s GALEO Website. HERE.

GRACIAS GERARDO!
Arizona Seeing Signs of Flight by Immigrants
New York Times

February 12, 2008

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

PHOENIX — The signs of flight among Latino immigrants here are multiple: Families moving out of apartment complexes, schools reporting enrollment drops, business owners complaining about fewer clients.

While it is too early to know for certain, a consensus is developing among economists, business people and immigration groups that the weakening economy coupled with recent curbs on illegal immigration are steering Hispanic immigrants out of the state.

The Arizona economy, heavily dependent on growth and a Latino work force, has been slowing for months. Meanwhile, the state has enacted one of the country’s toughest laws to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants, and the county sheriff here in Phoenix has been enforcing federal immigration laws by rounding up people living here illegally.

“It is very difficult to separate the economic reality in Arizona from the effects of the laws because the economy is tanking and construction is drying up,” said Frank Pierson, lead organizer of the Arizona Interfaith Network, which advocates for immigrants’ rights and other causes. But the combination of factors creates “ a disincentive to stay in the state.”

State Representative Russell K. Pearce, a Republican from Mesa and leading advocate of the crackdown on illegal immigration, takes reports of unauthorized workers leaving as a sign of success. An estimated one in 10 workers in Arizona are Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal, twice the national average.

“The desired effect was, we don’t have the red carpet out for illegal aliens,” Mr. Pearce said, adding that while “most of these are good people” they are a “tremendous burden” on public services.

On Monday, state lawmakers, concerned about shortages of workers and the failed revamping of immigration law in Congress, which was pushed by Senator John McCain of Arizona, pledged action.

Bills were announced that would create a state-run temporary worker program, though it would need Congressional authorization. And last week Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, offered to help the United States Labor Department rewrite regulations designed to streamline visas for agricultural workers, who growers say are increasingly hard to find.

While data for the last month or so are not available, there were already signs of migration out of Arizona at the end of last year. In the fourth quarter of 2007 the apartment-vacancy rate in metropolitan Phoenix rose to 11.2 percent from 9 percent in the same quarter of 2006, with much higher rates of 15 percent or more in heavily Latino neighborhoods.

“You have many people moving out, but they are not all illegal,” said Terry Feinberg, president of the Arizona Multihousing Alliance, a trade group for the apartment and rental housing industry. “A lot of people moving are citizens, or legal, but because someone in their family or social network is not, and they are having a hard time keeping or finding a job, they all move.”

Elizabeth Leon, a legal immigrant and day care worker, said the families of two of her charges abruptly left, forcing the state to take custody of the children. Ms. Leon’s brother, a construction worker who is not authorized to be in the country, plans to leave, unable to find steady work; families at the neighborhood school have pulled children out, Ms. Leon said, fearful of sheriff’s deputies.

“It is like a panic here,” she said. “This is all having an effect on the community, mostly emotional.”

Juan Jose Araujo, 44, is here legally. His wife, however, is not and is pressing for the family to return to Mexico because of the difficulty in finding a job and what the family considers a growing anti-immigrant climate.

Although prosecutors in the state do not plan to begin enforcing the sanctions against employers until next month, several employers have reportedly already dismissed workers whose legal authorization to work could not be proved, as required by the law.

“We don’t have family or anything in Mexico,” said Mr. Araujo, who has lived in the United States for 24 years. “I wouldn’t have anywhere to go there, but we have to consider it.”

Property managers report that families have uprooted overnight, with little or no notice. Carlos Flores Vizcarra, the Mexican consul general in Phoenix, said while he could not tie the phenomenon to a single factor, the consulate had experienced an “unusual” five-fold increase in parents applying for Mexican birth certificates for their children and other documents that often are a prelude to moving.

Several school districts in heavily Latino areas have reported sudden drops in enrollment. Official explanations are elusive because school officials have not been able to interview families about why they left, but, anecdotally, people point to the sour economy and the immigration crackdown among other factors.

