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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
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.
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.
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.
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. 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 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."
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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
"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?
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.
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." 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." 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. *** More on info on Liberman Broadcasting and its advertisers here. 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.
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.
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."
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.
Labour Seeks to Outflank Tories on Immigration (04/22)
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". 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.
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."
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. 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/
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. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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. 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... 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. More details on other alleged MS-13 members charged with murders in the Houston area here. Houston is a sanctuary city for illegal aliens; Houston police officer John Nickell testified about the danger the policy poses to residents two years ago. Heather Mac Donald testified on the same subject last week. *** *** *** *** Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) held a hearing yesterday on Gangs and Crime in Latin America. All well and good, but the fact that this Congress and the Bush administration have done nothing--nothing--to rectify the sanctuary policies that provide safe harbors for violent illegal alien gangs is a bloody travesty. *** The head-choppers meet the hand-choppers
Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado wants the government to consider deputizing the Minuteman Project vulnteers, Associated Press reports: A Republican senator said today the government should consider deputizing private citizens, like the Minuteman Patrol in Arizona to help secure U.S. borders. (Hat tip: Speed of thought.)
The New York Times wraps up the recent Paris hotel fire story in the way the New York Times will (Craig S. Smith, "Hotel Fire Sheds Light on France's Illegal Immigrants") .
A sad story, to be sure. But an instructive one? The Times thinks so...
"But the tragedy has thrown light on more than the uncertain safety of the cramped one-star hotels that dot this city. It has also illuminated a dim corner of Europe's broader illegal immigration debate: what to do with the Continent's swelling tide of undocumented aliens, known in France as 'sans papiers.'
And from a journalistic point of view?
From the AP's "Governor apologizes for border comment, Hispanic leaders accept": ...Schwarzenegger said he misspoke in comments to newspaper editors and publishers Tuesday, intending to say the border should be secured. The governor blamed the error on his sometimes flawed use of English - his second language. Everyone except those who want to deliberately misunderstand what he said already knew what he meant. Whether he referred to his latest statements as an apology or whether the AP is just calling it that is unclear. In any case, it's more of a clarification and not an apology. And, his aide already had made it clear yesterday what he meant. Despite accepting Arnold's apology, Fabian Nunez still seems to want to make this an issue. And: Nunez said the border-closing remark drew hundreds of e-mails to his office from "very, very racist people from across the state." Of course, what Nunez considers racist is probably quite different from an objective definition of that term. See the previous post for more about him. The article also includes a quote from the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; see the link for more about them. And, pre-"apology", a CBS affiliate got additional responses: Jose Sandoval, a San Jose-based spokesman for immigrant advocacy group Voluntarios de la Comunidad, said today he was offended by the governor's remarks Tuesday... The SJ Merc recently published a profile of Sandoval: "Unlikely activist a lifeline for immigrants". He has a green card but he supports driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. The article describes two instances of him driving in what I would consider an extremely unsafe manner, such as driving from L.A. to S.J. on the extraordinarily monotonous 5 freeway on just two hours sleep. And, "he sees no difference between legal and illegal immigrants". The CBS affiliate also includes the thoughts of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. UPDATE: Here's Arnold's statement from the transcript: "First of all, I was very happy that some of you took our corrections seriously. And the bottom line is I misspoke, and I'm sorry if that offended anyone. But it was a language problem, because I meant "securing our borders" rather than "closing our borders." Because, of course, we don't want to close the borders, because I think that we have a terrific relationship with Mexico. I have done myself four movies in Mexico. I love to go on vacation to Mexico. I think that we have a great trade agreement with Mexico, we are good friends. I did not mean "close," I meant "secure" our borders, that's what I mean." Let's call it an apology and let the linguists argue over whether it is indeed such. See also this: "Speaker: 'Perhaps I misspoke'".
There may be hope for stemming the illegal alien epidemic when one of the most left-wing members of Congress declares her outrage at illegal gangbangers. Rep. Maxine Waters, who represents South Los Angeles, erupted in a tirade against Hispanic and black gang members last week, at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims. I testified at the hearing, called to discuss the alien gang problem, along with Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of ICE, and Marsha Garst, Commonwealth's Attorney for Rockingham County, Virginia. I spoke about the scourge of municipal sanctuary laws, which prevent the police from using immigration violations to get illegal felons off the street. Michael Garcia blandly recounted ICE’s recent initiative against MS-13 gang members, Operation Community Shield; only in the question period did he admit to disagreement with sanctuary laws. Garst described the takeover of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley by MS-13 and the Surenos 13 (75% of whose members are illegal aliens). The gangs have set up a robust meth trade, accompanied by murder, assaults, shootings, and abductions. Recruitment begins in the second grade. Garst displayed a photo of local elementary school children on a field trip to the White House, many of whom are flashing gang signs. Enter Maxine Waters. Waters has poisoned racial politics in Los Angeles for years; she essentially declared the Los Angeles riots a strike against racial injustice. Never saw a cop she doesn’t think is a racist. Yet here she was at the hearing declaring herself absolutely fed up with the race war between Hispanics and blacks that is raging on the streets of downtown L.A. “Why isn’t anyone talking about the Mexican Mafia (a gang of illegal Mexicans that controls the California prison system)?” she thundered. ‘I don’t care if you’re pink or purple or white or black or brown, I want you out if you’re committing crimes.’ There is no excuse not to control the border, she said. ‘I’m a liberal with a capital ‘L’,’ she said, ‘but I’m sick of it.’ Waters' timing was impeccable. A day after she spoke, 100 black and Hispanic students at Jefferson High School in South L.A. attacked each other in a race- and gang-driven brawl; three days later, the same thing happened, this time, students also hurled bottles at the police. Principal Norm Morrow told the Los Angeles Times:"We just have a lot of issues with race," said Morrow. "It's coming out of the community, into the school." Cops in riot gear now patrol the school. Maybe it’s time to revive the bipartisan, interracial coalition that Barbara Jordan forged in the 1990s. Since then, the violence that accompanies illegal immigration has only become clearer. Memo to Tom Tancredo: Time to take a trip across the aisle.
