Border Computers Vulnerable to Attack
GAO Report Details Problems in System

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
August 3, 2007

The U.S. government's main border control system is plagued by computer security weaknesses, increasing the risk of computer attacks, data thefts, and manipulation of millions of identity records including passport, visa and Social Security numbers and the world's largest fingerprint database, officials said.

U.S. officials have called the US-VISIT system a cornerstone of the nation's efforts to stop terrorists at the borders and stanch the flow of illegal immigrants. It automates the collection of fingerprints and digital photographs, and links border control officers to FBI, border enforcement, immigration and State Department watch lists and databases.

Congress has allocated $1.7 billion for the system since 2002. But in a congressional report to be released today and obtained by The Washington Post, Homeland Security officials said that many vulnerabilities exist throughout the network and the computer stations used at 400 airports, seaports and land crossings. These vulnerabilities could, in turn, spread the risk of cyber-attacks or data losses to some of the government's most sensitive security databases, the officials said.

"Weaknesses existed in all control areas and computing device types reviewed," the Government Accountability Office reported. It called on DHS to "immediately address" problems to avert potentially crippling disruptions or the misidentification of drug smugglers, terrorists and felons trying to enter the country.

"These weaknesses collectively increase the risk that unauthorized individuals could read, copy, delete, add, and modify sensitive information," investigators said.

In a statement, Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the computer vulnerabilities may make Americans less secure, not more. "DHS is spending $1.7 billion of taxpayer money on a program to detect potential terrorists crossing our borders," he said, "yet it isn't taking the most basic precautions to keep them from hacking into and changing or deleting sensitive information."

The report raises the latest red flag over the Bush administration's efforts to secure the borders, already heavily criticized by Congress and conservative critics. It also adds to a growing list of warnings about the vulnerability of key government computer networks.

In May, the Transportation Security Administration reported the loss of a hard drive loaded with personal payroll information on 100,000 workers, including federal air marshals. A computer virus halted processing of international travelers at U.S. airports for several hours in August 2005. And a computer failure in December knocked out for two hours the national computer network used at all 400 customs sites.

U.S. authorities expressed concern over a dramatic increase in computer attacks and warned that they could become more destructive as hackers grow more sophisticated, pointing to a rise in incidents aimed at Pentagon information systems.

US-VISIT Director Robert A. Mocny acknowledged concerns but said that security fixes are underway and that the report raised many hypothetical problems and overstated others, because few outsiders can gain access to the system's computers.

"There have been no attacks on the US-VISIT system," Mocny said. Still, he conceded increased risks as sensitive databases are added. "When you connect more systems, which [DHS] wants to do, you do have the risk of the 'weakest link,' " he said.

US-VISIT has compiled digital facial images and fingerprints of 90 million individuals and is used to vet 54 million border crossings each year. But Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the government has not taken adequate steps to safeguard the privacy of millions of people whose citizenship, immigration, law enforcement and national security records are used in the customs checks.

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.

VIDEO GAME LETS PLAYERS BE IMMIGRANTS

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 2, 2007

MIAMI -- A Japanese computer science student fails to take a full load of university classes and loses his student visa. A 10th-grade Indian girl is detained because of a high school essay she wrote on the Department of Homeland Security. These are two of the characters in "ICED!" _ a new video game that invites players to step into the shoes of foreigners who run afoul of the U.S. immigration system.

It is part of a burgeoning genre of video games that examine major social and policy issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the situation in Darfur and the Electoral College.

This image provided by Breakthrough, an international human rights organization that uses media and popular culture to promote social change, shows a scene from the video game "ICED!". The game, which lets players step into the shoes of foreigners who have run afoul of the U.S. immigration system, will be released in September and will be free to download. It is part of a growing number of social change video games. (AP Photo/Breakthrough,HO) (AP)

"The game allows you to get into the body of a person, so you can experience what they are going through. There are very few opportunities to get that perspective," said Mallika Dutt, head of the nonprofit Breakthrough, which produced the game and uses new media to highlight social issues around the world.

"ICED!" _ a play on the acronym for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office _ is scheduled to be available for free download next month. It differs greatly from games like "Border Patrol," which popped up on the Internet last year and exhorted players to kill illegal immigrants as they entered the country.

