JUDGE DELAYS KEY ELEMENT OF BUSH STRATEGY ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

By Julia Preston Published: October 11, 2007

A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco has ordered an indefinite delay to a central measure of the Bush administration's new strategy to curb illegal immigration.

Charles Breyer, a judge for the Northern District of California, said Wednesday that the government had failed to follow proper procedures for issuing a new rule that would have forced employers to fire employees if their Social Security numbers could not be verified within three months.

Breyer chastised the Department of Homeland Security for making a policy change with "massive ramifications" for employers without giving any legal explanation or conducting a required survey of the costs for small business.

Under the rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which had been scheduled to take effect Sept. 14, employers would be forced to fire workers within 90 days of receiving a notice from the Social Security Administration that an employee's identity information did not match the agency's records. Illegal immigrants in the United States often present false Social Security information when applying for jobs.

The rule, announced with fanfare in August by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, was the linchpin of the administration's effort to crack down on illegal immigration by denying jobs to undocumented immigrants. It is part of a campaign of stepped-up enforcement after broader immigration legislation favored by President George W. Bush was rejected by Congress in June.

If allowed to take effect, the judge found, the rule could lead to the firing of many thousands of legally authorized workers, resulting in "irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers."

The decision brought relief to members of the coalition behind the lawsuit, including the AFL-CIO union federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which are usually adversaries.

They had feared the measure would bring mass layoffs in low-wage industries, sweeping up both illegal and legal workers and disrupting the labor force. It was a disappointment for Chertoff, a former judge, who was relying on the rule as an enforcement tool after Congress left him with few options.



????
Chertoff said the administration was doing "as much administratively as we can, within the boundaries of existing law," to reduce illegal immigration. He called on Congress to revisit legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants.????
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Some conservative lawmakers, who argue for vigorous enforcement of immigration laws, said they were outraged.

"What part of 'illegal' does Judge Breyer not understand?" said Representative Brian Bilbray, Republican of California and chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus. "Judge Breyer is compromising the rule-of-law principles that he took an oath to uphold."

Before it took effect, the rule was held up temporarily on Aug. 31 by another judge in the San Francisco court, Maxine Chesney, who was sitting in for Breyer at the time.

On Wednesday, Breyer ordered a halt to the rule until the court could reach a final decision, which could take months. He also made it clear that he was skeptical of the government's arguments.

The decision also bars the Social Security Administration from sending out about 141,000 no-match letters, covering more than eight million employees, which include notices from Homeland Security explaining the new rule.

"A primer for anyone who cares to better understand the usually unseen cost of America's appetite for cheap labor."
- The New York Times

Farmingville

Directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, P.O.V. presents FARMINGVILLE, a provocative, complex and emotionally charged look into the ongoing nationwide controversy surrounding a suburban community, its ever-expanding population of illegal immigrants, and the shockingly hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers.

In the late 1990s, some 1,500 Mexican workers moved to the leafy, middle-class town of Farmingville, population 15,000. In some ways, it's a familiar American story: an influx of illegals crossing the border from Mexico to do work the locals won't; rising tensions with the Anglo population; charges and counter-charges of lawlessness and racism; protest marches, unity rallies and internet campaigns - then vicious hate crimes that tear the community apart. But this isn't the story of a California, Texas or other Southwestern city. It's the endlessly enthralling tale of Farmingville, New York, on Long Island.

Sharply directed with great intimacy by co-producers Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini, both of whom moved to Farmingville after the tumultuous clash catapulted the town into national headlines, FARMINGVILLE is an astounding glimpse into an issue that continues to anger, frighten and confuse the many faces of America.


Visit the official website for FARMINGVILLE's theatrical release at:

Visit the official website for FARMINGVILLE's theatrical release at: www.farmingvillethemovie.com

FARMINGVILLE

James Greenberg
Jan 21, 2004

Camino Bluffs Pictures

PARK CITY -- The undercurrent of fear, paranoia and hostility brewing in the country comes home to roost in "Farmingville," Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval's disturbing documentary about xenophobia in suburbia.

A normally conservative and staid working-class community on Long Island, Farmingville becomes galvanized around the issue of illegal aliens from Mexico who have settled in town looking for work as day laborers. The strength of the film is its presentation of a complex national issue as it rears its ugly head on a local level. The POV Production will make provocative television with a good chance for afterlife in the classroom.

The events of 2000-2001 depicted in the film, including the brutal beating of two immigrants, are especially timely in light of recent efforts to forge a new national immigration policy, one that will no doubt be unpopular to the majority of Farmingville residents.

One local faction, led by Margaret Bianculli-Dyber, a burly New York high school teacher, argues that deportation is the best policy. National activists like the heinous Glenn Spencer, from a group called American Patrol, flock to Farmingville to throw fuel on the fire. They imagine the immigrants coming to reconquer and take over the country, and together they sing "God Bless America."

Saner voices try to prevail with the creation of a job center where the newcomers can congregate and wait for work. But this measure is ultimately defeated.

Tambini and Sandoval lived in the community for a year and present the story with great immediacy. The film could have benefited from some deeper analysis of why these people feel their way of life is so threatened. But any way you look at it, it's a sobering view of where this country could be headed.

BUT ANY WAY YOU LOOK AT IT, IT'S A SOBERING VIEW OF WHERE THIS COUNTRY COULD BE HEADED.

EsLaHora.com

It is important to take action.

Stay informed.

Please take action in a manner that you are able.

Our voices of reason will make a difference.

Su Voto Es Su Voz!

EsLaHora. com (English Translation: "It's time.") provides information in Spanish and English to ensure Latinos in Georgia will become more engaged and educated voters.

The toll free number is 888.54GALEO (888.544.2536).

To learn more, please follow this link: http://www.eslahora.com

GALEO CONTINUES WITH YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/GALEO2007

Please follow the link and view the videos. There are a total of three video postings (A, B, C) and please watch and rate all three. In summary:

Sen. Rogers angrily claims that Fighting 529 is a "propaganda film".
Despite his preaching on "enforce all laws all the time", Sen. Rogers admits he violates speeding laws and justifies his law-breaking because he "may" get caught.
Contrary to the facts, Sen. Rogers claims he wrote SB529 all by himself.
Sen. Rogers defends the Minutemen, largely regarded as vigilante groups across the nation.
Sen. Rogers questions President Bush's honesty.
Watch all three videos yourself and share with others.

http://www.youtube.com/GALEO2007

MAYOR, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FOE, SAYS 'SI' TO SPANISH

9:30 AM EDT, October 12, 2007

MORRISTOWN, N.J. - A New Jersey mayor who drew national attention for wanting to crack down on illegal immigrants is learning to speak Spanish.

Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello says he began taking classes last month at the County College of Morris.

According to Cresitello, he got an 85 on his first test. The course meets for 75 minutes, twice a week, through December.

"It's a little bit more difficult than I thought," Cresitello told the Daily Record of Parsippany for Friday newspapers.

The 61-year-old Cresitello joked to the newspaper that it was hard to "memorize all these new words."

Cresitello has been an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration. He's applied for a federal program that trains and deputizes officers as immigration agents.

After Cresitello spoke at an anti-illegal immigration rally over the summer, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie accused him of grandstanding on the issue.

Cresitello insists his anti-illegal immigration stance has nothing to do with prejudice against a particular group.

___

Information from: Daily Record, http://www.dailyrecord.com

More articles

Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA, TULSA


FREE PRENATAL HEALTH CARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS MAY BE ON THE WAY

Reported by: J.R. Stone
Email: jrstone@fox23.com
Last Update: 6:46 am

Free prenatal health care for illegal immigrants could be coming

(TULSA, Okla.) October 12 - Free health care could be on the way for some illegal immigrants here in Oklahoma.

The health care authority approved the measure yesterday, but Governor Henry still needs to sign off on it.

This new proposal has some lawmakers calling for the state attorney general to get involved because they think this new rule is illegal. Here's how it would work...

Right now, illegal immigrants are not eligible to receive health care. This new policy would provide free prenatal care to all illegal immigrants.

Those in favor of this policy claim a lack of prenatal care ends up costing the state more in the long run.

Taxpayers will end up footing the bill. Supporters claim for every dollar spent on preventative care, $13 is actually saved. Supporters say the preventative care will reduce health problems that typically plague undocumented women with babies such as low birth weight.

Of course, there is opposition to this plan. In less than a month house bill 1804 goes into effect. Called one of the toughest immigration bills in the country, this new proposal now seems to contradict it.

FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT SAYS U.S. 'DENYING ITS IMMIGRANTS'


Mexican ex-president decries Irving policy, says book is a reminder

09:25 AM CDT on Friday, October 12, 2007
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News


NEW YORK – Vicente Fox is adjusting to life after the Mexican presidency, but in a new book and a lengthy interview, he returns to the contentious issue he made the centerpiece of his six-year administration: immigration.



The Associated Press Mr. Fox will be in Dallas today as part of a tour to promote his book, Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President. In an interview Sunday, he also talked about allegations of financial impropriety against him and his family, along with his views of President Bush, and the U.S. presidential campaign.

But Mr. Fox consistently returned to the topic of immigration.

"The United States is denying its immigrant soul," he said. He pointed to the controversy in Irving, where police are working with federal immigration officials in a crackdown against illegal immigrants, a policy resulting in "repression and unjustified fear," Mr. Fox said.

"What is happening in Irving, Texas, is disturbing, deeply troubling," he said. "It shows that the anti-immigrant mood that I confronted in the U.S. Congress has now reached the public at large."

Irving Mayor Herbert Gears said Thursday that officials there are not trying to weigh in on the national immigration debate.

"We're simply attending to our local responsibility to involve any measure available to improve the quality of life for all people that live in our city, including immigrants," he said.

Mr. Gears said law enforcement officials are bound by federal laws and have a duty to uphold them.

"It should not disturb or deeply trouble anyone that a municipality is committed to enforcing existing laws," he said.

Mr. Fox still displays some of the personal style that made him popular as president. Dressed in his trademark blue shirt and cowboy boots, Mr. Fox walked through the lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel without bodyguards or aides, waving at bystanders. He sat down at a restaurant table and immediately shook hands with waiters, a busboy and a cook who came to greet him.

Most were illegal immigrants from Mexico, and all expressed concern over what they referred to as an "ugly climate" against them. Mr. Fox listened to their stories.

Mr. Fox said he decided to write the book in English and release it first in the United States as way to remind the American public "of its rich immigrant soul, its heritage that is now threatened by fear, xenophobia."

He endorsed the strategy of his successor, Felipe Calderón, of having Mexico's 47 consulates in the U.S. take a more aggressive stand in defending the rights of its migrants.

Mr. Fox acknowledged that he had unsuccessfully lobbied his friend Vicente Guerrero Reynoso, mayor of León, Guanajuato, to cancel a trip to Irving – a sister city of León – as a way of "supporting our paisanos and of sending a message to Texas authorities that we will not tolerate these acts of hate against our people. This is no way of treating a sister city."

He added: "Many of the people from my hometown of San Cristóbal are people I grew up with, honest, hardworking men I played marbles with as kids, and who later had to migrate to North Texas, Dallas. Of course it hurts when these cities deny the people you grew up with and treat [them] like criminals."

In his book, he writes about his grandfather, Joseph Fox, an Irish immigrant who migrated to Cincinnati and later to Guanajuato in the 1890s "in search of his own American dream." Joseph Fox never learned Spanish as he worked his way up from night watchman at a carriage factory to prosperous plantation owner.

"My grandfather embodied the dream of many Latin Americans and Americans who believe the American dream exists, whether in the United States, Mexico, or other parts of Latin America," he said. "That says something about the universality of immigration."

Mr. Fox made history in 2000 when he became the first opposition politician to win the presidency after 71 years of autocratic rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

His call for immigration reform, free trade and regional prosperity has at times been overshadowed by allegations of influence-peddling by relatives, charges that he called "lies, lies and more lies."

During his administration, his wife, Marta Sahagún de Fox, and her sons faced allegations of influence-peddling to win government contracts for the sons. No allegations were proved, despite a congressional inquiry, and the family has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr. Fox also faces a possible congressional inquiry for improvements made at his ranch, where he is building a presidential library.

He said that during last year's presidential campaign, he made many enemies in the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, as well as the former ruling party.

