Gerardo (left) and Francisco Trujillo moved here from Mexico when their mother married William Donati, a U.S. citizen. Donati has spent $13,000 during a six-year struggle to get green cards his stepsons. Photo By: EVA "¢ Hopewell family seeking legal status for two sons

HOPEWELL FAMILY SEEKS LEGAL STATUS FOR TWO SONS
COMPLEXITY AND FRUSTRATION HINDER QUEST FOR CITIZENSHIP

By ROBIN FARMER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007 - 12:09 AM Updated: 09:36 AM

Unlike most young men, Francisco and Gerardo Trujillo seldom venture far from the large television dominating the comfortable living room of their Hopewell home.

Their mother, Margarita, and stepfather, William Donati, say they have no choice but to keep them close. They have tried unsuccessfully since 2001 to get their sons green cards, which would grant them legal permanent residence in the United States.

As tensions increase against illegal immigrants, those seeking legal status and others, including immigration officials, say getting a green card isn't easy. One official called the immigration rules "complex and opaque."

The Trujillos' six-year plight illustrates the complexity, frustration and lengthy waits faced by many applicants seeking legal permanent residency.

Getting a green card can take six months or longer. There's a backlog of cases, but no one knows how many people are waiting.

The cost for a card is $1,010, having increased from $395 in July, said Dan Kane, a spokesman for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. Officials say the new fees reflect the cost of handling applications and may speed processing times.

The process is stymied by a paperwork-based application that can penalize applicants, many of whom have limited English skills. A single mistake can lead to denial of an application or petition, ineligibility in the future for an immigrant benefit and even with removal from the country.

In 2006, 1.2 million people became legal permanent U.S. residents, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Virginia ranked seventh with 38,488 new green-card holders, according to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.

"The key reason why the green-card process is so complicated is because the U.S. government wants to make sure that once it allows a person the status to stay here permanently, that person will not likely be a burden to society or violate its laws," said Irene Recio, a Washington attorney.

Problems with the process were detailed in this year's annual report by the Immigration Services' ombudsman that found:

Newer cases are processed more quickly, while cases six months or older are increasingly backlogged.
Many serious problems stem from the complex and opaque nature of the immigration rules and the agency administering them.
Customers have limited access to immigration officers who know enough about individual cases to accurately and efficiently answers inquiries. Also, some customer-service representatives are providing either minimal information or inaccurate information.
One regulation in place since Sept. 11, 2001, is adding to the backlog.

All applicants must be fingerprinted. The fingerprints are sent electronically to the FBI for processing. Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the checks were only for prior arrests.

Now, the FBI is challenged with ensuring the applicant is not linked with "terrorism, or money laundering or other activities counterproductive to the U.S.," Recio said.

"Sometimes these checks take years to complete, because the FBI doesn't have the manpower, and also it takes a long time to verify whether the hit was a result of name similarity or a smudged print," she said.

Green-card applicants from the Richmond area must go to the immigration office in Norfolk for interviews and fingerprinting.

Immigration Services' ombudsman Prakash Khatri's report noted as of May that there were 329,160 fingerprint checks pending with the FBI; a third more than a year old.

A lack of immigration-services staffing and inadequate resources to maintain and track paperwork also leads to lost files, which Recio says she has experienced.

The Donatis say immigration officials in the Norfolk office lost and mixed up information for Francisco and Gerardo Trujillo.

Frustrated by this and other errors, the Donatis gave the immigration agency, as it requested, permission to discuss the case with The Times-Dispatch.

The Donatis say their inability to resolve errors that led to the denial of their sons' green cards or to get answers to questions speaks volumes about the department's problem with communications.

The family isn't alone.

For example, Khatri noted in his report to Congress that there is no clear answer on how many applicants are waiting for their green cards as USCIS has changed its definition of backlogs.

"USCIS does not make available to the public the number of cases pending longer than six months - the definition of case backlogs," he wrote.

"Shifting definitions hinder congressional oversight and prevent stakeholders from fully understanding whether the agency is meeting its goals to provide timely and efficient services."

COMMERCE SECRETARY IN COLUMBIA

IMMIGRATION KEY TO GROWTH, SAYS U.S. OFFICIAL GUTIERREZ:
NATION'S ECONOMY DEPENDS ON SOLVING LABOR ISSUES

GRANT JACKSON
The (Columbia) State

COLUMBIA --If the U.S. economy is going to continue to grow it will have to import labor and to do that it must solve its immigration dilemma, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Monday during a visit to Columbia.

Gutierrez spoke to students at USC's Moore School of Business. He was brought to South Carolina by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The two men worked on immigration reform during the last Congress.

"The immigration debate has really just started and (is) going to be around for a long time," Gutierrez said. "It is not just the big question for this decade but of this century, not just for us, but just about every country in the world."

Gutierrez warned that without comprehensive immigration reform, the U.S. economy could stall in the next decade.

The U.S. labor force, he said, is growing about 0.3 percent a year while economists believe it needs to grow about 1 percent a year to sustain economic growth of about 3 percent a year.

Real growth is currently about 3.8 percent a year, and the economy has experienced about six years of uninterrupted growth

"If we are growing our work force at 0.3 percent we cannot grow our economy by 3 percent," Gutierrez said. "We need (our) work force to grow at a faster pace."

Using immigrant labor is the only way to grow the work force and continue to grow the economy, "unless you conclude you just don't want to grow," he said.

But the United States is not the only nation grappling with immigration. Every other major economy in the world has huge problems with decreasing populations and work force, Gutierrez said.

Economies like those of Europe, Russia and Japan are all dealing with the need for workers.

Japan may be the best example of an older work force and a declining population, he said.

"Every country around the world is also thinking about what is their policy regarding immigration," he said, "because they have to. They are looking at their own demographics."

The great thing, Gutierrez said, is that the United States knows more about immigration than any country in the world.

"Our advantage is that we have been doing it for 230 years," he said. "If we use that experience to our favor, we can have a competitive advantage not just for five or 10 years but for the next century."

Gutierrez and Graham worked together on the immigration legislation that failed in Congress last session. The two share similar views.

"We need a temporary worker program in this country desperately," Graham told reporters during a press briefing following the secretary's remarks.

If the country does not deal with the potential labor shortage, one of the first industries that will be affected will be agriculture, the senator said, and it will then spread throughout the economy.

