News Digests
Citizens For Immigration Reform regular news digests that are sent
to those on the email list.
08-31-2008
Latest from
Farmers Branch
Judge Lindsay ruled today (Aug 29) (to no one's surprise) that it was
his opinion that the will of 67% of the population of Farmers Branch was
unconstitutional, and he blocked the enforcement of Ordinance 2903. That
means that fifteen days from today, Ordinance 2952 will go into effect.
Tim Scott City
Council, Place One
Highlights of the proposed ordinance include:
-Anyone wishing to lease a house or apartment in Farmers Branch must
apply for a residential occupancy license from the city and provide
information about legal U.S. residency.
-Landlords would not be responsible for verifying the legal residency
status of potential renters; that responsibility would lie entirely
with the federal government
-The proposed license fee would be $5 for each adult occupant, and
would be valid as long as the occupant remains at that residence
-Anyone violating any provisions would face a daily municipal fine of
up to $500.
http://www.ci.farmers-branch.tx.us/CityCouncil/2008/Regular%20Session/2008-01-22-Regular%20Session.pdf
RIDDLE CRITICIZES PARKS & WILDLIFE OVER BORDER
FENCE VOTE Texas State
Representative Debbie Riddle, one of the state's most outspoken
opponents of illegal immigration, criticized the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission for their lack of cooperation with the federal
government on the construction of a fence along the Texas-Mexico border.
"While bureaucrats are arguing and stalling over minutia, the tax-paying
people of Texas are taking it in the teeth," Riddle said. "The negative
impact that our open borders have on public health, on our crime rates,
and on our state's budget are real, and the more we delay enacting
solutions, the more we are forcing the citizens to pay, not just in
dollars, but in peace of mind."
In a story originally reported by the
Austin-American Statesman, the commission defended their decision to
refuse to sell a 2 1/2 acre state-owned corridor to the feds by saying
that construction of the border fence on that land could have negative
impacts on fish and wildlife in the immediate area. Riddle said she
believes the commission's decision represents a misinterpretation of
their mission. "The number one priority for all levels of government
should be the safety of our citizens," Riddle said. "Surely, the
commission is able to see that they have a duty to place the health and
safety of the people of Texas over the perceived and hypothetical risks
to the population of fish in a two-acre area," Riddle said.
The state legislature will reconvene in
January, at which time Riddle said she will consider legislation that
requires the commission to cooperate with the border fence plan.
Source: Texasinsider, 8/5/08
Immigration
agency scraps self-deportation program
Amy Taxin - Associated Press Writer - 8/22/2008 9:45:00 AM
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A pilot program allowing illegal immigrants to
surrender to authorities to avoid jail and have more control over their
deportation has been dubbed a failure.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it is ending the
"Scheduled Departure" program when the three-week trial run concludes
Friday. Only eight people participated in the program, officials said.
"Quite frankly, I think this proves the only method that works is
enforcement," Jim Hayes, acting director of ICE's detention and removal
operations, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
ICE said it hatched the plan to give illegal immigrants under court
order to leave more control over their departure and to calm criticism
by immigrant advocates that its enforcement efforts were disruptive to
families.
"They want amnesty, they want open borders, and they want a more
vulnerable America," Hayes said.
While immigrant rights activists ridiculed the program, they're now
worried its failure will embolden enforcement.
http://www.washtimes.com:80/news/2008/aug/28/bush-urged-to-block-mexican-military/
Bush urged to
block Mexican military Agents cite rash of incursions
Jerry Seper
(Contact)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The U.S. Border Patrol's largest union local has asked President Bush to
put an end to the scores of Mexican military incursions into the
United States that have put
Border Patrol agents at risk of being injured or killed.
"It is disgraceful that Border Patrol agents are put in harm's way and
our government doesn't do everything reasonably within its power to
protect us from marauding Mexican soldiers and others," said Edward
"Bud" Tuffly II, head of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol
Council (NBPC) in Tucson.
"Without a forceful response to these illegal incursions, an agent will
eventually be seriously wounded or killed. It is only a matter of time,"
Mr. Tuffly said. "The incursions will not stop until the Mexican
military units and their commanders are held accountable for their
actions."
AFTER READING THE ARTICLE ABOVE IS IT ANY WONDER?
