CRACKDOWN: Bauer says law would keep Anchorage from becoming "a gateway for illegals."
By KYLE HOPKINS khopkins@adn.com
Published: September 10, 2007 Last Modified: September 10, 2007 at 09:57 AM
Sir, can I please see your license, registration and proof that you're an American?
Assemblyman Paul Bauer says he wants to strike Anchorage from a list of "sanctuary cities."
Assemblyman Paul Bauer is proposing a new city law that could have police asking certain drivers if they are U.S. citizens during routine traffic stops. It's part of a proposal that would force local police to team up with federal immigration authorities to crack down on illegal immigrants.
"It's a preventative measure," Bauer said Friday. "Let's not be a gateway for illegals."
The proposal is on the agenda for the Assembly's Tuesday meeting. It's based on a boilerplate ordinance written by a group in Washington, D.C., that believes the federal government isn't doing enough to target illegal or undocumented immigrants and it's up to cities and states to pick up the slack.
Last week, as Bauer's proposal became public, downtown Assemblyman Allan Tesche said the plan would only stir up paranoia and hatred of immigrants.
"Why doesn't Mr. Bauer help us all and pin yellow stars on these immigrants?" he asked in a sarcastic reference to the marking of Jews in Nazi Germany.
Bauer says he wants to strike Anchorage from a list of "sanctuary cities" circulating in conservative circles. Definitions vary, but so-called sanctuary cities are generally seen as communities that protect or tolerate illegal immigrants.
Mayor Mark Begich doesn't support the proposed law, which his spokeswoman, Julie Hasquet, said is pointless.
"We don't need this," she said. "We are already cooperating fully with the federal immigration officials and we are not a sanctuary city."
Either way, Bauer's proposal embroils the Anchorage Assembly in a national argument over immigration law that touches on terrorism, the Patriot Act, civil rights and, in this case, talk show host Bill O'Reilly.
LET THE FEDS DO IT
In July 2003, the Anchorage Assembly joined the state and other Alaska cities in protesting the U.S.A. Patriot Act with a two-page resolution.
Proposed by Tesche, the resolution said the city wouldn't help the federal government by, say, collecting information on people's religious beliefs, tracking their library records or racially profiling those who live here. It also said that unless necessary to protect public safety, the city would not "Use municipal resources or institutions for the enforcement of federal immigration matters, which are the responsibility of the federal government."
Tesche said at the time that the Patriot Act could demand that local police help or launch immigration investigations that they don't have the time or training for.
Bauer says this put Anchorage on a list of "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants -- a list often culled from a footnote in a 2006 report on immigration law by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the U.S. Congress.
Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly publicized the list, putting Anchorage in the cross hairs of people who say federal and local governments should do more to catch illegal immigrants.
City Hall says the label is wrong, and Hasquet and the mayor have both e-mailed O'Reilly in protest, Hasquet said: "I went to their site today and it said 'e-mail Bill.' So I did."
Some cities, such as Chicago, ban police from asking people if they are legal U.S. citizens, according to The Associated Press. Anchorage has no such rule, Hasquet said.
Anchorage Police Department Capt. Bill Miller said the 2003 resolution -- which is not a law -- did not change the way police work with immigration authorities.
"We enforce any law that we have the opportunity to enforce," he said.
TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT
Bauer said his proposal is based on a draft law written by the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
Staff attorney Sharma Hammond says the group has helped draft immigration policies for the states of Oklahoma, Colorado and Georgia. She said the idea is for local authorities to team up with Homeland Security to get training so they can catch illegal immigrants.
It is unclear how the proposed law would work, but here's how Bauer pictures it: An Anchorage police officer with special immigration training might stop someone for a broken taillight. The officer could then ask the driver for proof he or she is a U.S. citizen, which could include checking a driver's license as well as checking national databases.
If the officer determines the driver is an illegal immigrant, he or she could be handed over to federal immigration authorities.
Bauer said he's not clear on the details of the process, which he said would have to be worked out by the federal government and local police. As written, the proposal appears to say that police would routinely ask everyone they detain if they are a U.S. citizen, but Bauer said that's not his intent and could be fixed with a rewrite of the proposal.
Lt. Paul Honeman said the Police Department generally stays out of debates over Assembly proposals but also doesn't have any plans to make its officers into quasi-immigration agents.
"We don't have the resources," he said. "We believe we have other issues to deal with."
Bauer said the problem is that the city is on record saying it won't use its resources to enforce immigration laws and he wants to get people at least talking about illegal immigration in Alaska.
Even if the proposal proceeds as scheduled, any public hearing would still be weeks away.