"It's politics," he said of the allegations against him. "There are many people who aren't happy with me, people from the PRI and PRD. And no, I'm not in favor of a congressional inquiry, because I don't think any president should go through that witch hunt."

Pressed on specific allegations, such as whether he received a Jeep from a businessman in exchange for a seat on the board of his wife's foundation, Mr. Fox said the vehicle belongs to his wife. He encouraged anyone questioning his personal finances to log on to centrofox .org.mx, where "my finances are an open book," he said.

He said that another vehicle on his property, a Hummer, belonged to secret service agents assigned to protect him. He said that home improvements featured in Quien, a celebrity magazine, were done to make his home suitable for welcoming world dignitaries, and that he paid for all the work. In his book, Mr. Fox recalls an all-night dinner with Fidel Castro, "the region's most infamous revolutionary," a man who he says had a "strange habit of pulling his ears between every bite of food."

Mr. Fox also praises the Cuban leader's "inexhaustible energy and brilliant, diverse intelligence."

He takes "gentle" jabs at his "amigo" President Bush and says that the Iraq war tested their friendship. He pokes fun at Mr. Bush's "grade-school-level Spanish" but praises his "cultural sensitivity" toward Hispanics and his "real compassion for the Latino citizens" of Texas that "goes well beyond political practicality."

He says it's time for a woman to be elected president in the United States to help the country "regain its compassionate side."

"This country, this world, needs love," he said, "and I think a female president is more capable" of delivering that.


Staff writer Brandon Formby in Dallas contributed to this report.

ATTORNEY: NEW LAW COULD CREATE 'IMMIGRATION WIDOWS'

AP
Posted: 2007-10-12 10:12:45

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A law intended to crack down on illegal immigration could break apart families and boost the state's welfare roles, an attorney with a Hispanic client base says.

The law, which goes into effect Nov. 1, could force women who are U.S. citizens to seek state aid for themselves and their children when their illegal immigrant husbands are deported, attorney Michael Brooks-Jimenez said Thursday.

"Hundreds of women whose husbands are going to be deported as a result of this law will have no other alternative other than to just leave and go to Mexico with their U.S.-citizen children or to go on public assistance here," he said.

"The heartbreak right now is that I don't think that it was fully thought out what the impact of this law was going to be," Brooks-Jimenez said. "You're going to have immigration widows ... (who) are not going to have the breadwinners that they always had before."

It's likely the state Department of Human Services may have to take into custody American-born children whose parents are both in the state illegally and face deportation, he said.

"Instead of taking burdens off the (state) system, this law's going to create additional burdens on the system," Brooks-Jimenez said.

Brooks-Jimenez made the comments after speaking during an annual Latino Heritage Celebration at the state Capitol.

State Rep. Randy Terrill, author of the legislation to cut off some public benefits for illegal immigrants, called such scenarios "highly unlikely and improbable."

"People to whom this would be happening would be people who have voluntarily made the decision to enter the country or remain here in violation of federal immigration law," said Terrill, R-Moore. "It is unfortunate but perhaps possible in some limited number of cases that you would end up with some fairly sad stories. ... The commission of crime has consequences."

Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com

EVEN ALLIES DIVIDED IN IRVIING'S IMMIGRATION FIGHT



UNITED IN OPPOSITION TO MIGRANT POLICY, ONE GROUP GETS AGFRESSIVE WHILE OTHR URGES DIALOGUE

04:54 AM CDT on Friday, October 12, 2007
By BRANDON FORMBY and DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News

Opponents of Irving's use of a controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement program have parted ways over how best to express their disdain to city leaders.

"Everybody has their opinion as far as which way things should be done," said Jose Galvez, an organizer of Saturday's planned rally to protest the city's actions.

The march will come less than a month after more than 1,000 protesters rallied at Irving City Hall and called for an end to the city's use of the Criminal Alien Program.

The program provides around-the-clock communication with federal authorities. Irving officials say that they aren't deporting anyone but rather working with federal officials in a program open to all cities. Police have turned over more than 1,600 people to ICE in the last year.

A separate volunteer group, Citizens for Immigration Reform, will gather at Irving City Hall on Saturday in support of police and the program.


An aggressive style

Saturday's protest march and rally are being planned by Accion America. The Dallas-based group is headed by Carlos Quintanilla, a Dallas community activist known for his aggressive style in immigration controversies in Farmers Branch and "cheese" heroin battles in Dallas.

Mr. Quintanilla helped organize last month's Irving rally. But in recent days, even activists who participated in that rally have tried to distance themselves from Mr. Quintanilla and Accion America.

"He's coming to our city and projecting himself above all the people who have been living here all these years," said Anthony Bond, an Irving community activist.

Mr. Bond and some Irving Hispanic religious leaders this week formed Irving Forward. They said Mr. Quintanilla is getting involved in an Irving issue and is doing more harm than good. They said his group's rally would needlessly stir up tensions surrounding illegal immigration.

"I don't think it's very productive," said Rene Castilla, a North Lake College official. "Everyone knows what our concerns are."

But Mr. Quintanilla said Irving's use of CAP involves relatives living outside Irving and anyone who drives through the city.

"It is irresponsible, illogical and almost foolish to say it's an Irving problem," Mr. Quintanilla said.


Meeting with leaders

Members of Irving Forward met with Mayor Herbert Gears and City Manager Tommy Gonza*** last week about their concerns with CAP. They want city officials to develop a strong education campaign aimed at the Hispanic community, calm fears within the Hispanic community and explore what kinds of identification illegal immigrants should carry so they are not arrested.

After the meeting, a group of pastors and immigrant leaders gathered at an Irving restaurant where Mr. Quintanilla and others questioned their strategy of diplomacy and advocacy.

Mr. Quintanilla accused the group of being too quiet in its approach and said he should have been included in the closed-door meeting with city officials.

"I want us to commit to work together," he said.

But Mr. Bond disagreed.

"The agenda is not about Carlos, but what is happening to these thousands of Hispanics here," he said.

Mr. Quintanilla was soon talking of a targeted boycott of commerce at the sprawling mall in Irving. And the sparring over strategy didn't let up.

"Let me applaud you for getting us to this point," Mr. Castilla said at the lunch. "But we can't negotiate with you in the room. Your voice is too loud and too strong."

