Swinford trims immigration bills from agenda

Globe-News Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - He may live far from the Mexican border, but State Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, knows firsthand how illegal immigration impacts a community and the entire state.

Thousands of illegal immigrants live in his district, especially in Cactus where the biggest employer is Swift & Co., the meat packing plant raided by U.S. immigration authorities in December.

But Swinford also has been a legislator long enough (16 years) to know that immigration is a federal issue, even if he thinks that Washington has done a lousy job protecting the U.S. southern border.

So, with that in mind, Swinford, who also chairs the influential House State Affairs Committee, pretty much made this official Wednesday morning: Most illegal immigration-related bills coming before his committee will not see the light of day.

"What I am trying to do is to determine what Texas can or cannot do," he told reporters. "Immigration is not in our program."

Swinford said he made his decision after he and the other eight members of State Affairs consulted with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Abbott's office reviewed the bills and concluded that most are unconstitutional and would not survive a court challenge.

One bill in particular, House Bill 28, by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, would deny basic public services such as education and health care to U.S.-born children whose parents are here illegally.

Speaking to another group of reporters and just a few feet from Swinford, Berman said he is furious that the State Affairs chairman, who he considers a friend, arbitrarily decided to kill his legislation.

"All I'm asking is for my day in court," Berman said. "All I am asking is that my bills are heard."

Another of Berman's bills under fire, particularly from Hispanic legislators and immigrant rights advocates, is HB 29, which would impose an 8 percent tax to any money wired from Texas to Mexico or to any other Latin American country.

Rep. Jessica Farrar of Houston, the only Hispanic and one of only two Democrats in the panel, praised Swinford for pulling the plug on more than two dozen immigration-related bills she and other Democrats consider not only unconstitutional but mean-spirited.

Swinford admitted that he likes some of the bills he is killing.

"Me, being a right-wing nut, I agree with some of those bills," he said. "But it's a waste of money and that's not what I was sent (here) for."

Like other Democrats, Farrar said she thinks Swinford is also saving the Legislature - and the Republican Party - a lot of grief because illegal immigration was shaping up as the most divisive issue of the 80th session, but despite all tough GOP talk about illegal immigration and border security, bills like Berman's would only makes things worse, especially in the House where the most contentious debates take place.

"We don't need any more animosity," Farrar said. "We need to focus on solving the many issues that are for the benefit of our state."

Swinford said that despite the fate of many of the illegal immigration-related bills, State Affairs will hold marathon hearings on the issue, and on Wednesday afternoon, the panel started doing just that. It began hearing testimony from about three dozen experts, a good number of them border mayors and law enforcement officials.

And he also hopes that the Legislature approves a resolution urging Washington to tackle the illegal immigration problem.

"We need to remind the federal government that controlling illegal immigration is their job, not a state's job," Swinford said.

Globe-News Austin Bureau Chief Enrique Rangel can be reached at enrique.rangel@morris.com or P.O. Box 12457, Austin TX 78711-2457.

Mexico opens probe into fixed-line phone market

Reuters
Jan 23, 2008

MEXICO CITY, - Mexico's antitrust agency on Wednesday began a probe into market dominance in the fixed-line telephone market, a thinly veiled challenge to the power of market leader Telmex, owned by tycoon Carlos Slim.

The Federal Competition Commission, without naming any company, said it will investigate if there was any "substantial power" and "real competition" in various fixed-line long distance and local telephone markets.

Telmex, a former state monopoly that Slim bought in a 1990 privatization, has around 90 percent of Mexico's 20 million fixed lines and was declared "dominant" several years ago by antitrust regulators.

Slim, reckoned by some to be the world's richest person, overturned that ruling in Mexican courts.

Telmex (TELMEXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) (TMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was not immediately available for comment but has in the past defended its market share by saying it invests more than its rivals and also provides phone services in nonprofitable rural areas.

The commission, which in November started a probe of the cell phone industry where Slim's America Movil (AMXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) (AMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has three quarters of the wireless market, said the new probe did not mean there was any dominance.

"The decision (to start the investigation) must not be taken as a prejudgment of the existence of substantial power of any company," the commission said in the government's official gazette.

Telmex rivals have argued in the past that Slim's company charges high interconnection rates which, they say, it uses as a tool to maintain its business advantage.

Telmex owns the vast majority of Mexico's telephone network. Rivals have to use its lines to place calls, which allows Telmex to control phone rates.

NO TIME FRAME

The commission gave no time frame for the investigation, which could take many months.

The probe comes days after Mexico's cable TV industry urged the government not to give Telmex the rights to offer television services without first negotiating lower phone call rates.

Alejandro Puente, the head of the Cable Television Industry Chamber, called on the government to take advantage of the desire of Telmex to enter the television business to negotiate lower phone rates, especially interconnection fees that rival carriers must pay Telmex.

Lower rates, Puente said, would benefit competition in the phone sector and cut prices for consumers. He said interconnection fees could be much less, or even zero.

On the issue of dominance, Puente slammed the antitrust regulators for not starting a probe into the fixed-line telephone industry in Mexico earlier.

Puente said if the Federal Competition Commission had launched a probe earlier and declared Telmex dominant, it would have given the government more arguments during TV negotiations to force Telmex to slash rates.

Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry can set rates for calls between companies deemed dominant and their smaller rivals.

President Felipe Calderon has promised to get tough on industries in which weak competition has led to unfair prices and little choice for consumers and businesses.

But there have been few signs that he is making serious moves against big corporations.

(Additional reporting by Tomas Sarmiento; Editing by Brian Moss)

`WE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP'

Coalition OK'd to give immigration counseling

Nonprofit wants to take business away from shady operators

CLAY BARBOUR
Cbarbour@charlotteobserver.com
Fri, Jan. 25, 2008

Latino immigrants can now turn to an old friend for low-cost help in navigating the long and often confusing process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

The Department of Homeland Security officially recognized the Latin American Coalition this week, certifying the agency to help immigrants with a wide array of immigration concerns.

The nonprofit has served as a cultural hub for many Latinos since its inception in 1990, helping people network, learn English and find jobs. But if someone needed immigration help, they were usually pointed elsewhere.

Now the coalition can steer those seeking citizenship through the process and can even represent them in certain immigration cases.

"It's sort of like the Better Business Bureau seal of approval," Executive Director Angeles Ortega-Moore said of the recognition. "This lets people know they can come to us and trust that we will be able to help them."

The agency can help any immigrant, regardless of nationality. But it is expected that most of those seeking help with be Latino.

According to the most recent statistics, there are about 600,000 Latinos in North Carolina, 80,000 in Charlotte alone.