___________________________________________________________________ "The letter of the law is a sword that killeth; its intent is a spirit that giveth life."
BUT U.S. TO KEEP USING RISK DATABASE DESPITE CONCERNS OVER PRIVACY, ERRORS
By Michael J. Sniffen the associated press 09.10.2007
WASHINGTON — Rejecting a wave of criticism, the government has agreed to only modest changes in the computerized system that assesses whether each American who travels abroad poses a terrorist threat.
The Homeland Security Department decided to keep the risk assessments for 15 years instead of 40 years and no longer will share them with federal, state and local officials who are deciding whether a person gets a job, security clearance, license to do business or government contract.
Nevertheless, travelers still will not be allowed to see their actual assessments or the reasons for them.
Federal agents still will be looking at an array of information about international travelers — Americans and foreigners; this includes even meal choices, the names of traveling companions and the number of hotel beds requested.
"The revisions are useful, but they don't go to the heart of the matter," said James Dempsey, policy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group. "Why should the government keep massive databases about people it has decided are innocent?" Privacy advocates and civil libertarians also condemn the remedies for people who believe they were wrongly detained, delayed or even denied the right to travel.
The department's decision to continue the Automated Targeting System with few changes took effect last Thursday. It was announced in advance by an August notice in the Federal Register, a daily catalog of federal regulations that is read mostly by lawyers and lobbyists.
The computerized system is used by Customs and Border Protection officers to screen 400 million passengers a year who arrive from or depart for foreign locations by air, sea or rail. A separate part of the system is used for vehicles crossing the border.
Members of Congress, business travel associations, privacy and civil liberties groups and even European legislators protested after Homeland Security disclosed details of the system last fall for the first time; it had gone in service in 1999. Some critics said the entire program was illegal; others wanted parts of it changed.
But the department said the system was crucial to preventing terrorists and other criminals from entering the United States and helps border officers decide which travelers to pull aside for further scrutiny.
The department acknowledges the risk that "a negative Customs and Border Protection action could be taken" when relying on "computer generated information in ATS that has been skewed by inaccurate data." But the department emphasizes that it is agents who decide whether to release or detain people after interviews. Program computers can compare travel information — known as Passenger Name Records obtained from airlines, cruise lines, and Amtrak — with government watch lists of known and suspected terrorists and other wanted or barred individuals.
Beyond that, said Hugo Teufel III, the department's chief privacy officer, the system tries "to identify other high-risk travelers previously unknown to law enforcement." This is done by comparing the passenger's data with a secret list of "rules" — theories conceived by department analysts based on intelligence reports and past terrorist attacks — describing behavior that might indicate someone is a terrorist or other type of criminal. Rule won't be disclosed
The government will not release these rules because that would tip off terrorists and criminals to what agents look for. The rules are believed to include scenarios such as young men without baggage on one-way tickets paid in cash and with a history of travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where al-Qaida trains.
A department report provides this carefully selected example of a risk assessment rule: "If an individual sponsors more than one fiancee for immigration at the same time, there is likelihood of immigration fraud." Privacy advocate David Sobel, counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the rules "are nothing more than the agency's best guess about what behavior might indicate a risk of terrorist activity."
The passenger-name records contain the passenger's name and usually address and telephone number, but there is no fixed standard. Most of the records include payment data, baggage information, seat assignment and whether special meals for Hindus, Muslims or Jews were requested.
Added information Ed Hasbrouck, a travel agent and privacy advocate, said many travel agents, including Expedia or Travelocity online, can add to those records the names of traveling companions and hotel reservations, including the number of rooms and beds requested. A different section can include remarks by the ticket seller like "difficult customer — always changing his mind," Hasbrouck said.
Backing off a policy of keeping risk assessments 40 years, the department said it still needs to keep them 15 years because "potential terrorists may make multiple visits to the United States in advance of performing an attack." Over time, "a potential risk becomes clearer."
"So a database justified for controlling the borders turns into one that keeps track of the international travel of citizens and noncitizens — even after they've been cleared to enter," said Dempsey, the civil libertarian. "It starts with a rational goal and becomes a database on innocent citizens."
The department said the assessments and rules on which they were based are exempt from disclosure under the Privacy Act for law enforcement reasons.
The department set up a one-stop Traveler Redress Program to take in all complaints and refer them to the agency that generated the data or watch list responsible, spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Privacy advocates complained the remedies do not really allow travelers to challenge the reason that the system targeted them.
Also, because watch lists also are secret, travelers cannot see how complaints related to them are handled. One watch list that the system accesses is the combined Terrorist Screening Database, managed by the FBI.