But Mr. Quintanilla defended his style of activism. He said he was responsible for bringing "thousands" of people to Irving for the previous demonstration.

"They think I am a hero," he said. "I am a good defender of the people. I don't sell people out."

bformby@dallasnews.com ;

dsolis@dallasnews.com

OKLAHOMA

IMMIGRATION LAWS CAUSING MANY FAMILIES SERIOUS PROBLEMS

Oklahoma Insider
Fri October 12, 2007

Immigration law

House Bill 1804, which mostly goes into effect Nov. 1, touches several subjects. Among other things, it:

"¢Forbids offering in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants. Those already enrolled as in-state students when the bill takes effect will keep that status.

"¢Forces contractors working with the state to check workers' documents against a federal database.

"¢Empowers local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws.

"¢Stops any state-offered public benefits for illegal immigrants, including food stamps and child care subsidies.

"¢Increases penalties for those caught trafficking illegal immigrants.

"¢Opens private businesses up to lawsuits if they hire illegal immigrants. This provision will take effect July 1.

"¢The law does not prohibit illegal immigrants from attending public schools.


Oklahoma's immigration law that takes effect Nov. 1 will create hundreds of "immigration widows" and could result in the state paying more in welfare benefits, an Oklahoma City attorney said Thursday.

Michael Brooks-Jimenez, whose clients are 85 percent Hispanic, said women who are U.S. citizens may have to seek state aid for themselves and their children when their immigrant husbands who are in Oklahoma illegally are deported.

"Hundreds of women whose husbands are going to be deported as a result of this law will have no other alternative other than to just leave and go to Mexico with their U.S.-citizen children or to go on public assistance here," he said.

"The heartbreak right now is that I don't think that it was fully thought out what the impact of this law was going to be," Brooks-Jimenez said. "You're going to have immigration widows ... (who) are not going to have the breadwinners that they always had before."

It's likely the state Department of Human Services may have to take into custody American-born children whose parents are both in the state illegally and face deportation, he said.

"Instead of taking burdens off the (state) system, this law's going to create additional burdens on the system," Brooks-Jimenez said.

Brooks-Jimenez said he is disappointed lawmakers who wrote the immigration bill did not consult with local immigration attorneys and advocates.

Brooks-Jimenez made the comments after speaking during an annual Latino Heritage Celebration at the state Capitol. About 270 elementary and high school students who participated in an essay contest on the Hispanic culture were among the hundreds who attended the event, which featured dancers and food.

Fears rebutted
State Rep. Randy Terrill, author of legislation earlier this year who that off most public benefits for illegal immigrants, called such scenarios "highly unlikely and improbable."
"People to whom this would be happening would be people who have voluntarily made the decision to enter the country or remain here in violation of federal immigration law," said Terrill, R-Moore. "It is unfortunate but perhaps possible in some limited number of cases that you would end up with some fairly sad stories. ... The commission of crime has consequences."

CRACKDOWN UPENDS SLAUGHTERHOUSE'S WORK FORCE


Davis Turner/Polaris for The New York Times


"A lot of the people who left or were detained were strong union supporters," said Gabriel Lopez Rivera, a Smithfield worker.

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: October 12, 2007

TAR HEEL, N.C. "” Last November, immigration officials began a crackdown at Smithfield Foods's giant slaughterhouse here, eventually arresting 21 illegal immigrants at the plant and rousting others from their trailers in the middle of the night.

Since then, more than 1,100 Hispanic workers have left the 5,200-employee hog-butchering plant, the world's largest, leaving it struggling to find, train and keep replacements.

Across the country, the federal effort to flush out illegal immigrants is having major effects on workers and employers alike. Some companies have reluctantly raised wages to attract new workers following raids at their plants.

After several hundred immigrant employees at its plant in Stillmore, Ga., were arrested, Crider Poultry began recruiting Hmong workers from Minnesota, hiring men from a nearby homeless mission and providing free van transportation to many workers.

So far, Smithfield has largely replaced the Hispanics with American workers, who often leave poorly paid jobs for higher wages at the plant here. But the turnover rate for new workers "” many find the work grueling and the smell awful "” is twice what it was when Hispanics dominated the work force.

Making Smithfield's recruiting challenge even harder is the fact that many local residents have worked there before and soured on the experience. As a result, Smithfield often looks far afield for new employees.

Fannie Worley, a longtime resident of Dillon, S.C., a largely African-American town of sagging trailers and ramshackle bungalows, quit her $5.25-an-hour, part-time job making beds at a Days Inn motel four months ago to take a $10.75-an-hour job at Smithfield. But Ms. Worley remains ambivalent.

"It pays a lot better," she said. "But the trip is too long."

Around 1 p.m. each day, C. J. Bailey, a Smithfield worker, picks up Ms. Worley and 10 other employees in his big white van. They arrive at the plant around 2:15, and he drops them back home after 1 a.m.

Several of the newly hired workers in the van "” they pay $40 a week for the ride "” said they were thinking of quitting, unhappy about having to commute so far and work so hard. At the plant, where the pay averages around $12 an hour, many spend hour after hour slitting hogs' throats, hacking at shoulders and carving ribs and loins. At the end of their shifts, many workers complain that their muscles are sore and their minds are numb.

Employee turnover has long been a problem at Smithfield and other meat-processing plants, but the problem has grown worse recently. Dennis Pittman, a Smithfield spokesman, said 60 percent of the new workers quit within 90 days of being hired, compared with 25 percent to 30 percent two years ago when many new employees were illegal immigrants.

"I've heard officials from a couple of other meat processors say they've never seen such high turnover with new workers," Mr. Pittman said.

Several Southern companies have raised wages to attract new workers after immigration raids. "But that's not the first thing that employers are going to do," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "They're going to try to cast their net wider before they do something that will raise costs."

Smithfield, for example, has run a flood of television advertisements boasting that the company is a good, safe place to work. The advertisements aim to persuade Carolinians to apply for jobs and to counter arguments made by a union trying to organize the plant that Smithfield jobs are high stress and unsafe, with stingy benefits.

One of the toughest challenges, Mr. Pittman said, has been training new employees to handle the highest-skilled jobs at a plant that processes 30,000 hogs a day.

"The big problem is we lost a lot of people who were there a long time," Mr. Pittman said. "We have been facing difficulties in hiring for a number of years, because as the economy got better, the labor market became much tighter."

