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

UA OPENS MEXICO OFFICE TO BOLSTER RESEARCH EFFORTS

UA opens Mexico office to bolster research efforts

By Michelli Murphy
arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.13.2007

The University of Arizona has opened a Mexico City office to foster collaborative research and solve problems affecting both sides of the border.

The purpose of the satellite office is "to engage in collaborative efforts in research and innovation so we can contribute, in the long run, to the economic development of both Arizona and Mexico," Manager Jose Lever said in a phone interview from Mexico City.

The office, an extension of the UA's new Office of Western Hemispheric Programs, will strengthen the long history of scientific and economic collaboration with Mexico, said Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the UA College of Science.
Mexico is "working hard to become an economic power," Ruiz said, and has an "incredible amount of scientific strength" to offer.

That strength has already manifested itself in the optics arena and resulted in the 2003 partnership between the UA and Mexico's federal science and technology program to help bring Mexico's optical technologies to market.
Mexico has also been a long-time contributor to UA research in the geographic and ecological sciences, said Ruiz.

Identifying all the areas of common interest between UA and Mexican researchers is the current goal, Lever said.

Because Mexico faces so many of the same environmental issues as Arizona, it makes an ideal research partner, Ruiz said.

The satellite office has already played a role in supplying two board members for the UA Biosphere 2, Lever said.

Under UA management since June, Biosphere 2 will be a center for scientific research addressing global environmental change, according to the Biosphere 2 Web site.
Jose Sarukhan, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Adrian Fernandez, president of the National Institute of Ecology, will contribute to the efforts to solve environmental problems, said Lever.
Beside university funding, the satellite office receives financial aid from federal and scientific organizations in Mexico, Lever said.

● Contact NASA Space Grant intern Michelli Murphy at 573-4197 or at mmurphy@azstarnet.com.

DESERT MUSEUM TO FLY BOTH FLAGS AGAIN
OUTCRY FOLLOWED BOW TO COMPLAINTS AND THREATS ABOUT SYMBOL OF MEXICO

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

The U.S. and Mexican flags are going back up at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
The 15 board members present at Thursday evening's special meeting voted unanimously to once again fly the flags, reversing a previous decision to take both down following escalating complaints about the Mexican flag from visitors and threats to the museum's animals.

"Our work is not about border issues, it's not about immigration issues," said Robert Edison, executive administrative director of the museum. "It's about helping people understand that the Sonoran Desert exists in two countries."

But the museum is increasing its spending on security, and will work with local law enforcement to develop protocol for dealing with threats to its staff or animals in the future.

The museum received about 250 phone calls, e-mails and faxes in the past couple of days from people who were disappointed in the decision to remove the flags, Edison said. Some wanted both flags back up but many more wanted the museum to fly only the U.S. flag, he said. The board, however, did not consider that option.

While the U.S. flag represents the museum's patriotism, the Mexican flag shows respect for its southern neighbor's component of the museum, he said. About two-thirds of the the Sonoran Desert, and 75 percent of its biodiversity, are in Mexico.

"We have this long heritage of flying both flags and what they represent, and that is what we're are going to return to," Edison said.

The flags are scheduled to go back up by early next week with both flying at the same height, per international protocol, Edison said. The flags have flown side by side since 1954.
Museum officials believe the Mexican flag was a gift from a Sonoran governor.

Board of trustees chairwoman Sophia Kaluzniacki admitted that the threats "” including an anonymous phone call in April from a man who said that unless the Mexican flag was taken down the museum would be boycotted "or worse" "” played a much bigger role in the board's original decision to take the flags down than she admitted earlier this week. She had said on Tuesday that escalating complaints from visitors were the main thrust behind the decision.

"The board didn't want to take the flags down in the first place; however, we made that decision to do that based on security issues," said Kaluzniacki, a Green Valley veterinarian.

To help ensure the safety of the museum's animals and staff, the board voted to allocate an additional $100,000 for more security personnel and technology, a significant increase in the current security budget of $220,000. The museum's total operating budget is $6.3 million, Edison said.

"I hope this decision will send a message that we're not going to be threatened," Kaluzniacki said. "We'll deal with them, but we're not going to back down just because we are threatened."

The museum is also going to move forward with plans for an interpretive station that explains the museum's binational focus. The station, which will feature a map of the Sonoran Desert, is expected to be opened near the museum's entrance within 30 to 60 days.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry applauded the decision to put the flags back up, saying it's important that the natural history museum "” the top tourist destination in the county "” accurately reflect the Sonoran Desert, which is a cross-border desert.

"It (the Sonoran Desert) was located there long before there were any borders," Huckelberry said. "We all acknowledge we have a border and immigration problem, but arguing over a position of a symbol that is really historic isn't going to solve that problem."