The immigrant population is often vulnerable, wrestling with a limited understanding of English and no real knowledge of the legal system. While some consultants -- often called notarios -- are notary publics and provide a legitimate service, others have bilked immigrants for hundreds of dollars by steering them down avenues of residency that are long shots at best.

"You see people creeping out of the woodwork, often with no real experience in the immigration process, taking advantage of people and charging a lot of money for their services," said Adriana Galvez Taylor, the Coalition's manager of immigrant rights.

As a part of the agency's recognition, Taylor has received a Board of Immigration Appeals accreditation that allows her to represent clients in certain hearings.

According to law, only lawyers, law students working with lawyers and people with BIA accreditation are allowed to help in such situations. The Coalition is the only nonprofit in the city to have such a distinction and it is one of about 14 in the Carolinas.

The Latino explosion is causing that to change. Jack Holmgren, a legalization attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said he has watched as the number of BIA accredited organizations nationwide have grown from 300 eight years ago to more than 630 now.

"It is a dire need, absolutely," he said. "You have a new gateway community like Charlotte and that means there are many bad operators out there taking advantage of people's desperation. This is how you stop that."

The Latin American Coalition
4949-B Albemarle Road
Charlotte, NC 28205

704-941-6734

Mexico to host major motosport championship

english.people.com
January 23, 2008

Mexico will host the Auto Tour World Championships from April 4-6 after missing out on 2007 competition, race organizers brothers Jose and Julian Abed said in a Tuesday statement.

In order to host the race again, some two million U.S. dollars will be spent on renovating the track, nestled in the Puebla town of Amozoc, 190km east of Mexico City.

The race organization demanded the Mexico committee resurface the track and change both the track and the banks, but said that Mexico could then host the contest every year until at least 2010.

The World Championship has 12 dates, beginning with March 2 contest in Brazilian city of Curitiba. Mexico is the second date on the tour and is followed by Spain.

Source: Xinhua

Ancient Maya sacrificed boys not virgin girls: study

Reuters
Wed Jan 23, 2008

MEXICO CITY - The victims of human sacrifice by Mexico's ancient Mayans, who threw children into water-filled caverns, were likely boys and young men not virgin girls as previously believed, archeologists said on Tuesday.

The Maya built soaring temples and elaborate palaces in the jungles of Central America and southern Mexico before the Spanish conquest in the early 1500s.

Maya priests in the city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula sacrificed children to petition the gods for rain and fertile fields by throwing them into sacred sinkhole caves, known as "cenotes."

The caves served as a source of water for the Mayans and were also thought to be an entrance to the underworld.

Archeologist Guillermo de Anda from the University of Yucatan pieced together the bones of 127 bodies discovered at the bottom of one of Chichen Itza's sacred caves and found over 80 percent were likely boys between the ages of 3 and 11.

The other 20 percent were mostly adult men said de Anda, who scuba dives to uncover Mayan jewels and bones.

He said children were often thrown alive to their watery graves to please the Mayan rain god Chaac. Some of the children were ritually skinned or dismembered before being offered to the gods, he said.

"It was thought that the gods preferred small things and especially the rain god had four helpers that were represented as tiny people," said de Anda.

"So the children were offered as a way to directly communicate with Chaac," he said.

Archeologists previously believed young female virgins were sacrificed because the remains, which span from around 850 AD until the Spanish colonization, were often found adorned with jade jewelry.

It is difficult to determine the s.e.x of skeletons before they are fully matured, said de Anda, but he believes cultural evidence from Mayan mythology would suggest the young victims were actually male.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

U.S. official says drug aid package to Mexico won't be tied to extraditions

ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 24, 2008

MEXICO CITY – A $1.4 billion anti-drug aid package will not be contingent on Mexico's performance in extraditing suspects, but will likely increase cooperation and extraditions, a top State Department official said Thursday.
David T. Johnson, who heads the department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, clarified statements he made a day earlier during a visit to Mexico that indicated the aid package might be tied to the number of crime suspects sent across the border to the U.S.

"If these programs are funded and implemented, we would expect that investigations could be improved, that our joint work together would be more effective, that successful investigations would likely result in successful prosecutions, and some of those prosecutions would likely take place in the United States, and therefore extraditions might come as a consequence of that," he said. "But they are not a goal of that."
He said both Mexico and the U.S. would determine how to judge whether the aid was being used effectively.

"We want to engage and try to come to some sort of common view as to how we score ourselves," he said.

Bush has asked Congress to approve $550 million of the package, but lawmakers have not yet taken action. The money would be used to help Mexico in its nationwide battle against drug trafficking and increasing violence.

Extradition has historically been a sensitive question in Mexico. For decades, the country sent few people home to face justice, and has only recently begun to extradite those who face life imprisonment. Mexico still refuses to extradite anyone who could receive the death penalty.

The Paputchi family (Contributed photo)

When your life is in order, but your papers are not

By Jerry Goldberg
Pike County Courier
January 24, 2008

BLOOMING GROVE "” With federal immigration detainees in the population, a lot of people from other places are housed at the Pike County Jail; some of whom you might not expect to find there.

After 16 years in the U.S. with her husband and giving birth to two American born children, Rukie Paputchi is liable to be deported in the next few weeks to a country where she was persecuted as a Turkish Muslim - her native Bulgaria.

According to their attorney, Theodore Murphy, the trauma the Paputchi family faces now began on Jan. 7 when agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement knocked on their door and asked for Rukie. They told her they had a warrant to deport her back to Bulgaria. Rukie was arrested and is currently imprisoned at the Pike County Correctional Facility.

Her husband, Zack Paputchi, came to the U.S. in 1990 on a visa. Before the visa expired, he applied for political asylum, in November of that same year. He claimed he was suffering religious persecution under Bulgaria's communist regime. Zack's application sat on a shelf until August 1995 when, upon referring it to an immigration judge, an INS officer wrote, "If the application had been reviewed when it was filed, it would have been approved."

In 1996, Zack's application for asylum was denied. He filed his appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, where it has remained for the last 11 years.

Rukie legally joined her husband in the U.S. in 1992, and filed for political asylum in 1993. Her asylum case was approved in 1997 and later appealed by the government. The agency said political conditions in Bulgaria between 1990 and 1997 changed, and the Turks now have their own political party who support the governing coalition. As of 1991 they are 9.4 percent of the population.

When her appeal was denied in 2003, she was ordered to leave the country voluntarily. She didn't. Even after the order to leave the U.S., she remained hopeful that something good would come of it all. Although neither Zack nor Rukie had been granted permanent residency, they felt confident. After years of anticipation they thought it would just be a "waiting game" and their time would come.

Together they have lived as good "American" citizens, paying taxes, obeying the laws of the country, paying for their own health and life insurance, raising their two children just like other good citizens, and worked hard to build their pizza business, The Old Mill Pizzeria, in Scotia.