On April 6, six relatives of victims of the 9/11 attacks delivered to the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist a letter supporting passage of the Real ID Act. (HR 418, which would discourage states from issuing license to illegal aliens.) That letter was signed by six hundred 9/11 family members, many of whom are also members of 9/11 Families for a Secure America Although he never bothered to acknowledge receipt nor did he deliver an answer, we know what Frist’s response is: “Drop dead.” We know this because on April 20 he stated that the Real ID Act should not be considered as part of the Iraq troop funding bill but rather "considered" by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Translation: "we want to kill this bill in committee so Senators don't have to vote on it on the Floor." To be sure, Sen. Frist is not the only person responsible for this slap in the faces of the 9/11 family members. Thirteen Senators sent him a letter requesting he kill the bill. Although the letter from these Senators is couched in procedural objections, the family membes are not fooled by this. These Senators want to kill the Real ID Act through procedural maneuvers because they lack the courage and integrity to admit that this is their purpose For example, Sen. Lieberman is one of the signers of that letter. However, when on the same visit to Washington the six family members spoke to Kevin Landy (a senior Lieberman aide). He told us quite directly that Lieberman will not support any legislation that makes it harder for illegals to get licenses. Thus, Lieberman’s statement in a letter pretending that his objection is procedural is nothing more than an effort to mislead the voters of Connecticut. Lieberman's position appeas to be this: it is fine with him if, among those illegals getting drivers' licenses are the next 9/11 terrorists. This position is confirmed by his previous actions as well: in 2004 it was Lieberman who, aided by Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona, was instrumental in preventing similar language from remaining as part of the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act. His excuse at that time was that language that would affect drivers' licenses for illegals should be considered in 2005. 9/11 Families for a Secure America issues a challenge to Lieberman: state clearly for the people of Connecticut your position. Kevin Landy, your aide admits one thing in private, why not admit your position in public?
What do GlaxoSmithKline managers spend their time thinking about? Drug development? Shareholder value? Apparently not. The company's main preoccupation these days seems to be making sure its employees don't view "Hate and Discrimination" materials such as the web site operated by the Minuteman Project. Here's the message one emplyee got when he tried to access the Minuteman site:
Correction, 2:22 pm: The decision to classify the Minuteman Project as a hate group probably was made by WebWasher DynaBLocator, not GlaxoSmithKline. I'm still not happy about it, but it's not fair to blame GSK for WebWasher's decision. So go out and buy some Levitra.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged federal officials to beef up enforcement and secure the state's borders against illegal immigrants, saying Tuesday they must clean up a "lax situation" instead of "trying to run the other way." An unfortunate choice of words, but his aide rushed to clarify that he only wants border security and didn't want to end legal immigration. Despite that, as can be expected, "Democrats were quick to react to the governor's statement with outrage." The article goes on to include quotes from CA Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. Nunez says Arnold's ideas are those of "political extremists." Now, take a look at this and this, being careful to separate the facts from the opinion. Is Arnold the extremist, or is Nunez? The SF Chronicle article also includes quotes from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. The L.A. Times report offers relatively measured comments from CA state Sen. Gil "One Bill Gil" Cedillo: He said that in his discussions with Schwarzenegger, he did not get the impression that the governor advocated anything so Draconian as shutting down borders. Cedillo has offered an endless series of bills trying to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. In a KCET interview he said that we should give driver's licenses to illegal aliens because "they were here first", presumably referring to before 1848. And, here's another one of his quotes: "Latinos have displaced other work communities - clothing, hotel, and restaurant industries that used to be done by blacks and anglos... Since Latinos are now central to union revitalization, through immigration and high birth rates unions can be partisan for full Latino empowerment." If you'd like to suggest that the L.A. Times and the S.F. Chronical report on Nunez, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and Cedillo with the same ardor with which they report on Arnold, please contact their ombudsmen: readerrep *at* sfchronicle *dot* com
La Shawn Barber deconstructs the White House/open-borders lobby's "euphemism-loaded tripe." Mark Krikorian pillories Sens. Craig and Kennedy. The Modesto Bee reports: Guest-worker bill seems doomed to defeat 510pm update via Krikorian: Sen. Craig's huge amnesty for illegal-alien farmworkers didn't get enough votes to proceed today, so the Senate will almost certainly pass the Iraq emergency funding bill without it. This sets the stage for another game of chicken between the House and Senate conferees, as we saw last fall over the intelligence reform bill, over the House's REAL ID bill provisions (which would set minimum standards for state driver's licenses), which the anti-enforcement elements in the Senate dislike. And from AP: The Senate balked Tuesday at using an Iraq-Afghanistan aid bill to make it possible for immigrant farmworkers to win permanent or temporary legal status.
From a FAIR action alert: Thanks for reaching out to your senators last week and urging opposition to AgJOBS and other immigration liberalizing amendments. Believe me, your faxes and phone calls are making a HUGE impact! We held off amnesty last week, but the fight is far from over! You can send free FAXes about these amnesties at that link. Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) is trying to attach the AgJobs amnesty to a spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. This isn't the first time he and Sen. Ted Kennedy have tried something like this. Note that even Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is opposed to AgJobs: Opposition to the proposal is not limited to the GOP. One of Craig's harshest critics on the Senate floor was Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, who said the program offered "nirvana" to Mexican workers who might be contemplating crossing the border illegally to seek work in the United States. My links on AgJobs start here. Note that Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) is one of the authors of the House version of AgJobs. On 9/14/04 the Salt Lake Tribune printed "Cannon drums on immigration despite voters": ...a survey of Cannon's financial disclosures since 1996 shows Washington, D.C., and out-of-state interests steadily replacing his Utah support. Eight years ago, 85 percent of the individuals backing Cannon hailed from Utah; today locals comprise just 16 percent of his donor base. If you want to stop AgJobs and the other amnesties, please contact your representatives. UPDATE: AgJobs has failed. But, see this: ...Noting that President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) "continue to stress the importance of addressing comprehensive immigration reform this year," Craig pledged to continue working with his measure's co-sponsor, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), "to bring this before the Senate sooner rather than later..." You can see how your senators voted here.
It's nice to know that the ACLU has sent its finest down to Arizona to watch the Minutemen: When they're not busy giving the Minutemen the middle finger, they're firing up joints and passing them around. Click the link for photographic proof. (via Blue State Conservatives)
From a 4/16/05 ACLU press release: The Immigrants' Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has sent two national staff members to Arizona to support the Legal Observer Project organized by the ACLU of Arizona. Let's ignore the second paragraph (for now) and concentrate on this news. There are many possible explanations for the national ACLU to send in the heavyweights. They might indeed be intending simply to "assess the situation in Arizona first-hand" as they say. An alternative explanation is that they might feel that the AZ ACLU is a bit out of hand and needs to be reined in... See also this unsubstantiated eyewitness report: The ACLU is getting desperate to get something on the Minutemen and are trying to provoke incidents now. They pushed one of the Minutemen the other night trying to get him to push back. Didn't work. Then last night they walked up and shined a spotlight right in a Minuteman's face from six inches or so away. Didn't work that time either. We immediately report these types of contacts with them to the Sheriff to counter any claims they try to make against us... Previous ACLU coverage: Who are the real vigilantes?, The ACLU aiding illegal aliens?, and Waiting for a correction from the ACLU... Regarding the latter, I spoke with a national ACLU spokesman on Friday. He said that they might update the Bryan Barton-related press release "when the time comes", but that they had no specific plans to release an update or correction.