The Justice Department's internal watchdog, Inspector General Glenn Fine, reported Thursday that 38 percent of the records in a Terrorist Screening Database sample contained errors or inconsistencies. Fine said in 388 resolved complaints, 45 percent of the traveler records had to be removed from the list or corrected.
MEXICO CITY -- Saboteurs attacked four natural gas pipelines in Mexico's Veracruz state today, marking the second time in little more than two months that the country's petroleum infrastructure has been targeted.
Explosive charges were set off in six separate locations on the pipelines operated by the government's petroleum monopoly, Pemex, which link refineries to consumers in Mexico City and other major population centers.
Although some 12,000 people were evacuated from areas near the explosions, no deaths or injuries were reported.
No one immediately took responsibility for the attacks. But similar sabotage in July in the central states of Guanajuato and Queretaro were claimed by an obscure leftist guerrilla group.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, touring India on a state visit, vowed to bring the attackers to justice, saying they "wish to impose by force their ideas on everyone else."
"There is no place in today's democratic Mexico for these criminal acts," Calderon said in a statement sent to the media. "Causes are defended within realm of ideas, within democratic institutions, within the law."
Mexican officials sought to calm the public and energy markets about the severity of the threat. They said the fires resulting from some of the explosions were quickly brought under control by Pemex crews.
"Pemex's fundamental installations are properly protected by our armed forces," said Francisco Ramirez, Mexico's interior minister. "We will act energetically to find those responsible."
Pemex officials said that supply of natural gas or refined products would not be affected by the blasts. Although international natural gas prices reacted to the news of the attacks today, the targeted pipelines have no relation to Pemex exports, which include 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a day to the United States.
But like the July event, today's explosions appeared to display a worrying level of logistical sophistication.
Targeting valves, above-ground sections and transfer terminals of 30-to 48-inch pipelines, the explosions went off nearly simultaneously in various locations, some of them hundreds of miles apart.
Several of the explosions were north of the port of Veracruz, while others were in the southern part of the state, near the refining complexes of Minatitlan and another in the mountains between the port and Mexico City.
The July attacks were claimed by the Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, a small group formed more than a decade ago by remnants of guerrilla movements.
Communiques believed to be from the guerrillas said those attacks were aimed at forcing the release of two members they accused the government of arresting and secretly holding. Federal and state officials insist they are not holding the men.
July's explosions targeted similar Pemex pipeline facilities near a large refinery at Salamanca in Guanajuato state. Though no one was injured in those blasts, the ensuing natural gas shortage forced auto manufacturers, other factories and business to close for several days.
Based mostly in the southern and heavily indigenous states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, the EPR seeks to reverse Mexico's free-market economic policies of the past two decades, which have harmed many poor rural communities.
The EPR first appeared in June 1986 at the anniversary of a police massacre of peasant protesters near Acapulco. A few months later, EPR guerrillas launched coordinated attacks on the Oaxaca beach resort of Huatulco and other Oaxaca towns.
The group largely disappeared following an army massacre of 11 peasants in a remote village outside Acapulco in June 1998. But it became active again last year during popular protests against the Oaxaca state governor, which all but killed the vital tourist industry in the state's capital last summer and fall.
Today's explosions came just a few weeks after Mexico City's tallest office tower was evacuated after police discovered a pipe bomb in the building's parking garage. No one claimed responsibility for that bomb threat either, and authorities were tipped off to the bomb by an anonymous phone call.
The pipeline attacks come at a particularly sensitive time for Pemex, which has a monopoly on the production and sale of Mexico's petroleum product and finances nearly 40 percent of Mexico's federal budget.
Faced with the rapidly declining production in the offshore Cantarell fields in the lower Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican government is seeking ways to capitalize new offshore exploration. Pemex officials say billions of dollars are needed to upgrade pipelines and other installations.
Although this summer's bombings are unprecedented, gas and oil pipeline explosions are fairly common in Mexico, where an aging distribution system is vulnerable to mechanical failure and sabotage by thieves stealing both crude oil and refined product.
DESPITE OPPOSITION GROUPS' OBJECTIONS, FEDERAL OFFICIALSS ARE FAST-TRACKING CONSTRUCTION OF BARRRIERS
By Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.09.2007
Primary fencing along Arizona's stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border will more than triple to 80 miles by Christmas if construction target dates are met.
In an effort to comply with the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that mandates 370 miles of new primary fencing, Department of Homeland Security officials are fast-tracking large sections of new 12- to 18-foot-high barriers in Sasabe, Nogales, Naco, Douglas and Yuma. Officials have already doubled the miles of fencing to 51.8 miles; they hope to have more than 80 miles erected by the end of the year.