Graham hopes Congress will try to tackle immigration again. He is fearful about Congress not acting.

"The worst thing is to have 50 different immigration laws. We live in a global economy; we live in a very transient society. We cannot maintain this economic growth if every state and every town and every county has a different immigration law," he said.

"This is a national issue. It is a national problem."

ARKANSAS

IMMIGRATION ARRESTS ARE SECRET, SHEFIFF'S OFFICE SAYS

AP
Posted: 2007-10-04 14:01:01

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - One of the differences that took effect when northwest Arkansas police agencies were given authority to arrest those suspected of violating the nation's immigration laws became apparent Wednesday - the names of those detained are secret, so long as police say immigration violations were involved.

That's a major difference from Arkansas law that requires names of arrested people to be disclosed by the agencies making the arrest.

Lawyer Charles Schlumberger of Little Rock, whose practice includes matters covered by the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, said that law requires the names of arrested people to be made public. He said the state Supreme Court ruled in a 1991 Pine Bluff case that an agency's claim of an ongoing investigation - which allows some information to be withheld - does not apply to the names of people arrested.

Officials announced Monday that 19 trained officers from the Rogers and Springdale police departments and the Benton and Washington county sheriff's offices would work on a newly created local task force with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agreement allows the officers to check the immigration status of the people they arrest and begin deportation proceedings against those in the country illegally.

A spokesman for the Washington County sheriff's office, Cpl. Jak Kimball, said Wednesday that ICE had barred the agency from releasing the name of the first suspect arrested by members of the task force. Kimball said that, according to ICE, federal law prohibits state or local agencies from releasing information about federal immigration detainees who are held in state or local jails.

According to Schlumberger, federal law would trump state law in such cases, because local police were acting on behalf of ICE.

Kimball said ICE told the sheriff's office this week to remove information from the sheriff's office Web site about any inmate being held for the federal agency.

For years, the sheriff's office has held federal immigration detainees under contracts with ICE. The sheriff's office lists those inmates, along with the names and pictures of all other inmates, on its Web site's jail roster.

Kimball said removing inmates from the online roster can affect visitation, which is handled through the site. Considering this week's directive by ICE, the sheriff's office might begin listing inmates by number rather than name so that visits can still be scheduled online, he said.

"We're working on complying with all this," Kimball said, "but it's been problematic."

MINNESOTA

ICE




WILLMAR BOY FACES DEPORTATION AFTER IMMIGRATION RAID

By STEVE KARNOWSKI,AP
Posted: 2007-10-04 17:37:20

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - Sammy Diaz-Maldonado was at a friend's home before school when armed immigration agents burst in.

The agents questioned the frightened 9-year-old boy alone for about a half hour, without either of his parents present, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement used the information he gave to start proceedings against him, his lawyers said.

"Horrible, just horrible," is how Sammy, now 10, said he remembers the day he was caught up in an immigration sweep that led to 49 arrests in the Willmar area last April.

Sammy made his first court appearance Thursday as his attorneys filed a motion seeking to terminate the deportation proceedings, saying his constitutional and due process rights were violated. His next hearing will be in three weeks.

Afterward, his attorneys said the government had terrorized the boy, leaving him badly shaken.

"Sammy was torn away from his mother's waist-side by two armed agents," Gloria Contreras-Edin, one of his attorneys, told reporters. " ... He was crying, and he was shaking, and he was scared, and was screaming, 'Don't take my mommy away."'

He was so traumatized that he vomited twice afterward, and he's still afraid of all officials, Contreras-Edin said.

Greg Palmore, an ICE spokesman, declined to comment on the case, but acknowledged it is unusual for such a young child to have an immigration hearing all his own.

ICE has defended how it carried out the sweep, saying all of its agents' actions were fully within the law. Of the 49 people arrested at the time, 18 had criminal convictions, six had deportation orders and 25 had no criminal history but were living here illegally, according to the ICE.

Contreras-Edin, executive director of Centro Legal, a legal services group serving the Latino community, and her colleague, Rachel Bengtson, argued that statements given by a scared child without a parent present are inherently suspect and should not be admitted as evidence. Their motion seeks, among other things, to suppress Sammy's statement.

Sammy is one of several children listed in a lawsuit Centro Legal filed on behalf more than 50 Hispanic Willmar-area residents who claim their rights were violated during the sweep. Among other things, the lawsuit seeks to prevent similar enforcement actions in the future. Contreras-Edin said Sammy wasn't the only child frightened by immigration agents during the sweep.

The attorneys declined to discuss Sammy's parents' immigration status, or give Sammy's country of origin. And while they said they deny all the government's allegations, they also declined to say whether they contend he's here legally.

Sammy is still living with his parents in Willmar. Speaking in English, he said he's a fourth-grader at Roosevelt Elementary School.

He said quietly at the defense table during the 10-minute hearing, flanked closely by his attorneys to his right and an interpreter he did not use sitting at the ready on his left. He smiled shyly before and afterward, and stuck close to his attorneys and his mother.

"I was scared. I was nervous," he told reporters.

The government will get a chance to respond to Sammy's motion at his next hearing Oct. 25, when several other Centro Legal clients will also have hearings on similar issues stemming from the Willmar crackdown. His attorneys said they expect further proceedings after that.

While Immigration Judge Kristin Olmanson excused Sammy from that hearing if he needs to be in school, Bengtson said they plan for him to be there.

HILLARY TOUTS BILL TO UNITE ILLEGALS' KIN

By Christina Bellantoni
October 4, 2007

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said "immigrant families as well as every other family" must be valued.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday as president she would push an immigration bill with a path to legalization that unites families.

"We've got to deal with immigration to be sure that we're going to get back to doing what is right and smart in America," she told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

"Yes, we need to strengthen borders, everyone agrees with that," the New York Democrat said. "We have to, though, remain faithful to our condition as a beacon for people around the world seeking a better life."

Three other Democratic presidential hopefuls attended the forum: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska. They were given 15 minutes to address six questions. Mrs. Clinton, who gave a version of her stump speech touching on the themes of the questions instead of answering them directly, spent 63 seconds on immigration.

Mrs. Clinton was interrupted by applause during this line: "I believe we have to, as part of comprehensive immigration reform, create a path to earned legalization and I will continue to stand for that and advocate for that."

She touted her efforts to make sure families weren't disrupted by the Senate's immigration bill. "Everybody talks about family values ... let's start valuing families and that means immigrant families as well as every other family," she said.