"ICED!" seeks to show how immigration laws passed in 1996 expanded the number of crimes that can trigger deportation and limited immigrants' rights to appeal.

Players try to avoid deportation by keeping a low profile and performing community service. Shoplifting or jumping a subway turnstile loses points. Lose too many, and your character ends up in a federal detention facility.

"You can get a lot out of a game, more than from film and other media in some ways, because you are actively engaged rather than just a passive consumer," said Suzanne Seggerman, head of the nonprofit group Games for Change.

Barbara Gonza***, a spokeswoman for ICE, said the agency was confident players would recognize the game is fiction.

"ICED!" gamers can become a Mexican high school graduate whose family overstayed its visa, or a Haitian war veteran who faces deportation when he turns to alcohol and crime after returning from Iraq.

In the first level, players keep a low profile in a city vaguely resembling New York. In the second level, they must navigate an immigration detention center. Programmer Heidi Boisvert estimates the game can take 10 to 30 minutes to play.

Boisvert and Natalia Rodriguez came up with the idea in graduate school and approached Breakthrough about helping them develop it. Boisvert said they didn't talk to immigration authorities, but they did speak to immigration experts, attorneys and advocacy groups, as well as their target audience of voting-age *****.

All of the characters they chose were based on real situations, including the case of a 16-year-old New York girl from Guinea who was accused of planning a suicide bombing and detained for six weeks in 2005 before the charges dropped.

Video Game Lets Players Be Immigrants
Steven Camarota, head of research at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, questioned the value of a game that focuses on individual cases rather than the complex issues surrounding immigration. While the U.S. immigration system is flawed, it is also one of the most generous in the world, said Camarota, whose organization favors strict enforcement of current laws.

"Any reasonable person should say your immigration system should always be tempered with mercy and justice," he said. "But it's like anything else. What exactly do you gain by looking at a small aspect of the debate?"

Louis DeSipio, a University of California, Irvine, political science professor and immigration expert, believes players do gain something.

"It's very important, especially for younger people, to understand the diversity of American society. It's easy to assume that everyone is like you," he said. "A game like this can show that."

But unless they want to preach solely to the converted, such games need widespread distribution _ something most nonprofits like Breakthrough lack the resources to do _ and to be part of a larger outreach campaign, he added.

That was the thinking of "PeaceMaker" creator Asi Burak, whose game allows players to act as both Israeli and Palestinian leaders as they seek to diffuse tension in the Middle East. It is one of the few such games to be sold commercially, including on Amazon.com. Burak claims it has sold thousands of copies in 60 countries at $20 per download.

Burak said he conceived "PeaceMaker" as a way to promote empathy between the two sides. To his surprise, those who played were more excited about finally understanding the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Even if such games can explain political and social issues, they are only effective if they are fun to play, he cautioned.

"It's like a film," he said. "If it's not good, it's going to bore the audience.".
___

On the Net:

Games for Change: http://www.gamesforchange.org/

Breakthrough: http://breakthrough.tv/

PeaceMaker: http://www.peacemakergame.com/

Badly Decomposed Body Found in Desert

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
August 3, 2007

The badly decomposed body of a suspected illegal immigrant was found Thursday morning in the desert about 50 miles southwest of Tucson, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said.

Crew members on patrol in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter spotted the body and called in agents on the ground, who found the remains about three miles east of U.S. Route 19, about seven miles north of the Mexico border, on the Tohono O'odham Nation, Senior Border Patrol Agent Jim Hawkins said.

The body was so badly decomposed agents could not specify the person's age or gender with certainty, although they thought it was a woman, Hawkins said.

The person carried no identification, he added.
The find brings to at least 145 the number of suspected illegal immigrants found dead in southern Arizona's deserts since Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, according to Border Patrol and Tucson Citizen records.

New Bill Calls For Adding 14,000 Border Agents

Tucson Citizen
news@tucsoncitizen.com
BLAKE MORLOCK
bmorlock@tucsoncitizen.com

U.S. Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain, both Arizona Republicans, Thursday introduced an enforcement-only immigration bill that, according to Kyl's office, "requires hiring of 14,000 new Border Patrol agents."

A $3 billion Senate appropriations measure authorizing 8,200 new agents overwhelmingly passed the Senate last week, according to The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear how the bills relate to each other or what resources would be allocated to southern Arizona, where scores of illegal immigrants die each year and gunfire regularly erupts between rival drug- and immigrant-smuggling gangs.