Border Patrol Struggles to Retain Newly Hired Agents
by Tom McGregor Thu,
Aug 28, 2008
Border Patrol agents wanted: must work alone during graveyard shifts in
remote towns along the Mexican border, put in long hours and perform
well in scorching temperatures.
“That message is never touted in U.S. Border Patrol recruitment
brochures,” the Houston Chronicle reports that, “but the sober reality
of working on the border has created an environment in which about 30
percent of agents leave their jobs in less than 18 months.”
www.Fairus.org
Global AIDS Conference Turns Focus on AIDS in U.S. Immigrant Community
On July 30, 2008,
President Bush
signed into law the "Tom
Lantos and
Henry J. Hyde United States
Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis,
and Malaria
Reauthorization Act of 2008." (Public
Law
No. 110-293) In addition to
appropriating $48 billion to fight
AIDS
world-wide, the bill also repeals the statutory bar to admission for
foreign nationals
infected with
HIV. (Sections
305 and 401) Until this change, aliens who were infected
with HIV were barred statutorily from admission to the U.S., but could
receive a waiver from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
By repealing the statutory bar, the new law gives USCIS discretion to
administratively determine the process under which aliens infected with
HIV may enter the U.S.
Factory had tension between union,
immigrants
mywaynews ^
| 8--27-2008 |
HOLBROOK MOHR
Union bosses in this region of rural Mississippi have long grumbled that
the largest factories here hire illegal immigrants, and that the
immigrants were starting to get more overtime and supervisory positions.
Friction between the union and immigrant workers, along with a tipoff at
an electrical manufacturing plant, boiled over this week into the
biggest workplace immigration raid in the nation's history. When the
first of the 595 suspected illegal immigrants was taken into custody
Monday, some fellow workers broke into applause.
(Excerpt) Read more at
apnews.myway.com ...
08-20-2008
Trinity Medical Center of Carrollton did the right thing when they
turned Maria Martinez, an illegal alien, over to ICE when they
discovered she submitted a false Social Security number with her job
application. We say Hooray for Trinity Medical Center for obeying the
law.
Let's show our appreciation for Trinity Medical Center's
integrity, courage, and patriotism, by contacting them and saying Thank
You! The contact information is below.
Trinity Medical
Center
4343 N Josey Ln
Carrollton, TX
75010
972.888-7234
Tri-suggestions@hospitalpartners.com
Public hospital in El Paso treating victims of Mexico drug violence at
taxpayer expense
08:15 AM CDT on Monday, August 18, 2008
Los Angeles Times
EL PASO – Lorenzo de la Torre Torres was on the cusp of death.
Drug cartel hit men had pumped the deputy police chief with more than 20
bullets and slightly wounded his boss, after a wild car chase in Nuevo
Casas Grandes, the Mexican city the two were supposed to control.
Paramedics airlifted the cops 130 miles to Ciudad Juarez. Within hours,
however, the two men were taken by ambulance to El Paso's Thomason
Hospital. For the next two weeks, Mr. de la Torre was treated at
taxpayer expense. El Paso police and sheriff's deputies stood guard
around the hospital 24 hours a day, wearing bulletproof vests and
holding semiautomatic rifles. All but one entrance to the building was
closed, sending visitors through metal detectors.
It was neither the first nor last time that the arrival of a gunshot
victim from Mexico has sparked a lockdown at the publicly owned
hospital.
The only hospital within a 280-mile radius to offer state-of-the-art
trauma care, Thomason has become an unwilling treatment center for law
enforcement officials and others wounded in Mexico's drug turf battles.
Thomason has treated 28 people wounded in Mexico, spending an estimated
$1 million, according to hospital administrators. Nineteen were U.S.
citizens or had dual citizenship, and the rest had legal permission to
enter the country.
The most recent was a 1-year-old Juarez girl crushed by a runaway pickup
after gunmen killed the driver in an apparently drug-related hit.
El Paso leaders are frustrated and angry at the cost and risks brought
about by their unexpected guests.
'Virtual fence' work is halted
Interior Dept.
hasn't given its required OK to use land for border surveillance towers
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.19.2008
Work on "virtual fences" planned for Arizona's stretch of the
U.S.-Mexican border has been brought to a halt.