Their first child, Hasim, was born in 1993 and their second child, Elise, was born in 2003. Their children are American citizens as they were born in this country.

Now Zack faces the prospect of Rukie being deported and having to raise their children by himself. In an interview earlier this week Hasim, now 14, said, "I want my mom to get out, come home and have our family back again."

"We just want to get back together and have a life here. We want to be regular Americans," Zack said to the Courier.

Attorney Murphy reiterated the point made by the reviewing INS officer in 1995. "If his case had been adjudicated when he first applied he would have succeeded. Instead his papers remain sitting on a shelf for many years and has still not been resolved."

He added, "Mr. Paputchi is still eligible to file for permanent residency under the 1997 act called the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act which allowed Central Americans and Eastern Europeans to become U.S. citizens. "If Mrs. Paputchi's case were allowed to be joined with her husband's case under the same act she would also be eligible for permanent residency," said Murphy.

Murphy has filed an Emergency Motion to Stay Deportation with the Bureau of Immigration Appeals.

In Rukie's 2003 petition, the Bureau of Immigration Appeals found, "... the petitioner has not established that she was eligible for asylum or withholding deportation," and found, "... no basis for granting the petition. We agree with the Board of Immigration Appeals that past treatment alleged by the petitioner, although deplorable, does not rise to the high level required to constitute persecution."

Murphy also deplores the situation. He spoke of his own life experiences.

"I spent four years in the Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and Rapid Deployment Force to protect our people and our way of life. I spent another 10 years as a federal trial attorney working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force deporting hardened criminals and other nefarious people in order to keep our streets and citizens safe. Rukie and her husband, Zack, are exactly the same as all the other good people I have spent my life protecting. They exemplify the American spirit. Their hard work, determination to make a better life for their children, and their lifelong desire to be free are what makes this country the beacon of hope and dreams it still is. Rukie is not a person to callously throw away. The failure of our taxpayer-funded government officials to do their duty in a timely manner should not be overlooked. Rukie is eligible to become a permanent resident if only the court would allow her to stay.

"If she doesn't win this appeal, it seems that Mrs. Paputchi will be deported back to Bulgaria in two to three weeks," Murphy said with apparent sorrow in his voice.

"If you have a sympathetic heart and actually knew the Paputchis, you would understand that they are good ˜Americans.' They are not in the same class as the millions of illegal aliens that are in our country who don't pay taxes and live off the system."

What you can do

The fate of Rukie Paputchi and her family is in the hands of the legal system, attorney Murphy said. "They need your help. If you believe in the ˜American Dream' and that those who work hard and follow the rules should prevail, this is your chance to show your support for this family before Rukie is deported to Bulgaria."

Murphy asked that readers write or call their state senators, congressmen, and local representatives and ask them to help the Paputchis. Individuals can also send letters of support to him at: Theodore J. Murphy, Esq. at Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP, 1800 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 1700, Philadelphia, PA 19103 . "I will see they are properly filed with the Appeals Court which will officially make them part of Mrs. Paputchi's file," he said.

Branford man convicted in immigration scam

New Haven Register
January 25, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A judge has ordered a Branford man who posed as a lawyer to swindle immigrants to pay back $300,000 or face additional prison time.

Ralph Cucciniello, 56, pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine in New Haven Superior Court on Thursday to several counts of larceny, once count of racketeering and three counts of impersonating an attorney.

That means he doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.

Prosecutors said Cucciniello, who has a history of convictions for similar schemes, took about $560,000 from about 60 immigrants in Boston, New York and Greater New Haven. Most were Irish, but others came from Ecuador, Eastern Europe, Italy and Britain.

He has been held in lieu of $3.5 million bond since June 2007.

Judge Richard Damiani said he would consider sentencing Cucciniello to 20 years in prison, suspended after 12, if he pays back the $300,000 to his victims. Otherwise, Damiani said the sentence will be 30 years in prison, suspended after 20.

"It's an all or nothing situation," Damiani said. "The bottom line is, we are going to have restitution."

Cucciniello, who claimed to be a lawyer at a Yale Law School immigration clinic, charged immigrants $5,000 each to file papers that he said would lead to a green card. But Assistant State's Attorney John Waddock said Cucciniello was not an attorney and there was no such clinic.

Cucciniello, an unpaid research assistant for a law professor, had access to the law school and a Yale e-mail account.

Prosecutors said one person turned over an inheritance of $100,000 so Cucciniello could invest it in a mutual fund, while a second victim gave him $40,000. Both victims' accounts were drained.

Olwyn Triggs, a New York investigator who got involved in the case when Cucciniello was arrested there in May 2007 for the same scheme, was pleased with the guilty plea.

"It was one of the cruelest schemes I have ever seen, because of what he told the people and how he got into their personal lives and got into their hearts," Triggs said.

Broken families

Tough enforcement of immigration law has the painful side effect of deporting parents of U.S.-born kids

By Kelly Brewington
Sun reporter
January 26, 2008

After years of struggle, Adela had finally found stability. With a renewed religious faith, her once-rocky marriage to Rigoberto had become strong.

Most of all, they had reason to celebrate: their infant Moises, by virtue of being born in the United States, possessed American citizenship, a privilege unattainable to the Honduran couple because they had entered the country illegally.

But chaos struck during a trip to Toys "R" Us on a frigid day last February. Police pulled over the Baltimore County family's truck for a traffic violation. Her husband was handcuffed. A month later, he was deported. Adela and her sons never saw him again.

"It is hard, but I stay here for my children," said Adela, 32, who declined to give her last name for fear of being deported. "But I'm scared."

Moises is among the nation's 3.4 million children living a precarious family dynamic - American citizens with at least one parent who is an undocumented immigrant. They account for about two-thirds of the 5 million children in illegal immigrant families, according to 2006 figures from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Known as "mixed-status" families, they present the toughest of challenges for politicians, policymakers and activists battling over immigration reform.

Some foes of illegal immigration call children like Moises "anchor babies," their births calculated by parents seeking the benefits for their children that the U.S. offers. Advocates for immigrants point to such families as case studies in the nation's broken immigration system, a structure so flawed that even U.S.-born children suffer.

Political pressure on federal immigration and customs officials to toughen enforcement has resulted in a surge in workplace raids and arrests. Advocates warn that a swelling number of immigrant families will be thrown into chaos and, ultimately, separated by borders.

Immigrant advocates say tales of deported parents seeking to reunite with their families are increasingly common.

"It really speaks to the lengths that families will go through to be together," said Miriam Calderon, associate director of the policy analysis center of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy organization.

Families left behind face numerous hardships, said Calderon, whose organization commissioned a report with the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington to study deportation's effect on children. The study, released in October, interviewed families in three communities where immigration officials had arrested hundreds in workplace raids over one year.