By the end of the next fiscal year, they plan to build at least 20 additional miles, bringing the total miles of fencing to nearly 100 miles along the state's 350-mile border.
The U.S. Border Patrol and border security advocates say the fencing is long overdue and needed to curb illegal immigration.
"Every place where a fence has been put up it has worked," said Dave Stoddard, a former Border Patrol supervisor who retired in 1996 after 27 years with the agency. "There should be a fence from San Diego to Brownsville and it should already be up."
But environmentalists and some Southern Arizona residents are troubled by what they say is the Department of Homeland Security's disregard for impacts on wildlife such as the jaguar and about what residents think. And, they say, the fencing is a boondoggle that won't stop illegal border crossings.
"The Department of Homeland is an out-of-control federal agency with no regard for public concern about environmental impacts," said Daniel Patterson, southwest director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "The only thing these fences won't stop are people."
Jaguar debate
The jaguar — a federally recognized endangered species — is at the center of the dispute. Jaguar researchers and conservationists say the fencing will destroy any hope of the cat permanently returning to the United States. Homeland Security says the fences won't cut into known jaguar corridors, and have the backing of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On Friday, that agency issued a biological opinion giving the green light on construction of 31 miles of primary fences in Sasabe, Nogales, Naco and Douglas despite acknowledging the barriers could hurt the northern jaguar population in Southern Arizona and damage some lesser long-nosed bat habitat.
"Because the area used by jaguars in the United States is such a small part of the overall range of the species and because of nomadic use by jaguars, the range of the jaguar in the United States is not enough area to provide for the conservation (i.e., recovery) of the jaguar … and it cannot be defined as essential to the conservation of the species," the report stated.
Fish and Wildlife instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assist in monitoring, conservation and recovery measures for the jaguar.
The decision didn't please jaguar conservationists.
"This fencing project and lack of conservation recommendations will undermine a decade of binational collaboration aimed at recovering the American jaguar," said Craig Miller, southwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife and vice president of the Northern Jaguar Project. "This misguided project will essentially seal the fate of the American jaguar."
Since 1996, four male jaguars have been repeatedly photographed in Southern Arizona in between Nogales and Sasabe and in Cochise County near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Jaguars had been sighted only four times in the United States in the previous three decades.
The fencing will push smuggling routes and law enforcement activity into jaguars' preferred corridors, decreasing the odds of recovery, said Jack L. Childs, project coordinator for the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project, based in Amado.
"If we ever want this small population to recover, we are going to have to give them their opportunity to cross back and forth," Childs said.
While security is paramount and the impact on the total population limited, Childs said that's not an excuse to knowingly harm an endangered species. The government should implement either political or less damaging solutions to slow illegal immigration.
"It seems senseless to me to have to sacrifice even a remnant population of jaguars," Childs said.
Stoddard dismisses the concerns of environmentalists as a red herring designed to keep the border open.
"Any jaguar, butterfly, deer or other life form that cannot make it over a 12-foot fence needs to be eliminated from the gene pool," said Stoddard.
Efficacy of fences
Both proponents and opponents of border fencing cite a 14-mile fence built near San Diego in the mid-1990s as evidence of the effectiveness —or impotence — of the barriers. There, fencing was followed by a 92-percent decrease in apprehensions from 1994 to 1998.
"If it's well designed, the data shows it works," said Glenn Spencer, president of the Cochise County-based American Border Patrol, a nongov-ernmental organization that keeps tabs on the Border Patrol.
Opponents counter that smugglers simply shifted their routes into Arizona after the fence went up, continuing to sneak drugs and people into the United States at the same rates.
"This is not going to prevent human migration," Miller said. "What it's going to do is funnel and increase human migration into the most rugged and remote regions."
Fences aren't a panacea and don't make sense along the entire border but are a valuable tool in the agency's arsenal, said Brad Benson, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
They delay illegal border crossers and give the agency an opportunity to spot and perhaps catch them, he said. Homeland Security envisions a combination of primary fencing, vehicle barriers, technology and agents on patrol as the ideal solution, Benson said.
Public process
The congressional mandate to construct 370 new miles of new primary fencing by November 2008 is driving the urgency to build, Benson said. Legally, the construction is within the scope of the law. The Real ID Act of 2005 gives DHS the authority to waive environmental regulations that interfere with its ability to fast-track border security projects.
That doesn't ease concerns from those who say the agency is skipping the proper process and using the political mandate as an excuse. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., has introduced legislation to counter that trend.
For fence proponents, Grijalva said, "It's one fence fits all regardless of whether you are affecting wildlife, whether you are affecting habitat, whether you are affecting tribal land.
