Americans Oppose Open Border
September 10, 2001
Newsmax.com

It was showcased as a meeting between two presidents who like, trust and admire each other and could thus tackle one of the thorniest issues to face both the United States and its southern neighbor and trading partner Mexico – immigration.

If Social Security is the third rail of American politics, legal and illegal immigration from south of the border rivals it as the trip wire of an explosive issue capable of destroying political careers and dividing the nation and its political parties into warring camps.

Last Wednesday, barely a day after Mexico’s President Vicente Fox arrived for his state visit, Fox unexpectedly lit the fuse and set off the explosion before the two presidents could get down to brass tacks in discussing the presence of millions of illegal Mexican immigrants already in the U.S., and millions more who ache to come here.

Solve the problem before the year 2001 ends, Fox demanded of his host, who had no idea it was coming.

The extent of the problem is illustrated by the fact that since 1970, the number of Mexicans living in the U.S. has swelled from around 800,000 to more than 8 million, half of them illegal, according to BusinessWeek magazine.

Moreover, with the Mexican economy in even worse shape than the U.S. economy, millions more look northward for jobs and a better life. As a result, the tide of illegal immigrants swarming into the U.S. has become an unstoppable wave crashing over the U.S.-Mexico border day and night.

“The cold fact is that we have more undocumented immigrants today than we’ve ever had since they started counting,” Michael Fix, director of immigration studies at the Urban Institute, told BusinessWeek. “It makes sense to rethink the policy.”

Please read the rest and send it to your U.S. Senator. There is more – original post from NewMax HERE

“The latest slayings brought this year’s murder toll to at least 371 victims, a statistic which surpasses the homicide count of 316 for all of 2007. So many killings are taking place that bodies are stacking up in the city morgue. And this year’s murder roll doesn’t include the 46 bodies discovered in two clandestine graves. According to Jaime Hervella, director of the Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons in El Paso, the bodies could have been buried from 5 to 10 years ago. Not one corpse has been publicly identified so far, Hervella said…”

Frontera NorteSur — New Mexico State University — Las Cruces

Bad Moon Rising: The crisis in Ciudad Juarez

Known for its irreverent tone and sarcastic headlines, Ciudad Juarez’s Lapolaka.com news service summed up the mood in the border city: “Ciudad Juarez is out of control, and it is entering into a stage of collective hysteria and war this Friday.” The Internet news site was, of course, referring to a still-mysterious and widely-distributed e-mail…

HERE

Monday, May 26, 2008

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New Mexican ‘revolución’ crosses border, infects U.S.

Exclusive: Roger Hedgecock warns foreign president needs American support to eradicate smuggling cartels

By Roger Hedgecock

There’s a growing revolution in Mexico that pits the emerging smuggling-based illegal economy built by wealthy cartels, against the traditional, oil and tourist-based economy, the army and privileged classes of old Mexico. This revolution threatens the national security of the United States but is a non-event in the U.S. press and unknown to most Americans.

Those of us who live close to the border between the United States and Mexico are used to the daily reports of violent atrocities that accompany the incessant smuggling of people, drugs, weapons and whatever along its 1,600-mile span.

The media, in border towns on either side, are filled with stories of the travails of immigrants, the costs of immigrants and the violence that comes with this illegal tsunami of people. Every immigrant yearning to breathe free and every terrorist yearning to blow us up knows that the border with Mexico is open to all for the right price. The income from this trade is huge and has long ago attracted a consolidation of skilled and violent smuggling cartels who have carved out territories over which they exercise as much or more control as the Mexican government.

The war on drugs has gone on longer than any war in our history and is an abject failure. The revenue from drug smuggling is the second pillar of this emerging illegal Mexican economy.

From San Diego, Calif., to Brownsville, Texas, the value of all this smuggling rivals the (increasing) value of legal, NAFTA trade between the two countries. Legal and illegal trade is sometimes intertwined. Mexican police busted a Sharp Electronics warehouse in Rosarito Beach, Baja Calif., finding 1.5 tons of marijuana hidden inside TVs marked for shipment to Ontario, Canada.

In the 18 months since President Felipe Calderon took office vowing to defeat the cartels, the Mexican army, increasingly equipped with modern American-made arms, vehicles and communication, has been deployed across the country in a running battle against the cartels. The death toll is rising. The cartels have executed more than 4,000 people: judges, police chiefs and officers, mayors, military commanders and rival gang members, in a continuing battle over control of territory, particularly in the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango.

Portions of the Mexican army have been compromised, and many Mexican soldiers are now cartel enforcers. Many “Zetas,” or Mexican special forces, have deserted and joined the cartel gangs. This week, six “Zetas,” who had been caught and tried in Nuevo Laredo, were sentenced to long prison sentences for protecting drug traffickers.

In Ciudad Juarez, on the border with Texas, a military officer assumed command of the city police last week, following the assassination of the police chief nine days earlier. The Juarez city government has purchased two up-armored SUVs to transport city officials in that dangerous city.

