America has become known as the HOSPITAL TO THE WORLD, according to Dr. Madeline Cosman. Please read her documented report. It should raise the "hair on your neck" if you have any concerns at all about the safety of our citizenry, our health system, and our way of life that we have known and believe will always be the same.................THINK AGAIN!!

http://newswithviews.com/Cosman/madeleine3.htm

HOSPITAL TO THE WORLD WELCOMES ILLEGALS & CONTAGIOUS DISEASES

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, Ph.D., ESQ
April 25, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

Illegal aliens cross America’s borders medically unexamined. We shrug. We do not know what Illegal Aliens carry in their backpacks. We do not know what they carry in their bodies.

Long ago we knew what legal immigrants brought with them. When my grandpa came to America, he kissed the ground of New York’s Ellis Island, then he stripped naked and coughed hard. Every legal immigrant before 1924 was examined for infectious diseases upon arrival and tested for tuberculosis. Anyone infected was shipped back to the old country. That was powerful incentive for each newcomer to make heroic efforts to appear healthy.

Today, legal immigrants must demonstrate that they are free of communicable diseases and drug addiction to qualify for lawful permanent residency Green Cards.

But Illegal Aliens stop at no medical checkpoint. Whoever walks through our foolishly open Golden Door comes in healthy or sick. If a border patrol sentry catches a healthy Illegal Alien he might be sent back home immediately. However, if we catch and detain a sick Illegal Alien, who after examination by physicians in a detention center proves to have a serious disease, we keep him! Foolish compassion makes us fear that his home country has neither adequate medical resources nor modern wonder drugs. So we release sick Illegal Aliens to the American streets, to infect others if their diseases are contagious, or we place them in our Medicaid program where we pay for their expensive treatments.

Foolish medical generosity encourages clever Illegal Aliens to exploit free medical care that EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, provides.[1] Foolish medical graciousness encourages cynical Illegal Aliens to take and take and take again.[2] Only a foolish guest will refuse what a foolish host offers. Our wide-open Golden Door guarantees that Illegal Aliens in their own self-interest will use and abuse our medical system. Our Golden Door also is propped open thanks to advocacy and legal aid of Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Foundation, National Immigration Law Center, Southern Poverty Law Center, and similar open border groups.[3] America is fast becoming Hospital to the World.

Horrendous diseases that long ago America had conquered are resurging. Horrific diseases common in Third World poverty and medical ignorance suddenly are appearing in American emergency rooms and medical offices. Along with the visible invasion of Illegal Aliens across our borders is an invisible invasion of deadly diseases.[4]
_____________________________

Read more and see all the documented evidence that Dr. Cosman presents in this study.

In my last post, I cited a recent CIS study showing that mass immigration only marginally effects America’s age structure and has little or no impact on Social Security revenue.

What holds for the US holds for Europe -- and then some.

Every nation in Europe has a shrinking and aging population. Some nations, like Germany and Italy, are in demographic freefall. This is not good news for Europe’s long term economic prospects, and has led many to worry that the post-war providential state is about to implode.

With that in mind, a little remarked year 2000 UN study set itself the question: “Is replacement migration [i.e., mass immigration] a solution to declining and aging populations?”

The answer: yes, if you don’t mind 1.4 billion new immigrants [PDF] .

That’s the number of immigrants the nations of Europe would need to admit between 1995 and 2050 if they were to maintain the population age structure of the 1990s – i.e., the same ratio of working age adults to elderly and retired people.

A dramatic proposition, to say the least. The study notes:

By 2050, these larger migration flows would result in populations where the proportion of post-1995 migrants and their descendants would range between 59 per cent and 99 per cent. Such high levels of migration have not been observed in the past for any of these countries or regions.

“It seems extremely unlikely,” the study tersely concludes, “that such flows could happen in these countries in the foreseeable future.”

You don’t say.

Europe’s headed for crisis and immigration can do nothing to avert it. All that remains is to cushion the blow. To do so, the UN study recommends a number of measures: pension cuts, a later retirement age, increases in worker and employer contributions (i.e., higher taxes), and moderate immigration with assimilation.

What it does not mention – but what is at least as important for Europe’s long term prospects as any other measure – are policies promoting higher birth rates. If Europe is to survive, it must first reproduce.

The post-war welfare state was founded on a fallacy of permanence. Over the next generation, European elites will be faced with some very tough choices. It would be better for them and everyone else if they made these choices early.

So far, there's no sign of that happening.

As posted yesterday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated his support for the Minuteman project and his opposition to the KRCA billboards that portrayed Los Angeles as being located in Mexico.

There are at least three MSM reports on Arnold's statements and all include various quotes from his critics.

The AP (Schwarzenegger Praises Border Volunteers) quotes Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). She criticizes Arnold's support for the MMP, but at least she suggests that we should add more Border Patrol agents.