The new Senate bill would make illegal presence in the U.S. a misdemeanor and would "increase the security and integrity of Social Security cards." It would also provide funds to help states issue more secure driver's licenses and identity cards and mandate tougher penalties for people who hire illegal immigrants.

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. It follows the collapse of a compromise that would have created a way for some 12 million illegal immigrants to gain provisional legal status.

"Although we must move forward on other issues," McCain said, "we can show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border."

Ex-Border Agents Deserve Sentences They Received In Shooting, Coverup

RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.

In the Old West, outlaw gangs would sometimes try to sidestep the criminal justice system by busting someone out of jail. Today, that role is being taken up by some members of Congress.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing into the case of ex-Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and José Alonso Compean.

The two men were convicted last year of shooting and wounding Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an unarmed drug smuggler, along the U.S.-Mexican border and then covering it up by destroying evidence and falsifying reports. Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively.

That's too long a stretch in the opinion of Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. After the hearing, they sent a letter to Bush asking him to commute the sentences.

Bush should afford the request the consideration it deserves, all three seconds worth. Then he should crumple up the letter. When will Congress learn that presidential pardons and other forms of clemency are matters for the executive branch?

At a recent town hall-style forum in Nashville, Bush was asked if he would pardon Ramos and Compean. The president refused to make such a promise and instead described as "a dear friend" and "an even-handed guy" U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office tried this case and who hasn't had a moment's peace since.

Then Bush reiterated, as he has done on previous occasions, that "these men were convicted by a jury of their peers" and that "people need to look at the facts."

The facts of the case haven't changed. On Feb. 17, 2005, Ramos and Compean were on patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border near Fabens, Texas, when they spotted a suspicious van. When they approached, they discovered Aldrete-Davila, who began running toward the Mexican side of the border. The agents opened fire.

Nor has there been any change in the law under which Ramos and Compean were tried, convicted and sentenced. It's still a crime for officers to shoot an unarmed suspect and then lie about it.

In fact, arguably, the only thing that has changed since the ex-agents began serving their sentences six months ago is the political climate.

Many of those who want to curb illegal immigration feel empowered now that they have had a hand in defeating immigration reform, and they want to flex those muscles by trying to get elected officeholders to spring Ramos and Compean.

Ironically, these are the same folks who talk about the rule of law and how we mustn't go around rewarding lawbreakers.

Their allies include politicians such as Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a quixotic GOP presidential candidate who has introduced legislation calling for a pardon of Ramos and Compean. Hunter opposed what he called "amnesty" for 12 million illegal immigrants, yet he wants amnesty for two former Border Patrol agents.

It makes you wonder, is Hunter the hard-liner going soft? Or is it just that his principles aren't as firm as he claims them to be?
This is not the first time that the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has shown his sensitive side.

When his buddy and fellow Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham - or, as he is now known, federal inmate No. 94405-198 - came up for sentencing, Hunter wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Larry Burns asking for leniency.

Cunningham collected $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antiques and other bribes. Hunter's plea notwithstanding, the former congressman was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison. Hunter hopes he'll have better luck in seeking clemency for Ramos and Compean.

He and other champions of the former agents always seem to steer the conversation toward Aldrete-Davila, a bad actor who received immunity in exchange for testifying against the agents, and was even given a government-issued "humanitarian pass" to cross the border for medical treatment.

According to Drug Enforcement Administration documents, Aldrete-Davila allegedly used the pass to bring in more drugs.
Shocking. We already knew this guy was slime.

Here's the really sad part: The ex-agents took the stand in their own defense, and yet the jury that convicted them apparently found their testimony to be less credible than that of the drug dealer.

Bet you won't hear that from the members of the Ramos and Compean Fan Club. That's why they have no credibility.

And members of Congress who buy into their narrative - of hero agents who were railroaded into prison - risk their credibility as well.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a columnist and editorial board member of The San Diego Union Tribune. E-mail: ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com

Sister Leads Authorities To Brother's Body In Santa Ritas

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
08.01.07

A woman led Border Patrol agents to her dead 18-year-old brother, who died from falling into a canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains early Wednesday.