Mrs. Clinton did not commit to passing immigration reform in her first term, a priority for the group, which works to educate new Hispanic leaders. She also did not directly answer all of the questions posed at the start of the forum, including how she would address anti-immigrant sentiment.

She did say she would "cut the Latino dropout rate in half," spend $10 billion on universal pre-kindergarten and pass the Dream Act to give legal status to illegal aliens who go to college or join the military.

The former first lady received the warmest reception at the forum, followed by Mr. Biden, who said he supports a "reasonable path" for the 12 million illegal aliens in the country to become legal residents.

He added he finds it "offensive" that the immigration debate is "about ways to keep Spanish-speaking people out of the country" when the "majority" of undocumented aliens aren't Latin Americans but instead come from such non-Spanish-speaking countries as Ireland, Poland, Japan and Indonesia.

Campaign manager Luis Navarro later corrected Mr. Biden "” saying people who don't speak Spanish are not a "majority" of illegals but rather comprise 40 percent.

"Our goal should be to protect American values: reuniting families, valuing aspiration, creating the system that gives people an opportunity to come here, pursuing the American dream," Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Kucinich said the Spanish phrase "nosotros juntos," which he translated as "we are one," was the motivating ideal for his public service. "I not only believe it, but I live it," he said, promoting his own nonprofit universal health care plan and his consistent opposition to the Iraq war.

Mr. Gravel said Hispanics have been "demonized" and illegal aliens are "not illegal" because all they have done is "risk their lives to feed their families." But he got no applause when saying he would give all illegals green cards "immediately" to reward them for contributing to the economy.

Rep. Xavier Becerra, California Democrat who asked questions at the forum, said the 45 million Hispanics in the United States are the "largest and fastest-growing population," and will matter most in such swing states such as Arizona and New Mexico in 2008.

LOS ANGELES

ICE




HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN U.S. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

10-03-2007, 20h07
LOS ANGELES (AFP)

More than 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested in the Los Angeles area over the past two weeks as part of what the government called the "largest ever" crackdown of its kind.

More than 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested in the Los Angeles area over the past two weeks as part of what the government called the "largest ever" crackdown of its kind.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said Wednesday its Fugitive Operations Teams targeted illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes or those who ignored deportation orders.

More than 1,100 of the detainees were from Mexico, whose border is only 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Los Angeles.

The rest of the illegal immigrants detained include citizens of Armenia, India, Indonesia, Jordan and Peru.

More than 600 of the detainees have already been deported to their home countries, officials said.

"ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams make a priority of cases involving those who have ignored orders to leave our country and those who pose a threat to our communities," ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said in a statement.

"The 1,300 taken into custody by ICE in the past two weeks include numerous suspected street gang members, as well as aliens convicted of *** offenses, assaults and kidnapping."

In a similar operation in January, authorities nabbed more than 750 people in the Los Angeles area who committed crimes or ignored deportation orders.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BLAMES HIS ROBBERY ON NEW EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LAW
Last Update: 10/03 11:57 am

By Jennifer Korducki
ABC15.com

Two illegal immigrants have been indicted on charges of armed robbery, theft and aggravated assault in Maricopa County.

One of them blames his crime on Arizona's new employer sanctions law.

Ruben Aragon Parra and Salvador Antonio Monreal-Camargo are accused of stealing a truck on Sept. 13 and later robbing a man in a park.

The second victim chased the suspects in his own car and pounded on the windshield of the stolen truck with a shovel before they were arrested.

Parra told police he needed money after being laid off as a result of Arizona's new employer sanctions law.

Beginning Jan. 1, the law will require employers in Arizona to verify the employment eligibility of new workers through a federal database.

Employers caught knowingly or intentionally hiring unlawful workers will face a 10-day license suspension for a first offense. After a second offense, they can lose their license.

A second suspect in the robbery admits to being deported from the United States three times.

A third suspect is accused of unlawfully using a stolen vehicle.

[COMMENT BY EXPLORA:There will be more reports of this. People are going to get desperate. No work, no services, no nothing. This is expected to happen.]

Congratulation to Hilliary the next President of the United States--You've got it RIGHT.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT STUDENTS MAY RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID

By Gene Haagenson
10/04/2007

Students all over the state are pressuring the Governor to sign a bill to help undocumented immigrants get through college.

The California Dream Act would enable immigrants who went to high school here to qualify for some state financial aid.
Students who rallied at Fresno State and at the state capitol say children who were brought into this country illegally, but grew up here and went to school should be able to get some help going to college.

"I came to the United States when I was a baby. I grew up here. The United States was everything that I knew," said Nayaly Arreola.

Nayaly Arreola was among the college students rallying in support of Senate Bill 1, a measure giving undocumented students a shot at financial aid from the state.

"I couldn't qualify for any loans so I had to work two or three jobs to pay even the room and board," said Nayaly.

The legislature approved Senate Bill 1, but Governor Schwarzenegger hasn't signed it. Powerful republicans are urging him not to.

"Federal law prohibits employing illegal immigrants. Why are we paying them cash handouts to attend our colleges?" said State Senator, Tom McClintock.

Despite the opposition, supporters say it will help the state.

"These are future citizens who will be paying tax dollars. What better way to contribute to California than to invest in higher education?" said Esmerelda Santos, Fresno State Associated Students.

Nayaly Arreolo is now a senior at Fresno Pacific University and is also student body president.

Four years ago, her hopes of going to college were almost crushed. Federal immigration authorities ordered the Porterville family deported back to Mexico. Nayaly was then 17, hoping to graduate from high school.

Senator Dianne Feinstein intervened, introducing a private bill to keep the family here and letting Nayaly reach a goal many other immigrant children will never reach.

"A lot of students can't continue past community college because of these financial barriers," said Nayaly.

Rallies are expected to continue around the state until the Oct. 14th. That's the deadline for Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the bill.

Supporters of Senate Bill 1 say the legislation would not take money from other students, but would allow undocumented students to apply for any leftover funds in the state's Cal-Grant program for higher education.

Copyright KFSN-TV, www.abc30.com, and myabc30.com. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without explicit written permission.

IMMIGRANTS MAY BOOST FLORIDA'S CLOUT

Victor Manuel Ramos | Sentinel Staff Writer
October 4, 2007

When the time comes to divvy up the power after the 2010 census, Florida is expected to gain three additional seats in Congress -- one of which would be attributed to its growing number of illegal immigrants.