When the plant opened in 1992, the area's jobless rate was high because tobacco was in retreat and textile mills were closing. Early on, most employees were black. That changed with an influx of Hispanic immigrants, most of them Mexicans, in the mid-1990s.

Chris Kromm, executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, said the Hispanics should not be viewed as shoving blacks aside, because the plant had such high turnover.

"It's not as if these jobs were stable sources of employment for creating a black middle class," Mr. Kromm said.

The way Hector David, a longtime worker from Mexico who quit in February, sees it, Smithfield had been eager to hire Hispanics because they worked so hard. "The Americans just don't work as well," Mr. David said. "In Mexico, we work from the age of 5 in the corn fields. We're used to working hard."

Mr. Pittman said Smithfield did its best to ensure that immigrant employees had legitimate documentation. But many workers said Smithfield did not look too hard at the paperwork.

Last November, the company notified 640 employees that their identity information did not match government records. In January, federal agents arrested 21 workers at the plant, and in August, helped by information the company provided, agents arrested 28 more, many at home.

Mr. Pittman said cooperating with immigration officials "serves our goal of 100 percent compliance 100 percent of the time." But for many families, the cooperation has come at a price.

Tears came to Maritza Cruz's eyes as she described the scene when immigration agents banged on her trailer door at 3 a.m. and arrested her husband, Alejandro, who faces deportation. "Everyone is very scared, especially after they arrested people at their homes," said Mrs. Cruz, who has four children and is on maternity leave from the plant.

The company and its employees are not the only ones affected by the crackdown.

Since the enforcement actions began, said Jazmin Gastelum, owner of a local Christian bookstore, La Tierra Prometida, business from Hispanic customers has plunged 40 percent at her store and two nearby Hispanic groceries. "A lot of people are going back to Mexico," Ms. Gastelum said. "And a lot who haven't moved are scared to go outside."

As for the workers who remain at the plant, many wonder why so many new employees come from South Carolina. Gene Bruskin, the director of the unionization campaign, sees a simple explanation.

"Thousands and thousands of workers from North Carolina have come through the plant, and they left, saying, ˜No way,' because they were injured or didn't want to work in such an oppressive atmosphere," Mr. Bruskin said. "This plant burned up a large number of people, and the word got around about their bad experiences."

Mr. Pittman said Smithfield had hired many workers from South Carolina because the counties close to the plant had a low unemployment rate.

The immigration arrests have also created problems for the union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has spent 15 years seeking to organize the plant.

"A lot of the people who left or were detained were strong union supporters," said Gabriel Lopez Rivera, a Smithfield worker.

Mr. Bruskin, the union official, added, "It's extremely difficult for workers to stand up for their rights when they're threatened with arrest or deportation."

The Tar Heel workers voted against unionizing in 1994 and 1997, but the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Smithfield had broken the law by intimidating and firing union supporters.

The company has called for a new election, but the union instead wants Smithfield to accept unionization through a majority sign-up, a process that would give management less opportunity to pressure workers.

In recent months, union organizers have adopted a new role, rushing to the trailers of immigrant workers facing arrest to ensure that someone can care for their children.

Union officials recently organized educational forums at a Roman Catholic church in Red Springs, where immigrant workers were advised, among other things, to sign power of attorney forms designating someone to take care of their children, finances and homes if they were arrested.

"I think all this turmoil is helping unionization," said the Rev. Carlos Arce, the priest there, "because people feel alone and unprotected, and they see that the union, along with the Catholic Church, is the only organization that is trying to help them."

DISCOUNT 'MIGRANT AIR' FLYING LEGAL, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO U.S. BORDER


Volaris is one of several discount Mexican airlines that have started up in the past two years. Up to 70 percent of their customers are migrants heading to the United States.


The Arizona Republic
Published: 10.12.2007

MEXICALI, Mexico - Among travelers, it's jokingly known as Aeromigrante - Migrant Air.
New discount airlines in Mexico are doing a brisk business shuttling migrants to the U.S. border, turning what was once a dayslong trek into an easy hop for legions of workers, both legal and illegal.

"It's much more comfortable than the bus, and about the same price," said Leopoldo Torres, 37, of Mexico City as he stretched his legs aboard Volaris Flight 190 to the border city of Mexicali.

He and a traveling companion, Julio Menéndez, paid $118 each for the three-hour flight. They planned to cross into the United States illegally through the California desert.

Such migrants have become bread-and-butter customers for airlines Volaris, Avolar, Alma, Viva Aerobus, Interjet and Click, all of which have started up in the last two years. Older carriers such as Aero California and Aviacsa have cut their prices to compete.

"The most productive routes we have are cities where you have those passengers who are traveling with the idea of the American dream," said Luis Ceceña, a spokesman for Avolar. About 70 percent of Avolar's passengers are migrants, he said.

For some airlines such as Avolar, the emphasis on migrant travel was a conscious decision, with company officials structuring their routes and fares around migrants' needs, he said. For others, it was simply a side effect of low prices, which have opened up air travel to millions of poor Mexicans.

The airlines say they treat migrants like any other passengers. The Mexican government has promised to try to slow emigration by creating jobs in Mexico. But by law, Mexican authorities and companies cannot impede the free travel of their fellow citizens, even if they suspect that they are going to cross the U.S. border illegally.

Travelers planning to cross illegally are easy to spot. At the Hermosillo airport, a major crossroads for migrants headed to the Arizona desert, they are the men traveling in groups of three and four, wearing new sneakers or hiking boots, and carrying nothing but backpacks.

"Altar! Naco! Nogales!" shouted taxi dispatcher Javier Montaño outside the airport, as he directed travelers to vans headed to the main staging grounds for illegal border crossers.

Because of the increased traffic, Mexican immigration agents now check the IDs of all arriving passengers, even on domestic flights, to try to catch Central American migrants headed to the border.

Until the flood of discount airlines began in 2005, air travel in Mexico was too expensive for most poor Mexicans. A one-way flight from Central Mexico to Tijuana ran $300 or more on the country's two flag carriers, Aeromexico and Mexicana.

For most migrants, getting to the border meant days of travel on long-distance buses. For the very poor it meant a harrowing and illegal ride on Mexico's railways while clinging to a freight car. Bandits and harassment from highway police were a constant problem.