The man apparently fell into the canyon, fatally striking his head, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Antonio Estrada said.

His body was found after his 19-year-old sister called a Border Patrol radio dispatch center in Nogales about 6 a.m., reporting her brother had died on their trek into the United States, said Agent Dove Haber, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol here.

The woman guided agents to an area about 20 miles east of Nogales and, Estrada said, her brother was found near Duquesne, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Haber said the body was on high ground in a wash at the bottom of Wild Hog Canyon on the south face of the Santa Ritas.

There is no indication of foul play or that the young man drowned in the canyon bottom, Estrada said.

The man is the 13th illegal immigrant suspect found dead in Santa Cruz County this year, Estrada said, adding 12 were found last year and 11 in 2005.

It also brings to at least 144 the number of illegal immigrant suspects found dead in southern Arizona's deserts since Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, according to Border Patrol and Tucson Citizen records.

CONGRESSWOMAN INTRODUCES BILL TO VOID USCIS FEE INCREASES

Immigration News
Published Tuesday, July 31, 2007 6:30 pm

The same Congresswoman who called for hearings into the recent "updated" Visa Bulletin situation (see our articles)

* Restored Availability of Employment-Based Visas

* Unavailability of Employment-Based Visas: Where Matters Stand

* Visa Retrogression: C U Later has introduced a bill which would void the USCIS filing fee increases taking effect July 30th.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren,
whose district includes Silicon Valley, cites five grounds for "disapproving" the fee increase.

They include a lack of a detailed USCIS plan or budget showing use and allocation of funds, and a lack of transparency at the agency. Rep. Lofgren's bill has yet to receive a number; however, the text is available to the public.

To keep up with its progress through Congress,
keep checking our web site.

New Jersey: Corzine Forms Panel On Immigrant Issues

Friday, August 3, 2007

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER

Governor Corzine is creating a panel to advise him on how New Jersey can help integrate immigrants into society and prepare the undocumented for a path to legalization.

The panel is expected to examine immigrant access to health care, education, job training, social services, English classes and civics lessons, among other things, said Corzine administration officials.

Signing Monday

"¢ Governor Corzine is scheduled to sign an executive order establishing the Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy at a ceremony Monday at Liberty State Park. The panel is likely to be made up of about 25 people, including immigration advocates, legislative aides and representatives from various state government agencies.

The group, whose members are still being selected, is to issue a report and recommendations after 18 months, officials said.

Corzine's move, they said, stems from a view that states must deal with illegal immigration after several failed congressional efforts to reform immigration policy.

"Given the absence of action on the federal level, the governor feels he needs to confront the realities on the ground," said Brendan Gilfillan, a Corzine spokesman. "There's a community that is an untapped resource, making valuable contributions to our economy. We want to make sure that as a state we do everything we can to bring economic vitality and self-sufficiency to this community."

Gilfillan said the governor hopes to identify voids in immigrant access to state services and programs. He also said that if Congress eventually does pass legislation that provides illegal immigrants with a path to legalization, the governor wanted New Jersey's undocumented to be prepared.

"We want to make sure we're doing all we can to help these folks prepare themselves for citizenship," Gilfillan said, "so that when the feds get their act together, our community will be the first in line and be ready to go."

The official said the panel also will study matters pertaining to legal immigrants in New Jersey.

Immigration advocates lauded the creation of the panel but said it should be a first step toward a state effort to address issues affecting the undocumented.

"What I don't want is a panel that will produce a report and not do anything more," said Daniel Santo-Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors Association of New Jersey. "The state needs to take steps that fill gaps and that will make things better for immigrants."

But those who favor strict immigration enforcement denounced some of the objectives tied to the panel.

"By doing what he says he wants to do with the panel, not only is the governor saying he supports illegal immigration," said Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, "but he'd also be encouraging more and more illegal immigrants to come New Jersey, because it would be known as a state that provides services and jobs to them."

Gilfillan declined to comment specifically on Cresitello's criticism, adding only: "One of the reasons the governor created this panel was to cut through too often ignorant, divisive and downright malicious rhetoric surrounding this issue."

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com

fired clerk now conservative folk hero

Brent Gardner-Smith
Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Fri 08/03/2007

In the past, if Bruno Kirchenwitz wanted to see his name in print or vent about U.S. immigration policy, he would write letters to local newspapers about "illegal hordes" and stemming "the tide that threatens our sovereignty."