Florida's population is expected to surpass that of New York in the next national count, which would make the Sunshine State the third most populous after California and Texas, according to an analysis of census statistics and population data issued by a Connecticut demographer.

Fueled by large immigrant populations, Texas and Arizona would also gain more seats before the 2012 congressional races, while some Northern and Midwestern states would lose members in the U.S. House of Representatives. If it weren't for the illegal immigrants who live in California, that state would lose two seats, according to the report.

Change in congressional seats Graphic

Having more seats in Congress -- 28 instead of 25 -- would also give Florida more Electoral College votes, forcing presidential campaigns to lavish more attention on the state.

The report shows that immigrants, even those who are not eligible to vote, are tipping the nation's balance of power because of the sheer size of their population.

"It's great news for Florida in terms of getting more power," said study author Orlando Rodriguez, a demographer with the Connecticut State Data Center at the University of Connecticut. "But it's not the undocumented immigrants who will benefit. It's the dominant party that gets the benefit of the extra seats."

That shift, analysts say, is expected to help Republicans in Florida, who control the state Legislature, which redraws district lines when seats are added. The same is true in the border states of Arizona and Texas.

"We will have a larger congressional delegation giving us a stronger voice in Congress as our population continues to grow," said Erin VanSickle, spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida.

Immigrants not exempted

The U.S. Constitution mandates that the census count all people living in U.S. territory, without making exceptions for immigration status. That means the estimated 900,000 to 1 million Florida immigrants who entered the country illegally or overstayed visas are counted like any other persons.

It's not a new practice. Slaves were counted in the 18th and 19th centuries, which shifted a great deal of congressional power to the South. And women were counted in the census before the Constitution gave them the right to vote.

States with more people simply get more of the 435 House seats.

But some who call for increased border security and deportations don't think it's fair that illegal immigrants could have that kind of impact in the halls of Congress.

The Center for Immigration Studies, an advocacy group in Washington that favors more immigration enforcement, studied the impact of illegal immigrants after the past census and found that the power slide to states with large immigrant populations started with the 2000 census.

Center spokesman Steven Camarota said illegal immigrants shouldn't be counted the way American citizens are.

"There is a whole cascading series of consequences for society, some measurable and some not, when you tolerate widespread illegal immigration," Camarota said. "As a country, we probably face two main choices: Either we enforce the law, have fewer illegal immigrants and have less of a problem; or we shut up about the problem."

Few come out opposed

In Florida, though, there is not much of an outcry against surging from 25 to 28 representatives in Congress. Hispanic activists like the idea of having immigrants, legal or otherwise, counted. And though political parties would not address the issue directly, Democrats and Republicans share the desire to seize any congressional spots up for grabs.

"We do understand that there is a power shift coming to Florida," said Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman with the Florida Democratic Party. "That is why we have been trying to build on our momentum and on the state presence for our state party."

There are Florida issues -- such as offshore drilling and preserving the Everglades -- that would benefit from having more voices in Congress, regardless of political party.

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, who has been an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, finds it hard to oppose a power shift that could benefit his home state.

"I am sort of ambivalent, not in the sense that I don't care, but that I could see arguments for both sides," said Feeney, adding that "anything that helps Florida gain a relative advantage is a good thing and I would be biased in favor of."

But Feeney said the power that more immigrants could generate has some costly strings attached.

"States that have large illegal-immigrant populations have additional burdens," Feeney said. "People, for example, use our health-care system; they often use our schools; they demand police and fire services for an emergency."

Al Cardenas, a lobbyist and former Republican chairman in Florida, said the growing immigrant population has been on the radar of state politicians for some time. Immigrants are expected to have an impact, he said, but the question is whether they will be counted properly by the census bureau.

"Without a path to legalization," Cardenas said, "there's probably going to be the greatest undercounting we have had in a long time, because folks are going to be reticent to come forward."

Samuel Lopez, an activist who heads the Florida Puerto Rican/Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne and fought a restrictive immigrant ordinance in Palm Bay last year, said it's only fair for immigrants to be counted and influence representation.

"It's a good thing," Lopez said. "I don't know what all the immigrant hysteria is all about. I think if people are concerned, it's only because they are worried that they are losing their power."

Victor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6186.

GROUPS FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION HAVE REASON TO CHEER

Thu Oct 4, 7:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- Since the late '70s, I have attended the annual fall meetings of a group called FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Although small and not well-known, it is the major citizens' group fighting illegal immigration, and its meetings have been instructive of how public opinion was moving.

For years, the meetings, held in hotels, were small and unprepossessing -- just ordinary folks concerned about their country being overwhelmed by illegals. The group's headquarters are in unimposing offices on Connecticut Avenue that would surely not frighten any member of Congress or lobbyist into thinking of FAIR in terms of power.

The meetings are composed of the kinds of Americans you used to meet everywhere: neighborly, friendly, unimpressed with their importance, but also increasingly angry at being forgotten and ignored. Over the years, as America's careless policy of open borders has kept the number of illegals growing -- 3 million ... 6 million ... 8 million ... now at least 12 million and maybe as many as 20 million -- there was a feeling at the meetings of just hanging on.

Too much raw power was on the other side, in the big corporations seeking cheap labor, in the Catholic Church seeking more members, in unconcerned Americans seeking not to have to act in the public realm or raise their voices. But there was a stubborn attitude at the meetings of "This is not right, and somehow we're not going to put up with it!" That attitude has been boiling inside more and more Americans.

Then came this year. After months of confrontations last spring and summer in Congress between liberals and big corporations on one side and average citizens on the other, FAIR has come into its own. At the meeting here on Sept. 29, there was still a slight subtext of fear -- but this time it was fear of being too confident and of losing the gains of the last six to eight months as all the pro-immigration bills in Congress were defeated, in effect by citizen action itself.

"What happened this last summer was a profound moment in the movement," Dan Stein, president of FAIR, said to tart out the meeting. "We saw the new technologies giving the American people unprecedented capacity to participate in this public debate -- we saw the little mouse defeating all the big corporations, although we were being outspent by, what, $10 million to 1?"

"I hope," he said at one point, "we don't underestimate how rapidly things are changing -- but we also must understand that we are involved in a quiet revolution among the American people, with FAIR and the allied organizations and the visionaries."