There is a process involved: You must consult with public land managers, local communities, with tribes."
MEXICO SENDS FIRST LONG-HAUL TRUCKS TO U.S. UNDER PILOT PROGRAM
By Lisa J. Adams ASSOCIATED PRESS September 10, 2007
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican cargo truck delivered a load of construction steel in North Carolina early Monday under a long-delayed NAFTA-mandated program allowing Mexican and U.S. trucks unlimited access within each others' borders.
The American-made Freightliner 2007 arrived at the Building System company in Wilson, North Carolina before dawn Monday and was waiting to unload the cargo early Monday afternoon, said Jose Gil, manager of operations for Transportes Olympic, the northern Mexican company that owns the truck.
The company is awaiting word from clients in Arkansas and Alabama to see if the truck will return to Mexico with U.S. steel products, Gil said.
Driver Luis Gonza*** pulled up to the border across from Laredo, Texas, about 10:30 p.m. Friday and following a lengthy inspection crossed into the United States about 12:50 a.m. Saturday, Gil said.
On Thursday, the U.S. Transportation Department granted permission to Transportes Olympic to haul cargo anywhere in the United States as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In turn, Mexico granted authority to Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution Inc. of El Paso, Texas, to travel throughout Mexico.
Since 1982, Mexican trucks have been allowed to operate in the United States only within a 40-kilometer (25-mile) zone along the border, where they transfer loads to U.S. vehicles for transport elsewhere in the country.
Unrestricted access was supposed to begin in 1995 under NAFTA, but the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton refused to open the border to Mexican trucks out of concern that they might be unsafe. A NAFTA arbitration panel overruled the U.S. in 2001, but lawsuits and lengthy negotiations with the Mexican government led to even more delays.
The U.S. plans to give as many as 25 Mexican firms permission to haul cargo north of the border by the end of the month, and will add another 25 per month until reaching 100 – for a total of 1,000 trucks – by year's end under a one-year pilot program. The Mexican government also has committed to allow trucks from as many as 100 U.S. firms to travel anywhere in Mexico.
Transportes Olympic, based in a suburb of the northern industrial city of Monterrey, has two trucks that qualify for the pilot program, but decided to send only one “to see how it would go†given the widespread opposition to the program, mostly from U.S. truckers, Gil said.
“It went very well,†Gil said. “He had no problems.â€
In the U.S., the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, environmentalist group the Sierra Club and watchdog organization Public Citizen sued to stop the pilot program, saying Mexican trucks do not meet U.S. safety and environmental standards and that there would not be enough oversight of drivers crossing the border. A federal appeals court ruled that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush could move ahead with the program.
Dozens of truckers protested at border crossings in Texas and California on Thursday, some carrying signs reading “NAFTA Kills†and “Unsafe Mexican Trucks.â€
In Mexico, representatives of the national trucking association have argued that most Mexican companies are not ready for cross-border long-haul trips because the government has failed to help them modernize and take other necessary steps to qualify for the program.
The Mexican government promised that help on Sunday, when it announced the start of the program.
Transportation Secretary Luis Tel*** told a news conference that Transportes had sent two trucks across the border, one headed to New York and the other to South Carolina. The Transportation Department could not immediately explain the discrepancy Monday.
“This project will allow us to demonstrate in practice that door-to-door cargo shipments without intermediaries at the border will lower costs ... and increase our country's competitiveness,†Tel*** said.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza estimated that letting trucks travel freely throughout both countries would save more than US$400 million (euro300 million) annually in transportation costs.
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- In a Sept. 9 story about Mexican trucks entering the United States under a NAFTA-mandated pilot program, The Associated Press, relying on a statement from Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tel*** at a news conference Sunday, erroneously reported that two Mexican tractor-trailers delivered cargo to New York and South Carolina. Instead, it was one truck which unloaded steel in North Carolina on Monday.
MEXICAN REBEL GROUPS TAKES CREDIT FOR ATTACKS THAT CUT OIL AND GAS SUPPLIES, RATTLE MARKETS
By Miguel Hernandez ASSOCIATED PRESS September 10, 2007
Reuters A woman and a child wear face masks to protect themselves from the fumes near the site of an explosion at a gas pipeline.
VERACRUZ, Mexico – A shadowy leftist guerrilla group took credit for a string of explosions that ripped apart at least six Mexican oil and gas pipelines Monday, rattling financial markets and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. The six explosions could be seen miles away, and set off fires that sent flames and black smoke shooting high above the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
At least a dozen pipelines, most carrying natural gas, were affected, said Jesus Reyes Heroles, the head of Mexico's oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, without providing specifics.