The SacBee article (Governor causes immigration stir) is longer and has more quotes from Arnold. It also includes this quote from Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate:

"Scapegoating and immigrant-bashing are the last refuge of a wounded politician... [his remarks] show that he is trying to deflect attention away from his poor performance as governor - much like Pete Wilson did... We've just seen (Schwarzenegger's) 60 percent disapproval rating and so he's going after immigrants..."

Actually, that's quite a misleading statement if not an outright lie. I listened to the radio interview and the Governor made it clear that he was talking about illegal immigration and that he supported legal immigration and legal immigrants. The SacBee includes this:

Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, was not bashing immigrants.

"The governor was talking about what happens when the government fails to do its job," she said.

"Just as in the recall election, when the government fails to do its job, the people will step in."

Unfortunately, the SacBee also includes the comments of Nativo Lopez, state president of the Mexican-American Political Association:

"Even the president has referred to these people as vigilantes, and the governor of our state turns around and applauds them... It's shameful that a person of his political stature would applaud out-and-out vigilantes."

Background information on Lopez is given below. The AP has an even more inflammatory statements from him:

"[Arnold's remarks were] nothing short of base racism... Those of immigrant stock should have no illusions about what his real sentiments and feelings are toward them..."

Since everyone on Earth is "of immigrant stock," in my opinion that's a code phrase for "radicalized Chicanos." To their credit, the AP follows that immediately with this:

"It's not racist to ask the federal government to enforce its laws," Schwarzenegger's press secretary said. "Everyone should be united in wanting to protect our national security."

The LAT article ("Gov. Praises 'Minuteman' Campaign") includes similar comments from Lopez.

Unfortunately, the AP, the LAT, and the SacBee don't provide any background information on Nativo Lopez. For that, you'll need to turn to the wide variety of information that's out there:

'Aztlaner' Nativo Lopez Threatens the City of Anaheim (includes audio of him referring to Aztlan)

"License to Kill", "English Gains" and "Alien Resurrection" have more about him being recalled from the largely-Hispanic school board in the largely-Hispanic city of Santa Ana. See also Ethnic Politics Gets Nasty, the news reports here, and here, and you can hear him speak here.

And, from the WSJ's "Cruz Control":

...[CA Lt. Gov. Cruz] Bustamante campaigned for [Nativo] Lopez even though the entire Santa Ana City Council, which has a Latino majority, supported his recall. Beatriz Salas, who immigrated from Mexico 20 years ago, says she was appalled when she and other parents attended a meeting with Mr. Lopez in 1999, where he admitted that his goal was to make Spanish the primary language in California...

Please contact those MSM sources and suggest that if they quote Nativo Lopez in the future they put his comments into the proper context:

feedback at ap.org
Readers.Rep at latimes.com
ombud at sacbee.com

UPDATE: "Mexico Irked at California Governor's Praise of 'Minuteman' Border Project":

[Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says:] "these types of unfortunate pronouncements are not the way to achieve a better understanding between our country and California."

...In a statement, the Foreign Relations Department said it was especially surprised by the governor's comments "now that the administration of President (George W.) Bush has clearly stated its opposition to the vigilante activities on the border."

"These manifestations prejudice historical economic, social and cultural ties between Mexico and California," the statement said. "Today, our country is the main market for products from that state. In 2004, California exported US$17.2 billion (euro13 billion) worth of merchandise to Mexico."

That immigration is neeeded to offset America's aging population and pay into Social Security has long been one of the favorite platitudes of the Open Borders lobby. Like most things they say, it's nonsense.

A recent report for the Center for Immigration Study shows that present mass immigration only marginally effects America's age structure and has little or no impact on Social Security Administration revenue.

Among the report's findings:

In 2000 the average age of an immigrant was 39, which is actually about four years older than the average age of a native-born American.

Even focusing on only recent immigration reveals little impact on aging. Excluding all 22 million immigrants who arrived after 1980 from the 2000 Census increases the average age in the United States by only about four months.

Looking to the future, Census Bureau projections indicate that if net immigration averaged 100,000 to 200,000 annually, the working age share would be 58.7 percent in 2060, while with net immigration of roughly 900,000 to one million, it would be 59.5 percent.

And perhaps most striking of all:

Census projections are buttressed by Social Security Administration (SAA) estimates showing that, over the next 75 years, net annual legal immigration of 800,000 a year versus 350,000 would create a benefit equal to only 0.77 percent of the program’s projected expenditures.

It is not clear that even this tiny benefit exists, because SSA assumes legal immigrants will have earnings and resulting tax payments as high as natives from the moment they arrive, which is contrary to a large body of research.

Whatever else happens, continued mass immigration will have little short term impact on reversing age trends or boosting Social Security revenue.

If only the same could be said for local tax burden, overpopulation, environmental degradation, social and ethnic conflict, crime rates, disease, terrorism, or national identity.