Today, the former 7-Eleven clerk who was fired from his job after a shooting at the Basalt store has become a minor celebrity in local and regional media and a full-fledged poster child on conservative Internet Web sites dedicated to immigration reform.

"I'm kind of like the kid that's gotten a thousand presents for Christmas," he said of the recent media attention. "I've been on all kinds of radio shows. And the Washington Post called for crying out loud."

He's been prominently featured on the KHOW morning show in Denver with host Peter Boyles, who has produced a parody song to the tune of "Stairway to Heaven" called "The Legend and Story of Bruno Kirchenwitz" (see sidebar).

He's scheduled to be on a radio show in Atlanta on Monday night and he's been hoping to get on the air with Rush Limbaugh. And his name and story is all over Web sites like Immigration Watchdog, Americans for Legal Immigration, Free Republic, New Nation News and American Renaissance News.

As these Web sites follow the progress of the 7-Eleven shooting investigation, some have run headlines such as "Spic Shooter of Bruno 'Jesus is my Gardener' Identified" and "Latino Thug Identified in 7-Eleven Shooting."

Kirchenwitz is taking advantage of his newfound fame, which was sparked by his habit of wearing a U.S. Border Patrol hat and a T-shirt with a stereotypical cartoon of a Mexican and the words "Jesus is my Gardener" on it.

"It's a forum where I can push this illegal immigration issue," he said.

Kirchenwitz, 54, was involved in an incident that started about 9:40 p.m. on June 26, when two Hispanic men came into the 7-Eleven and are said to have threatened Kirchenwitz because of his U.S. Border Patrol hat, even though he wasn't wearing it at the time.
There are now conflicting reports about what happened next, and the store's security video apparently doesn't have a clear audio track, which might clear things up. Police say an "altercation" ensued and at a minimum that Kirchenwitz told the men what time he got off work.

Kirchenwitz now says that even though the men told him three times they were going to harm him when they got him alone, he simply told them in a lighthearted way, "If you like my hat, you'll love my T-shirt."

But veteran Aspen Times reporter Scott Condon quoted Kirchenwitz the day after the event as saying he told the men "Bring it on. This is ------- bull****."

Yesterday, asked about the discrepancy, Condon said that Kirchenwitz may have been embellishing what actually happened because he was still "amped up" from the shooting.

What is clear is that after his shift ended at 10 p.m., Kirchenwitz left the store and nervously walked to the bus stop, a knife in his hand just in case. He wasn't confronted.

Then, just after 11 p.m., five .30-caliber rifle shots came slamming through the store's front window and through the area where the store clerks normally work. There were several customers in the store at the time, including a young child. No one was injured, but police say someone could have easily been killed.

Police now believe that one of the men who had threatened Kirchenwitz earlier and fired the shots was Ricardo Ramirez, an illegal immigrant who lived in El Jebel with his father. Police later found an M-1 rifle at the Ramirez household that was consistent with the bullet casings found in the store, and have issued an arrest warrant for him.

On July 9, Kirchenwitz was fired for a "confrontation with customers," according to 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris, who said that, "He violated policy that evening and that was cause for termination."

Ramirez is still at large and thought to be armed and dangerous. The other man in the store that evening is from Basalt. He has spoken with police but has not been charged, as police aren't sure he was involved with the shooting. His name has not been released.

Denver talk-show host Peter Boyles has spent lots of air-time on the Kirchenwitz story and has called for a boycott of 7-Eleven, which is owned by what used to be called the Southland Corporation.

"His politics got him fired," Boyles told his audience, insisting that Kirchenwitz was an innocent victim and did nothing to provoke the violence.

"We're going to sell some autographed Bruno hats," said Boyles.

And while Kirchenwitz was on the air with Boyles last week, Colorado Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo called in and told Kirchenwitz, "I think, my friend, you have a terrific lawsuit here and I hope you proceed with it."

Boyles and Kirchenwitz both harshly criticized Basalt Police Chief Ikeda during the program.

Ikeda says he did get a number of critical e-mails and voicemails after the radio show. But he said the issue is not about "Bruno and me" and that he sees Kirchenwitz as a victim of a crime that he is trying to solve.