Then he gave the big news. After all these years in their nice but prudent suites on Connecticut Avenue, the FAIR staff were moving to new offices just off Capitol Hill, where they would have regular press briefings, full audio-visual studios, and the capacity to train numbers of activists.

If this was at least a temporary victory, it was one of the most original in recent history.

Citizen anger and potential power, loosely organized by FAIR, with its 250,000 members, and allied groups, this time was closely tied up with talk radio, whose hosts are mostly anti-illegal immigration. At one point, 37 talk-radio hosts came together to push the cause, which was the first time such a thing had happened, according to Steve Gill, a prominent pro-FAIR talk-radio host in Tennessee.

"We're in the middle of an information revolution," he told the group. "Before talk radio, something you could listen to on the car radio and bang your car (if you became angry). Now you can call in and make it an interactive communication. We are at the mike, but you control the volume."

Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm, an active force in immigration reform, chimed in with the same idea. "Dan Stein talked about new forces that erupted in our favor," he said, "but there are also new institutions that have done so -- like talk radio."

At the same time, FAIR launched a huge call-in campaign to representatives and senators over the bills put forward last spring. They said that anti-illegal immigration calls outnumbered pro-immigration calls in general by 50-to-1; and at least one senator received 10,000 calls in three days, virtually all anti-illegal immigration.

Another factor that emerged stronger this year was the idea that language must be clearly defined. "They are not 'immigrants,' they are 'illegals,'" Steve Gill insisted. "But the other side likes to define them as immigrants because that harkens back to the old image of America." He was also insistent upon clarifying that "racism is not the issue," because, "if we bordered China, we would have 16 million Chinese." The question of who comes to America is simply distance: "If I can walk five miles, it is surely better than swimming 4,000 miles."

What I saw and heard at this year's meeting, then, was an altered mood, a new if cautious optimism and a new set of techniques for encouraging citizens to deal with the most important domestic issue of today.

INDICTED IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL TOOK MONEY TO FREE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, U.S. SAYS

The Associated PressPublished: October 3, 2007

DETROIT:

A U.S. immigration official took money and gifts in exchange for freeing numerous illegal immigrants, one of whom went on to kill a college student from Jordan, federal officials said Wednesday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement official also is accused of conspiring with the fugitive owner of a chain of Middle Eastern restaurants to help immigrants gain U.S. residency through fraudulent marriages to U.S. women.

Roy M. Bailey, 54, who was acting director for detention and removal operations in Detroit, has been on leave since 2004 because of the investigation.

A federal grand jury indictment against Bailey and four others charges him with taking bribes, concealing a felony and conspiring to commit bribery, extortion and fraud.

The most serious of the charges have a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

"Acts of corruption in the department...represent a threat to our nation and undermine the legitimacy of the immigration process," Thomas M. Frost, head of Homeland Security's inspector general office, said in a statement released Wednesday.

Bailey's lawyer said his client "has dedicated his life to public service and upholding the law. He is completely innocent of these charges and will fight to restore his stellar reputation."

Bailey remained free Wednesday and was expected to be arraigned next week.

According to the indictment, Bailey took $2,000 from a private immigration lawyer in 2001 and 2003 and authorized the release of one of the lawyer's clients who was awaiting deportation.

Last year, the freed man, Bashar J. Faraj, was convicted of murder in the death of Faed Al-Farah, 27, a graduate student from Jordan. Faraj, 31, is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

The indictment also accuses Bailey of allowing another federal agent to steal $300,000 from detained aliens.

The federal grand jury also charged restaurant chain owner Talal Chahine, 52, who is believed to have fled to Lebanon in 2005 to avoid federal tax charges.

Two other defendants also are believed to have fled "” Mohamad Arzouni, 59, and Mohammad B***i, 61.

Only one defendant was in custody Wednesday "” building contractor Antonio Ivezaj, 39 of Oakland County's White Lake Township.

CLINTON PUSHES FOR POWERFUL U.S. LATINO VOTE

2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) "” She doesn't try to speak Spanish but she still gets the cheers she seeks: Hillary Clinton is busily courting Hispanic Americans, whose political muscle could help put her in the White House.

Since launching her campaign, the New York senator and wife of ex-president Bill Clinton has methodically targetted Latino voters for support, not missing any large meeting of members of the nearly 50 million-strong Hispanic population, the biggest and fastest-growing US minority.

She has gone out of her way to appear on Spanish-language television, taken part in a debate on the massive Univision network and met Latino lawmakers.

And when they can, her staff chows down in Mexican food places, hoping to bolster Latino-friendly impressions of Clinton's campaign.

And it is paying off: the endorsements from the Hispanic community, wary over the national backlash against illegal immigration, are piling in.

Most recently she garnered the support of Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, the country' second-largest city and where about half of the inhabitants have Hispanic origins.

On Wednesday, the former first lady earned an ovation when she said in a forum for candidates organized by the Hispanic legislators caucus in Washington that she believed in the American dream and reaffirmed that the United States is "stronger because of our diversity."

Candidates in the coming primary races for the presidential nomination, and in the presidential election itself next November, ignore the Latino vote at their peril. The country is 14.8 percent Hispanic and the fight over proposals to issue tough new immigration legislation has mobilized many Latino voters.

Their support is not a given. While only 20 percent of Latinos call themselves Republicans, Republican President George W. Bush -- who does speak some Spanish -- got a surprising 42 percent of the Latino vote in the 2004 election.

But since then, many Republican Hispanics have soured on the party, seeing it has not done much for their community and that it has backed a tough crackdown on illegal immigrants that is unpopular with the community.

If they are mobilized, US Latino voters could make the difference in the 2008 race -- and so Clinton is working hard to woo them.

Clinton does not hesitate to advertise her connection to the community.

"Thirty five years ago, I traveled through South Texas, registering Latino voters with help from my friend Raul Yzaguirre," she tells the Washington audience, referring to the prominent Mexican American civil rights activist.

"We traveled many miles and knocked on many doors, encouraging people to take that first step to be at the table through the power of their vote," she says.

She unfailingly points out that her campaign Chief of Staff, Patty Solis Doyle, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.

Latinos could play an even more decisive role that in previous years in the primaries, which begin in January. Previously the primaries were led by small states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that have fairly small Latino populations.

But this time around, large states with larger Hispanic populations like New York, Florida and California have pushed their primaries forward to February 5, 2008, in order to have a greater say in who the final candidates are.

