Cal Thomas: Illegal immigration seen as double standard

12/11/2007, 10:59 am

Like the war on terrorism, progress in the immigration war is also mixed.

A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily prevented the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration from using mismatched Social Security data to penalize employers who hire illegal aliens. The decision came as welcome news to the AFL-CIO, various "immigrants' rights" groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who are behind a lawsuit that claims the federal government's actions are a violation of the law.

Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee like his brother the Supreme Court justice, said the federal crackdown would likely impose hardships on businesses and their illegal workers, causing "serious irreparable harm." What about the prospect of irreparable harm to the country if what amounts to an open-border policy is allowed to continue?

In Oklahoma, the toughest immigration law in the country was allowed to take effect when U.S. District Judge James H. Payne refused to accept arguments from Hispanic and immigrants rights groups who tried to block it. According to the Washington Times, the measure, House Bill 1804, "prevents illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses, denies them every possible public service or benefit not required by federal law, gives state and local police the ability to enforce immigration laws and beginning next year, requires employers to check new employees' identities through a federal database. The judge allowed the law to take effect while the case "proceeds."

In Prince William County, Va., which has one of the country's largest illegal immigrant populations, local filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler feature the ugliness of the debate on YouTube.

As reported by the Washington Post, on one video "a man furious about hearing Spanish at a hardware store berates a group of Latino families with a lecture on American history, telling them 'my ancestors were here before the Constitution.' A little girl shyly reminds him: 'The Indians were here before the Americans.'"

In another posting, frustrated residents denounce a "foreign invasion" and warn of "civil war," to which one scowling young man taunts: "Bring it."

Much of the anger is caused by the federal government's refusal to adequately enforce existing immigration laws. Most citizens know that if they break laws, they will pay a penalty. They know their driver's license is a privilege and that the state that issues them can take them away when certain laws are broken. Countries to which Americans travel prohibit us from working in those countries, but we are told we must accept law-breaking foreign workers.

Illegal immigration is one of several contributing factors to the growing anger of many citizens who are told by courts, editorial writers, some columnists, activists and other rabble that whatever they believe in, fight for, pay for and worship must always take second place to what others believe, especially if it opposes their beliefs. The law-abiding, "traditional value" crowd is never asked for their opinion on anything. Those with traditional values are having what they regard as illegalities and immoralities imposed upon them. They see the country being transformed without their permission and they are rightly disturbed about it.

The war over immigration is essentially a battle for the Hispanic vote. Politicians will do anything to get it, including disregarding the laws they are sworn to uphold. The politician who gets on the wrong side of this issue -- like Hillary Clinton -- is likely to pay a heavy price from the majority who obey laws.

Direct all mail for Cal Thomas to: Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207. Readers may also e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors@tribune.com.

POINSETTIA

A poinsettia is a beautiful, red, star-shaped plant popular around Christmas time in the United States.

The legend of the poinsettia comes from Mexico. According to legend a poor girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo wanted to bring a gift to the baby Jesus in the village church's manger scene, but they had no money.

On the way to church on Christmas Eve they picked some weeds to take them as a gift to the baby Jesus. All the other children teased them about what they brought. As Maria and Pablo put the weeds around the manger the tops miraculously turned into bright red petals. Soon poinsettias surrounded the manger.

Dr. Joel Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, brought the poinsettia to America more than 100 years ago. Americans call the plant a poinsettia for Dr. Poinsett.





On Christmas Eve, a parade of singers carry bells and candles on top of long poles as they wind through the streets on the way to church. Instead of stockings, some children leave out shoes on Christmas Eve.

Click here: Center for Immigration Studies
http://www.cis.org/articles/2007/welfarerelease.html

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute
which examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Senate Amnesty Could Strain
Welfare System
Newest Data Shows Latin American Immigrants
Make Heavy Use of Welfare

Contact: Steven Camarota
sac@cis.org
202-466-8185

WASHINGTON (June 6, 2007) — As they debate legalization for illegal immigrants, Senators would do well to keep in mind the most recent data on welfare use by the people in question. According to the Department of Homeland Security, nearly 60% of illegal aliens are from Mexico and 80% of the total are from Latin America as a whole. A Center for Immigration Studies analysis of 2006 Census Bureau data, which includes legal and illegal immigrants, shows use of welfare by households headed by Mexican and Latin American immigrants is more than double that of native households. Among the findings:

51% of all Mexican immigrant households use at least one major welfare program and 28% use more than one program.
– 40% use food assistance, 35% use Medicaid, 6% use cash assistance.