Migrants said one factor drawing them to airlines is the increasing difficulty of crossing the border. As the United States builds fences and adds Border Patrol agents, smugglers known as coyotes or polleros have raised their fees from $1,000 to $2,000 or more.

Some of the discount airlines' fares and routes reflect their emphasis on migrants headed north, said Ceceña of Avolar.

On the day that Torres flew to Mexicali, the 144-seat Volaris jetliner was mostly full. On the return trip a week later, there were 31 passengers.

"People can say what they want, Migrant Air or whatever," Ceceña said. "It's a good business for us, and we're going to keep taking care of those customers."

Are you sick and tired of all the people that want to immigrate to America, illegally or legally for that matter? Most Americans are sick of it flushing our culture and lifestyle down the toilet.
Please come, voice your opinion and support at our discussion board. We welcome new supporters to come and discuss what can be done.
http://theruckusroom.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=immigration

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS' CHARGES ARE MINOR

IRVING: MOST IN CUSTODY FACE MISDEMEANORS, POLICE REPORT SAYS

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, October 11, 2007
By SERGIO CHAPA Al Día schapa@aldiatx.com

IRVING – Most of the charges faced by the 1,638 illegal immigrants arrested in Irving and placed in federal custody over the last 13 months are misdemeanors, according to a Police Department report released Wednesday.

The department's Immigration Enforcement Report details 3,901 local criminal charges filed against 1,638 illegal immigrants who were held at the city jail where federal officials also filed illegal immigration charges against them between Sept. 1, 2006, and Sept. 30 of this year.

The report was released after a controversy over the department's 24/7 Criminal Alien Program, which allows agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct routine telephone interviews with inmates at the city jail to determine their immigration status.

Hispanic activist Carlos Quintanilla said he and other immigration reform advocates believe the Irving Police Department is engaging in racial profiling because the overwhelming majority of the 1,638 undocumented immigrants came from Mexico and other Latin American nations.

Mr. Quintanilla said the program unfairly deports immigrants for misdemeanors. He and other activists are organizing a march and protest in downtown Irving on Saturday afternoon.

"If they had been arrested anywhere else, they would not have been deported," Mr. Quintanilla said. "They're obviously overzealously targeting our community. I think the numbers speak for themselves."

Police Department spokesman David Tull said 14,000 people were arrested in Irving during the same time, but only 1,638 of them were flagged by federal officials for illegal immigration violations.

"Part of being a respectable part of society is to follow the laws, rules and guidelines set out by the community," Officer Tull said. "The more you get away from that, the more chaos there is."

More than 63 percent of the 3,901 criminal charges filed against the 1,638 undocumented immigrants were listed as misdemeanors, ranging from outstanding traffic tickets, outstanding warrants, assault, theft, criminal mischief and prostitution.

Another 16 percent were arrested for DWI or public intoxication offenses, while almost 12 percent of the charges filed were listed as driving without a license or driving with a suspended or invalid driver's license.

The report shows that 9 percent of the criminal charges filed against the illegal immigrants were listed as felonies, including murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault and illegal drug possession.

Officer Tull said Irving police take traffic offenses very seriously and has seen a dramatic increase in the number of warrants for people who did not pay traffic tickets or complied with court orders.

According to Police Department figures, the number of tickets issued has remained about the same over the past five years, but the number of people with outstanding warrants for nonpayment or failing to comply with court orders has increased from 1 percent in fiscal 2001-02 to 15 percent in 2006-07.

Officer Tull said the majority of those warrants are for people who gave incorrect or false information to police officers and that perhaps some could be illegal immigrants who provided false names or other information.

But Mr. Quintanilla called the report an example of "backtracking," citing that the figures show that 91 percent of the illegal immigrants who were arrested committed nonviolent crimes.

He said legal immigrants with green cards can only lose their status by being convicted of felonies, not misdemeanors

quote:

Originally posted by buncco:
Are you sick and tired of all the people that want to immigrate to America, illegally or legally for that matter? Most Americans are sick of it flushing our culture and lifestyle down the toilet.
Please come, voice your opinion and support at our discussion board. We welcome new supporters to come and discuss what can be done.
http://theruckusroom.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=immigration

No thank you. I'm not interested in reading posts from your unwashed masses.

Someome12 might be interested and feel right at home there since MotherGoose calls other cultures 'idiotic.'

Guess who the moderators are? GrannySmith and MotherGoose post the majority of topics!

WHAT IF INDIANS HAD IMPOSED STRONGER IMMIGRATION LAWS?

Bob Hill


http://www.courier-journal.com
Sat., October 13, 2007

So I'm reading the story about the Louisville Metro Council having a first reading on a resolution to deny illegal immigrants some city services -- including health clinic care -- and I'm thinking about an old comedian's line:

"If our native American Indians had only developed stronger immigration laws, this country would be facing a lot fewer problems."

It's true. Think about it.

No Vikings.

No Jamestown.

No Pilgrims.

No Irish.

No Germans.

No Italians.

No Dutch.

No Poles.

No English.

No Spanish.

No Ellis Island.

No Statue of Liberty.

No George Washington.

No Betsy Ross.

No Thanksgiving.

No Fourth of July.

No Star-Spangled Banner.

Only "native" Americans.

Well, you get the picture.

Maybe.

Well, sure, you can always argue that this country wasn't offering any tax-supported benefits at the time those immigrants showed up -- and I can answer that some 40 million native-born Americans are struggling to get health benefits now in the richest and most prosperous nation in world history.

And our suddenly cost-conscious president just cut a few more million children off the health rolls.

Bottom line: We all came -- American Indians excepted -- from somewhere else. And yes, absolutely, we need immigration reform, better laws and regulations to control the flow, an immigration policy that works to the benefit of everyone.

I will never argue with that.

But if you don't believe the flow of new farm workers isn't vital to this nation, then spend some time with anyone who understands the Kentucky agriculture business.

Read the stories about how our federal government is now quietly negotiating to get more workers into our western farm fields because crops are rotting on the ground -- and the monster Republican agribusiness community is behind the push.

These are not jobs Americans will take -- what's to stop them from taking them now?