A few days ago a KLM flight sent shivers up and down many people's spines. Why did two of these Saudi passengers send the "alarm bells" off? Why was the flight diverted away from American and Canadian airspace and back to Amsterdam? These questions certainly need answers. April 25 issue - It's part of the routine for air travel since 9/11. Fifteen minutes after KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam for Mexico City on April 8, Mexican authorities forwarded the names of all the passengers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The reason: the flight was scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace after making a long swing over Canada. The information was then passed on to the U.S. National Targeting Center, based at a secret address in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. That's when the routine became extraordinary: by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners. One of these hits—from an FBI database of terror suspects known as TIPOFF—smacked investigators right between the eyes. The two Saudis, the database reported, were brothers and pilots who had attended the same Arizona flight school as 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour. Soon the multiplicity of U.S. terror databases started pumping out similar hits. Fearing that Flight 685 might be a 9/11-style plot in the making, U.S. authorities refused the plane overflight rights, and Canada rejected a request to land. Much to the chagrin of its 278 passengers, the KLM jet made an exhausting odyssey back to Amsterdam. Was it a plot? The KLM 685 incident—which was not widely publicized by the U.S. government—is an illustration of just how hard it has become to tell ordinary guys from bad guys in the war on terror. Washington's concern about the KLM flight seems legitimate: in the past year, U.S. counterterrorism officials have cited intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda might be planning to use foreign-based airliners to launch attacks against the U.S. homeland. One U.S. counterterrorism official told NEWSWEEK that the two passengers were "bad dudes." And a European intelligence official said the two have "extensive but secondary" links to Al Qaeda. At least one of the two Saudis had previously been deported from the United States, according to Homeland Security sources. A former neighbor in Arizona, who asked to remain anonymous, recalled that federal officials in full body armor rushed the Saudi's empty house several weeks after 9/11 and later arrested him. During FBI questioning, a law-enforcement official told NEWSWEEK, the Saudi acknowledged knowing Hani Hanjour. Upon further questioning, he also conceded that he had known another of the 9/11 hijackers. Even so, by the end of last week the reasons the Saudi brothers gave for their trip to Mexico appeared to be holding up, U.S. investigators conceded. The men told authorities they were visiting their ill father, a retired Saudi diplomat who is living in Mexico. A Saudi official in Riyadh later told NEWSWEEK that the father was a former "administrative employee" of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, but that he has not worked for the government for 10 years and has a Mexican wife. One counterterrorism official said authorities were aware of the family and had been watching the brothers for some time, adding, "I just don't think this was a plot along the lines of 9/11." Much as some intelligence officials insist that the Saudis have Qaeda links, no Western agency made a move to arrest them. (Because of the ambiguous nature of the case, NEWSWEEK has decided not to publish their names.) So did the United States overreact? "There are so many people on that watch list that shouldn't be on it," explained a U.S. official privy to the KLM case. "But you have to err on the side of caution in the post-9/11 world. You've got a plane with unknown quantities hurtling towards the U.S. You're going to act first and think later." Unfortunately, some foreign governments now think Washington does too much acting and too little thinking. While the Bush administration has made the case that this is a war without rules, Europeans still tend to see counterterrorism as a law-enforcement problem. That is partly why Dutch and other European authorities, lacking direct proof of a crime or plot, decided not to detain the two Saudis. Yet even the Europeans aren't completely on the same page. Officials with Dutch and U.S. intelligence say that after the two men arrived back in Amsterdam, they flew to London, where they were refused entry. Then they flew back to the Netherlands, where they were under surveillance before returning on their own to Saudi Arabia. British officials were later peeved that Dutch authorities failed to communicate to them the full tale of KLM 685. A Saudi official later told NEWSWEEK the two men had been detained for questioning. Some counterterrorism officials worry that the Saudi brothers could be living double lives. One of the Saudis lived in the United States for at least 14 years and took an engineering degree at Arizona State University. A former neighbor of his in Tempe remembers him as "really nice." But another former Arizona neighbor recalls that a day or two after 9/11, the normally self-contained Saudi was behaving oddly. "He was wearing a wide grin. He said, 'Hi, Neighbor, isn't it a great day?' It seemed inappropriate." Other intelligence officials say if the two were indeed part of a Qaeda operation, it is no surprise their destination was Mexico City. U.S. officials fear that Latin America, and more particularly Mexico—with its porous U.S. border—may become a staging ground for Al Qaeda. The big question is, wherever the next threat comes from, will authorities be able to spot it in time? The possibilities for mistaken identity are many, but the room for error is very, very narrow.
With Michael Isikoff and John Barry in Washington, Friso Endt at Schiphol airport (Amsterdam), Andrew Murr in Phoenix, Joseph Contreras in Miami, Christopher Dickey in Paris and Ruth Tenenbaum in New York
With the increased activity by immigration reform activists throughout our communities, the bloggers, the radio and television hosts who concentrate their efforts on shedding the truth to the issues of the illegal invasion, the unsecured borders, and the breakdown of national security, the politicians can no longer hide behind the "shields" of "I didn't know" or "I didn't realize." We must all give our thanks to the many forces that continue to pursue the truth. Joe Guzzardi, writer, community activist, and politician, has more words of wisdom about the reasons people give and the excuses that keep being pushed on the public as to why we MUST allow this travesty to continue. Joe Guzzardi Archive Printer Friendly Version...
David Orland discusses an estimate that Britain is home to 500,000 illegal aliens, about 0.8 percent of the country's total population. The 500,000 estimate is much higher than previous estimates and "is likely to intensify the row over immigration." By comparison, there are an estimated 18-20 million illegal aliens in the U.S., roughly 6-7 percent of our population. Even so, Tony Blair seems more serious about addressing the problem than George W. Bush.
Mark Townsend and Gaby Hinsliff, writing in today's Observer, claim to find more evidence of fear-mongering in Conservative Party leader Michael Howard's efforts to turn the May 5th general election into a referendum on immigration and asylum. Could the tide be turning in favor of Labour, they wonder?
In England the battle will continue between those who rail at Britain's borders being 'out of control' and those, maybe an increasing number, who don't believe a word of it.
THE government has secretly calculated there are about 500,000 illegal immigrants in Britain despite repeated claims by ministers that they do not know the scale of the problem.
- BoingBoing's post Snapshots of volunteer "Minutemen" on US/Mexico border' includes three pictures. Two are of MMP volunteers, and the third is of a poster that... isn't from the MMP. The poster uses the phrase "wetback gangs", so naturally most people who read BoingBoing are going to falsely assume that the MMP endorses or is involved with the poster. Xeni Jardin also refers (in Spanish) to the MMP as racists and says she sees no difference between them and lynch mobs. In case you care and you think BoingBoing was trying to mislead you, you might want to contact them and suggest they do better in the future. - The BoingBoing post's photos are from Mark Ebner, whose report on the MMP will appear in the supermarket tabloid Globe next week. - The Onion has one of their Infographs about the MMP. While a couple of the "stats" are slightly funny, two are not, including this: "Allowing each Minuteman one kill a day..." (Contact info) - Bryan Barton of the T-Shirt incident fame has his video of the incident posted here. - On the 10th, the Oakland Tribune published a guest editorial from a Univision anchor entitled "Project Minuteman is meaningless". If you need a laugh it might be worth a glance. - And, from this: On April 17-18, a California delegation of immigrant rights and human rights activists will be in Douglas, Arizona to respond to the presence of vigilantes on the US/México border, and to their hate messages. This group of 20-40 activists, in coordination with allies in Arizona, will counter the national media coverage and international attention that the "Minutemen" have received with our message: We will not tolerate vigilanteism against immigrant communities! Immigrant rights are human rights! The first comment to that entry says that illegal aliens aren't "immigrants" because this is their land to begin with. - Another comment links to "Minuteman Project Misconceptions - Confessions of two Indymedia Reporters". - Also, there's a Wikipedia entry on the MMP. If you're familiar with writing Wikipedia entries, I strongly encourage you to edit that entry for accuracy, and perhaps add in a section about media coverage of the MMP.