45% of all Latin American immigrant households use at least one welfare program and 24% use more than one program.
– 32% use food assistance, 31% use Medicaid, 6% use cash assistance.

20% of native households use at least one welfare program and 11% multiple programs.
– 11% use food assistance, 15% use Medicaid, 5% use cash assistance

Among Mexican and Latin American households, welfare use is somewhat higher for households headed by legal, as opposed to illegal, immigrants. Thus legalization will likely increase welfare costs still further.

90% of Mexican and Latin American households have at least one worker. Their heavy welfare use reflects their low education levels and resulting low incomes – and not an unwillingness work.
– 61% of all Mexican immigrants have not graduated high school.
– 48% of all Latin American immigrants have not graduated high school.

There is a common but mistaken belief that welfare programs are only for those who don’t work. Actually, the welfare system is designed to provide low-wage workers, or more often their children, things like food assistance and health care.

It is the presence of their U.S.-born children coupled with their low education levels that explains why so many immigrant households use the welfare system.

Most recently arrived immigrants are barred from using welfare programs and this would likely apply to those legalized by the Senate bill – however this is not true in every state, nor does not apply to all programs. Most important, the bar does not apply to the U.S.-born children of immigrants, who are immediately eligible.

There are an estimated 1.4 million households headed by illegal aliens using at least one major welfare program. If even half these families returned to their home countries, the savings for taxpayers could be substantial.

If we do not wish to make a large share of illegals return to their home countries, then the United States has to accept the welfare costs. There is no other option.

Programs examined in the analysis are food stamps, WIC, school lunch, Medicaid, TANF, SSI, and public/rent-subsidized housing.


_________________

Poll: Hispanics mostly oppose crackdown on illegals

by Frank James

If a candidate wants to potentially lose a lot of Hispanic votes, then he or she should focus on cracking down on illegal immigrants.

That's one important take-away message from a new Pew Hispanic Center poll released today. The survey suggests that when politicians, particularly Republicans, try to outcompete each other on immigration enforcement, many Hispanics take such talk personally.

This is from the center's summary of the poll's results:


...Just over half of all Hispanic adults in the U.S. worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported, a new nationwide survey of Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center has found. Nearly two-thirds say the failure of Congress to enact an immigration reform bill has made life more difficult for all Latinos. Smaller numbers (ranging from about one-in-eight to one-in-four) say the heightened attention to immigration issues has had a specific negative effect on them personally. These effects include more difficulty finding work or housing; less likelihood of using government services or traveling abroad; and more likelihood of being asked to produce documents to prove their immigration status...

This poll shows the problems that both Republicans and Democrats are facing on the immigration issue.

Politico.com today reported that Republicans see tough-talk on immigration as the only issue that works for them. Immigration hawkishness played a key role in the House Republicans holding on to two seats by wide margins during special elections in Ohio and Virginia.

But it's apparent from this poll that such positions run the risk of angering many Latino voters. This same Pew center recently released a poll on the party preferences of Hispanics which indicated that Latinos are moving to the Democratic party and away from Republican affiliation.

Meanwhile, if Democrats propose ideas that sound like amnesty for illegal immigrants, they run the risk of a backlash and not just from independents, but even many Democratic voters who want to put a stop to illegal immigration.

Pew goes on:


Hispanics are the nation's largest minority group, numbering 47 million (about 15.5% of the total U.S. population). About a quarter of Hispanic adults are unauthorized immigrants, most of them arriving as part of a heavy wave of immigration that began gathering force in the 1970s. Twice in the past two years, the U.S. Congress tried but failed to pass comprehensive legislation to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. However, federal, state and local governments have pressed forward with hundreds of new enforcement bills, regulations and procedures--including stepped up deportations, more workplace raids, and restrictions on access to driver's licenses and other government services and benefits.

The survey finds that Hispanics oppose these enforcement measures, often by lopsided margins. Three quarters (75%) disapprove of workplace raids; some 79% prefer that local police not take an active role in identifying illegal immigrants; and some 55% disapprove of states checking for immigration status before issuing driver's licenses. By contrast, non-Hispanics are much more supportive of all these policies, with a slight majority favoring workplace raids and a heavy majority favoring driver's license checks.