"All the media have been portraying Bruno as a folk hero," Ikeda said. "For me, that's not the issue. We are conducting a criminal investigation on the shooting and this distracts us from not compromising the investigation."

bgs@aspendailynews.com

Consular ID Cards Ignite Immigration Debate

By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 3, 2007)

Oscar Hernandez, a construction worker who lives in Brewster, visited the Guatemalan Consulate General in New York City in November to purchase a photo identification card.

Hernandez, 23, said he applied for the consular ID card, presenting his Cédula de Vecinidad - a Guatemalan national identification document - as valid proof of his identity. In Guatemala, all citizens are issued a cédula when they turn 18 and are required to show their birth certificate to get one, he said.

The consular card, which Hernandez said he received in the mail, is valid for five years and includes his name, photo, date of birth, signature, current address, cédula ID number and passport number.

Hernandez, who is not in the country legally, said he wanted one so he could carry identification in his pocket.

"It has all the information that my passport has. It's proof of who I am," Hernandez said. "If someone asks for ID, I show that because it has the government seal and I know it's not false."

It is this consular ID card, otherwise known as a blue card, that has caused a maelstrom this week between political opponents running for town office and further fueled the intense debate over illegal immigration.

Brewster Mayor John Degnan, a candidate for Southeast supervisor, had invited the consul general of Guatemala to the village this week to discuss issuing the photo ID cards through a mobile service the consulate provides.

Lack of identification has long been a problem in the undocumented population. Although the cards attempt to remedy that, critics say they pose a threat to national security and encourage illegal immigration.

Degnan said the card would help in enforcing quality-of-life infractions.

Supervisor candidate Michael Rights sent out computerized phone messages this week, claiming that Degnan and Southeast Councilwoman Lorraine Mitts, who is also running for supervisor, had begun issuing photo ID cards.

Another set of calls went out Wednesday from an anonymous grandmother saying she was forced to leave Lake Tonetta in the summer of 2006, when a large group of Hispanic men used consular cards to gain access to the beach and were swimming in their underwear next to her grandchildren.

The town of Southeast no longer accepts consular cards as proof of residency or identity, after residents complained in the summer of 2006 about their use at the lake. To use the lake, a person must show proof of identity and residence, such as a driver's license and utility bill. A sign posting beach rules in English and Spanish says that proper bathing attire is required for swimming and that cutoffs, jeans, T-shirts or undergarments are not allowed.

Rights and his Save Our Southeast ticket also held a news conference Wednesday, with former immigration agent Michael Cutler, fervently opposing the consular cards and emphasizing their dangers. ID cards issued by foreign governments, they claimed, could promote crime because they are not sound proof of identification.

"When you are dealing with the undocumented, there is no way of proving their identity," Cutler said. "Providing official identity documents is creating a national security nightmare."

Town Board candidate Matthew Neuringer said the town instead should create a consumer-affairs department that would seek to register contractors who hire only legal workers. Unregistered contractors would be fined $1,000 to $5,000, he said.

The Guatemalan Consulate General in New York began issuing the photo identification cards to its citizens in August 2002. To receive a card, an individual must submit a valid passport, a birth certificate or cédula, Consul General Rosa Maria Merida said. The card costs $15.

"The Guatemalan ID card is a very safe document," Merida said. "We have taken all appropriate measures to verify and ensure the cards' security. We are sure that the document is true and correct."

The consulate has provided more than 70 mobile consulate service centers, including ones in Port Chester, Mamaroneck and Mount Kisco, Merida said. This year, 11,300 photo ID cards have been issued throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, she said.

After receiving the call from the grandmother denouncing the cards' use at the lake, one Southeast resident filed a complaint with the Southern Poverty Law Center - a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating racism and promoting civil rights.

Elizabeth Pope said the center would forward her complaint to the Intelligence Project that monitors hate groups and tracks extremist activity. She said she also sent an e-mail to the SOS team.

"My daughter heard the answering machine spewing this hate message, and though she does not fully understand hatred yet, she does know that someone was different and that made the lady not like them," Pope's missive to SOS read. "I WILL ALWAYS choose to have my daughter swim with people of other races and ethnicities than talk to or swim with a racist hate monger."

Rights defended his actions, saying there were serious issues facing the community that the incumbent elected officials had failed to confront.