The Cartwright Elementary School District in west Phoenix, for instance, reported a loss of 525 students this school year (dropping the enrollment to 19,845), while in previous years enrollment had grown or remained stable among its 23 schools. Meri Simmons, a spokeswoman for the district, said word of mouth suggested that the economy and sanctions on employers played a role.

“We know we have a lot of empty houses,” Ms. Simmons said.

Jobs in the construction industry, a major employer of immigrants, are growing scarce, declining 8.6 percent in December compared with the previous year.

Juan Leon, a construction subcontractor and the husband of Elizabeth Leon, the day care worker, said illegal immigrants had made it harder for legal residents like him to find work. Companies that employ them can bid much lower on projects than he can because they pay workers much less, Mr. Leon said.

“I hate to see families torn apart,” he said of the current flight, “but there is no money to be made sometimes because some contractors who employ illegal workers can do the job dirt cheap.”

Dawn McLaren, an economist at Arizona State University in Tempe who studies the state’s economic and migration trends, said it was likely that lack of work is forcing people to move, probably to nearby states. But Ms. McLaren also theorized that the slowing economy had caused a reduction in the flow of new immigrants over the border.

Analyzing data back to the early 1990s, she said, a drop in Border Patrol arrests — they have been steadily declining the last couple of years — typically preceded an economic downturn or slowing.

“It’s a highly networked community,” she said of border crossers. “It costs a lot to get here, and they generally have a job lined up here. People say, ‘We need people on the crew.’ And they tell friends and relatives to come over.”

A persistent decline in the immigrant population could damage the overall Arizona economy, Ms. McLaren said. A study by the Pew Hispanic Center released in January said illegal workers made up close to 11 percent of the state’s work force of 2.9 million people in 2006, double the national estimate.

“What it looks like now is that a little bump in the economic road, especially with the sanctions law, is looking like it might last a year or more,” she said.

Even as the economy slows and people leave, the matter of the state’s sanctions on employers is not settled.

The legal fight over the law, which a federal judge upheld Thursday, is headed for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The law punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business license for 10 days on the first offense and revoking it for a second infraction.

Opponents call it an unconstitutional intrusion by the state on federal immigration authority but the federal judge, Neil V. Wake, disagreed.

At the same time, signatures are being gathered for two ballot initiatives, one that would toughen the law and another meant to soften it. If both end up on the November ballot, the one with the most votes would prevail.

Ms. McLaren, the economist, said that in the end history showed it was difficult to stop illegal immigration so long as jobs paid better in the United States than at home. An economic rebound would probably draw people back here, no matter the laws.

“They will find a way to adjust,” she said.

here

Gwinnett Daily Post

2/6/2008

McCain’s ties to amnesty troubling
Too many people are forgetting that Sen John McCain joined with “open-borders” Teddy Kennedy and tried to push through the biggest and most damaging amnesty this country has ever seen. I think McCain’s stand against terrorism is great, but his pro-amnesty stance is in a way just as destructive to our nation as a violent terrorist attack.

Consider for a moment McCain’s choice for his Hispanic Outreach Director, Juan Hernandez, a citizen of both Mexico and the U.S. A citizen of Mexico by loyalty and obviously a citizen of the U.S. for political convenience.

Hernandez has long been an advocate of amnesty and a critic of United States national soverignty. Also consider that Mexico’s former president, Vicente Fox, named Hernandez to head Fox’s cabinet-level “Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad,” thus literally appointing Hernandez to be Fox’s “Hispanic Outreach Director”.

Hernandez evidently serves in the same position for the current president of Mexico. McCain certainly knows the record of Hernandez, but obviously McCain’s agenda is identical in that our national borders would be made irrelevant.

Although I have problems with all Republican candidates, I find McCain’s candidacy to be especially troubling. So it will be a cold day in Tijuana before I will ever vote for McCain.

– Ernest Wade

Loganville

HERE