In addition to this wide variance in views between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, the survey finds less pronounced--but still significant--gaps within the Hispanic community on a range of matters, from perceptions about discrimination to attitudes about illegal immigration to support for tougher enforcement measures. For example, on questions about enforcement policies, native-born Hispanics take positions that are closer to those of the rest of the U.S. population than do foreign-born Hispanics. Also, the native born are less likely than the foreign born to report a negative personal impact from the heightened attention to immigration issues.

Likewise, Hispanics who are not citizens feel much more vulnerable in the current environment than do Hispanics who are citizens. They are about twice as likely as Hispanic citizens to worry about deportation and to feel a specific negative personal impact from the heightened attention to illegal immigration. (Non-citizens account for 44% of the total adult Hispanic population. Of these non-citizen Latino adults, an estimated 55% are undocumented immigrants and the other 45% are legal aliens).

Hispanics also have widely varying assessments about the amount of attention that local officials and political leaders in their communities are paying to the issue of illegal immigration. A third say a lot, but four-in-ten say not too much, and one-in-five say none at all. These variances likely reflect the reality that the issue has become politically heated in some parts of the country but not in others.

Whatever new vulnerability Hispanics feel in the present political and policy environment, the survey finds little evidence of a backlash against illegal immigration by Hispanics themselves. To the contrary, Hispanics generally see illegal immigrants as a plus – both for the Latino community itself and for the U.S. economy in general. Here, too, there are differences by nativity – with the foreign born significantly more positive than the native born in their views about the effects of illegal immigration. But even the native born are more positive than negative. And, as they assess the impact of illegal immigrants on the economy, native-born Latinos are more inclined to see a positive impact now (64%) than they were five years ago, when just 54% said the impact was positive.


The last paragraph shouldn't be glossed over. Hispanics see illegal immigration as a net positive for the U.S.. That view extends even to native-born Hispanics.

Again, the political implications of this seem obvious. Tough talk on illegal immigration isn't likely to win over this growing voting bloc.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Gov. Rick Perry chat Wednesday before an Austin luncheon honoring DiNardo, the first Catholic bishop in Texas to be elevated to the College of Cardinals.
HARRY CABLUCK: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DiNardo calls for immigration rules that unite families

Austin pays tribute to the new cardinal

By JANET ELLIOTT
Dec. 12, 2007, 10:29PM

AUSTIN — The first Roman Catholic cardinal from Texas said that an immigration policy focusing solely on punishing workers who came to the United States illegally is destined to fail.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, a first-generation American, said he and the state's Catholic bishops have for three decades supported comprehensive immigration reform with an emphasis on family reunification.

"Certainly we want to protect our borders," he said. "At the same time, punitive measures alone are going to be ultimately ineffective, and I think counterproductive.

"Most of the immigrants who come here really want to work and be part of our country."

DiNardo, who was one of 23 clerics elevated to cardinal last month in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica, answered questions from reporters after being honored by Gov. Rick Perry and state political leaders at a luncheon.

He said the issues he personally cares about — immigration, education, health care, abortion and the death penalty — don't fit neatly into an agenda of the political right or left.

DiNardo expressed support for the Children's Health Insurance Program and government-funded vouchers for students attending private and Catholic schools.

"We almost did it in the Legislature," he said, apparently referring to a 1997 vote in the Texas House when a floor amendment authorizing vouchers failed 68-68.

In 2005, a voucher bill died in the House amid heated debate.

The president of a group that opposes vouchers said they might not be the benefit that Catholic schools are seeking.

"Catholics understandably want their church schools to retain their uniquely religious character," said Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network. "But the independence of those schools would be in jeopardy the minute they started accepting state dollars that once went to fund neighborhood public schools."

DiNardo told reporters that Texas and the southern United States have "never been known as an intensely Catholic area," but is rising in influence with the church.

That comes from growth through people moving from northern states as well as immigrants from Latin American and Pacific Rim countries, he said.

"I'm the result of an Irish mother and an Italian father," DiNardo said. "That's a volatile but a very rich mixture.