Communities panicked, families lost their breadwinners and children were stigmatized at school, researchers found.

"These were big shows of force," said Randy Capps, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. "They didn't just stop with the big raid at the plant, but these smaller raids continued and sort of kept the families living in fear. ... In the most extreme cases, people basically hid in their homes for weeks."

Although Rigoberto was not snagged in a raid, Adela faced challenges because the family bills and the lease on their house were all in her husband's name. A shaken Adela found herself raising a fussy infant and a rebellious teenager on her own. Worse, she worried that authorities would take her next.

Immigration and customs officials deported 237,255 people in 2007, up from 204,980 in 2006. While the agency targets immigrants who have committed crimes, it has pushed to reduce a huge case backlog and conduct more workplace sweeps.

The strategies have heightened the sense of vulnerability among immigrants, both legal and illegal. A little more than half of all Latino adults worry that a family member or close friend could be deported, according to a survey released recently by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Church leaders, educators and immigrant advocates have complained of immigration officers' tactics, including the detention of breastfeeding mothers after raids. Immigration officials responded by broadening the use of ankle bracelets for women who would otherwise be detained during the deportation process. Still, others argue that undocumented immigrants must be sent back to their country of origin, regardless of the circumstances.

"There is no good solution; this is what happens when you ignore immigration law. You end up creating these dilemmas," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that supports tighter controls on immigration. "That said, the activist groups' solution - letting the illegal parents stay - isn't much of a solution at all. It tells the illegal immigrant, once they have a kid they get a free pass."

The solution, Krikorian said, must be comprehensive: strengthening immigration laws, cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers, forbidding immigrants from gaining driver's licenses and "making it as difficult as possible to be an illegal alien."

"The goal is to create a new environment so that businesses and illegal immigrants expect that the party is over and start changing their behaviors," Krikorian said.

But for Miguel Diaz, whose wife, Fidelia, was deported to El Salvador last year, life is complex.

At 5 a.m. one day last January, gun-wielding immigration officers arrested Fidelia at the couple's Windsor Mills home, startling their two U.S.-born children, Edwin, 13, and Cynthia, 8.

"My children were crying. I could see on the officers' faces - they knew it was wrong," Diaz said. "It is anti-human. I said, 'You are dividing my family, why are you doing this?'"

Diaz, 42, a labor union organizer originally from El Salvador, is a legal permanent resident. But Fidelia was not. Diaz said her application for political asylum had been rejected years ago, but she defied orders to leave, marrying Diaz and having two children. Diaz later applied for his wife to become a legal resident, hoping to "fix the situation."

"You don't know the feeling when you are afraid all the time. You can't travel, you are afraid that someone will stop you at any time," he said. "We wanted to straighten things out, no matter what."

Now, Diaz has reapplied for Fidelia, a process that could take 10 years.

"Every day they ask, 'When is Mommy coming back?' It's a mess," Diaz said. "A family is a mother and a father and the little ones. I don't understand my life without her."

Diaz's cousin and her children have moved in with him, and together they split household duties. But it has been difficult.

"Christmas was so hard for us," he said.

Taking the family to El Salvador, a country rife with corruption and poverty, is not an option, Diaz said. Yet, his children miss their mother.

"My question is," said Diaz, "does the punishment fit the crime?"

Another family is dealing with a more tragic outcome.

Adela, the Baltimore County mother, recalled that after her husband was sent back to Honduras, she vowed to pack up the couple's home and return to their native country with Moises and son Jeffrey, 15.

But Rigoberto reasoned that the children deserved a better life away from the grinding poverty the couple had known in Central America.

On May 29, Rigoberto called from Honduras to tell his wife he would set out the next day on the perilous journey through the Mexican desert to return to his family. They prayed together and exchanged I-love-you's.

It was last time Adela heard from her husband.

On Dec. 19, the day before Moises' first birthday, Adela received a call from the Honduran consulate in Houston. Rigoberto had been found on a Texas ranch, dead from dehydration, his Bible in hand. An official asked Adela if she would like the body sent back to Honduras. It would cost $3,800.

"I was crying and crying," said Adela in Spanish. "I believed that God would not allow this to happen. But I leave it in his hands, so he can tell me what to do now."

kelly.brewington@baltsun.com

Study questions how many U.S. citizens get ensnared in wrongful deportation

Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers
January 26, 2008

FLORENCE, Ariz. "” Thomas Warziniack was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia, but immigration authorities pronounced him an illegal immigrant from Russia.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held Warziniack for weeks in an Arizona detention facility with the aim of deporting him to a country he's never seen. His jailers shrugged off Warziniack's claims that he was a U.S. citizen, even though they could have retrieved his Minnesota birth certificate in minutes and even though a Colorado court had concluded that he was a U.S. citizen a year before it shipped him to Arizona.

On Thursday, Warziniack finally became a free man. Immigration officials released him after his family, who learned about his predicament from McClatchy, produced a birth certificate and after a U.S. senator demanded his release.

"The immigration agents told me they never make mistakes," Warziniack said in an earlier phone interview from jail. "All I know is that somebody dropped the ball."

The story of how immigration officials decided that a small-town drifter with a Southern accent was an illegal Russian immigrant illustrates how the federal government mistakenly detains and sometimes deports American citizens.

U.S. citizens who are mistakenly jailed by immigration authorities can get caught up in a nightmarish bureaucratic tangle in which they're simply not believed.

By the numbers

A study by the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York nonprofit organization, in 2006 identified 125 people in immigration detention centers across the nation who immigration lawyers believed had valid U.S. citizenship claims. Vera initially focused on six facilities where most of the cases surfaced. The organization broadened its analysis to 12 sites and plans to track the outcome of all cases involving citizens.

Nina Siulc, the lead researcher, said she thinks that many more U.S. citizens probably are being erroneously detained or deported every year because her assessment looked at only a small number of those in custody. Each year, about 280,000 people are held on immigration violations at 15 federal detention centers and more than 400 state and local contract facilities nationwide.
Officials with ICE, the federal agency that oversees deportations, maintain that such cases are isolated because agents are required to obtain sufficient evidence that someone is an illegal immigrant before making an arrest. However, they don't track the number of U.S. citizens who are detained or deported.

"We don't want to detain or deport U.S. citizens," said Ernestine Fobbs, an ICE spokeswoman. "It's just not something we do."

While immigration advocates agree that the agents generally release detainees before deportation in clear-cut cases, they said that ICE sometimes ignores valid assertions of citizenship in the rush to ship out more illegal immigrants.

Proving citizenship is especially difficult for the poor, mentally ill, disabled or anyone who has trouble getting a copy of his or her birth certificate while behind bars.