The prize is within Clinton's grasp. Republican candidates appear to have forsaken the Latino vote, recognizing that the illegal immigration issue has poisoned the field for conservatives.

Republicans are blamed by many for blocking the progressive parts of the legislation, to regularize the status of some 12 million illegal immigrants, most of them Hispanic, that Bush himself backed.

Recently the top Republican candidates snubbed an invitation to debate key issues on the Spanish-language Univision, making it plain that they see little hope in aggressively competing for Hispanic votes.

THE NEW WAR ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

THE DHS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO ABC: IN THE PAST, "WE PAID POLITICAL LIP SERVICE TO TOUGHNESS"

Santa Ana, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007.

The week-long series of raids targeting five counties in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area resulted in the arrest of 338 illegal immigrants in their homes, while another 423 were taken into ICE custody at county jails.

Chertoff: Blunt on Immigration "I think we're talking about something the American people have never seen before, which is what do we do and what do we see when the government gets serious about using all the legal tools available to make the law work and to enforce the law," Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

"And that's why there has been a tenfold increase or more in the number of absconders [fugitive aliens] that we've rounded up and sent back. And that's why there have been dramatic increases in our removals, [and] we've gone from one or two criminal cases five or six years ago to about 800 criminal cases this past year, because we are really pulling out all the stops," Chertoff continued.

Across the country, federal agents have been raiding businesses and homes in an unprecedented campaign targeting illegal immigrants.

Just last month, federal agents conducted work-site raids in seven cities, arresting nearly 200 undocumented workers. Another 2,357 illegal immigrants previously ordered deported were also rounded up.

In the last week in California, 1,300 illegal immigrants were arrested -- one of the biggest sweeps in recent memory. On Long Island, authorities rounded up 186 people -- most are believed to be gang members. In Nevada, more that 50 workers at McDonald's restaurants were recently targeted.

But the raids have sparked protests in a frightened and frustrated immigrant community.

"They're not criminals. They want to work," said one protestor. "We want to do things right for them and for this country."

The expansion of the government's deportation efforts has been dramatic.

According to immigration officials, in 2003, only 1,901 alien absconders -- those who had been ordered by a court to leave the country but remained in the country in defiance of the order -- had been arrested.

So far this year, more than 30,000 individuals who've ignored their deportation orders have been arrested.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement -- an arm of the Department of Homeland Security -- credits its Fugitive Operations Program with a reduction in backlog of alien absconders. The program, which has 75 teams working across the country, also works to ensure that immigration judges' deportation orders are enforced.

"For the first time we're beginning to see a reduction in the fugitive alien backlog," Julie Myers, head of ICE, said at a Wednesday press conference in Los Angeles. "We're down now to approximately 595,000 illegal alien fugitives, down about 36,000 from the beginning of this fiscal year.

"We obviously have much more work to do, but I think that's great progress," she said.

The number of undocumented workers arrested at raids on businesses skyrocketed from 445 to 3,651 over the same time frame.

When a comprehensive immigration bill went down in flames this summer in Congress, Chertoff said he was left with one mandate: Enforce the law. In his Thursday interview with ABC News, he was blunt, offering no apologies.

"For many years the way we dealt with illegal immigration was, we paid political lip service to toughness," he said.

Chertoff contends the government has faced a lot of resistance in the enforcement of the laws, but said, "If you believe that we need to find a way to address the need for workers and we also have to have a humane way to resolve the 11 million who are here and their status, then we do need to go to Congress. We need to get a comprehensive set of legal reforms that will address all these issues, and we've supported that."

"If you choose not to do that, and you say, no, we want enforcement, then we will enforce, and we're not just gonna pay lip service to enforcement. We're gonna enforce using all the tools that are available."

So more raids -- a lot more -- might be on the horizon.




[COMMENT BY EXPLORA: The horizon looks threatening.]

ATTITUDES ON HIRING ARE SHIFTING

AS RULING NEARS, FIRMS ONCE LAX ON UNDOCUMENTED WORKER ISSUE NOW SEEK COMPLIANCE

By JENALIA MORENO
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 4, 2007, 11:30PM

Uncertainty over a planned federal crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers is keeping Houston immigration lawyers, human resources consultants and staffing agencies busy.

Unsure how a federal judge in California will rule on the issue, some employers are worried about the fines and penalties they could face and want help, local experts say.

In August, the Department of Homeland Security issued regulations telling employers to fire workers whose Social Security numbers don't match names in a federal database.

Those who don't fire the workers within 93 days of receiving "no-match" letters risk fines and penalties.

Issued by the agency since the late 1970s, according to an administration spokesman, these no-match letters are mailed every year after the government receives workers' income tax forms.

But experts said employers sometimes ignored these no-match letters.

"Employers kind of got lax about it," said Haynes and Boone immigration attorney Leigh Ganchan, who has received more calls from clients concerned about no-match letters lately. "I had some companies say, 'In the past, I just threw those no-match letters in a corner because I didn't know what to do with them.' "

The government wanted that to change with its regulation that was to take effect Sept. 14.

California will receive the most no-match letters for 2006 with 35,474, followed by Texas at 12,713 letters. All told, 138,447 no-match letters will be issued.

But if and when that new rule will go into effect is in the hands of U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney, who issued a temporary restraining order to stop the government from imposing it last month after labor groups, trade associations and others filed suit.

In Houston, both the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Houston Partnership have gone on record as opposing the rule.

Until Chesney issues her decision, which is expected sometime this month, attorneys and human resources experts are giving their clients information about homeland security's regulations.

"It is a wait-and-see situation as to what the outcome of the courts will be," said Dan Calvert, director of operations for Houston-based human resources firm Achilles Group.

Some said the ruling is driving more business owners to seek help from human resources firms and attorneys.

Attorney Jacob Monty of Houston's Monty Partners employs 30 people to perform mock investigations of a company's I-9s, forms that verify an employee's eligibility to work. In the summer, only 10 people worked with him on that year-old service.

"It is next to impossible for small- to medium-size business owners to remain focused on running their business if they have to try to understand and comply with the complexities associated with intricate employment law issues," said Tony Grijalva, chairman and chief executive officer of G&A Partners, a Houston-based human resources, and administrative services firm. " ... this has created greater awareness for the need of outsourcing human resources. We do expect this to be one of many contributing factors to our continued growth."