Oh well, every policy has its drawbacks...

At the Hold Their Feet To The Fire dinner Wednesday night, I had the honor of meeting Teri March, widow of slain Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy David March. Deputy March was killed three years ago today by illegal alien criminal Armando Garcia--a beneficiary of open borders, catch-and-release policies, and America's failure to get tough and enforce its extradition agreement with Mexico. Like hundreds of other cold-blooded fugitives, Garcia escaped south of the border after killing March and remains there protected by the Mexican government.

Teri has continued to press the Bush administration to action. She met with the State Department this week. President Bush has yet to fulfill a promise he made to the March family personally to bring Garcia to justice. Shamefeully, the White House had not bothered to respond to March's letters and letters sent on the March family's behalf from 33 House members and the L.A. District Attorney's office pushing for Garcia's extradition.

“I need justice,” Teri told CBS News last year. “Our family needs justice. Law enforcement needs justice." She's staying strong and was buoyed by the passion and activism harnessed during the Hold Their Feet to Fire campaign.

If you are in the San Gabriel Valley, Calif., area, there will be a candlelight vigil tonight in Deputy March's memory at the Irwindale Speedway from 5:00-7:00 PM.

If you have a spare moment, go here for things you can do to help the March family's cause. And keep them in your prayers.

Texans for Texas reports on two bills--that would move Texas' illegal immigration policy in opposite directions--that are currently working their way through the state legislature. One has the support of the usual suspects, while the other is all but dead:

The argument over who and what is needed for a Texas driver's license is avoiding the media spotlight. HB 1561 by Rep. Norma Chavez (D-El Paso) would allow a foreign national to obtain a Texas driver's license with an official document from a foreign government. On April 13th the UT-LULAC, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Consulate General of Mexico, LULAC, United Farm Workers, La Union del Pueblo Entero, ACLU, NAACP, Texas AFL-CIO, and the Texas Council on Family Violence all testified in favor of the bill. No one testified against it. HB 1561 has now been voted out of the House Borders and International Affairs Committee. The Calendars Committee will now determine when it will be debated on the House floor.

Going the opposite direction is HB 327 by Rep. Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas) This bill is supported by several immigration reform groups. It states: The department may not accept, recognize, or rely on an identity document issued to an applicant by a consular office or consular official of another country, including a matricula consular issued by a consular office of the United Mexican States located in this country, as primary, secondary, or supporting proof of the applicant's identity.

This bill has all but died in the House Law Enforcement Committee. (emphasis added)

Why is the NAACP testifying in favor of a bill that helps illegal aliens? And for that matter, what is the AFL-CIO doing supporting it? Is there some intent to unionize illegals?

(thanks to MR)

Thousands of illegals obtained drivers licenses the old-fashioned way--they found the right person and bribed them:

WASHINGTON - Thousands of undocumented immigrants have obtained driver licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited.

Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 undocumented immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week.

There doesn't appear to be any terrorist connection in these cases, but--

Eighteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had valid driver licenses or state-issued identification cards. At least one of those hijackers was in the United States illegally.

Nine of the 19 had Florida driver licenses; three had ID cards issued by the state.

Obtaining driver licenses was a priority for the hijackers, said Janice Kephart, counsel to the Sept. 11 commission and an expert on immigration and border security issues. ''The object was to appear legitimate,'' Kephart said.

These cases took place in three states; Florida, Michigan and Maryland. I'd be very surprised if similar activities weren't going on in just about every state.

Speaking live on today's John & Ken show on KFI Los Angeles, CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that TV station KRCA should take down the billboard in which the "CA" of "Los Angeles CA" has been crossed out and replaced with the word "Mexico."

He called the billboard "divisive" and "unnecessary" and said that it promoted illegal immigration. He said that he welcomes business with Mexico and that he understands why poor people from Mexico want to come here. He blames the federal government for failing to secure the borders, not the illegal immigrants for wanting to come here.

He said that Los Angeles is a city where "we should work together, live together" and that the billboard "stirs up the issue of illegal immigration" and that it's "disservice to legal immigrants."

He thinks the Minuteman Project has done a terrific job, and that "it's a shame that private citizens has to go in there and secure our borders."

When asked why Bush would call the MMP volunteers "vigilantes," he responded diplomatically and said that he can't say what Bush is thinking and that perhaps he knows something we don't know.

According to the most recent Horizon poll from Phoenix' PBS outlet KAET, 57% of Arizonans support the Minuteman Project. 34% were opposed. In less favorable news, 62% support Bush's guest worker plan, and 29% oppose it. Opinions were split on the actions of Patrick Haab.

The report from KAET, with the questions that were askied, is here. AP reports are here and here and a report from Capitol Media Services is here.