Pedro Guzman, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen who was born in Los Angeles, was serving a 120-day sentence for trespassing last year when he was shipped off to Mexico. Guzman was found three months later trying to return home. Although federal government attorneys have acknowledged that Guzman was a citizen, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said Thursday that her agency still questions the validity of his birth certificate.

Last March, ICE agents in San Francisco detained Kebin Reyes, a 6-year-old boy who was born in the United States, for 10 hours after his father was picked up in a sweep. His father says he wasn't permitted to call relatives who could care for his son, although ICE denies turning down the request.

Chances for mistakes

The number of U.S. citizens who are swept up in the immigration system is a small fraction of the number of illegal immigrants who are deported, but in the last several years immigration lawyers report seeing more detainees who turn out to be U.S. citizens. The attorneys said the chances of mistakes are growing as immigration agents step up sweeps in the country and state and local prisons with less experience in immigration matters screen more criminals on behalf of ICE.

Okla. Immigration Law Blamed for Death

Associated Press – 19 hours ago
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, Okla. (AP) "” Edgar Castorena had diarrhea for 10 days and counting, and the illegal immigrant parents of the 2-month-old didn't know what to do about it.

They were afraid they would be deported under a new Oklahoma law if they took him to a major hospital. By the time they took him to a clinic, it was too late.

A ruptured intestine that might have been treatable instead killed the U.S.-born infant, making him a poster child for opponents of House Bill 1804 months before it was enacted as the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007.

"The sad part of it was the child didn't have to die if House Bill 1804 didn't ever come around," said Laurie Paul, who runs the clinic where Edgar was finally taken. "It was a total tragedy because the bill was there to create the myths and untruths and the fear."

The law, billed by its backers as the nation's toughest legislation against illegal immigration, took effect Nov. 1. It bars illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs or state assistance and makes it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants.

A final portion of the law goes into effect July 1, requiring private companies to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires.

While it's difficult to characterize which state has the toughest immigration-related law, Oklahoma's goes beyond most because it includes the clause about harboring and transporting illegal immigrants, said Ann Morse, program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures' Immigrant Policy Project.

"What I think these laws may have are unintended consequences on the general public," Morse said recently. "How does the law get implemented? Who is the target?"

The crackdown has caused thousands of Hispanics to flee for neighboring states, with as many as 25,000 leaving northeastern Oklahoma alone, according to the Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The law's fallout also can be seen in the struggling businesses, worker shortages and widespread fear among immigrants who say they are afraid to drive to church or the market because police might pick them up.

"I feel like I'm in some kind of Nazi country where if they see your color, you'll be stopped," said Maria Sanchez, a 22-year-old student who is looking to leave Oklahoma rather than risk waiting the seven years it will take to get her papers. "I can't work, I can't study, I can't go out, there's no point of me staying here."

Civil rights leaders call the law xenophobic and redundant, and say other states will wrongly look to Oklahoma to push their own anti-illegal immigrant legislation. Business and church leaders also have been vocal opponents.

"Oklahoma was settled by immigrants ... which means that diverse is normal in Oklahoma," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. "It's difficult for us to understand a state which is so Christian, that to have all this animosity toward immigrants is completely outrageous."

Supporters "” described by Dan Howard, the founder of an anti-illegal immigration Web site, as "good, American, God-fearing people of the heartland that bleed red, white and blue" "” say the law is necessary because of Washington's bungled immigration policy. They also believe the law has helped deter crime and punishes the companies that make money on the backs of illegal labor.

The bill's Republican author, state Rep. Randy Terrill, said similar versions have been introduced or are under consideration in more than a dozen states. Last year, more than 1,500 pieces of immigration-related legislation were introduced across the country, with 244 becoming law in 46 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"More than half the nation will soon be modeling Oklahoma's bill," said Terrill, who plans to introduce a companion piece this year that would make English the state's official language, order schools to report how many illegal children are enrolled and require people or businesses who transport, hire or rent to illegal immigrants to forfeit property.

Terrill said there's no correlation between his bill and Edgar's death, noting that the child died in July, months before the law took effect, and that the law provides an exception for emergency medical care.

"To the extent that these illegal alien parents deprived their own child needed and necessary medical care because of their ignorance of the law, then they should be in prison, frankly," Terrill said.

Edgar's parents are believed to have gone underground following the boy's death, returning either to Mexico or going to stay with family in Arkansas, according to interviews with people in Tulsa's Latino community.

Far from the halls of the state Capitol, fear leads illegal immigrants to develop elaborate emergency plans for their children in case the youngsters should find their parents missing.

Irene Maldonado, 24, has been designated as the one to call in case her sister-in-law gets deported. Meanwhile, she worries if her husband, Jose, will come home on weekends from the construction jobs he works throughout the state.

She has legal residency, he doesn't.

"I don't know if he has less fear, or he's trying to be the macho guy," she said.

Illegal immigrant Maria Saldivar, 44, searches for what little factory work she can to support her three children. Past employers now ask for papers.

"Every time I look for a job, it's always the same thing," Saldivar said in Spanish through a translator. "There was more work for me to do before."

Even workers with proper paperwork are leaving for jobs in neighboring states rather than split up their families.

"My guy who runs my framing crew, he had 70 workers, and as of Nov. 1, he lost 35 of them," said Caleb McCaleb, who runs a homebuilding company in Edmond. "My painter has lost 30 percent of his work force, my landscaper has lost 25 percent of his work force."

Some in Terrill's own party doubt the wisdom of his legislation.

"We've removed not only those here illegally and working, but those who are here legally," said state Sen. Harry Coates, a Republican who voted against 1804 and wants to repeal portions of the bill. "I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I understand economics."

Vicente Ruiz, a 47-year-old legal immigrant who runs his own electrical contracting business, put it more bluntly: "It's all about making money, and if everybody moves away, the whole state is going to suffer."

Should Mexico Get More Green Cards?

By EUNICE MOSCOSO
Cox News Service
Thursday, January 17, 2008

WASHINGTON "” In 2006, the United States issued about 2,500 permanent immigrant visas for low-skilled workers. Mexico got 418.

Meanwhile, millions of Mexicans are working without permission in farming, construction, landscaping and other industries throughout the United States.

Some experts say that greatly increasing permanent residency visas, or "green cards," to Mexico would help relieve some of the nation's illegal immigration problem. Mexico has the same cap as every other country for certain green card categories, including employment-based visas, at about 25,000.

Douglas Massey, a sociology professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, thinks it is "pitiful" that Mexico "” a country of 108 million people that shares a 2,000-mile border with the United States "” has the same cap as Botswana, a country of 1.8 million people in southern Africa.