The regulation also means more work for staffing firms.

Every quarter, recruiters at DiverseStaff, a Houston based staffing firm audit their files of workers. If the regulation goes into effect, recruiters will audit their files every month, said Carla Lane, the company's chief operating officer.

"When you are in the staffing business, you have to be really diligent about who you place because that could cost you a client," Lane said. "You don't want to be in trouble with the government."

Even as companies work to make sure they are meeting the laws, false-document vendors are crafting Social Security cards that match the name of the cardholder.

"These new regulations are not going to end undocumented workers in America," Monty said.

"It's great for lawyers, it's great for HR people. It's going to invite more fraud. "

COUNTY CLERKS REBEL OVER DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

PROTEST SETS THE STAGE FOR LEGAL CONFRONTATION FOR LEGAL CONFRONTATION WITH SPITZER

By Tom Precious - NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
Updated: 10/05/07 7:51 AM

ALBANY "” County clerks across New York State revolted Thursday against Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's new policy that will let illegal immigrants obtain driver's licenses, with at least a dozen counties saying they would refuse to implement the controversial program.

Setting up a major legal confrontation, the clerks from 13 counties "” including Genesee, Allegany and Monroe "” called Spitzer's policy a threat to the state's security that was rushed into without the input from legislators, law enforcement and those on the front lines who issue the licenses.

"This is a matter of safety and security for New Yorkers and Americans," said Saratoga County Clerk Kathleen Marchione, president of the statewide association of clerks, who led the rebellion against Spitzer.

Niagara County Clerk Wayne F. Jagow backed the resolution criticizing Spitzer's program, while Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, a Spitzer appointee, abstained; both counties have said they will, however, enforce the new policy when it begins in December. Neither attended the Albany meeting.

It was a case of unprecedented defiance of a governor's executive order by elected officials who legally act as agents of the state in running local motor vehicle offices. It came moments after the end of a combative session between the county clerks and Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner David J. Swarts, who heard official after official rebuke the program and urge a delay in implementing it.

Local officials said they expect the number of clerks bucking Spitzer, and legal threats by the administration, to rise. In an emergency meeting in Albany on Thursday, the clerks' association voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Spitzer license program, which could see more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants obtain driver's licenses.

Spitzer dismissed the clerks' criticism and said their resolution will make "our state less secure and our roads less safe."

The clerks said they were allowed no advance input and were surprised by the governor's policy change. It ends a rule that license applicants produce a Social Security number or document showing they are ineligible for the number.

The new policy, giving licenses to illegal immigrants with valid foreign passports, will replace a stricter requirement enacted in the months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I implore you: Give this a chance," Swarts, who had been the Erie County clerk for two decades before taking the DMV post this year, told a roomful of county officials at an Albany hotel.

But they were having none of it, and some noted that the outspoken Swarts likely would have been helping to lead their efforts if he had not been appointed DMV commissioner by Spitzer.

"There is no reason this has to go through so rapidly," said Genesee County Clerk Don Read. He criticized Spitzer for having "circumvented" the State Legislature and others in not seeking consent or advice about a policy that Swarts himself acknowledged is a "monumental" change for the state. Read said that unless his county lawyers advised otherwise, he will not implement the policy.

The intensifying battle over the Spitzer plan comes as a poll by Zogby International found that 58 percent of likely voters statewide "” and 65 percent upstate "” oppose relaxing the licensing standards. Sixty-one percent of women and 58 percent of men do not favor the policy, the poll found, while 42 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans oppose it.

Joining the fray Thursday were the state's Catholic bishops, who sided with Spitzer, unions and immigration groups in pushing the policy change. Others, including law enforcement, are cautiously watching the developments.

"The initial reaction is it doesn't look like good policy, but we're open to listening to the arguments," said Peter R. Kehoe, executive director of a statewide association of county sheriffs, whose members are scheduled to meet on the issue Oct. 17 in Albany.

The state runs DMV offices on Long Island, New York City and Westchester, Albany and Onondaga counties. In the other counties, the county clerks are the DMV agents.

The clerks' resolution condemning the Spitzer policy fell largely along partisan lines. Of the 29 clerks backing it, only one is a Democrat. Three Democrats opposed it, and three abstained.

In their meeting with Swarts, the clerks rejected Spitzer's contention that the policy promotes safer roads by encouraging illegal immigrants to get licenses and insurance policies.

Spitzer says new technologies coming with the policy will make New York licenses more secure. Swarts announced that Spitzer will propose legislation to require that anyone getting a license in New York be a resident of the state.

But clerks said such aspects of the program already should be in place, and they questioned why the Spitzer administration has not figured out how it will prove residency for a license. But, mostly, it was a debate over security in a state where terrorism has hit home.

Over and over again, Swarts urged the clerks to avoid a debate over the policy and to focus on implementing it. "The policy is made. The governor is not going to backtrack on that policy," Swarts told them.

Despite the criticism, the Spitzer administration is moving quickly to start the program, and Swarts said he heard nothing from the clerks that will delay the policy.

Swarts said the change will require the hiring of 20 additional driving test workers, the installation of hundreds of new machines to process applications with new security procedures, and longer office hours.

Swarts, who railed against the "hysteria" and false information he said was created following the policy change, said the state is concerned about New York becoming "a magnet" for illegal aliens coming from other states trying to get the licenses. That, he said, is one of the reasons for a proposed new residency requirement and tougher anti-fraud techniques.

The county clerks believe they will be violating federal laws by knowingly providing government identification to illegal aliens. Several said the state should let counties opt out of the program. They said they also are being asked by Albany to serve as immigration officers in checking the validity of passports, something they are not qualified to do.

The state warned the clerks that they could face a lawsuit and perhaps lose DMV revenues if they don't accept the policy.

tprecious@buffnews.com

THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY



DEPORTATION FEARS PROMPT EXODUS FROM TEXAS CITY'S SCHOOLS

By Warren Mass
Published: 2007-10-05 18:21

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:
Irving, Texas, Independent School District Superintendent Jack Singley announced on October 3 that an estimated 90 children have withdrawn from the city's schools in the past week because of the deportation fears.