"I think in the same way some of the mixtures that have happened in the South have made it a very dynamic presence in the Catholic Church."

DiNardo, 58, said Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the state's 7 million Catholics last month during a meeting at the Vatican.

"I went up to greet him and kissed his ring, and I said, 'Holy Father, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston loves you and wants to be in good communion with you,' " DiNardo told guests at the luncheon.

"He just looked at me and said, 'Texas needed a cardinal.' "

Perry was joined by several hundred people, including a number of lawmakers, judges and statewide elected officials. The governor praised DiNardo as a first-generation American who has dedicated his life to service.

"He understands the unique culture of our state and is living proof that the Catholic faith is alive and well in Texas," Perry said.

janet.elliott@chron.com

Mexican company launches beer in honor of unofficial drug saint

The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.13.2007

MEXICO CITY — Jesus Malverde is considered a Mexican Robin Hood and the patron saint of drug lords.

On Wednesday, he got his own beer.
A Mexican brewery in the western city of Guadalajara began selling the Malverde beer in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, long considered one of the country's main drug strongholds.

Malverde is believed to have been a construction or railroad worker who was hanged in 1909 in Culiacan, Sinaloa's capital. He later developed a reputation as someone who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, although the details of his life remain unclear.

Eventually he was adopted as the saint for drug traffickers and a chapel was built in his honor. The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize Malverde.

Minerva Brewery decided to use the late outlaw's name because it wanted a new beer to market in northwest Mexico, marketing director Juan Carlos Banda told The Associated Press.

"We were looking for a character from Mexican folklore, a graphic representation of local culture," he said.

The brewery said it considered other representatives, like the professional wrestler "El Santo" and "La Llorona," a woman who, according to legend, appears at night to cry for her children.

"Looking at all the possibilities, we found that Malverde was recognized the most in this section of the country," Banda said.

The beer features a toned down image of Malverde, without his trademark neckerchief, his gold chain with a bejeweled pistol charm or his gun-motif belt buckle.

Banda said he isn't worried that the beer would be associated with drug trafficking, arguing that Malverde is known more for his support of the poor.

I agree, all illegal alien families should reunite on the soil of their respective homelands. When they are deported they shouldn't leave their children behind.

Those pedophiles masquerading as priest need to STFU or surrender their tax exempt status. Their real concern is refilling their pews, collection plates and replenishing their source of fresh victims in order to continue their tradition of sexually deviant child molestation.

Mexicans crowd shrine despite church's troubles

Reuters
By Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of believers, some walking for hours, paid homage to Mexico's most revered Catholic figure on Wednesday in a colorful, noisy show of faith that defied growing challenges to the church.

In one of the world's biggest annual pilgrimages, Mexicans sang and prayed in front of centuries-old cloak with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is said to have appeared to an Indian peasant in the 16th century.

Carrying elaborate flower wreaths, crowds of people flowed through a giant basilica in Mexico City to pass briefly on an airport-style moving walkway in front of an image of the dark-skinned virgin.

The church has become embroiled in a fight with the leftist government of the capital, which in less than a year has legalized *** unions and abortion and allowed terminally ill people to refuse treatment.

But religion is still a refuge for millions of mostly poor Mexicans.

"The government can pass whatever laws they want but the people will keep coming," said mechanic Antonio Chavez, 46, who walked over seven hours with his family from the small town of Acuitlapilco to ask the virgin for good health.

"You can't separate people from their faith," he said rubbing his sore legs. Chavez, like thousands of others, spent the night huddled under blankets outside the church waiting to sing to the virgin overnight.

Municipal authorities estimated that several million faithful have made the trip to the basilica in recent days. The annual Muslim haj to Mecca draws over 2 million visitors.

In November, a mob of leftists angered by church bells interrupting a political rally, burst into Mexico City's main cathedral, tearing down railings and overturning pews.

It was a sign of the growing tension between leftists and the Catholic hierarchy which opposes abortion and *** unions.

Mexico is the second-largest Catholic country in the world but church doctrine on social and family matters is often taken with a pinch of salt.

"The Catholic hierarchy has lost touch with popular Catholics who get divorced and have abortions despite what the Church says," said Elio Masferrer, a religion expert at Mexico's National School of Anthropology and History.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to peasant Juan Diego in 1531 on a hilltop which had once been a shrine to an ancient Aztec goddess.