The Interior Department has not granted the Homeland Security Department
permission to use the land for constructing the surveillance towers that
form the backbone of the virtual fences, said Barry Morrissey, spokesman
for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C.
Without authorization to use the land, no work could begin, which
prompted agency officials to instruct the lead contractor on the
project, Boeing Co., to suspend activities until further notice,
Morrissey said.
No date has been set to resume work.
The suspension of work has forced at least one subcontractor, EOD
Technology Inc., to lay off 40 security guards who already had been
hired and trained, EOD spokesman Bill Pearse
___________________________________
On August 25th, Texas Employers for Immigration Reform (no
time given) will hold its fourth immigration summit at the Dallas
Marriott Las Colinas in Irving. This is open to the public. This
organization supports Amnesty and was a big factor in blocking the
immigration legislation in the 2007 legislature.
They have problems with the Social Security no-match rule and Eddie
Aldreete, a bank executive in San Antonio and a member of the Texas
employers coalition says, "the concern over Social Security numbers is
overblown and a distraction." He also says, "At the end of the day, we
should be recruiting people from Mexico to come."
Dallas Morning News, Sat. August 9,2008
GOP lawmakers question Texas AG on immigration issues
12:00 AM CDT on
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News
kmbrooks@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – Texas Republican lawmakers want an attorney general's opinion
on how far the state can go in dealing with illegal immigration,
providing an early snapshot of the looming fight in the Texas
Legislature next year.
On Tuesday, Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio, and Sen. Dan Patrick,
R-Houston, asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott if the state could
legally yank the business licenses of employers who hire illegal
workers, hinting that such strong sanctions – already enacted in Arizona
– could find support in the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature.
They also asked if they're allowed to ban cities from enacting
"sanctuary" ordinances that prohibit city workers, including police,
from enforcing immigration laws – as Fort Worth and Austin have done.
"I really believe that the citizenry are asking for something to be
done," said Mr. Corte, chairman of the House GOP.
The two questions are a warning shot to immigration advocates and the
business community about where some of the hot spots of the debate will
be.
08-14-2008
Please take time to read the attached IRCOT (Immigration Reform
Coalition of Texas) Newsletter.
IRCOT- N TX (formerly CFIR) is one of the founding organizations for the Coalition. The concept
of IRCOT is to have a broader voice and outreach in the state. The
Coalition has been active throughout but we are ramping up our outreach
so that we can make an impact during the 2009 Texas Legislation.
Jean Towell
President - IRCOT- N TX (formerly CFIR)
Another incident of invasion into our country.
Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum asks "How
long are we going to put up with Mexican impudence and federal neglect
of duty? One of the most emphatic duties set forth in the U.S.
Constitution is that the federal government "shall protect each of them
(every State) against invasion."
Action Item: Call our senators and your representative, ask the same
question and ask for action! The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/
06/soldiers-cross-into-us-hold-guns-to-agent/
Border patrol agent held at gunpoint - Officers fear Mexican military
encounters will turn violent
Jerry Seper
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A
U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of
the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the
soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents
responded to assist.
Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the
Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area
about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who
was not identified.
It
was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S.
law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former
Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant
smugglers.
"Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has
been going on for years," union Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol
Council (NBPC) said on its Web page.
"They
are never held accountable, and the United States government will
undoubtedly brush this off as another case of 'Oh well, they didn't know
they were in the United States.'
Traffickers used I-35 buses to get drugs to Dallas, court papers
show
August 11, 2008 - By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
jtrahan@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/
latestnews/stories/081108dnmettraffickers.4195e33.html
Recent guilty pleas by members of the Zetas, the Gulf drug cartel's
feared enforcement arm, offer rare glimpses into how traffickers use
Interstate 35 to move drugs through Dallas and smuggle hundreds of
millions in cash back to Mexico.
www.fairus.org
DOT
Extends Cross-Border Trucking Program with Mexico After House Committee
Votes to Eliminate It
Last
week, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced its decision
to extend the cross-border trucking pilot program for an additional two
years, despite widespread criticism and recent Congressional attempts to
eliminate the entire program. The Bush Administration, vowing to adhere
to strict inspection requirements, implemented the one-year pilot
program in September 2007 for only a select number of Mexican-domiciled
trucking companies. (Department
of Transportation, February 23, 2007) The
announcement came just days after the House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure passed legislation that would completely eliminate
the program.