Note that KAET is a PBS affiliate and that they did this poll with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and that they've been doing similar polls on current events for years. I'd be slightly surprised if the usual suspects call the results non-representative.

AZ Central:

Rep. J.D. Hayworth on Wednesday accused President Bush and others of having "maligned" the Minuteman Project, the civilian patrol group that placed volunteers along a 23-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border this month to monitor immigrant activity.

And another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, called on Bush to "meet with the people he calls vigilantes," and "issue an apology to these folks for what he's called (them)."

...White House spokesman Taylor Gross said Wednesday that no apology will be coming from the White House...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has "no position" on the MMP.

And, from a week ago, see Spokesman confronted with border-agent anger: McClellan defends guest-worker program, won't rescind 'vigilante' comment

The AP reports that the MMP intends to set up patrols along the northern borders of Vermont, Michigan, North Dakota, and Idaho. However, no target date has been set.

The article includes this:

Mario Villarreal, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said his agency "does not endorse the expansion of civilian patrols, as proposed by the citizens group in Arizona. We must leave the responsibility of protecting the nation's borders to the highly trained law enforcement personnel of the Border Patrol."

Now, see "Border Patrol Has Issues with ACLU Operatives in Monitored Sector":

The union representing Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector says its members have had no complaints about the volunteers taking part in the Minuteman Project, which is wrapping up this week in the Arizona desert. But apparently the Border Patrol has had some problems with the ACLU...

In addition to noting the president Bush called the MMP volunteers "vigilantes", the AP article also has this:

"We're not supportive of vigilantes," said Dan Whiting, spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. "We can empathize with the need for border security, but we need to do it the right way."

Craig is the sponsor of the AgJobs amnesty.

Localized versions of the AP story here and here.

"I'm an undocumented immigrant, and I've been here, and I'm in college, and I'm working really hard," she said. "I'm here, so get used to it." --Mirla Lopez, a government and pre-law student at the University of Texas at Austin

The Austin, Texas, office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can be reached at 512-916-5888.

Related: How to Report Illegal Aliens

(Hat tip: Res Ipsa Loquitur.)

Read all about it here. Where's the ACLU when you need 'em?

Deutsche Welle reports:

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer admitted on Monday that he failed to act more quickly to stop visa abuses which allowed tens of thousands of eastern Europeans to flood into Germany between 2000 and 2003.

[...] Current and former German ambassadors have told the investigation that they submitted alarming reports of the rush for applications as early as March 2000. The embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kiev for example issued 297,000 visas in 2001 alone, but the foreign ministry did not fully close the loophole until March 2003.

While Fischer accepted responsibility for the visa scandal, he refused to step down. Once one of Germany's most popular politicians, Fischer's intransigence may jeopardize the SPD-Green Coalition bid in an important upcoming North Rhine-Westphalia election.

German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder's ruling SPD Party will be seriously weakened should it lose control of the region. Many Germans are already anxious about an influx of Eastern Europeans following the latest round of EU enlargements.

Some in the mainstream media are picking up on the story--blogged here yesterday--about that appalling "Los Angeles, Mexico" billboard.

Here's some reaction in the Los Angeles Times, which reports "Ad Putting L.A. in Mexico Called Slap in Face:"

"This is almost a poster-board for illegal immigration," said Peter Amundson, a volunteer with the California Republican Assembly. "This is America. We're a land of immigrants — legal immigrants. This is not Mexico. This is the United States."

Amundson, who first saw one of the billboards last week near Irwindale, said that crossing out California and replacing it with Mexico was "a slap in the face to Californians and a pretty blatant one."

Exactly.

The Spanish-language broadcasting company sponsoring the ads--which, of course, is making big bucks off the illegal alien market--doesn't see a problem:

"All we are saying is, 'It's your city, your town, your team,' " said Andrew Mars, vice president for sales for Liberman Broadcasting. "We are a team that's educating and informing the Spanish-language marketplace."

Executive Vice President Lenard Liberman said Noticias 62 was a popular news program in Los Angeles and noted that people of Mexican descent made up a large portion of the city.

"We tell the story behind L.A.., and we tell the story behind Mexico," he said. "If they find that offensive, I'm sorry. But you just have to drive around L.A. to know that this is a Hispanic city."

Someone who gets it gets the last word:

Stuart Fischoff, who teaches media psychology at Cal State L.A., said the billboard was like "sticking a finger in your eye" to immigration reformers. "The joke here is, 'We're taking back California,' " Fischoff said. "Underneath the joke is part of the truth."

Viva la reconquista. Get used to it.

***
Related:

KESQ is also carrying an abbreviated report.

More on info on Liberman Broadcasting and its advertisers here.

Our city is a Mexican city

Cross-posted here.

Eight days to go before the UK general elections and the New York Times' Adam Nagourney is already calling it: Labour wins by a landslide.