He contends that Mexico should get special consideration as the number two trading partner of the United States, a fellow member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and neighboring country. NAFTA did include one temporary visa program for professional workers.

"Somehow you want to create this integrated North American economy and there's going to be all this stuff moving back and forth across the borders, but no people, " he said. "It just doesn't work. It goes against history, it goes against logic and it goes against contemporary economic realities."

Massey thinks the number of immigrant visas for Mexico should be hiked to 100,000 and that the United States should start a temporary worker program with Canada and Mexico to bring in another 300,000 annually "” on two-year visas.

There is precedent in the United States to focus on specific countries with immigration agreements. For example, Cubans who land on U.S. soil are given immediate political asylum. In addition, the United States and Mexico operated a large temporary worker program between World War II and 1964, where millions of Mexicans called "braceros" were imported to fill labor shortages. The program, however, was plagued by worker abuses.

Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, said that current U.S. immigration policy is outdated and a "mis-match" with economic reality. Meissner is a former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was divided up into various agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

Meissner said that revisiting the visa rules would reduce illegal immigration.

"We've got to make changes. The longer that we don't, the more we will have an outraged public and less and less political ability to make sensible changes," she said. "Illegal immigration is by and large a response to labor market needs."

Meissner said, however, that the 25,000 per-country limit on all nations was designed to promote equity between countries after a long history of discriminating against certain nationalities. It will be difficult to change.

Other countries, such as the Philippines or Ireland, could claim that they have a long historic relationship with the United States and should get special treatment as well, she said.

Meanwhile, Mexicans are the largest group of illegal immigrants in the United States. About 6.5 million Mexicans lived illegally in the country in 2006, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The 25,000 visa limit does not include certain categories of family-sponsored immigration, including spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, which is the way that thousands of immigrants obtain permanent residency each year. In 2006, 1.2 million immigrants obtained a green card to live permanently in the United States. Of those, 63 percent were family-sponsored, according to the Office of Immigration Statistics at the Department of Homeland Security. Many of the immigrants who obtained green cards were already in the United States under temporary visas, refugee status, or other permits. Mexicans received 173,000 green cards last year, mostly for family members of U.S. citizens, according to the Office of Immigration Statistics.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates stronger immigration controls, said that raising the cap on certain categories of green cards for Mexicans would only boost immigration levels that are already too high.

"There would be more spouses or minor children or parents who would come in," he said.

He said changing the cap would also anger many other countries and groups that represent various nationalities of immigrants.

"It's politically impossible," Krikorian said.

Massey agreed that substantially increasing Mexican visas would be difficult, but the chances could improve if a Democrat wins the White House.

The leading Democratic presidential candidates have all said that they support an immigration overhaul that includes a temporary worker program and a path to citizenship for current illegal immigrants. Republican candidates, with the exception of Arizona Sen. John McCain, have taken a harder line on the issue, focusing on enforcement efforts and denouncing legalization plans as "amnesty."

McCain supports a plan for current illegal immigrants to have a path to citizenship, but says enforcement must come first.


On the Web:

Migration Policy Institute: www.migrationpolicy.org

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov

Angela Vega, right, gives Marvin Guevara Galo a hand as he applies for one of the new New Haven identification cards at City Hall in New Haven, Conn., in this July 24, 2007, file photo. Federal authorities informed the nation's top immigration official last summer about New Haven's identification card program for illegal immigrants a day before conducting a raid that critics claim was retaliatory, according to an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

Critics: Immigration Raid Retaliatory

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN – 1 day ago
Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) "” An e-mail sent by local immigration officials to their agency head the day after the city adopted an ID program for illegal immigrants suggests that the timing of a raid soon thereafter was not coincidental, the city's mayor said.

Regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers told agency Director Julie Myers in a June 5 e-mail that New Haven's Board of Aldermen had voted 25-1 the previous night to make the city the nation's first to offer illegal immigrants ID cards. City officials said the cards would help immigrants better integrate into mainstream culture by allowing them access to bank accounts and other services.

On June 6, ICE agents swept through the city and detained an estimated 30 illegal immigrants. Critics contend that the raid was retaliation for the city's adoption of the ID program "” a charge the agency has steadfastly denied.

In the e-mail to Myers, obtained by The Associated Press through a federal Freedom of Information Act request, agents wrote that because of the recent vote, the raid would likely draw significant news coverage.

"They self-evidently were following what was happening in New Haven," Mayor John DeStefano said. "And at some level it had to have been a factor in their thinking to proceed with the raid. Otherwise why else would they have noted it?"

Yale law professor Michael Wishnie, who is representing those detained free of charge, said that while the e-mail to Myers doesn't prove retaliation, "it does suggest an awareness that doing the raid on June 6 would likely draw attention and they wanted to be prepared to respond to that expected attention. It certainly casts doubt on the statements that the raid had nothing to do with the ID program."

ICE officials have denied accusations that the raid was retaliatory, saying the raid was planned months in advance and that its timing was coincidental. Planning for the raid began in April, and it was initially to have been conducted in May, but records included with the e-mail show the date was pushed back until June for logistical reasons.

"This is something we typically do is to pass on information," said Paula Grenier, an agency spokeswoman.

But DeStefano pointed out that debate over the ID program also lasted months.

Flor Crisostomo (left), and Elvira Arellano hold hands during a prayer before heading for Washington D.C. to lobby in May 15, 2006. (Tribune file photo by Abel Uribe / May 15, 2006)

Church where illegal immigrant took sanctuary for a year to host another woman

By SOPHIA TAREEN | Associated Press Writer
7:55 AM CST, January 27, 2008

CHICAGO - Leaders of a Chicago church where an illegal immigrant from Mexico took sanctuary for a year before being deported say they plan to house another immigration activist who is set on defying a deportation order.

Flor Crisostomo, 28, an illegal immigrant who came to the U.S. in 2001, was slated to report to federal immigration officials on Monday, but the head of Adalberto United Methodist Church said she will seek refuge at the church in the same way as immigration activist Elvira Arellano, who was deported to Mexico last August.

"She wanted to continue the struggle," the Rev. Walter Coleman said of Crisostomo. "That's what the church is for, to provide space where the truth can be told. She brings out the truth of the situation in a different way than Elvira did."

Crisostomo's attorney, Chris Bergin, planned to submit a letter to immigration officials Monday, outlining his client's decision to stay in the United States illegally.

Crisostomo, who declined requests to speak with reporters until Monday, immigrated without papers to Chicago from Oaxaca in Mexico seven years ago. She took a job with IFCO Systems, a manufacturer of crates and pallets, and was arrested during raids on company sites nationwide in 2006.

Her three children, two boys and a girl, live in Mexico with their maternal grandmother; Crisostomo is unmarried.