Follow this link to the original source: "Students withdraw as deportation fears reach Irving schools"

COMMENTARY:
Irving, Texas, one of the larger suburbs of Dallas with an estimated population of around 200,000, is best known as the location of Texas Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. It is an ethnically diverse city where about one-third of the population is of Hispanic origin. Last year about 66 percent of Irving's public school students were Hispanic and 36 percent had limited English skills "” the highest percentage of any school district in North Texas.

Irving was in the news this week because of apparent fallout stemming from the Irving Police Department's policy, begun last year, of cooperating with federal immigration authorities to identify illegal immigrants who have been arrested, and turn that information over to immigration authorities so deportation proceedings can be initiated. The Mexican Consulate recently began warning Mexican citizens to stay out of Irving because the city's police department has been cooperating with federal immigration authorities to identify illegal immigrants who have been arrested so they can be deported. Irving police have turned over more than 1,600 people to immigration officials since the program began.

In an October 3 interview with the Dallas Morning News, Irving Mayor Herbert Gears defended the fairness of his city's policy, stating: "If they're not being booked into our jail, there's nothing they should be worried about."

Mayor Gears assured parents that they need not fear that immigration officials or police would pick up their children from school campuses. Nevertheless, he stated that many Irving residents support the City Council's immigration policy, because illegal immigrants overburden social services and overcrowd public schools.

In public statements made during the mayor's human relations advisory committee meeting on October 2, Superintendent Singley seemed more concerned about the plight of illegal immigrants than about the plight of Irving's taxpayers, who must pay the bill to educate the children of those who have no legal right to be in this country. (Perhaps the educational budget is determined by total school enrollment "” legal or illegal.) The Morning News article reported that Mr. Singley said he does not know how many illegal immigrant children attend Irving schools, adding that school districts usually do not verify the immigration status of their students and that public schools are required to provide a "free" education to illegal immigrant children.

We wonder if Irving taxpayers, when reviewing the portion of their property tax bill allocated for the Irving ISD, regard so-called public education as "free."

There are two equally important, though separate, issues coming into play in this story that are worthy of comment.

The first is the injustice of forcing taxpaying, law-abiding U.S. citizens to bear the oppressive burden of financing the education "” and other social services "” provided to thousands of illegal immigrants who legally have no right to be in this country. One might as well require homeowners to feed, clothe, and educate the children of burglars breaking into their homes.

The second issue is not as often discussed, because public education has been institutionalized in our nation for so long that most people regard it as a right. Public education, as the term is usually used in this country, is a misnomer, however. In the United Kingdom, where more precise English prevails, "public schools" (e.g., Eton) are independent schools generally open to any fee-paying member of the public. In Britain, the more accurate terms "state school" and "county school" are used for schools provided at public expense.

Americans who are critical of the so-called public education system generally prefer the term "government schools" to refer to those institutions supported by the taxpayers through local property taxes, and subsidized by federal education funds.

Whatever they are called, however, public schools are the result of a concept of state-controlled education imported from socialist Prussia by 19th century "progressive" educators such as Horace Mann. They are politically, intellectually, and morally dangerous "” and financially unjust.

Politically, intellectually, and morally dangerous, because, by placing control of the curriculum under authority of the state, they give the state the power to determine what children shall be taught, including what moral values should be imparted.

Financially unjust, because they force taxpayers who have no need for public education (the childless, and those whose children have grown), as well as those who choose alternate education for their children (in religious schools, or by homeschooling) to shoulder a responsibility that rightfully belongs to the parents of the children being educated.

In Irving, Texas, today, we see the convergence of two bad ideas (poor federal immigration enforcement and coercive public education), and one good solution. The city's policy of cooperating in the deportation of illegal immigrants is the correct one.



Warren Mass
Warren is the Editor for the John Birch Society Bulletin.
[IMG]http://www.jbs.org/modules/bio/bio_image.php?image=/files/wmass 200.JPG[/IMG]



[COMMENT BY EXPLORA: They're probably a bunch of crazy komakozie pilots who flew over the Himalayas.]]

28 ARRESTED IN CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH GANG TIES

By Sam Quinones
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:42 PM PDT, October 5, 2007

In an ongoing crackdown, 28 foreign nationals suspected of having ties to street gangs in the San Fernando Valley were arrested by federal agents this morning during sweeps throughout Los Angeles County.

The arrests concentrated on members of 15 gangs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

Among them was Jorge Torres, 31, a reputed member of the Project Boys in Pacoima whose criminal record includes convictions for drug violations as well as battery on a police officer, officials said. Torres, who has been deported five times, has been indicted by the U.S. attorney's office on charges of reentry after deportation.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Today's sweep is part of an ICE crackdown on illegal immigrants with gang affiliations in the San Fernando Valley, beginning with a sweep in September that resulted in nine arrests. Those arrested today are believed to have ties to the Canoga Park Alabama, San Fer, Vineland Boys, Blythe Street and Project Boys gangs.

Of those arrested, 21 are illegal immigrants and seven had legal residency status that is now being revoked, officials said. Most are from Mexico; others hail from Guatemala and El Salvador.

sam.quinones@latimes.com

DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Reported by: Staci-Lyn Honda
Email: StaciLynHonda@ClearChannel.com
Last Update: 5:42 pm

The backlash is growing. But New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is continuing to defend his decision to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

"I don't think they should be able to get it because they're illegally here. Therefore they shouldn't be able to get legal documents," said Beth Patterson of Big Flats.

"I don't think it's a good idea, we should discourage illegal immigrants coming to this country," said Syed Hoda of Big Flats.But neighbors aren't the only ones who are speaking out against Spitzer's plan.

Earlier this week, Republican Chemung County legislator Joe Brennan introduced a resolution that opposed the plan, saying it's illegal and could lead to election fraud.

Now at least 13 county clerks across the state say they will not obey the policy.

"A lot of people in good faith don't understand the issue. I'm upset with those who are using this to inflame the unfortunate discourse about immigration," said New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Spitzer argues the plan would make people in the empire state safer.

He says it would create records and allow government officials to keep track of illegal immigrants.

"We don't want people to be in the shadows, we don't want people to be using false id's or to have no id," said Spitzer.

"At least that way we're checking up on them and finding out what they're doing," said Bob Bellman of Catlin.

The Chemung County clerk would not give an opinion on the plan, but says she will follow it.

Steuben and Schuyler County clerks did not return our calls for comment.

The plan is set to take effect in January.

"Once you have a driver's license you can go do a lot of other things here and there, because that comes with your license to do other things," said Hoda.