To prove his point, Nagourney offers a fancy graphic of a poll taken last week which gives a 13 point lead to Labour. Recent weeks have seen scores of polls. While none show the Conservatives ahead (the majority have Labour leading by between 5 and 10 points), only one poll -- the poll cited by Nagourney -- puts the Labour advantage at +13.

Gee, I wonder why they chose that one...

As a matter of fact, the election is much closer than the Times' story suggests. Today's Guardian thus leads with news of a private Labour poll showing it with a mere 2 point advantage in contested marginal seats (the seats their opponents hope to win). The latest MORI poll -- the most recent poll to date -- similarly gives Labour only 2 points. As the UK Polling Report blog notes:

The topline figures show Labour support falling and both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives gaining support. This is the highest level of Lib Dem support, the smallest Labour lead and the lowest Labour share of the vote recorded in any non-internet pollster since the beginning of the campaign.

That makes two polls showing Labour on the ropes. Does this mean Labour will lose the election? Who knows. For the moment, the most one can reasonably say is that, faced with renewed criticism over Iraq and an aggressive Tory push on "character" issues, the Labour campaign is beginning to show cracks.

Back to the Times story. Nagourney would have us believe that the Tories are running a Republican-style "values" campaign. Having set up this false premise, he then cites some implausible polling data to "prove" that it's hurting Tory chances. A Democratic Party pollster seems to agree with him:

"You can't ride the conservative tide from America here," said Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster from the United States who is advising Mr. Blair. "You have the leader of the free world being a self-conscious conservative, but based on ideas that seem foreign in Britain."

Great but I fail to see the point: Howard's not running on Bush themes.

As I note in my most recent piece for VDare, the Tory's decision to put immigration at the center of their campaign has forced Labour to fight an election that most observers assumed would be another landslide for Blair. Bush, for his part, studiously avoided any mention of immigration in the last campaign -- for fear of further alienating his base.

If there's a relationship between this year's Tory campaign and last year's Republican one, it's an inverse one.

Nagourney's story, in short, is just another example of how the Times' filters foreign news through a fundamentally domestic political imaginary. In this game of fantasy politics, the Tories are figured as proxy Republicans about to badly lose a general election. No doubt such pictures satisfy at the psychological level -- an advanced European consciouness (Nagourney/Blair) handing humiliating defeat to the promoters of an atavistic social agenda (Bush/Howard).

Good fantasy, bad journalism.

In the final paragraphs of his story, Nagourney revels at the spectacle of prominent Democrats puffing up the Blair campaign:

While it is hard to walk through Labor Party headquarters without spotting some familiar Democratic Party face who has flown over to help out - Bill Clinton appeared by satellite hookup to speak in support of Mr. Blair at a rally on Sunday - there are few if any American Republicans helping out the Conservatives. Mr. Bush, grateful for Mr. Blair's unwavering support on Iraq, has kept out of the contest.

Mr. Howard appeared exasperated Monday when he was asked what American president was supporting his campaign. "I'm more interested in the backing of the British people than the backing of American presidents," he said.

Howard's right: the British campaign is about Britain, not America. If only the Times could figure that one out.

Besides, he's better off without Bush.

***
Previous:

Labour Seeks to Outflank Tories on Immigration (04/22)
Suppressed Study Reveals 500,000 Illegals (04/17)
UK Elections: Tories Make It a Referendum on Immigration (04/10)
British Democracy Goes "Bananans" (04/07)
Immigration Reform Makes It an Even Closer Race (04/06)
target="new">UK Elections: Immigration Reform Makes It a Race (03/29)

As previously discussed, several talk show hosts and hundreds of their listeners are in Washington DC to lobby our representatives for immigration reform.

The Washington Times has a report about Sunday's events: "Border vigil group calls for immigration reform". California's Press Enterprise has "Activists rally for border control".

More from Roger Hedgecock here, from Dan Stein of FAIR here, and from John & Ken here and here.

If you've never heard John & Ken before, you can listen to them over the Internet here between 3pm and 7pm Pacific.

Unfortunately, all the AP has that's slightly related to Hold Their Feet to the Fire is a five paragraph blurb "Advocates call for better treatment of illegal immigrants". It doesn't mention or refer to Hold Their Feet to the Fire. Instead, it features the pro-illegal immigration NPA organization mentioned in the last post. On the other hand, they balance out the five paragraphs with a quote from FAIR. And, that's the only recent article I could find that mentions NPA, so I'd imagine they aren't too happy...

The Christian Science Monitor gets it.

With the British general election just 9 days off, Tony Blair's government is faced with yet another immigration scandal: the discovery of a massive sham marriage ring. The Guardian reports:

Yesterday Jaswinder Gill was sentenced to 10 years for the scam which may have earned her up to £1m after a trial that saw her branded as "greedy, manipulative and a total alien to the truth".