When Juan Diego told a bishop of his vision, the virgin's image appeared on his cloak. That event was key in converting Mexico to Catholicism.

The humble woodcutter was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 in an effort by the Vatican to reach out to Latin American believers.

Round, round get around — that d a m n fence

Unimpressed by claims that a border fence will do anything to curtail illegal immigration, the McAllen Chamber of Commerce has informally compiled a list of ways to defeat rhe barrier. Among our favorites:

Employ the Jedi mind trick. “These are not the illegals you are looking for.

Walk around with a cell phone saying, ”Can you hear me now?“

Put on a hard hat, grab a clipboard and say you’re inspecting the wall.

Wear a George Bush mask. No one will be surprised if you can’t speak English.

Pretend you’re a Canadian–eh?

Ask who ordered the pepperoni pizza.

Build a Trojan Burro and mail it to Washington, DC.

Walk backwards and say you’re leaving.

Boat across the Gulf of Mexico to another state where there are no walls. Yet.

Walk around it.

WWGD? (What would Geronimo do?)

Date: Nov 16, 2007 5:54 AM

I wish I was writing under better circumstances, but I must be fast
and direct.

My mother and elders of El Calaboz, since July have been the targets
of numerous threats and harrassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps
of Engineers, NSA, and the U.S. related to the proposed building of a
fence on their levee.

Since July, they have been the targets of numerous telephone calls,
unexpected and uninvited visits on their lands, informing them that
they will have to relinquish parts of their land grant holdings to the
border fence buildup. The NSA demands that elders give up their lands
to build the levee, and further, that they travel a distance of 3
miles, to go through checkpoints, to walk, recreate, and to farm and
herd goats and cattle, ON THEIR OWN LANDS.

This threat against indigenous people, life ways and lands has been
very very serious and stress inducing to local leaders, such as Dr.
Eloisa Garcia Tamez, who has been in isolation from the larger
indigenous rights community due to the invisibility of indigenous
people of South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas to the larger social
justice conversation regarding the border issues.

However recent events, of the last 5 days cause us to feel that we are
in urgent need of immediate human rights observers in the area,
deployed by all who can help as soon as possible–immediate relief.

My mother informed me, as I got back into cell range out of Redford,
TX, on Monday, November 13, that Army Corps of Engineers, Border
Patrol and National Security Agency teams have been going house to
house, and calling on her personal office phone, her cell phone and in
other venues, tracking down and enclosing upon the people and telling
them that they have no other choice in this matter. They are telling
elders and other vulnerable people that “the wall is going on these
lands whether you like it or not, and you have to sell your land to
the U.S.”

My mother, Eloisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache and descendent of
Chiricahua descent elder, Aniceto Garcia, (passed away) who gave her
traditional indigenous birth welcoming ceremony and the lightning
ceremony, is resisting the occupation firmly. She has already had two
major confrontations with NSA on the telephone since July–one in her
office at the University of Texas at Brownsville, where she is the
Director of a Nursing Program and where she conducts research on diabetes.

She reports that some folks have already signed over their lands, due
to their ongoing state of impoverishement and exploitation in the area
under colonization, corporatism, NAFTA and militarization.

This is an outrage, but more, this is a significant violation of
United Nations Declaration on rights of Indigenous People, recently
ratified and accepted. Furthermore, it is a violation of the United
Nations CERD, Committee on Racism and Discrimination.

My mother is under great stress and crisis, unknowing if the Army
soldiers and the NSA agents will be demanding that she sign documents.
She has firmly told them not to call her anymore, nor to call her at
all hours of the night and day, nor to call on the weekends any further.
She asked them to meet with her in a public space and to tell their
supervisors to come.


They refuse to do so. Instead, they continue to harrass and intimidate.

At this time, due to the great stress the elders are currently under,
communicated to me, because they are being demanded to relinquish
indigenous lands, I feel that I MUST call upon my relatives, friends,
colleagues, associates in Texas, involved in indigenous rights issues,
to come forth and aid us.

Please! Please help indigenous women land title holders! Please do not
hesitate!

My phone number is: 509-595-4445
My office number is: 509-335-7268
Call anytime!