This story does not inspire confidence:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Plans requiring passports from people entering the United States don't pass muster with President Bush, who has ordered a review of this border security effort amid fears it would impede legal travel from Canada, Mexico and other U.S. neighbors.
This seems entirely out of bounds:
I have received word via E-Mail from Sandra Miller that The Miracle Valley Bible College in Hereford, Arizona has just been fined $750 per day by James E. Vlahovich (Director, Cochise County Planning Department) for offering and providing housing/camping facilities to volunteers of The Minuteman Project. I am sure this will break soon on more familiar news sites, as MMP Director Jim Gilchrist will surely be discussing this in press interviews today.
Bilingual blogger Gringo Unleashed has helpfully translated a number of Spanish language media (SLM) articles on the Minutemen project.
"By Tuesday, no more than two or three volunteers could be seen in each of the watch points set up by the Minutemen. Deacon said that the apparent decrease is due to the vigilantes dividing into shifts."
[Minuteman Project spokesman] Grey Deacon told Joseph Farah's nationally syndicated "WorldNetDaily RadioActive" audience yesterday that ACLU monitors sent to the border to watch Minuteman activity and report civil-liberties abuses to authorities have begun flashing lights, sounding horns and warning off illegals and their "coyote" human smugglers from entering territory patrolled by the volunteers... On a related note, the ACLU does not seem to have issued a correction or update to their press release about the Bryan Barton incident. They also have not responded to an email I sent a couple days ago...
From Roll Call's Morton Kondracke comes "Surprise! Voters favor immigration reform": Despite massive agitation for a restrictionist immigration policy, a new poll shows surprising support for proposals to allow foreigners and illegal immigrants to obtain work permits and earn their way to citizenship... In other words, as long as you don't tell them the truth, a surprisingly vast number of Americans will support "reform." In the rest of the editorial Kondracke rails against "restrictionist" radio and TV hosts and repeats the usual canards about jobs Americans won't do FAIR discussed the poll in the article "False Choice Yield False Polling Data About Immigration", and you can read the poll yourself in this PDF file. Note that the word "illegal" is only used in one of the poll's questions, with "undocumented" being used in the other questions. And, Sen. Kennedy is partly responsible for the millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. See "1970s Law Laid Groundwork for out-of-Control Immigrations" or "GOP Immigration Stance Far From Reagan Reforms": While Reagan’s 1986 immigration reforms can at least be called rational, they were a failure. Today, there are between 8 million and 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. The majority of them crossed our southern border and has found employment — illegal employment, but employment nonetheless. This is attributed to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s eventual gutting of the enforcement mechanism for Reagan's employer sanctions, and successive administrations refusing to give our Border Patrol the resources it needs to achieve its mission... You can send free FAXes to your representatives about this and the other amnesty proposals at this page.
Author and retired U.S. Border Patrol anti-smuggling Agent John W. Slagle of Three Points, Arizona, sent me this report on the Minuteman Project as of April 12. "I just got off the phone with Mike, MMP volunteer that returned to Colorado to finish an op ed for USA Today. The citizens are doing an outstanding job, despite media setups, political foes and the usual nonsense. The border patrol "grunts" appreciate their efforts but above the rank of Supervisory Agents, it's politics controlled by Washington. Some things never change. Altar Sonora, and Sasabe Sonora, Mexican staging areas for decades are 'filling up" – which is normal each time pressure is placed on the normal easy access smuggling routes. The 1,000 Mexican military troops that have been south of Cochise County line are busy telling prospective border crossers to travel east and west. The Border Patrol is out in force, and with Citizens as well as the media, a small section of Arizona is briefly contained." It just goes to show that illegal immigration on the Southwest border CAN BE STOPPED at any given place for any particular length of time. But since the border is wide open a few dozen miles down the road from Minuteman-occupied territory, the illegal alien invasion continues. And here's the real punchline: even if illegal aliens are caught by the Border Patrol, it doesn't mean that the aliens are leaving the U.S. anytime soon. In fact, it's only the beginning. I've explored this bizarre reality of U.S. immigration policy at length in writing for VDARE.com as well as in my most recent column about the extraordinary media impact of the Minuteman Project . . . all the way to Sweden.
The Mexican army is escorting those attempting to cross over the U.S. border illegally – including known drug-runners – to areas not patrolled by the Minuteman Project near Naco, Ariz., say Border Patrol sources and other officials including [Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus]...
An Idaho county is looking into applying racketeering law to fight illegal immigration:
BOISE, Idaho -- Canyon County commissioners are considering whether they can use a federal law designed to target organized crime to sue local businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
Foster said he would likely send a memo to commissioners in the next few weeks with his advice on the feasibility of a RICO Act lawsuit. In the past seven years, Foster has brought five such lawsuits against companies around the nation.
The New York Times' lead editorial this morning complains about the detention of two illegal alien girls, age 16, suspected of plotting to become suicide bombers. The Times is skeptical about the evidence (some of which is secret) that the girls are terrorists. But even the Times acknowledges that "the girls are here illegally." Given that, why is there anything legally or morally improper about their detention and impending deportation?
Retired INS agent Neville Cramer appeared on CNN's Lou Dobbs show to praise the Minuteman Project. Trey Jackson has the video.
According to writer Jeffrey Gaitreaux of the Yuma Sun, many people there are seriously considering "copying" the MinuteMan Project that is now taking place in southeastern Arizona. Mr. Sharrar, one of the organizers in Yuma, stated, "It is not about being a vigilante. It is about this country being overrun by people who are breaking our laws. It is our civic duty as citizens to stop this crisis!" For all the naysayers, the doomsday prophets, the ACLU legal watchers, the threats from the gangs, and the harsh words uttered from the lips of Vicente, Condi, and President Bush, these patriots are "hitting the target." The citizens of this country are waking up and voicing their opinions....and the MinuteMan Project is coming out "on top!" Americans INDEED are fed up with the pandering that continues day after day while innocent citizens are ravaged, brutalized, kidnapped, raped, robbed, and murdered by thugs and criminals coming from trespassing countries. This madness and insanity MUST STOP and NOW before irreparable damage is done...never to be able to be repaired. Some families have already suffered the ultimate tragedies. The David March family of California are some of those survivors. Their son/husband David, a Deputy for Los Angeles County, was murdered in cold-blood during a routine traffic stop in 2002. His killer, Armando Garcia, escaped back to Mexico (*his home!!!) and our kind and caring neighbor to the south, Vicente Fox will NOT ALLOW his citizen to be extradited back to America to be tried for his heinous crime. Why? We would try this murderer and he would hopefully receive life or a death sentence and Fox will not allow that to happen. Does this offend you? It certainly does me. Apparently there are thousands of these murderers running loose in Mexico, living the high life, never having to pay penance for their crimes. They are able to continue in their evil ways, always ready to harm again. Let's show our support to the families of the fallen heroes....those who are the Guardians of our Homeland. The crisis is at hand. This crisis is at our borders. This crisis is smacking us in the face, and yet "Nero fiddles and Rome continues to burn." Take a stand for what is right and fair for the legal citizens and for our officers who take their Oaths of Office to heart. Many of them die while those words of..."I will protect and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic" go with them to their grave.