Gill, 42, went to extraordinary lengths to pull off a series of cons. She would organise elaborate Indian wedding sets to fool the British Asian women. She handed out cards in supermarkets and nightclubs in the hunt for recruits, promising help in starting a modelling career. At least 15 women were involved - all described by police as "vulnerable", with drug or money problems.

As in the voting fraud scandal I earlier reported here, the perpetrators seem to be all drawn from Britain's "Asian" community.

Two other men, Fasil Rashid, 31, of Acton, west London, and Ahmed Zubair, 20, of Hayes, west London, were jailed for four years and 12 months respectively.

Gill's scam ran from 2000 to 2004 and police do not know how many fake marriages she may have orchestrated, nor where the men are. When police raided her home they found false documentation designed to help facilitate the sham marriages.

The Guardian is of course reporting the convictions as a first success for the Blair government's "tough" new rules on bogus marriage, contrasting it favorably with the "previous system":

Mark Rimmer, the director of registrars in the London borough of Brent, was a critic of the previous system: "Up to 20% of all weddings in London were potentially bogus, that's between 8,000 to 10,000 a year. Immigration Service estimates were 10,000 to 15,000 a year across the UK."

The government deserves credit -- if credit is due for (finally) enforcing its own laws.

Gannett reports that the Real ID Act probably will become law:

A controversial bill that would require states to verify the citizenship or legal status of anyone applying for a drivers license will likely become law because Senate Democrats don't have the votes to stop it, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday.

Aimed at illegal immigrants, the so-called Real ID Act is expected to be included in a final version of an $81 billion spending bill to fund the war in Iraq, according to Reid, D-Nev. House and Senate lawmakers begin negotiating a final version of the spending bill this week.

In addition to making it harder for illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses, the Act will tighten up lax asylum rules and waive local environmental laws to allow the construction of a 14-mile a fence along the border near San Diego.

Congratulations, Rep. Sensenbrenner!

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn apparently thinks Los Angeles belongs to Mexico. Now comes this report from WorldNetDaily. Is the purported billboard photoshopped or real?

Update: It's real. More here.

Robert Stacy McCain writes:

It's over now, the carnage on the Arizona-Mexico border caused by violent right-wing vigilantes. No longer are members of the so-called Minuteman Project shedding the blood and violating the human rights of innocent Mexicans whose only "crime" was illegally trying to enter the United States to earn money for their impoverished families. Weeks of slaughter and atrocities are now at an end, and the Minuteman vigilantes are going home. Oh, wait a minute. It never happened.

Read the whole thing.

Several talk show hosts and hundreds of their listeners are in Washington D.C. this week to directly lobby our representatives about illegal immigration and other matters. The talk show hosts, lead by KOGO's Roger Hedgecock and KFI's John & Ken, will be broadcasting live from the event. More details and their schedule here. Roger Hedgecock has pictures here and the first report here.

Even if you aren't going you can still help by contacting your representatives preferably by phone or if that's not convenient by FAX or email. Here are their phone directories: Senate, House.

UPDATE: The main web site for Hold Their Feet to the Fire is nomoreamnesty.com.

On the other side of things, the National People's Action is organizing their own lobbying effort to oppose Hold Their Feet to the Fire. Their first press release was issued yesterday and is here. Apparently they held a protest at the home of a Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture. It doesn't seem to have generated any news reports. Today's press release includes this:

Powerful stories of immigrants will be shared as NPA offers an alternative voice to right-wingers leading the anti-immigrant "Hold Their Feet To the Fire" campaign.

First, Hold Their Feet To the Fire isn't anti-immigrant. Second, false generalization is a logical fallacy.

You might remember NPA as the group that surrounded Karl Rove's house last year and banged on his windows in support of the DREAM Act.

For much more about them, see: A closer look at left-wing thuggery, all the links in this post, and for how CNN handled the Rove harrasment, see this.

If NPA gets any press, please send the reporters those links.

The following remarks by Richard Lamm are remarkable and hard-hitting. I was one of the many attendees at this conference and was as spellbound as the rest of the crowd. Please read and think of the 8 points....how many are already accomplished? That is a frightening thought.
_______________________________________

We all know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant.

Recently there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor named Victor Davis Hanson talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal - was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.

"The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."

Lamm went on: "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

"We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'"Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other."

"A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on 'pluribus' instead of the 'unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits ~ make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate."

"Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Every discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.'

American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm, walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

http://www.freerepublic.com/~b4ranch/

Rep. J.D. Hayworth vs. The Arizona Republic.

Another week has gone by--7 more days of the illegal invasion into America of people trespassing from countries around the world, many of them enemies of ours. And yet, the President, most members of Congress, many state and local officials do nothing to curtail this crisis.