Margo Tamez

(Jumano Apache West Texas-Chihuahua & Lipan Apache South
Texas-Tamaulipas, Apacheria Nuevo Santander Land Grant–Basque Colonia)
http://www.nativewiki.org/Margo_Tamez
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid1795.htm
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid1479.htm

Mexican Flag Burning Nixed Because Of Air Pollution Concerns

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state is unlikely to grant a permit to a man who wants to burn a Mexican flag on the steps of the state Capitol, because of air pollution concerns.

Nick Bradford, of Tacoma, said he wants to burn the flag when the legislative session opens in January, to encourage the state to do more to crack down on illegal immigrants, including allowing local police to arrest people who enter the country illegally.

“Obviously, the protest is intended to get the attention of the public, but also the politicians here, in Washington,” Bradford said. “We can’t always bark at the other Washington and George Bush. We can do things locally here.”

Bradford recently called Visitors Services at the Capitol to ask about burning a flag on the steps, but officials weren’t sure it was allowed.

The Department of General Administration, which operates the building, checked with the Olympia Fire Department, which said any burning would have to be cleared by the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, department spokesman Steve Valandra told The Olympian newspaper.

“Flag burning is a form of protected free speech, so if he wanted to get a permit to do this, GA would grant it to him, as long as he abided by whatever other preconditions existed,” Valandra said.

But there’s little chance the clean air agency would allow a permit, said Richard Stedman, executive director of the agency.

“Burning a flag produces a lot of toxic materials, such as dioxins, which are contained in the pigments and dyes,” he said. “We would probably cite the person for burning prohibited materials. It’s illegal to burn anything in the urban growth area.”

U.S. to issue revised driver’s license rules

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Wednesday that his agency would issue “retooled” regulations requiring national driver’s license standards within a matter of weeks, and he warned states and businesses not to obstruct efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

In a speech detailing the Department of Homeland Security’s accomplishments during 2007, Chertoff urged nationwide compliance with the Real ID Act, which was passed following the discovery that several of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists had used fake identification to board airplanes. He said he had no illusions about the reactions of states that have fought it on grounds of privacy and security.

He also criticized businesses for not embracing the department’s e-Verify system, which compares workers’ names and Social Security numbers against government databases to determine whether the information is valid.
http://oneoldvet.com/?p=4093
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7705195

UNIVISION AND THE SEVEN DWARFS



Preachy, Dopey, Floppy, Sleazy, Wacky, Clueless and Nasty.

Not pictured: Whiney

Mexican city exhumes thousands of bodies

By MARINA MONTEMAYOR
Associated Press Writer
Dec 5, 11:46 PM EST

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) -- Authorities in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said Wednesday that they plan to exhume the remains of more than 4,000 unidentified people buried in common graves and take DNA samples in an attempt to identify them.

Rene Medrano, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office, said the bodies were being exhumed because state attorney general Patricia Gonza*** "wants to bring order and clarity to past police practices."

Officials did not provide more exact reasons for the exhumations, which they called part of a statewide project that includes at least 180 exhumations in another city.

Authorities said the project was not directly related to the cases of 360 women killed over the past 14 years in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas.

Victims' relatives have long demanded that independent investigators take part in the probes, saying efforts by state officials have been tainted by inept officers. Chihuahua state investigators have been accused of losing or contaminating evidence and of other missteps that botched cases.

Authorities' lack of progress in solving the cases of the Ciudad Juarez women prompted international outrage, as news of the killings made headlines around the world.

Authorities have arrested and prosecuted a number of suspects over the years, but family members of some Juarez victims say authorities have yet to bring the true culprits to justice.

Federal authorities intervened in 2003, promising to solve 14 rape-strangulation cases involving teenagers and women in Ciudad Juarez. The federal attorney general's office recently closed those investigations, however, without getting to the bottom of what happened.

A team of 30 people, including forensic anthropologists and dental specialists, are already exhuming remains from cemeteries in Ciudad Juarez, Medrano said.

The team will exhume unidentified bodies that were buried in common graves between 1991 and 2005, Medrano said. They will extract DNA samples and build a database. The remains then will be tagged and reburied in individual graves, he said.

Officials estimate more than 4,000 unidentified bodies were buried in common graves in Ciudad Juarez alone over the 14-year period.

The program first started three months ago in Chihuahua City where authorities exhumed 180 sets of remains. One already has been identified, Medrano said.