Immigration reform is maybe the one issue on which President Bush will find common ground with many of his opponents -- and it needs rational, reasonable approaches with appropriate penalties, not resolutions that only appeal to the worst of human instincts and emotions.

There is just no good, practical, fair or compassionate way to round up millions of undocumented farm or factory workers already here and ship them back to Mexico. It might sound appealing to people who need that kind of feel-good emotional lift, but it will not solve the issue.

Louisville Metro Council member Doug Hawkins -- who has pushed the resolution that could deny illegal immigrants some city services -- said he doesn't know of a single instance in which an illegal immigrant has sought city services. But he believes the problem is coming.

Hawkins, R-25th, took some Democratic heat for that, but he is right. All political semantics aside, his alleged "problem" is already here. The sheer numbers tell us that.

We just don't know to what degree -- and I'm thinking the good people in the public health care business are much more interested in curing illness than keeping score of patients by country of origin or skin color.

I've read the astronomical numbers offered by those who agree with Hawkins indicating illegal immigrants cost hundreds of billions in tax-dollar-services a year.

That's nonsense -- they are also consumers, pay sales tax. Many with bogus documents pay state and federal taxes they will never receive in retirement.

So wouldn't it be better to find a way to have all of them pay all the taxes we do all the time? What could be more American that that?

Bob Hill's column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Reach him at (502) 582-4646 or bhill@courier-journal.com. Comment on this column, and read his blog and previous columns, at www.courier-journal.com/bobhill.

THE LIVES BEHIND IMMIGRANT LAWSUIT

PR. WILLIAM PLAINTIFFS OF DIVERSE STATUS

By Theresa Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 14, 2007; Page C01

The federal lawsuit filed this past week against Prince William County paints a broad picture of those who believe they will be affected by the crackdown on illegal immigration.

The 22 plaintiffs are a mix of identified and unidentified men, women and children who live or work in the county. Their legal status runs the spectrum.

"They all have a different set of circumstances, different situations, and I think it speaks to what is so complicated about this issue," said Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. "I don't think the American public understands that so many of the undocumented are members of what I would call mixed families in that many of them might have U.S.-born children, many of them are married to U.S. citizens. Others are married to permanent residents. You may have brothers and sisters with different immigration status."

The fund is one of the groups that filed the suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, asking a judge to declare Prince William's illegal-immigration measures unconstitutional. A July resolution directed county officers to check the immigration status of anyone in police custody who they have probable cause to believe is an illegal immigrant. It also asked county employees to look for ways to lawfully deny services to illegal immigrants.

"On its face, the Resolution is a poor attempt by the County Board to circumvent federal law and regulate immigration according to its own rules," the suit says.

Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), chairman of the Board of County Supervisors, said when the suit was filed that the resolution was "crafted very carefully, and we are confident it will withstand this and any other legal challenge."

The board is set to vote on the measure Tuesday.

Some of the plaintiffs approached Perales at a recent rally in Manassas, and others called his office later, he said. Still others contacted the other two groups that filed the suit: the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the Washington law firm Howrey LLP.

Some plaintiffs are unidentified, Perales said, because "we want their story to be told but at the same time they need protection" because of their undocumented status.

Two of the unidentified plaintiffs are women who have pending applications for residency based on spousal abuse, the suit says. One is listed as Jane Roe 1. This is what is known about her according to the lawsuit:

A native of Guatemala, Jane Roe 1 was petitioning for lawful status through her husband, a U.S. citizen with whom she has a 3-year-old son. But after her husband began physically abusing her and threatened to withdraw himself as her sponsor, she submitted an application for immigration status based on spousal abuse. While that application is pending, she will not have documents to confirm that she is entitled to stay in the United States if questioned by police or other county officials, the suit says.

One woman, a 26-year-old who works in real estate and volunteers for a nonprofit organization, has lived in the county since she was 9. She is undocumented. Since the resolution passed, the suit says, "she no longer enjoys traveling through the county, visiting the area shopping mall, or shopping at the grocery store because she is afraid that she and her family will be targeted by the police or by anti-immigrant members of the community." She and her husband, who is also undocumented, have a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old who are U.S. citizens, ages 5 and 9. The children live in "constant fear of sudden or forced separation from their parents," the suit says.

Rubin Ochoa Contreras is among several plaintiffs who are identified. A native of Venezuela, he received his permanent residency in February after living in the United States for eight years. He attends English classes at night but fears that because his English is not proficient, he may "not be able to effectively communicate with officers or other county employees and, accordingly, may be needlessly, unlawfully detained or denied benefits or services to which he is entitled."

Tulio Diaz was born in Puerto Rico and has lived in the county for 35 years. As a U.S. citizen, he is not required to carry proof of his legal status, but the suit says that because of the resolution, he now fears he will be asked to show proof "due to his race, color and ethnicity."

Plaintiff Yolanda Lemus of El Salvador, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has the same fears, according the suit. So does Lisandro Vigil of El Salvador, who was granted temporary protected status by the federal government.

Hugo Giron, who was also granted temporary permanent status and authorization to work, has a young son who is a U.S. citizen. Since the resolution passed, Giron has lost immigrant clients at his landscaping business and immigrant tenants from properties he owns in the county, the suits says.

"Plaintiff Giron's quality of life has deteriorated since the passage of the resolution," the suit says. "Plaintiff Giron feels that residents of Prince William County have grown antagonistic and unwelcoming toward him and his son."

Another plaintiff is the Woodbridge Workers Committee, which consists of hundreds of immigrant day laborers and community volunteers.

AGENT'S PROSECUTOR DENIES DEFENSE CLAIM

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.13.2007

The prosecutor of a U.S. Border Patrol agent facing second-degree murder charges this week called a motion from his attorneys to prevent three witnesses from testifying "totally without merit."

Sean Chapman and Daniel Santander, the attorneys for agent Nicholas Corbett, filed a motion earlier this month to preclude the testimony of Francisco Javier Domínguez Rivera's two brothers and a girlfriend on the basis that they had been influenced by the Mexican government.

In his counter-motion, Deputy Cochise County attorney Gerald Till called accusations that the Mexican Consulate spoke to the three witnesses before Cochise County investigators false and said the competency of the three isn't an issue.

"The defendant, through his attorney," Till wrote, "is asking this court to determine the competence of the witnesses and to prevent them from testifying. This is a completely unfounded legal argument, and totally without merit. As such it must be summarily denied."