Thank God for patriots around this country who continue to "fight on" in ways they are able to. More letters, faxes, emails, calls, community activism, lobbying efforts, the MinuteMan group, some legislators, and the real folks on the ground keep doing the work our elected leaders took their Oaths to do.....and yet have failed miserably at.

Our borders are insecure; our citizens lives continue to be put in danger; American jobs are at risk; our law enforcement sons/daughters/husbands/wives/friends keep trying by putting their "fingers in the dike" to stem this tide.

Keep fighting on! This is our obligation as citizens of these United States. We can do nothing less if we value the sovereignty and the freedoms that are our birthright. Keep fighting on!

The AP's "Mexican legislators propose stopping migrants on way to U.S." has the details:

...The bill would allow police or Mexico's migrant-protection agents to designate border areas as temporary "high-risk zones" and declare them off-limits to average citizens.

When high temperatures are forecast, for example, "patrols would go out, inform people of this, and take them to a safe place until it (the heat) is over," Osuna said. After that, the migrants are once again free to go where they wish...

In other words, it's a half-measure. Despite that, it's apparently encountered resistance within Mexico. And, worthies such as the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation are opposed to it as well.

I note also that at the bottom of the story it gives a link to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. However, they're referred to as, literally, "Federation for American migration". And, that same error is present in other copies of this article (here, here), so I imagine the error was made by the AP itself. It seems to me there's the possibility the AP might run an automated search-and-replace on their articles to replace "immigration" with "migration" or similar. The article itself uses FAIR's correct name, but the words "migrant" or "migration" appear several times in the article...

With only two weeks remaining before the UK general elections, recent polls all give a slight lead to Tony Blair's Labour Party. The Party's internal polls, however, seem to be saying something else.

How else to explain Home Secretary Charles Clarke's announcement, earlier today, that the Labour government intends to add an additional 600 border guards if reelected? Three weeks ago, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard made a similar pledge, promising to create the UK's first ever "border police" force in the event of a Tory victory.

Clarke's announcement is just the latest sign that Labour is taking the Tory threat seriously and is seeking to outflank it.

Immigration and asylum issues are the sole area in which Howard's Conseratives consistently lead Labour in opinion surveys. As it happens, they also consistently top out polls of publicly important matters. Since taking up the issue in late January, the Tories have seen their fortunes revived.

And this has gotten Labour worried. In recent weeks, Labour Party hacks have tirelessly hammered away at the "disastrous" consequences of the supposedly "incoherent" Tory proposals. Meanwhile, Blair's government has modestly adopted a "lite" version of almost every one of those proposals.

Labour's track record on the issue hardly inspires confidence. Since Blair took office in 1997, immigration to the UK -- much of it driven by abuses of Britain's generous asylum system -- has skyrocketed. When public dissatisfcation with the government's lax attitude to asylum first became a political issue last spring, Blair hastily called a special summit of government ministers to address the issue. They addressed the issue... and then quietly pushed it back under the carpet.

This graph, based on Home Office statistics current through 2003, nicely dramatizes what's happened in Britain since Blair took office:

Labour is almost certain to win the election on May 5th -- given the Tories weak position in Parliament, it's hard to imagine any other outcome.

But by seizing upon immigration and asylum, the Tories have done what few had expected and given Labour a run for its money. Along the way, they have brought into the open and legitimated public concerns over immigration which, until now, were buried under the same politically taboos that prevent discussion of the issue in the US.

However the election turns out, British democracy has already scored a victory. As Blair himself today remarked in a speech closely cribbed from the Tories' campaign handbook:

Concern about asylum and immigration is not about racism. It is about fairness. People want to know that the rules and systems in place are fair.

People also want to know that those they elect to government get it. That we are listening. We do get it. We are listening.

They are listening in London. And in Washington?

Another victory for law-abiding, pro-enforcement forces:

Patrick Haab, the Army reservist whom open-borders zealots accused of being a "vigilante" for detaining 7 illegal aliens (including their smuggler) until Maricopa County, Az., immigration authorities arrived near the southern border will not be prosecuted:

The Maricopa County Attorney has declined to press charges against a man accused of holding 7 illegal immigrants at gunpoint.

The case had garned national attention with people divided on whether Patrick Haab was a victim or a vigilante.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas decided that Haab was making a lawful citizen's arrest and did not commit a crime.

More:

Thomas' office said Arizona citizens have the right to make a citizen's arrest if either a federal or state felony offense has been committed in his presence or if a felony has been committed and the citizen has reasonable grounds to believe the person he intends to arrest has committed it.

Thomas -- a Republican who in campaigning last year promised a strong stand against illegal immigration -- said Paul Charlton, U.S. Attorney for Arizona, has charged one of the seven men with engaging in human smuggling.

The other six conspired with the alleged smuggler, or coyote -- also felony conduct -- Thomas said. Haab's use of a weapon to detain the men was reasonable under the circumstances, he said.