"Men allegedly swimming in their underwear near children of tender years is wrong in any community," he said, "including ours."

Reach Marcela Rojas at mrojas@lohud.com or 845-228-2271.

Foreign Born Population Has Reached Levels Not Seen Since The 1920s

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Apologists for current
mass immigration have consistently argued that as a percentage of the
overall U.S. population, immigrants constitute a smaller share of the
population than they did in the early part of the 20th century. That has
changed, finds a new study by the Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR). According to the report The Immigrant Population of the
United States in 2006, the 37.4 million foreign born residents, as a
percentage of the total population, is higher than any level since 1920.
Approximately one in eight U.S. residents in 2006 was an immigrant, finds
the study.
The Immigrant Population of the United States in 2006 finds that the
impact of today's mass immigration flow is being felt in all parts of the
country. While the handful of states that have traditionally served as
gateways to new immigrants continue in that role, there has been
exponential growth of the foreign born population since the 2000 Census in
parts of the country where there had previously been moderate levels of
immigrants. In nine states immigration accounted for more than half the
population increase since 2000, and in two states -- New York and
Massachusetts -- as well as the District of Columbia, the net increase in
immigrants exceeded the total increase in population.
"In absolute numbers, the wave of mass immigration we are experiencing
today has far exceeded the levels of the wave that arrived here a century
ago," noted Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The surge in immigration has
been so large and so sustained over the past 40 years that even though the
population of the United States is about triple what it was in 1920, the
foreign born, as a percentage of our total population, is back to where it
was some 90 years ago."
The excessive level of immigration a century ago led to enactment of a
40- year hiatus from mass immigration. During the period from the mid-1920s
to the mid-1960s, the nation had an opportunity to absorb the immigrants
and their children into the social and economic mainstream of the country.
"This nation needs a similar pause from mass immigration to allow the
absorption and assimilation process to work again," said Stein.
Calls to curtail mass immigration a century ago stemmed from the fact
that concentrations of immigrants in some parts of the country were so
large that it made absorption and assimilation impossible. "We are seeing
that same phenomenon today," observed Stein. "In California the foreign
born constitute more than a quarter of the population. In some of our
largest cities, the foreign born population and their children now account
for the majority of the population. America has been built on the concept
that immigrants should be incorporated as Americans. At current immigration
levels, in many parts of the country, Americans are being challenged to
either accept the cultures and languages of the immigrants, or relocate
themselves. For the good of the nation and the immigrants themselves, it is
time to cut back," said Stein.
The Immigrant Population of the United States in 2006 can be viewed at:
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_2006usfbpop

McCain Does An About-Face On Guest Worker Program

Associated Press
Aug. 2, 2007 04:15 PM

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn't include a path to citizenship.

The move away from a comprehensive measure is an about-face for the Arizona senator, who had been a leading GOP champion of a bill that included a guest worker program and would have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. It failed earlier this year.

"We can still show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border," McCain said in a statement, adding that the new bill would "provide an essential step toward achieving comprehensive reform in the future."

McCain's immigration position has been a campaign liability among Republican voters and hurt his efforts to raise money. Other GOP presidential candidates, fellow Arizona Republicans and immigration opponents throughout the country have loudly decried his position.

Observers said McCain's switch was political. "He recognizes his position on the issue is killing him," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors vigorous immigration enforcement.

McCain's co-sponsors include Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jon Kyl of Arizona. All three were leading advocates for the unsuccessful comprehensive immigration measure and were bombarded with criticism for their support.

Immigrants' rights advocates jumped to condemn their decision. "It is fairly stunning they have gone from leaders on comprehensive reform legislation to lemmings running over the cliff" with the Republican opponents of the bill, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum.

Among other things, the bill makes being in the country illegally a criminal misdemeanor and toughens penalties for re-entering after being deported. It mandates an electronic system for employers to check workers' citizenship status and requires illegal immigrants who commit a crime to be held in jail until they are deported.

What a loser.
I would never support a guy who switches his convictions and beliefs where convenient. He just lost all credibility in my eyes, not that I ever cared about this guy, but nonetheless.
In Europe such trick would ruin your political career. Wonder why not here.
What I would do if I were him, I'd switch but to Democratic party. At least I'd save my face.