A little over a month ago, California immigration reform outfit Save Our State sponsored a rally at Home Depot's Rancho Cucamonga store to protest the retail chain's support for "day laborer centers". The story was picked up by a number of bloggers (including myself and Lonewacko proprietor Chris Kelly), and eventually also by CNN's Lou Dobbs. As I reported here, Dobbs was later harshly criticized for his report by Univision anchorwoman Marina Salinas.
"Protesters angry with Home Depot demonstrated in front of its Glendale store Saturday, alleging the home improvement retailer aids and abets illegal aliens by contributing to the day laborer center across the street.
“IMMIGRATION IS SLITTING OUR WRISTS” The information about the illegal invasion is just coming in waves across the internet, by email, by some media formats, and by many radio talk shows. It is about time. According to “America’s War Chick” Resa Laru Kirkland, we are committing suicide—American style. As many people agree, our borders are swiss cheese and the pretense of doing something by our government leaders is revolting, to say the least. As many of us have been saying, we MUST be on the offense and not always playing catch up with defense. All places in America must be guarded and watched very carefully, but the greatest threat is still coming from what has gotten into our heartland by nefarious means…and breaking the law is just that. We are all very aware that our government has failed miserably. Being the superpower of the world will not keep us insulated from those who misuse, abuse, and directly violate of laws and our freedoms. As I continue to say to friends far and near, to strangers I meet for the first time, “When will enough be enough?” We must keep our torches lit; we must fly our banners high; we must shout from the housetops…”Join in the cause before it is too late. If we fail, there will be no future for this beloved land we hold near and dear to our hearts. My son Kris laid down his life because he believed in this precious dream and I have picked up his banner and will continue to charge ahead. Who will follow? Who will dare to speak the truth to the disbelievers who smirk and laugh it off as a big joke? Who will speak to the community groups and encourage them to “get on board?” There is a vile enemy who smiles behind the scenes and hopes for the destruction of America. Some of their names are known; others hide in the shadows. As my husband Bob Eggle has often been heard to say, “March on. Forge ahead. This fight is ours and we must hold the line.” His strength and perseverance is respected by many; no more than by his own family and his son who is watching from above.
Conservative Party leader Michael Howard kicked off official campaigning in the run-up to Britain's May 5th general elections today with a speech to Party activists in Telford, Shropshire.
"I'm not going to let the Government sweep this under the carpet anymore. Britain has reached a turning point. We need to control and limit immigration [...] people have a very clear choice at this election. Vote Conservative to limit and control immigration, or vote Mr Blair or the Liberal Democrats for no limits to immigration and an increase in the population by five million over the next three decades."
"We face a real terrorist threat in Britain today - a threat to our way of life, to our liberties. Yet we have absolutely no idea who is coming into or leaving our country. And why? Because the government, in its wisdom, abolished embarkation controls for non-EU countries and many of Britain's ports don't have 24-hour security. In an age of global terrorism we have no control over our borders. By attempting to turn the election into a referendum on Tony Blair's execrable record on immigration and asylum, Michael Howard is showing sound political sense. As I previously noted (here and here), immigration and asylum are the only areas in which the Conservatives consistently outperform their rivals in surveys of public opinion. Since seizing upon the issue in January, the Party has seen its prospects dramatically improve.
Terence Chea of the AP has an article about the latest battle between the Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization and the old guard at the Sierra Club. Last year the old guard pulled out all the stops and conducted a sleazy campaign to prevent former CO governor Dick Lamm and others from being elected to the board of the Club. From Chea's "Immigration resurfaces as issue for Sierra Club": The club's 750,000 members are voting this month on whether the organization should push for tighter restrictions on immigration. Five seats are open on the 15-member board of directors, which sets club policy and commands the $100 million annual budget. Unfortunately, what Terence Chea doesn't report is what might perhaps be the greatest reason the leadership of the Sierra Club opposes immigration restriction-related measures and candidates. On October 27, 2004 the L.A. Times published "The Man Behind the Land" which described a major donor to the Sierra Club Foundation, David Gelbaum. His donations total at least $100 million, and here's what he told the L.A. Times: "None of that is true [that he's pulling the strings at the Club]," [Gelbaum] said. "I'm not some Svengali. I'm not that engaged." Terence Chea has written about these battles at the Sierra Club before, so you'd think he'd follow this issue closely enough to know about the L.A. Times' article. Maybe he didn't know, or maybe he's saving it for use in a future article. In any case, a suggestion to the AP that they mention the $100+ million as a possible motivating factor in future articles might be welcomed: feedback *at* ap *dot* org.
Bryan Barton has been cleared in the supposed case of illegal detention: ..."The county attorney's office reviewed all available evidence, that indicates that there was no forcible detention, . . . and no charges are pending," said Carol Capas of the Cochise County Sheriff's Department. The Washington Times has more in "Protesters cleared after review":
Yesterday the ACLU of Arizona issued a press release entitled "ACLU of Arizona Denounces Unlawful Imprisonment of Immigrant by Minuteman Volunteer":
If I were Barton I'd look closely at that last sentence, which appears to be more a statement of fact rather than just repeating what was in the AP article. And, as far as I can determine, at post time the ACLU has not issued a correction or a different press release reflecting the information that has come to light since yesterday. There's nothing like that on the ACLU's press release page for their Immigrant Rights section or on the ACLU of Arizona's News page or on the ACLU's main press releases page. And, I couldn't find anything in google news. Perhaps they're waiting for the weekend. (Note that the Washington Times article also includes a quote from AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano which could be read in at least two ways. In the past she's demanded that the U.S. government pay Arizona for the costs of illegal immigration, but she's also been more "liberal". She could be complaining about either the MMP or the federal government and it's not clear which.) Previous coverage of this case is here. UPDATE: See also "ACLU Vs. The Minuteman Project". He describes the differences between the statements of Eleanor Eisenberg of the Arizona ACLU and a couple of the ACLU's earlier press releases about the MMP.
Yet another price we pay for illegal immigration:
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- Marines preparing for combat in Iraq or Afghanistan have lost significant amounts of training time because undocumented immigrants from Mexico have constantly wandered onto a bombing test range in Arizona, according to the commander of this base along the border.