Meanwhile, one of my old heroes, Garrett Chamberlain, police chief of New Ipswich, NH, is taking personal responsibility for illegal alien criminals in his jurisdiction. Jay Tea at Wizbang has the details.

Local self-help continues apace.

A councilman and former mayor of Elsmere, De. (population: 5800), has introduced a bill that would fine landlords and employers $1000 per illegal alien that they rent to or employ. John Jaremchuk’s bill would also allow police officers, if they have stopped an individual for a traffic or other offense and have reasonable cause to believe that the individual is an illegal alien, to inquire into his residency status. If the person stopped cannot provide evidence of legality within 24 hours, he could be fined $100.

Jaremchuk cites the drain on the city’s coffers from illegal aliens, gangs and property damage, and the risks of terrorism as justification for his bill. ICE, he says, has shown itself “unable or unwilling” to enforce immigration laws, so “local government has to step in.”

The bill will be voted on May 12. Expect vociferous challenges to its legality: opponents will argue that only the federal government may respond to immigration violations. Yet, as Jaremchuk observes, laws against employing illegal aliens have been on the books since 1986, without the slightest effort on Washington’s part to give them any teeth. Only by penalizing scofflaw employers will the alien smuggling trade be stopped. As long as intending illegals know that they can find work hassle-free, no amount of border fortification will stop the invasion.

Hispanic advocacy groups and the ACLU are already accusing the town of practicing “racial profiling.”

And the media is running the usual story: How dare anyone scare our illegal aliens? “Fear on the streets” ran a subhead in an April 15 News Journal story (published in Wilmington, Del.)

It is the peculiar trait of immigration law-breaking that you’re supposed to be able to do it without any fear of the consequences. It’s mean-spirited, the elite thinking goes, to do anything that would lead illegals to worry that they may actually be at risk of enforcement. After the Border Patrol arrested some 450 border trespassers in several California cities last spring, the Los Angeles Times, La Raza, and every other advocacy group for immigration law-breakers protested that the arrests were "scaring" illegal aliens. The White House promptly called the team off.

One might respond that if you’re going to break into a country in violation of its laws, it goes with the territory that you might occasionally worry about getting arrested. It’s one of the risks that you are assuming. But no, the push to normalize illegal entry requires not only that illegals be granted drivers licenses, banking privileges, free education, free hospital care, and welfare for their children, but that they also be granted unclouded peace of mind.

On his Tuesday show on Fox, Sean Hannity stepped over the barbed wire border fence between the U.S. and Mexico, then stepped back. That incident generated the following press release from Democratic AZ state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema:

...Mr. Hannity's border violations were videotaped by ACLU Legal Observers. The Border Patrol was contacted, but they chose not to arrest or cite Mr. Hannity for his willful violation of federal law...

[...U.S. Code excerpts deleted...]

Why is U.S. Border Patrol demonstrating such an obvious double standard? If the Minutemen came to Arizona to watch the border for signs of illegal immigration, why did they fail to report Mr. Hannity?

There is only possible conclusion. The Minutemen and the Border Patrol have one set of rules for television celebrities, and another for hard-working people who cross the border in search of work.

As Hannity pointed out when he interviewed Sinema after she issued the press release: U.S. territory extends for three feet beyond the fence he stepped over and he was careful to stay on the U.S. side.

The press release, in addition to being quite humorous, is also indicative of the depths that the ACLU and/or their associates will go to try to get something on the MMP or their supporters. Sinema is part of the "ACLU's legal team" that has been monitoring the MMP. Although Sinema in currently a Democrat, she appears to have been at one time a Green.

Maybe this is why the ACLU sent in two observers from their national office.

Welcome to the nightmare of open borders...

Houston has been shaken by the murder of an 18-month-old toddler at the hands of an alleged illegal alien MS-13 member:

Miguel Angel Castro, a 19-year-old El Salvador native, is charged with capital murder in the April 12 death of Aiden Naquin, who would have been 2 in August.

Castro is accused of firing on a car driven by the boy's father as it pulled into the Huffman trailer park in the 2700 block of Third where the family lives. One of the bullets struck the toddler in the head.

Castro indelibly marked his body with tattoos indicating he is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang, said detectives with the Harris County Sheriff's Department. Mara Salvatrucha, which was started by Salvadoran refugees in the Los Angeles area in the early 1980s and now reaches into 31 other states, has been the target of a federal crackdown that last month swept six U.S. cities, netting the arrests of 103 gang members.

"The biggest groupings have been in L.A., New York and northern Virginia, but the cliques seem to be growing quickly now in Providence, Rhode Island; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Houston," said Bob Clifford, who heads the MS-13 National Task Force that formed in January.

He said the task force is keenly aware of the latest killing in Houston. Houston police want to question other suspects, who they say were with Castro during a recent standoff, about possible connections to nine other homicides.