In the state of Guerrero, the 15-member police force in the small town of Zirandaro quit last week as the local cartel took over the town. Two weeks ago, a Mexican police chief showed up on the U.S. side requesting asylum, fearing for his life.

Even in the capital city, the highest ranks of government officials live in fear. Mexico’s acting federal police chief, Edgar Millan Gomez, was assassinated in his home in Mexico City May 8 by someone with keys to his house.

The value of Tijuana, Baja Calif., to the smuggling cartel is so great that the drop in tourism revenue caused by the violence of this new revolution is hardly missed. Tijiuana is the staging point for all kinds of smuggling operations, including more than two dozen tunnels that have been discovered under the border fence between Tijuana and San Diego. More and more, small boats leaving the beach west of Tijuana bring drugs and illegals on shore all along San Diego’s beaches.

Kidnapping and killing of Americans is epidemic, causing even a cautious State Department to issue a travelers advisory warning Americans about the dangers of travel in Mexico. It’s about time. The State Department’s own statistics show 128 Americans “executed” in Mexico from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2007.

The danger now is that revenue from smuggling is so great that cartels can not only bribe officials to get their way, but they can permanently buy off (or kill off) key army, government, political and media figures, rendering Mexico a state dominated by the cartels. Things can get much worse in Mexico than they are today. And that means, things can get much worse for America, too. President Calderon deserves U.S. support as he fights the smuggling cartels for control of Mexico

HERE

Roger Hedgecock is the longtime top-rated radio talk host in San Diego, Calif., on KOGO and, more recently, a nationally syndicated Saturday radio host heard already in 47 markets and on XM Satellite. He is the author of “The 2008 Conservative Voters Field Guide,” a series of books on 2008 issues. Guide No. 1-Immigration and No. 2-The War are available at the WorldNetDaily store. Learn more about Roger at www.rogerreport.com and www.rogerhedgecock.com

Alan Caruba — USA Daily sc

Mexico soon to be a bigger problem

As if the constant flow of illegal aliens and drugs from Mexico were not already a huge problem for the United States, it is about to get worse. When Business Week took notice of Mexico’s dwindling oil reserves and failed national oil company, Pemex, in its May 5th edition, it signaled a problem whose significance is as great as the one involving an invading population.

HERE

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Counties find loopholes to issue license plates to illegal aliens

…Noncompliance with laws that touch on immigration is “rampant,” said D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, an organization opposed to illegal immigration. “This is a brilliant example,” he said. —
“The contempt that these public officials have for the law is a danger to public safety,” King said…

THE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLE :

Counties find loopholes to issue license plates to illegal immigrants
By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/25/08

Illegal immigrants can still get a license plate in Fulton County despite a state law that tightened access to tags.

The year-old law has made it very difficult for immigrants without visas to register cars in most counties because they need a Georgia driver’s license first. To get a license, they must show a valid visa.

Fulton has interpreted the state law differently, leading to more lenient requirements.

“We’re not interested in knowing whether they’re illegal or not,” Fulton County Chief Deputy Tax Commissioner Angie Lewis said. “That’s not our role. We’re registering cars.”

Lewis points to an exemption to the law that says a “nonresident” can use a foreign driver’s license, or a license from another state, to get a tag. The county requires the person to have a utility bill in his or her name that proves residency in Fulton County, Lewis said.

Noncompliance with laws that touch on immigration is “rampant,” said D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, an organization opposed to illegal immigration. “This is a brilliant example,” he said.

“The contempt that these public officials have for the law is a danger to public safety,” King said. His group is named for a young Georgian killed in a car crash in which an illegal immigrant was charged.

Tax commissioners in four metro counties have different interpretations of the law, known as Senate Bill 38, which went into effect July 1, 2007. Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties have interpreted the law to mean there’s no getting around the need for a Georgia license.

Still, there are loopholes.

In DeKalb County, steady numbers of illegal immigrants register themselves as corporations to get around the law. That works because a corporation does not need to show a Georgia driver’s license. That’s not as easy to do in Cobb and Gwinnett counties, which require a county business license to prove the company exists.

Despite worries that the law would harm tax collection by denying tags to large groups of people, motor vehicle tax revenues increased in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb from 2006 to 2007.

The biggest inconsistency in the state law’s interpretation applies to people who are nonresidents or dual residents. Immigrants can fall into this category, as well as students, military personnel and “snow birds” who own a condo in Georgia to make it easy to visit the grandchildren.

“Residency is a sticky wicket,” said Stewart Manley, manager of Cobb County’s tag offices.

Fulton uses a broad exemption, which applies to all nonresidents 16 years and older who have a valid license from their home state or country.

“If an immigrant has a driver’s license from another state or another country, they are eligible to receive a tag, according to this law,” Lewis said.

“We believe we are following the letter of the law,” she said.

The sponsor of the law, state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), says Fulton “is following most of the letters, but they’re forgetting the last few letters.”

Rogers acknowledges that the exemptions are confusing. “Many people quit reading after the first line,” he said.