He said there would be hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production and about nine states and the capital, Mexico City, would be affected.
“It is a big blow,†he said. “You can't store natural gas or transport it by truck.â€
The blasts caused brief jitters in international markets, with natural gas futures up as much as 20.2 cents on news of the explosions, although prices dropped in later trading. One oil pipeline was hit in Monday's attack but Pemex said the damage wouldn't affect crude exports.
Some local factories were forced to shut after natural gas supplies were cut. Residential supplies were not expected to be affected.
There were no immediate reports of injuries directly caused by the explosions and fires, although Fernando Leon Yepez, a civil defense official in Omealca, reported that two elderly women died of heart attacks shortly after the explosions.
It was the second time in three months that the so-called People's Revolutionary Army claimed responsibility for a pipeline attack as part of what it has labeled its “prolonged people's war†against “the anti-people government.â€
The group, known as the EPR, is a secretive, tiny rebel group that staged several armed attacks on government and police installations in southern Mexico in the 1990s. It was later weakened by internal divisions, leaving it unclear which splinter group may have carried out Monday's attacks.
The EPR claimed responsibility for a July attack on a major gas pipeline from Mexico City to Guadalajara in western Mexico that forced at least a dozen major companies, including Honda Motor Co., Kellogg Co. and The Hershey Co., to suspend or scale back operations.
That attack sent the Mexican government scrambling to increase security at “strategic installations†across Mexico. It was not clear what security measures were in place at the pipelines that exploded Monday.
The government did not immediately confirm the EPR's claim of responsibility. Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez said the federal Attorney General's Office was trying to determine who was responsible.
“Pemex's fundamental installations are adequately protected by our armed forces, and we will do our utmost to find those responsible,†Ramirez said.
At least 21,000 people were evacuated as a precaution. Some of them were later allowed to return home.
Flames could be seen up to six miles away, said Pedro Jimenez, a resident who was packing his family into a truck to leave. “You could see the fields of crops lit up.â€
At least one undetonated explosive device was later found in a swampy area about 500 yards away from a highway toll booth just north of the port of Veracruz, said a Veracruz state police official who was not authorized to be quoted by name.
The official said the device was accompanied by a note signed by the EPR, but it was impossible to independently confirm.
President Felipe Calderón condemned the attacks in a statement from India, where he was on a state visit.
“I want to say that my government severely condemns this and all other acts of violence and those who promote it in our country and anywhere in the world,†he said. “There is no room for such criminal acts in a democratic Mexico.â€
Mexico is a major oil producer and exporter, with oil and related taxes accounting for over a third of the federal government's revenue. The U.S. imported 12.7 million cubic feet of natural gas from Mexico in 2006, only about 0.3 percent of total imports that year.
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CIHUATLAN, Mexico (Reuters) - With bearhugs, wisecracks and peals of laughter, the dream team of "Mexican Wave" film stars is back together working on its first joint celluloid production in six years.
The new film, "Rudo y Cursi," is being shot on Mexico's steamy Pacific coast and brings together a star-studded group that includes actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who will hit the screen together for the first time since "Y Tu Mama Tambien" in 2001.
A comedy-drama, "Rudo y Cursi" broadly translated as "Rough and Corny," is a tale of love and hate between professional soccer-playing brothers played by Luna and Garcia Bernal.
"It's the family reunited to work together," said co-producer Alfonso Cuaron, who made "Y Tu Mama Tambien," a sexually charged tale of friendship and rivalry that was nominated for an Oscar and helped thrust a new generation of Mexican film talent into the global spotlight.
Cuaron's brother Carlos directs "Rudo y Cursi" and the other co-producer is old friend Alejandro Gonza*** Inarritu, director of last year's Oscar-winning "Babel."
Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron and fellow Mexican Guillermo del Toro, who directed last year's "Pan's Labyrinth," recently formed a production company that will make five films in a $100 million deal with Universal Pictures. "Rudo y Cursi" is the first film in the package.
In 2006, the three directors made a major impact at the Academy Awards. "Babel" was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and best director. It won for best original score. "Pan's Labyrinth" won three Academy Awards and was nominated for three others, and Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" received three nominations.
'TELEPATHIC'
The members of the group says familiarity helps them understand each other's ideas. Continued...
"This family now comes with its own telepathic communication, which is very interesting," Garcia Bernal said.
Filming started three weeks ago in the small coastal town of Cihuatlan, close to a banana plantation owned by the Cuaron family that the brothers visited as children.
The cast and crew clearly enjoyed each other's company, indulging in jokes and banter and playing a charity soccer match against a local team at the town's palm-tree fringed stadium on Friday.