Since July 2004, the training range has been shut down more than 500 times because of immigrants spotted on the range, causing a loss of more than 1,100 training hours, said Colonel James J. Cooney, the base's commanding officer.
There is some concern that, besides wandering immigrants, foreign terrorists could cross the Mexican border and infiltrate the Arizona bases to conduct intelligence gathering or commit acts of sabotage.
Yet another UK election story that's been overlooked by the American MSM: widespread voting fraud in immigrant-heavy urban districts.
"Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising."
"The Guardian has established that criminal inquiries under way in Reading, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, greater Manchester and west Yorkshire into allegations of theft of ballot papers, forged votes and personation - which involves filling in ballot papers in absence of the voter."
"They [the police] are looking into claims that the victory of Riasat Khan for the Conservatives in the Labour stronghold ward of Maybury and Sheerwater followed postal voting fraud."
"The real victims here — apart from the democratic process itself — were highly vulnerable people: Asian [read: Indian subcontinent Muslim] women. There has been an intolerable political correctness around this question which implies that it is not for outsiders to dispute how a community might chose to organise itself for the purpose of voting in elections. Oh yes it is. The block vote does not exist in British political contests and it should not be allowed to come in via a blind eye being turned to allegedly 'ethnic' customs."
Here's one family's story of the US government's failure to protect the border with Mexico:
The Garner family on Purdy Lane doesn't know exactly how many chickens, roosters, Guinea hens, or geese they own on their 5-acre farm in this dusty town on the US-Mexico border.
Mr. Garner, a carpenter, his wife, and three daughters (age 10, 12, and 15) tell countless stories that are as alarming to outsiders as they are matter-of-fact to them. Theirs is a life dominated by self-defense lessons, family practice drills to huddle in the master bedroom, obligatory two-way radios for kids who walk to school, and a handgun on the hip for mom.
Despite increasingly harsh crackdowns over the years by the US Border Patrol (both pre- and post-911), the presence of illegal immigrants is also a growing phenomenon, says Ms. Garner, who grew up here in Naco, population 7,000. And it is more dangerous and pernicious, she says, with a growing number of people of different nationalities coming across the border, including from the Middle East, India, and Afghanistan.
Days into the project, the Garners and other neighbors say the idea is working, even though people on both sides of the border know the experiment is only temporary.
"What makes it most disturbing now is that you can't leave a window open in summer, or leave anything unlocked at night anywhere," says Cron. He recently put bars on his windows because he found a group of illegal immigrants sleeping just inside his shop after breaking in through the glass window.
[important updates below] From the AP: Three civilian volunteers patrolling the border for undocumented migrants and smugglers are being investigated after an immigrant told authorities he was held by them against his will... Maybe they detained him, or maybe this was a setup. In either case, what Barton did is against the rules and the spirit of the MMP. And, this appears to have been a cheap publicity stunt: Bryan Barton, 25, is the youngest congressional candidate. His goal is to represent the third youngest congressional district in the United States, the 53rd district of California... In fact, Bryan Barton is documenting the process of running for congress on video for a reality television show tentatively titled Vote Barton. UPDATE: From the Sierra Vista Herald's "Sheriff: Detention report much ado about nothing": What could have been a serious incident of forced detention of an illegal immigrant Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a Minuteman Project volunteer making a fool of himself, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said... UPDATE 2: It turns out that not only the MSM but I might have mischaracterized Bryan Barton's actions. Jay Laurence of KFI 640AM Los Angeles is reporting from Arizona and just discussed this incident. He was able to view Barton's tape, and it doesn't sound like it was either in any way a possible case of restraint or even a publicity stunt. Apparently Barton was wearing the T-shirt with the slogan and he gave it to the alleged illegal alien then the latter was somehow videotaped with the shirt. Laurence also mentioned that Barton gave the alleged illegal alien Wheaties, milk, lunch meat and he gave him the $20 because he felt sorry for him. Barton also says that it was the alleged illegal alien who asked that Barton call the Border Patrol. Laurence also mentioned another disturbing incident. Last night apparently a newspaper reporter from Arizona snuck up on a group of MM in the drug area and tried to provoke a confrontation. The volunteers didn't know who this person was, and one of the MM put his hand on his weapon. The newspaper reporter then apparently identified himself and said that if that happened again he'd write that he'd been drawn upon. Unfortunately, Laurence did not give the name of the reporter, only that he works for an Arizona newspaper. If it becomes available I'll post a link to the audio of Laurence's report or the video of the incident.
Drudge is (unfortunately) linking to the latest article from Tim Gaynor of Reuters about the MMP: "Border Militia Divides Arizona Residents". Here's the first paragraph: A right-wing militia patrolling the Mexican border to catch illegal immigrants is pitting some residents in favor of old-style frontier justice against critics who say the militiamen are the real threat. Of course, the fact that some or most of the leaders or volunteers of the MMP are "right-wing" or similar doesn't mean that the group itself is "right-wing." As far as I know, there was no check of voting records or party membership for MMP volunteers. And, as previously discussed, the word "militia" has negative connotations. Given the rest of the article it would be hard to believe that wasn't done intentionally. And, based on the rest of the first paragraph, one might assume that the use of the word "catch" means that the MMP volunteers will physically detain any illegal aliens they spot. In fact, we know that their goal is simply to report illegal crossers, not detain them. And, of course, "old-style frontier justice" frequently involved a rope, something even a casual observer - but apparently not Reuters - knows isn't in the MMP's mission statement. Continuing on, Reuters seems shocked to discover that some people who drive in the U.S. southwest have gun racks and that some people in Arizona consider it acceptable to see people openly carrying sidearms. The writer seems to want to draw an unfavorable connection between the MMP volunteers and "gunslingers" of days past. Discussing the bias inherent in the title of the article is left as an exercise. In addition to being posted by Yahoo, the Reuters article is available on their website and at Wired News and ABC News. You can leave comments about this article at the Yahoo link. Please also send an email to Reuters and suggest they do a better job: editor.reuters *at* reuters *dot* com. You can contact Wired here and ABC here. Suggest they consider taking a moment to review future Reuters reports for accuracy and bias.
It's official: the next UK general elections are to be held on May 5th.
"Race is the great, silent issue in this election. It is driving everything. Out there in the real world, away from Westminster, Notting Hill and the broadcasting studios, the electorate in the marginal seats over which the parties are now fighting is obsessed with immigration. These voters seethe over confused groups of immigrants, asylum-seekers and gypsy travellers who appear to them to get away with breaking all the rules and living off everybody else. They don’t pay taxes, they claim benefits, they use the NHS and they get 'our' houses. And they seem to be beyond the law."
"Immigration and asylum is the only issue among the dozen or so most important in determining how people vote in which the Tories have a lead over Labour. Read that again. The only issue. In every single other area, from the economy to health, education, pensions, taxes, and even Europe and Iraq, Labour is in the lead. Yet the parties are within a couple of points of one another in the polls.