The
cross-border truck program, a provision of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), contains enforcement measures which allow each
country to impose trade sanctions on the other countries in the event of
noncompliance. (See
NAFTA, Provision 1202 & 1203; also see
Secretariat File No.
USA-MEX-98-2008-01) The cross-border program provision
requires that the United States allow trucks from Mexico and Canada full
access to all American highways. (Id.)
Thus, according to the trade agreement, if the United States fails to
implement the cross-border program, either country would have the
authority to initiate trade sanctions against the U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/08/pot.eradication/index.html
Mexican cartels running pot farms in U.S. national forest
From
Dan Simon
"American Morning"
Correspondent
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California (CNN)
-- Beyond the towering trees that have stood here for thousands of
years, an intense drug war is being waged.
Illegal immigrants connected to Mexico's drug cartels are growing
hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marijuana in the heart of one
of America's national treasures, authorities say. It's a booming
business that, federal officials say, feeds Mexico's most
violent drug
traffickers.
"These
aren't Cheech and Chong plants," said
John Walters, director of the
National Drug Control Policy. "People who farm now are not doing this
for laughs, despite the fact Hollywood still thinks that. They're doing
it to make a lot of money."
Walters spoke from a "marijuana garden" tucked deep into the Sequoia
National Forest, a two- to four-hour hike from the nearest road, far
removed from the giant sequoias the region is best known for
Ten
thousand marijuana plants, some 5 feet tall, dotted the mountainside's
steep terrain amid thick brush, often near streams. This garden's street
value is an estimated $40 million, authorities said
08-04-2008
To
read the full story, click on this link. If the link does not work, copy
and paste the heading and google the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/us/03deport.html?_r=2&hp=
&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1217772913-zaeidhwsPl%20GfiVcJDj9uA&pagewanted=all
Immigrants
Deported, by U.S. Hospitals
By
DEBORAH SONTAG
JOLOMCÚ,
Guatemala — High in the hills of
Guatemala, shut inside the one-room house where he spends day and night
on a twin bed beneath a seriously outdated calendar, Luis Alberto
Jiménez has no idea of the legal battle that swirls around him in the
lowlands of Florida.
Shooing away flies and beaming at the tiny, toothless elderly mother who
is his sole caregiver, Mr. Jiménez, a knit cap pulled tightly on his
head, remains cheerily oblivious that he has come to represent the
collision of two deeply flawed American systems,
immigration and health care.
Eight years ago, Mr. Jiménez, 35, an illegal immigrant working as a
gardener in Stuart, Fla., suffered devastating injuries in a car crash
with a drunken Floridian. A community hospital saved his life, twice,
and, after failing to find a rehabilitation center willing to accept an
uninsured patient, kept him as a ward for years at a cost of $1.5
million.
Texas to World Court: Execution still on!
Texas is refusing to bow
to the World Court order to stay the Aug. 5 lethal injection of
convicted rapist-killer and illegal alien Jose Medellin. The highest
U.N. court insisted that five scheduled executions of Mexicans be
immediately halted until the cases undergo further review. Mexico's
government filed a petition with the court last month because it said
the men had been deprived of assistance from their consulates following
their arrests. According to Geneva Convention rules, illegal aliens must
have access to their national consulates once they have been detained.
The U.N. court order echoes statements made by
Mexico that "Texas has made clear that unless restrained, it will go
forward with the execution without providing Mr. Medellin the mandated
review and reconsideration," which will "irreparably" violate U.S.
obligations to the World Court's 2004 directive, the Houston
Chronicle reported. Citing "the paramount interest in human life,"
Mexico said it would "forever be deprived of the opportunity to
vindicate its rights and those of the nationals concerned" if Medellin's
execution continues as scheduled.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office rejected
Mexico's complaint. "The world court has no standing in Texas, and Texas
is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court," Perry spokesman
Robert Black said. "It is easy to get caught up in discussions of
international law and justice and treaties.
It's very important to remember that these
individuals are on death row for killing our citizens."
Source: World Net
Daily, 7/18/08
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