"I am taking a stand of civil disobedience ..." she said in prepared remarks to be read Monday, which were sent to The Associated Press. "I believe with all my heart that the United States and Mexico must end the system of undocumented labor."

Crisostomo, who has been an immigration activist in the Chicago area and fasted with Arellano in protest of immigration policies, said she could not support her family if she returned to Mexico.

Immigration activists such as Coleman claim that by living at the church -- apart from her three children -- Crisostomo brings attention to how they believe immigration policies in the U.S. need attention.

Activists from the church and the Chicago immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras claim that economic situations have deteriorated in Mexico because of NAFTA and other U.S. policies, creating dire situations that cause illegal immigration.

"The current policies are driving people further and further underground," Coleman said. "That's the reason she came in the first place. She's saying that you need to fix the system here."

Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago, declined to comment on Crisostomo's specific case.

"ICE officers are sworn to enforce the nation's immigration laws and will do so at appropriate times and places," she said.

Adalberto United Methodist Church, located in the heavily Latino Humboldt Park neighborhood, was home to immigration activist Elvira Arellano, and her U.S. citizen son, Saul, for one year. Arellano left the church last August and was arrested in Los Angeles after giving a speech and deported to Mexico shortly thereafter.

Arellano was initially arrested in 1997 after crossing the border into the United States. She was sent back to Mexico but soon returned. She was arrested again years later and convicted of working as a cleaning woman at O'Hare International Airport under a false Social Security number.

She took refuge at the church in 2006, claiming that if she was deported, her son would also be effectively deported and deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen. She said her situation illustrated the plight of millions of illegal immigrants.


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Immigrant-rights group reaches out to blacks

BY DAVE MARCUS | dave.marcus@newsday.com
7:09 PM EST, January 27, 2008

Long Island immigrant-rights groups are taking their cause to a place that has sometimes been unwelcome territory: African-American churches and neighborhoods.

The effort, called the "Truth About Immigration Campaign," will enlist African-American pastors and activists to argue that immigrants across the state are being scapegoated for problems such as crime, stagnant wages and a shortage of affordable housing.

Launching tomorrow, the campaign will target many others in addition to African-Americans. Priests, rabbis and other prominent community members also will use a PowerPoint presentation to urge New Yorkers to work together to solve problems. In turn, those leaders hope to train scores of other presenters -- from members of veterans' associations to bridge clubs.

Among other things, the campaign will connect two groups that are sometimes wary of each other, African-Americans and Hispanic immigrants.

"When we cast everybody into the same pot and call them names, often we are marginalizing immigrants who have been here for a long time, working and serving our communities," said one of the participants, the Rev. Marvin Dozier, pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Mattituck. "Immigrants who came in recently -- even illegally or without papers -- also are working hard taking care of their families."

Groups that feel besieged by newcomers often become resentful, said another participant, Grace Blake, president of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. "The truth is that what whites did when blacks came in to neighborhoods years ago, blacks are now doing to Latinos."

Organizers say that a partnership between blacks and Hispanics can calm tensions that have increased between the two groups as the population of immigrants from Central and South America has surged in the past decade. Hispanics have become the area's largest minority group.

Luis Valenzuela, executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, said that immigrants and blacks sometimes vie for the same affordable housing.

"I think people have legitimate concerns," he said. "We all acknowledge there is a housing crisis here, and immigration serves as a distraction from looking at the real issues and practical solutions."

Worries about a tightening job market add to the unease, said Michael Zweig, director of Stony Brook University's Center for Study of Working Class Life, who is not involved in the campaign. "There is a tension between the newcomers and all native-born Americans, whether they're white or black," he said.

The campaign is being run by the New York Immigration Coalition, with the help of the American Jewish Committee, the Long Island Organizing Network and others. "We're forming a broad coalition because working together is the best defense against bigotry," said Caroline Levy, director of AJC's Long Island chapter.

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IMMIGRATION FILM TAKES HOME TOP SUNDANCE PRIZE

Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
2008-01-28 00:11:50 -

Controversial immigration movie FROZEN RIVER has won the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

The movie, which was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Courtney Hunt and is about smuggling immigrants into the U.S., took home the Utah event's grand jury award for Best Dramatic Film on Saturday (26Jan08).

Jury member Quentin Tarantino described Frozen River as "one of the most exciting thrillers I am going to see this year".

Elsewhere, the Hurricane Katrina-themed Trouble The Water won the grand jury prize for Best U.S. Documentary, while the audience award for

Best Drama went to Jonathan Levine's The Wackness.

The audience prize for Best U.S. Documentary was awarded to environmental movie Fields Of Fuel, and Best Director was picked up by Lance Hammer for Ballast.

Sundance Honors Immigration Drama

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 28, 2008

"Frozen River," a first feature about a struggling single mother in upstate New York who joins a Mohawk widow in smuggling Chinese migrants from Canada into the United States, won the grand jury prize for best American drama on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, The Associated Press reported.

Quentin Tarantino, one of the jurors, described the film, starring Melissa Leo, above right, and Misty Upham, above left, as "a wonderful depiction of poverty in America." Trade papers reported that Sony Pictures Classics had bought the film, adapted by Courtney Hunt from her 2004 short of the same title, for under $1 million.

"Trouble in the Water," a film by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal about a New Orleans couple's survival through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, won the grand jury award in the American documentary category. The audience award for favorite American drama was won by "The Wackness," starring Ben Kingsley as a psychiatrist who trades therapy for marijuana.

Sacramento landscape company owner Kimberly Rhodes, right, with workers Eugunio Mendoza, left, and Daryl Goddard at a project in the Pocket area on Thursday, disagrees with a plan that would force U.S. employers to fire suspected illegal immigrants based on Social Security data discrepancies.
Randall Benton / rbenton@sacbee.com

Odd allies oppose 'no-match' plan

Use of Social Security data to fire suspected illegal immigrants fought by business-labor group.

By Susan Ferriss - sferriss@sacbee.com
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

Kimberly Rhodes is a Sacramento landscaper who usually votes Republican, and Sharon Cornu is a Democrat and prominent Bay Area labor organizer.

They're partners in an unusual alliance, trying to kill a Bush administration plan that would use Social Security data to force U.S. employers to fire suspected illegal immigrants.

Federal judges in San Francisco sided last fall with the labor-business alliance, temporarily freezing the plan by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for immigration enforcement. By March, Homeland Security intends to unveil a second version of the plan that it hopes will pass legal muster. The idea is to pressure employers to fire any workers who can't explain discrepancies between their names and Social Security numbers.

Seventy percent of Social Security discrepancies involve U.S. citizens and stem from database errors – one reason the plan should not be considered a solution to tracking down illegal immigrants, Rhodes, Cornu and the federal judges agreed.