Yes, I've been bombarded with e-mail about the New York City delivery guy who was trapped in the elevator for four days. And yes, he is an illegal immigrant. Or as ABC News and most of the MSM are reporting it, "undocumented." Amazingly, a local city councilman is attacking the New York Police Department for disclosing his immigration status. As you may know, this would be in violation of a longstanding "sanctuary" policy in NYC--supported by Democrat and Republican mayors alike from Ed Koch to Rudy Giuliani to Mike Bloomberg--that essentially forbids city employees from asking illegal aliens their status and bans them from reporting it to the Department of Homeland Security. This directive still exists and is in force, even after thousands died at Ground Zero in no small part because of such idiotic safe haven policies for illegal aliens. When asked at the news conference if he ever tried to use the intercom or emergency bell, [the deliveryman] didn't answer. Police sources say his family told them he is in this country illegally. So, now we have the prospect of the city going after the cops for simply telling the media the truth. And those of us highlighting the problem will be attacked as insensitive xenophobes. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. *** Background on sanctuary policies and their undermining of national security: End sanctuary for illegal immigrants - Michelle Malkin
Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, Ángel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour.
It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake ID's to get a job.
The AP offers a standard article: "Citizen Border Guards Expand Patrols". The WaPo, a bit far from their home turf, offers the longer "In Ariz., 'Minutemen' Start Border Patrols". It includes a few quotes from MMP volunteers and Andy Adame of the Border Patrol reiterating the BP's objections to the MMP. The reporter appears to have tried and failed to spot some MMP volunteers behaving badly and only came away with one second-hand report of an exchange between a volunteer and a protester. Yesterday's "A Roadblock, Not a Barrier for Migrants" from the L.A. Times is a bit more interesting. It reports on the efforts of Mexico's Grupo Beta on the Mexican side of the border: ..."Did anyone tell you about the Minutemen?" Enriquez, a member of Grupo Beta, Mexico's agency dedicated to protecting the health of migrants, asked the ragged group [of prospective border crossers]. "They are hunting for guys just like you. You couldn't get across now if you were sitting on George Bush's lap…. You cannot cross here — wait a month or choose another place." The same reporter offers "Border Watchers Catch the Media". It includes quotes from MMP leader Jim Gilchrist, Douglas Mayor Ray Borane, and this: "My read on it is that it has fizzled," said Tamar Jacoby, an immigration expert at the Manhattan Institute, a public policy think tank. "This project is not going to prove anything. All it will prove is that you can funnel immigration from one place to another." Jacoby is a fervent supporter of President Bush's guest worker plan, and was booed when she appeared at CPAC in support of it. She also wrote editorials opposing Arizona's Prop. 200. There's background on her here, and you can hear a radio interview KFI's John & Ken conducted with her here. A reporter from the AZ Daily Star was apparently in the same group as the L.A. Times reporter and offers "Minutemen find few migrants": ...Across the barbed-wire border in Arizona early Monday, excitement grips Minuteman Project volunteers when they observe a group of six people moving north. Dan Russell, 62, watches the group walking toward him. "They're getting closer," he says. "They could just be reporters." They are...
The invaluable American Patrol recently linked to a report from KGBT4 television in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. ["Does Illegal Immigrant Appear in Court?" -- March 30, 2005, reported by April Norris] “The Department of Homeland Security estimates 90 percent of illegal immigrants released will never be seen again. Agents tell us they release the immigrants because there's just not enough detention space. After our investigation, they've stopped driving immigrants to the bus station, now they release the illegals from their side door.” The piece basically illustrates everything I have been writing about for the past three years concerning the largely unknown federal litigation bureaucracy of the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The EOIR's Immigration Court hearing system is the reason that illegal aliens and criminal alien residents are being caught and released back into the United States in droves . . . never to be seen. The KGBT4 story also ties in with my most recent column on VDARE.com, concerning a curious change in illegal alien smuggling tactics. But there's a punchline here too. The piece goes on to explain how the local Congressman Solomon Ortiz "introduced a bill requesting more border agents, housing and technology." So I guess we're to assume that this paragon of immigration law enforcement has dedicated his tenure in Congress to stopping illegal immigration and protecting American workers from the importation of pauper labor, right? That is, until we read the final line of the story: “Right now, Congressman Ortiz is in China on business.” Gee, I wonder what he's doing over there in the cheap labor capital of the world?
It was the best of editorials, it was the worst of editorials. On April 1st, Jonathan Power examined immigration's differential impact in the International Herald Tribune ("It's the Working Class that Bears the Burden"). You couldn't ask for a better diagnosis of the problems associated with mass immigration. You couldn't ask for a worse solution to those problems. For the benefit of our dear readers, I've reproduced some of the good parts. Power writes:
"It's the workinig class that bears most of the cost of absorbing new immigrants, whether it be in France, the United States or Malaysia, but the middle class dominates the debate, forging an alliance in its favor across the political spectrum -- liberals who want to be multicultural, and conservatives who argue for the free market and open borders.
"Part of the answer to this, paradoxically, is to liberalize the immigration market -- to take down all the artificial barriers of government controls. The Cato Institute, a libertarian U.S. think tank, argues that then immigration will become a circular process, instead of having immigrants, once in, clinging like limpets to the rocks of the host country for fear of ejection.
If the population immigration of the last few decades and its associated ills are to be brought under control, what's needed are tighter controls at the border, a clamp down on rogue employers, and a return to practices of cultural assimilation -- first and foremost by jettisoning the discourse of diversity and multiculturalism.
From Reuters' 4/03/05 "Migrant Stumbles Into U.S. Militia 'Hornet's Nest'": A civilian militia in Arizona seeking to stop illegal aliens coming in from Mexico claimed its first immigrant when a hapless Guatemalan wandered into the group's base camp seeking help... A spokesman for the controversial Minuteman Project... Organizers of the Minuteman Project, which takes its name from American Revolution militia... The Arizona Border Patrol also says the militia is not welcome... Props to Reuters for using the phrase "illegal aliens" and for reporting that the "militia" seems to have saved the "migrant's" life. Now if they could work on not using the words "militia" and "migrant." (Note that the link is to a Reuters site thus the story title was written by Reuters itself.)
Former Colorado governor Dick Lamm weighs in.
Another Democrat starts talking tough, sort of, on illegal immigration. *** Hillary Rodham Buchanan?