Rogers tightened up the language during this year’s legislative session to make it clear that anyone who does not otherwise qualify for a Georgia license (such as an illegal immigrant) is not qualified for an exemption. The changes are part of Senate Bill 488 and won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2009.

In Gwinnett County, tag office workers explain to customers that they must have a Georgia driver’s license or ID card to get a tag, said Anthony Buffum, director of the department of motor vehicles for Gwinnett’s tax commissioner.

“Especially people who have just moved here — they follow the state procedure. They go get a license,” Buffum said.

Senate Bill 38 closed a window that previously allowed newcomers to get a tag before getting a Georgia driver’s license. Motorists have 30 days to get a Georgia driver’s license after moving to the state. Now they must get a license before the tag. Previously, a driver could register a car with an out-of-state or international license and worry about getting the Georgia license later.

“Part of the reason that Senate Bill 38 came about is because people were coming in [for a tag] and saying that their tires were still hot, but actually, they had been here much longer,” Manley said.

Some counties, including Gwinnett and Cobb, will honor exemptions for out-of-state students and military personnel, such as those stationed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. In rare cases Cobb may allow an exemption for nonresidents, Manley said.

“Let’s say they’re a legal resident of Florida, but they’re a pilot and they fly through Atlanta a lot and want a car here. We’ll have them put their reasons in writing. It’s a rare thing,” Manley said.

Some illegal immigrants have found creative ways to register their cars.

In DeKalb County the number of tag applications for corporate cars has shot from zero to about 30 percent of the tag and title business in the last year, said Brent Bennett, director of vehicle registrations for Dekalb’s tax commission office. A corporation does not need a Georgia driver’s license for a tag. The Georgia Office of the Secretary of State is aware of the issue and wants legislation to tighten the loophole, office spokesman Matt Carrothers said.

Meanwhile, tag and title companies charge hundreds of dollars to help file the corporate paperwork.

Araceli Rubiños, a clerk at Seguros America on Buford Highway, says her company charges $365 to register someone as a corporation with the secretary of state and obtain the tag. Seguros America does the deal for residents of DeKalb and Fulton counties only. “All of our clients are people who don’t have licenses in Georgia,” Rubiños said.

Los Angeles Times

South L.A. backyards are becoming barnyards

In Southeast L.A., the black population has dropped from 71% in 1980 to 24% in the 2000 census; the Latino population grew from 27% in 1980 to 74% in 2000.

For some folks, the rooster has become a potent symbol of the way their neighborhood is changing.

“Sometimes, I think it’s Mexico,” said Tony Johnson, who lives in Southeast L.A. He confessed that after being roused early some mornings, he has fantasized about silencing the birds permanently. “Boom. Boom. Boom,” he said, pantomiming how he would do it.

But a few blocks away, Jose Luiz, 43, seemed surprised that anyone would be bothered by the noise.

“It’s natural to have roosters,” he said as he surveyed a new community garden where corn, squash and tomatoes were growing. “I’m Mexican. We are accustomed to hearing them.”

Once predominantly African American, the area has seen an influx of Latino “immigrants”, along with their roosters, chickens and other barnyard beasts not typically part of the urban scene…

HERE

KNBC-TV — Los Angeles

Immigration sting results in 905 arrests in California

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says agents have arrested more than 900 people in California on immigration violations during a three-week sting targeting people who ignored deportation orders. — The agency says 495 of the 905 people arrested were targeted in the operation. The other 410 just happened to be on the scene when agents arrived.

HERE

Madera (Calif.) Tribune

Illegal alien arrested for welfare fraud

Allegations of welfare fraud and perjury returned a Madera mother and her children into the custody of authorities Friday for a second time in a year. The children are with Child Protective Services while their mother, 28-year-old Nora Yesenia Guillen, is in county jail…

HERE

McCain: “I believe we have to secure our borders, and I think most Americans agree with that, because it’s a matter of national security. But we must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a top agenda item if we don’t do it before, and we probably won’t, a little straight talk, as of January 2009.”

May 22, 2008, 3:51 pm
McCain Says Immigration Reform Should Be Top Priority
New York Times blog
By Michael Luo

SAN JOSE—In yet another sign of his pivoting toward the general election, Senator John McCain said at a roundtable with business leaders here today that comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next president.

HERE

John A. Ward — Arizona Daily Star — Tucson

Raza studies gives rise to racial hostility

…The Raza studies department has powerful allies in TUSD, on its governing board and in the U.S. House of Representatives and thus operates with much impunity. — Occasionally there are minor irritations from the state superintendent of public instruction and the Legislature.

“As an educator, I refused to be complicit in a curriculum that engendered racial hostility, irresponsibly demeaned America’s civil institutions, undermined our public servants, discounted any virtues in Western civilization and taught disdain for American sovereignty.
When I raised these concerns, I was told that I was a “racist,” despite being Hispanic. Acknowledging my heritage, the Raza studies staff also informed me that I was a vendido, the Spanish term for “sellout.”
HERE