The trial of Corbett, 39, is scheduled to begin Feb. 26 in U.S. District Court in Tucson. On Sept. 24, U.S. District Judge David C. Bury approved a motion filed by Chapman and Santander to move the trial to federal court from Cochise County Superior Court.

The case stems from a shooting near the U.S.-Mexican border in Cochise County on Jan. 12.. Corbett shot and killed Domínguez Rivera, 22, of Puebla, Mexico, about 150 yards north of the border, between Bisbee and Douglas. Corbett had been trying to detain Domínguez Rivera, his two brothers and a girlfriend, who had entered the country illegally.

According to Chapman's motion, the Cochise County Sheriff's Department not only allowed Rivera's brothers and sister-in-law to remain in the same room together that night for several hours after the shooting, but they also allowed the Mexican consul to question the three before law enforcement officers questioned them.

In addition, Chapman said, the witnesses' "testimony was irrevocably contaminated by statements made by a (Mexican government official) who informed them that the president of Mexico wanted agent Corbett punished; that this case was being reported in papers around the world."

It's an accusation that the local union for Border Patrol agents made earlier this year and that has been repeated by Chapman and Santander throughout the process. Both Cochise County and the Mexican Consulate have denied the charge.
Whether or not the witnesses were influenced should be settled during cross-examination, Till wrote in his motion.

"While counsel may wish to inquire of the witnesses as to when and with whom they discussed the case, it is not an issue of competency," Till wrote.

"The reality is that the statements given to detective (Wendy) Adney on the night of the shooting, as well as their statements given to the detectives and FBI officer several days later in Florence, Arizona, are consistent and are corroborated by the physical evidence."

● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

CROSSER BURNS FINGERTIPS TO HIDE IDENTITY

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.12.2007

A 25-year-old Mexican man went to extreme lengths this week in an attempt to conceal his identity by burning the tips of his fingers as he prepared to try to sneak into the country.

Border Patrol agents noticed the charred tips of the fingers of Mateo Cruz-Cruz, 25, of Mexico, at a processing center. He was arrested at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday after he jumped over the border fence east of Douglas, said Richard DeWitt, Border patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

Knowing his criminal conviction of sexual assault of a minor in Polk County, Iowa, in 2004 would get him locked up if he was caught by the Border Patrol, Cruz-Cruz burned all 10 of his fingertips, DeWitt said. The Border Patrol runs records checks on all apprehended illegal border crossers.

It almost worked: Two attempts to read his prints were unsuccessful, DeWitt said. But, after further questioning from agents, Cruz-Cruz confessed his name and date of birth, DeWitt said. Agents used that information to find about his criminal past from a national crime database that showed the arrest in Iowa and a deportation in March 2004.

He will be prosecuted for re-entry of an aggravated felon, DeWitt said.

It isn't the first time somebody has attempted to conceal his or her identity in this manner.
A plastic surgeon from Nogales, Ariz., was indicted this year by a federal grand jury, accused of surgically removing a suspected drug smuggler's fingerprints for $25,000.

● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com

MEXICAN CITIES ALONG BORDER WANT THEIR DUE
MAYORS FOR COALITION TO 'MAKE MORE NOISE'

By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 14, 2007

TIJUANA – Mayors from across northern Mexico formed a new organization yesterday to push border issues higher on the Mexican government's agenda.

Ten mayors from mostly northwestern border cities created the Association of Northern Mexico Border Municipalities after a two-day meeting at the Camino Real Hotel in Tijuana.

"Here at the border we feel abandoned by the rest of the country because they don't understand our problems. We as a bloc need to make more noise," said Tijuana Mayor Kurt Honold, who promoted the meeting and creation of the association.

Rodulfo Martinez Ortega, counsel to the mayor of Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border, said that while the northern tier of Mexico drives the country's growth, the region receives little in federal tax revenue. Out of every dollar for the country's tax income, he said, only 4 cents stays in the border region.

"It's urgent to address these issues," he said. "This is a small step that will lead to positive results."

The group's formation follows an effort that northern border governors started last year in Mexicali to address the same issues. The six border states – Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas –produce about a quarter of Mexico's gross domestic product and account for 15 percent of Mexico's population of 107 million.

Many of the region's chambers of commerce, which represent maquiladora factories, tourism operators and other business groups, are involved in both efforts to draw more attention to the northern frontier.

They also have the support of cities and organizations on the U.S. side of the border.

"What helps Tijuana helps San Diego, so we expect to work together to find success," said Ruben Barrales, president and chief executive of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Six issues, most of which are interconnected, were addressed at the meeting:

Public safety. The region's leaders want the federal government to do more to combat trafficking in drugs, other contraband and people at the border. The situation not only endangers area residents, they said, but also hurts foreign investment and tourism.

Maquiladoras. The manufacturing operations, mostly concentrated in the border region, would
take hits in profit and competitiveness from President Felipe Calderon's fiscal tax reform. Meeting participants called for changes in the new tax code. More also needs to be done, Honold said, to encourage domestic producers to make components for the dynamic sector.

Tourism. Several municipal representatives called for a special promotional campaign to draw more visitors from the United States to the border region.

Commerce. High Mexican import taxes raise the prices of many of the products purchased at the border – so much so that Mexican border residents can find the identical goods for less in the United States.

Immigration. The border region is affected by migrants traveling through the area to cross into the United States to find jobs. The situation has worsened since U.S. agents have undertaken mass deportations of migrants apprehended on the U.S. side of the border, meeting participants were told.

As many as 8,000 to 10,000 are deported from San Diego to Tijuana a month, Honold said. The deportees, many of them criminals, resort to stealing and drug use to get by in Mexico.

"We need to get both countries together and send these people to their homes," he said.

Border crossings. Bottlenecks at existing crossings are disrupting business and social and family ties along the U.S.-Mexico border, conference participants said. They urged both countries to move more quickly and consider using private resources to increase the number of crossings.

Manlio Fabio Beltrones, president of the Mexican Senate and former governor of the border state of Sonora, said he will work on creating a mechanism to deal with the issues.

"The fact that the federal government doesn't address these problems might be because there's no structure to do so," he said. "I will work to create a commission to address problems at the border."

Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; diane.lindquist@uniontrib.com