As we view the happenings on the Arizona/Mexico border with the MinuteMen patriots, the Federal Agents, the watchful citizens, the MS-13 Gang Members, the Federalis of Vicente Fox, more of this unnamed Border War keeps moving in the United States. On March 29, 2005, the Massachusetts Port Authority had a meeting to examine how, for the second time since the horrendous terrorists acts of 2001, that undocumented aliens had obtained passes to work in some of the most sensitive and secure areas of Logan International Airport. Acording to the Globe Staff Writer, Mac Daniel, fourteen Brazilian illegal aliens were arrested at the airport late lst week. Another example of the brazen attempts to infiltrate our country is noted in the Dallas Morning News by Brendan Case. Mexican officials detained six Iraqis at checkpoints near the California border as these aliens were trying to enter into the United States. These arrests spotlight the fears that terorists are attempting to enter through Mexico. Of course our illustrious neighbors to the south "swear" there is really no terror threat to Americans from any of these illegal entrants!!! If anyone really believes this garbage being spewed by Fox, they really need to go back and do intensive research into strategies that have been developing for many years. Have you ever heard of LaRaza? How about Mecha? How about the 18th Street Gang? How about MS 13? Read and then revisit your thinking on these issues. Another article of interest that has shown up in the last few days was written by Tal Abbady, Patty Pensa and Ruth Morris, Staff Writers for the Sun-Sentinel. Kidnappers of a Guatemalan teen were arrested and face charges of kidnapping and human trafficking. Sanchez and Contreras, both Mexican nationals were here illegally and are being charged in Florida under a human trafficking statute established in 2004. A Guatemalan coming to the U.S. typically enters Mexico, crosses the border into Arizonan and heads to a final destination. Along the way, there are "guides" who train these people how to answer questions at checkpoints and how to keep a low profile. "This girl was probably headed for indentured servitude. She would have been shipped to a farm or brothel to work off her debt," stated Leslie Boba, director of the Florida Freedom Partnership. This is one "for the good guys." It seems as though these happenings are few and far between. BUT what about this young teen? Where does she end up? Does she stay to enjoy the benefits of America or is she sent back to her home of origination? WE MUST KEEP OUR HEAD ABOVE WATER AND UNDERSTAND THIS IS A WEB OF DECEIT....BEING FORMULATED FROM THE TOP OF OUR GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM RUNG OF THE LADDER OF THOSE "DESTITUTE" PEOPLE FROM THE TRESPASSING COUNTRIES. WE MUST HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE. Because of the tireless efforts of groups around this United States, the Supreme Court has just ruled that the artificial fire wall between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement must be removed. Calling a decision by the 9th Circuit as "FAULTY", the Supreme Court has stated that mere police questioning in regards to immigration status does not constitute a breach of rights. There is no legal barrier for the local police to inquire about this status and then to act upon the information. According to Dan Stein, president of FAIR, "tying the hands of the officers would be a political deicison on the part of the local politicians and police chiefs." Stein goes on the state, "Freeing local police to inquire about immigration status will now allow police to act in curbing mass illegal immigration and protecting our homeland security." Check out FAIRUS.ORG and the Stein Report. This link is www.fairus.org/Media/Media.cfm?ID-2666&c=34. As we continue to watch and wait for our leaders to finally take the stand for what is right and fair for the legal America citizens, let's hope and pray it is not too late for this country. The seconds are ticking by...the minutes expand to hours...the days and weeks bring more and more travesty and tragedies for WE THE PEOPLE. Make a decision and begin to do what you can to help salvage what is left of this country.....before the invasion is complete and we no longer will have any say in what will happen to the once great and glorious United States of America.
The Minutemen helped Border Patrol nab a group of 18 "undocumented immigrants"--illegal aliens--Saturday. But you have to read all the way to the second to last paragraph of this story to find out:
Adame, of the Border Patrol, said the project reported its first group of undocumented immigrants, totaling 18 people, about 4 p.m. Saturday near Borderline Road.
The Arizona Daily Star covers the first documented encounter between the Minutemen and an illegal alien. Did the Minutemen threaten the Mexican immigrant? Did they apprehend him? Did they shoot him on the spot? Well, no, not exactly: NACO, Ariz. - Minuteman Project volunteers helped an illegal entrant in distress late Friday. The incident was the first documented encounter between the volunteers and Mexican nationals sneaking across the border, officials said. The incident happened around midnight when a tired and thirsty illegal entrant who'd been separated from his group approached Minuteman volunteers at the Bible College in Palominas, said U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame. Project volunteers have been camping out at the college. The man was deported by the U.S. Border Patrol. Presumably Border Patrol officials were called to the scene by the Minuteman volunteers. Which will be disappointing, no doubt, to the likes of ill-willed detractors such as this one on the liberal blog, Crooked Timber: It’s wrong of me, I know, but I hope for much worse for them. These folks are really making me mad. Interestingly, several other commenters came to the Minutemen's defense.
D.A. King writes: It seems that Jim Gilchrist, Chris Simcox and the vigilant Americans participating in the Minute Man Project in Arizona have been successful in getting the president to put troops on the Arizona-Mexico border.
The European Union is in crisis. Again.
"The nightmare for French politicians has come true. They have singularly failed (so far) to divorce the question of Turkey's membership of Europe from the question of the Constitution. Turkey concerns the French electorate much more than, say, the British; in France, it's believed that a populous, poor Muslim state poses a direct threat to their values and their jobs."
The AP offers a stock report: "Volunteers to help patrol Mexican border". MSNBC's Brock N. Meeks files a report that he tries to fill with as much dramatic imagery as possible: "Citizen-volunteers gather to secure a border: A showdown in Tombstone". While it makes clear that the MMP are concerned about illegal immigration, it also includes this bit: ...This modern day showdown pits [the MMP] against pro-immigrant civil rights activists and a group of Hispanic Arizona lawmakers intent on being in the thick of things and making noise. The KVOA report "Minuteman Project causes concern in Mexico" discusses the concerns of a legal border crosser and the concerns of Douglas Mayor Ray Borane and his counterpart on the other side in Agua Prieta. It ends with this: ...The Mexican military is on stand-by. One unit has about a thousand soldiers. They're located just across the border. Rep. Miranda makes another appearance in the AZ Republic's "2 views of Arizona's border issue". The pro-MMP side is presented by Rep. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa). Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh "deconstructed" an AP report about the MMP. The AP report ("Armed volunteers plan to patrol Mexican border; some fear bloodshed could result") includes this quote from one of those who'll be protesting the MMP: "[The MMP] are domestic terrorists that represent a danger to the country and could promote a major border conflict that will have serious ramifications and consequences," said Armando Navarro, a University of California-Riverside political science professor and coordinator of the National Alliance for Human Rights, made up mostly of Hispanic activists. Also yesterday, Mary Sanchez of Knight-Ridder offered this bit about Navarro in "A volatile situation building on U.S.-Mexico border": ...Navarro's tone and word choices often make him an easy target. The professor's fervent stands to organize Latinos politically are often misconstrued as separatist. Navarro wants Latinos to gain the power and influence their numbers convey. He understands the present is a critical juncture for the Latino population, accurately noting there are too few true national leaders for Latinos... Let's go to the tape. Here's a 1995 Navarro quote: "Ladies and Gentlemen, what this means is a transfer of power, it means control, and it is the young people, the people who are now moving to develop an agenda for the twenty first century they are going to be in a position to really make the promise of what the Chicano movement was all about in terms of self-determination, in terms of empowerment, even in the terms of an Aztlan...." There's audio and much more information at the link. For instance, see this rather interesting post. UPDATE: See also "Firsthand Report of Today's Minuteman Project Activities".
Even the New York Times can't ignore them.
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