"I've never been so disappointed in my government before in my life," said Rhodes, who runs Rhodes Landscape Design Inc. Because so many false documents look authentic, she feels that business people can't be sure they haven't hired an illegal immigrant. She disagrees with calls to resolve the problem now with "enforcement only" measures.

If Homeland Security's "no-match" plan goes forward and mass numbers of employees are fired, Rhodes predicts mass closures of small businesses in California.

"This isn't just me. It's the California economy," Rhodes said. "We already could be in a recession."

She's waiting anxiously to see what the government proposes next. Homeland Security isn't revealing what might be different about its second plan. The agency has filed an appeal with 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, hoping to convince that court its original plan was legally sound.

In the meantime, Rhodes said, she's searching for a presidential candidate she feels will tackle illegal immigration without pushing to eject all undocumented workers.

Cornu is the secretary-treasurer of the Alameda County Central Labor Council, which joined the American Civil Liberties Union, the AFL-CIO and six other national and Bay Area unions to file the lawsuit last year against Homeland Security's plan.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce later joined the suit along with trade groups representing roofers, farmers, restaurateurs and landscapers, including the Sacramento-based California Landscape Contractors Association. Rhodes serves on that group's immigration task force.

In anticipation that Homeland Security's plan might eventually go through, Cornu said the Central Labor Council began training its leaders this month on workers' rights and immigration law.

"We didn't have to explain to our members much why we were taking on the Bush administration," Cornu said.

Like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cornu's federation favors offering an avenue to legal residency for undocumented workers who already are here.

Unions also oppose Homeland Security's plan because they believe employers may dismiss legal workers out of panic – or fire immigrant workers who are not compliant, Cornu said.

Businesses, she said, have used immigration rules before to exploit immigrant workers. She said the owner of an Alameda hotel last year requested an audit of its own employee records during a drive to increase wages. Immigration officials detained some workers involved in the campaign.

Since 1994, the Social Security Administration, as a courtesy, has advised employers of discrepancies between employees' names and Social Security numbers by periodically mailing out so-called "no-match" letters.

Social Security tells employers they should not fire these workers.

Rhodes said she has filled out and returned the required paperwork when she has received the advisories.

"I never heard another word from them," she said. Business went on, employees kept working.

Homeland Security now wants to convert "no-match" letters into an indirect immigration enforcement tool by attaching its own instructions to employers, warning them that they could face prosecution if they don't dismiss workers who can't explain a discrepancy within 90 days. So far, Congress has refused to grant Homeland Security's request for access to lists of employers who receive confidential "no-match" letters. The prohibition would limit the agency's ability to follow through on threats to prosecute employers.

The Social Security Administration is waiting, meanwhile, to mail out an estimated 140,000 "no-match" letters affecting an estimated 8 million employees.

Last summer, when he announced the "no-match" plan, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Bush administration was disappointed Congress failed to create a program to allow more legal guest workers to fill labor shortages. "But until the laws change," he said, "we are enforcing the laws as they are to the utmost of our ability, using every tool that we have in the toolbox."

In December, Chertoff issued a statement calling critics of the "no-match" plan "employers who would rather close their eyes to cheap and profitable labor than obey the laws of our country."

That makes business people like Rhodes angry. She's always asked to see workers' documents and recorded identification information on special forms she's required to keep.

If some of her workers are secretly undocumented, she said, she'd like a system that would give those she's trained – and cares about – a chance to stay. And she supports a more foolproof system to check documents in the future.

"Every time I hear this about how businesses want cheap labor, I think, 'That's not me. I don't pay minimum wage,' " she said.

Rhodes pays workers $10.50 an hour to start, with regular increases in pay, an option for Kaiser health insurance and a 401(k) plan. She said she's tried, with little success, to hire U.S.-born workers. Most have left after a short time on the job, one to study for a master's degree in landscape design.

"Business people like me are chicken about speaking out," she said. "But I'm ready to speak out. I feel like standing on a corner with a sign in my hand."

State of the Union Excerpts

By The Associated Press – 2 hours ago

Excerpts from the prepared text of President Bush's final State of the Union address Monday, as released by the White House.

On Congress:

"The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our nation long after this session has ended. In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them. And let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time."

___

On trusting and empowering the American people:

"From expanding opportunity to protecting our country, we have made good progress. Yet we have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done. In the work ahead, we must be guided by the philosophy that made our nation great. As Americans, we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. So in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures."

___

On the economy:

"To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future. In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth."

___

On earmarks:

"The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks."

___

On housing:

"We must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership and empower them to weather turbulent times in the housing market."

___

On No Child Left Behind:

"On education, we must trust students to learn if given the chance and empower parents to demand results from our schools. In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams "” and a decent education is their only hope of achieving them. Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results. Now we must work together to increase accountability, add flexibility for states and districts, reduce the number of high school dropouts, and provide extra help for struggling schools. Members of Congress: The No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement. It is succeeding. And we owe it to America's children, their parents and their teachers to strengthen this good law."

___

On trade:

"On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas. Today, our economic growth increasingly depends on our ability to sell American goods, crops and services all over the world. These agreements will level the playing field. They will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers. And they will support good jobs for the finest workers in the world: those whose products say 'Made in the USA.'

"If we fail to pass this (Colombia free trade) agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere. So we must come together, pass this agreement and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life."

___

On energy security:

"To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology. Our security, our prosperity and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil."

___

On climate change:

"Let us create a new international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources. And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases. This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride."

___

On entitlement reform:

"Every member in this chamber knows that spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is growing faster than we can afford. Now I ask members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren."

___

On immigration:

"Illegal immigration is complicated, but it can be resolved. And it must be resolved in a way that upholds both our laws and our highest ideals."

___

On the escalation of troop strength in Iraq:

"Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace. In the last seven years, we have witnessed stirring moments in the history of liberty and these images of liberty have inspired us. In the past seven years, we have also seen images that have sobered us (and) serve as a grim reminder: The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists "” evil men who despise freedom, despise America and aim to subject millions to their violent rule.

"The Iraqi people quickly realized that something dramatic had happened. Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw our forces moving into neighborhoods, clearing out the terrorists and staying behind to ensure the enemy did not return. While the enemy is still dangerous and more work remains, the American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago.

"Some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al-Qaida is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated."

___

On 2008 objectives in Iraq:

"Our enemies in Iraq have been hit hard. They are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead. Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy. American troops are shifting from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission."

___

On this generation's response to the war on terror:

"We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment, prevailed in a tough fight and left behind a more hopeful region and a safer America."

___

On Iran:

"Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom. Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf."

___

On the American people:

"The secret of our strength, the miracle of America, is that our greatness lies not in our government, but in the spirit and determination of our people."