Garcia Bernal ripped off his shirt and performed a somersault after scoring a goal.
While few details of "Rudo y Cursi" have been made public, fans of "Tambien" can probably hope for something in a similar vein.
"Gael and Diego are once again exploring the same themes of rivalry," said Gonza*** Inarritu.
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Americans and Mexicans have more in common than you might imagine, and that's not necessarily a positive thing. People in both countries respond to illegal immigration into the United States in ways that are dishonest, insulting and counterproductive, and they spend too much time blaming each other for situations they helped create.
Many Americans find it easier to blame Mexico for the problem of illegal immigration rather than own up to the fact there wouldn't be a problem if employers on this side of the border weren't gobbling up illegal workers. It's as if we're desperately pleading with our neighbor, "Stop us before we hire again."
Meanwhile, many Mexicans find it easier to worry about the welfare of the most desperate members of their society only after those poor souls have taken up residence in the United States.
For most of the 20th century, leaders from Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party simply ignored those citizens who went over to el otro lado (the other side). National pride dictated that those who jilted Mexico to pursue a life in the U.S. be treated as gone and forgotten.
In his 2000 campaign for the presidency, Vicente Fox changed that. As the conservative National Action Party candidate and later as president, he visited immigrant communities throughout the United States and repeatedly referred to Mexican expatriates as "heroes" because of their contributions to both countries.
That was admirable. In light of the more than $20 billion that Mexicans living in the United States send home yearly, the expatriates deserve some respect. But Fox also took to meddling in U.S. immigration policy, which didn't sit well with Americans. And when the U.S. Congress failed to pass immigration reform, some analysts blamed Fox for putting in his two centavos.
When new Mexican President Felipe Calderon assumed office 10 months ago, he seemed committed to avoiding the trap that ensnared his predecessor: defining the entire U.S.-Mexico relationship in terms of the immigration issue. For a while, Calderon pulled it off. But while he was holding his tongue, Congress was once again mishandling immigration reform.
Now with comprehensive reform on ice, Calderon may have decided that there is no upside to staying out of the game. The problem is, the first thing he did after coming off the bench was fumble.
The Mexican president recently used his state of the union address to fire away at the Bush administration for its plans to build border fencing and "unilateral measures . . . that exacerbate the persecution and the humiliating treatment of undocumented Mexican workers."
Calderon also lamented the "insensitivity" of the U.S. government toward foreign workers and pledged to protect the rights of Mexicans no matter where they live. In a sweeping statement that only fueled the paranoid fantasies of nativists and immigration restrictionists, Calderon even went so far as to declare that "wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
Despite the erroneous claims of CNN's Lou Dobbs that the Mexican president -- who has a 65 percent approval rating -- didn't bother to criticize his own country, Calderon did just that. He recovered his fumble when he scolded Mexico for not creating enough jobs, not doing enough to improve education, not cracking down enough on tax cheats, and not finding enough fiscal alternatives to the country's oil reserves. If Mexico made those reforms and others such as cracking down on corruption, it might create an environment where more Mexicans would want to stay rather than travel north and put themselves at the mercy of their American neighbors.
Bravo for Calderon. That self-help message should be plastered on billboards all over Mexico. Which makes all the more disappointing Calderon's meeting with Elvira Arellano -- the 32-year-old single mother who lived in Chicago as an illegal immigrant before being deported to Mexico and separated from her child. It has since been reported that her son has rejoined her in Mexico. Nonetheless, Calderon promised his help in getting Arellano a visa so she could return to the United States and perhaps serve as a goodwill ambassador.
That was a mistake. Here's what Calderon should have promised: "Elvira, Mexico is broken. And I promise to fix it -- so that, in the future, other people won't have to go through what you've gone through."
Now, that would have built some good will with Americans.
Navarrette is a San Diego Union-Tribune columnist. Contact him via e-mail at ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
DEPORTEE'S SON PLEADS FOR HELP AT OHIO IMMIGRATION RALLY
CLEVELAND - An eight-year-old boy whose illegal immigrant mother lived in a Chicago church for a year is on a speaking tour pleading for an end to deportations and raids.
Elvira Arellano (el-VEE'-ruh ah-ray-AH'-noh) was arrested in Los Angeles last month and deported to Mexico.
Her son Saul (sah-OOL') is a U.S. citizen and was speaking at a rally in Cleveland yesterday. He will speak in several cities on his mother's behalf.
Supporters of Arellano have said Saul will stay in the U.S. and Elvira Arellano will continue fighting in Mexico for the cause of illegal immigrant parents with U.S. citizen children.
Saul Arellano told the crowd to ask President Bush to end deportations so his mother and other families in the same situation can stay in the U.S.
By Mary E. O'Leary Journal Register News Service 09/09/2007
NEW HAVEN - In a little over a month, supporters of the Elm City Resident Card feel it has been an unqualified success, with the number issued quickly advancing toward the goal set for the year.
"We estimated that over the course of a year we would issue approximately 5,000 cards," said Kica Matos, community services administrator for the city.
As of last week, the total approved and in circulation was 3,226, with at least 373 issued to children.
Soon the city will take its equipment on the road to churches, community-based organizations and senior centers to make it easier for people to apply.
"We are hoping to do some work with the schools, as well," Matos said. The card has a debit component that can be used at nearly 50 stores and restaurants downtown, as well as to pay parking meters. It is also a library card and allows free access to Lighthouse Point Park.
But the most controversial aspect is that it is an ID card for all residents, including illegal immigrants, and as such it appears to be the first in the country.
The card has been pitched as a way to make the undocumented comfortable in dealing with police as victims and witnesses to crimes, and as a means of opening banking accounts to safely store money.
The card also is being marketed to senior citizens, who may no longer have driver's licenses, as well as to children and Yale students, with an on-campus registration in November.
How people are using the new cards is difficult to determine so early in the program, but city officials and merchants said some of the picture IDs have shown up at library branches and coffee shops.
Betsy Goldson, the branch manager at the Fair Haven Library, said she has had a few people come in with resident cards to take out books, including a couple of families.
She said the library has always been a welcoming place for people, including the large number of illegal immigrants, up to 5,000, estimated to be in the Fair Haven neighborhood.
"I'm not saying that these people wouldn't have used the library before. What I would say is, the cards put the library on the map for people who otherwise wouldn't know about it, and makes them feel welcome," Goldson said.
Across town at the Westville branch, children's librarian Sharon Lovett said she expects card use to increase when students return to school. She said the branch tends to attract an international crowd from Spanish-speaking residents to Russian, African and German immigrants. "I think it is exciting and hopefully (the card) will benefit the library in the long run," Lovett said.
At Koffee Too on Orange Street, formerly Moka, shift leader Brentley Smith said four or five people have used the card in the past month to purchase sandwiches and drinks. "Not as much as we expected," Smith said.
On the other end of the scale, program opponents are not letting the issue die. The city has received several Freedom of Information requests for the names and addresses of those who have obtained cards. The requests were made by Southern Connecticut Immigration Reform, a local, mainly suburban group opposed to the program.
Chris Powell, managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, is also seeking material gathered by the city in issuing the cards, as well information on recipients.
The city has denied SCtIR's request as not specifically seeking city records, as referred to in state statutes.
"Connecticut FOIA law does not require that the city supply members of the public with 'names and address' nor does it require that the city provide members of the public with 'information,'" Matos wrote to Ted Pechinski of North Branford, one leader of SCtIR.
The corporation counsel's office is reviewing Powell's request.
The Yale Law School professors who have pledged to defend the program and keep the list and documentation private, feel they will prevail, although Colleen Murphy of the FOI staff, questioned that stance.
As of last week, no appeals had been made to the FOI commission.
To obtain a card, an applicant has to prove residency by presenting such things as rental statements and utility bills or bank statements; and document identity with a current passport, driver's license or consular card, or a combination of such things as a foreign driver's license and an Individual Tax Identification Number.
When the program kicked off in late July, hundreds of residents swamped City Hall, lining up before dawn. Program hours were extended with additional staff volunteering to help out. Long lines have since subsided and the hours are back to 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"The big rush was partly based on misinformation. We heard from people in the first two weeks that they had been told this program was only going to run for a week or a month," Matos said.
In the beginning, the city was turning away between 20 and 30 people daily for either producing fake IDs or insufficient documentation.
SCtIR also is taking on a general order issued by the Police Department last year, and reiterated when the ID program went into effect. It concerns inquiries into the legal status of residents and is based on similar policies enacted by New York City and Houston. Police officers are not to inquire about a person's immigration status, unless they are investigating criminal activity. The department based the policy on the city's limited resources, the complexity of immigration laws, risk of civil liability, limitation on authorities, as well as the need for trust and cooperation from the public when a crime occurs.
Police have been directed not to make arrests based on civil administrative warrants entered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database.
"Enforcement of the civil provisions of U.S. immigration law is the responsibility of federal immigration officials," the policy says. Matos said this is supported by recommendations in the "Police Chief's Guide to Immigration Issues," a publication issued in July by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
"An entry into NCIC does not guarantee the state or local officer has actual authority to take the person into custody," the report says. New Haven's general order specifi
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