Joan Bundy, an attorney with the Tohono O'odham Nation's office of the prosecutor, said the board made the right move in reversing an ill-advised decision. She was saddened by the museum's decision to bow to people with radical political viewpoints, but was pleased to hear the spirit of the museum would remain intact, she said.

"It almost feels likes an island when you go there where politics really doesn't enter, and unfortunately the museum felt it had to bow to politics," said Bundy, who lives in Tucson. "The museum stands for a cross-border, international organization."

Longtime Tucson resident Murray Rulney doesn't object to the Mexican flag's being flown again as long as the U.S. flag is returned to the flagpole. He was irate about the U.S. flag's being taken down.

"The American flag shouldn't be taken down to appease any group," said Rulney, 70. "I don't like our colors being taken down, especially in a time of war."

The public outcry about the board's original decision surprised both Edison and Kaluzniacki. Some people said they planned not to visit the museum anymore until the U.S. flag "” or in some cases, both flags "” flew again, Edison said.

Fortunately, the majority of the calls and e-mails were civil, respectful representations of people's views, with only a few angry callers and no threats, Edison said.

If complaints keep coming from visitors asking
why the Mexican flag is being flown or why it's at the same height as the U.S. flag "” the museum has been receiving such inquiries about three to five times a week for the past year "” the museum will be ready with a response, Edison said.

"We are going to explain that it is part of the museum's heritage dating back to the early '50s, and the flags are flown in great part to represent the binational conservation and educational endeavors of the museum regarding the Sonoran Desert," he said.

The museum also plans to have handouts available on the cross-border history, Kaluzniacki said.

While any decision at the museum could be changed by a board vote, Edison said there are no plans to revisit this one.

"We're standing by this decision," he said.

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

OKLAHOMA

AGENCY BACKS PRENATAL CARE


˜What they're doing is clearly in violation of federal law.'
Rep. Randy Terrill who plans to challenge the Oklahoma Health Care Authority over a rule to allow pregnant illegal immigrants to receive prenatal care

By ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau
10/12/2007
Last Modified: 10/12/2007 5:30 AM

A lawmaker will challenge the plan to help illegal immigrants who are pregnant.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Health Care Authority voted 6-1 on Thursday to approve a controversial measure that will allow pregnant illegal immigrants to receive prenatal care.

However. Rep. Randy Terrill, R- Moore, said he intends to challenge the board's action at a regular meeting in Ada when the Legislature returns to session.

Terrill, a critic of illegal immigration who had called on the board to pull the rule from its agenda, said he's "disappointed but not surprised" by the vote.

"What they're doing is clearly in violation of federal law," he said, adding that he plans to ask Attorney General Drew Edmondson for an opinion on the matter.

Gov. Brad Henry has said he supports the board's action and considers the issue a "pro-life, pro-health proposal."

"The governor appreciates the board's work and will approve the rule as soon as he receives the paperwork," said Paul Sund, a spokesman for Henry.

The rule allows poor pregnant women who do not qualify for Medicaid to receive prenatal care as long as the child will be a citizen upon birth.

The women will not qualify for full Medicaid benefits, according to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

The coverage is limited to care that is needed to provide the best possible outcome for the newborn.

The rule takes effect Jan. 1.

A dozen other states, including Texas and Arkansas, have approved similar measures.

But Terrill called the move "an attempt, by tugging at the heartstrings, to backdoor an expansion of government-run health care."

Oklahoma taxpayers will pay about $1.2 million of the program's $3 million cost.The state will bill the federal government for the remaining $1.8 million.

Senate President Pro Tem Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, said, "In addition to valuing the life of a child, this rule also embraces the concept of fiscal responsibility by allowing Oklahoma to recover two-thirds of the costs associated with prenatal care to unborn babies from the federal government."

He said the board's approval sends an "important message" about Oklahoma's values.

"Anyone who questions the decision by the OHCA to offer this fair shot at life to innocent children is sending a dangerous and hypocritical message that they do not embrace a culture of life," Morgan said.

In fiscal year 2006, which ended this summer, the authority paid more than $8.5 million for 2,778 babies who were delivered to illegal immigrants who did not receive prenatal care, according to the agency.

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority is the state's Medicaid agency, which administers a budget of nearly $4 billion to help poor people.

The share of the budget for prenatal care for all poor women represents less than 1 percent of the agency's budget.

Sen. Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa, who supported the board's action, said unborn children "are not responsible for the conditions in which they find themselves."

"As far as I'm concerned, we're going to do a better job at making sure pregnant women deliver a healthy baby," he said.

Angel Riggs (405) 528-2465
angel.riggs@tulsaworld.com

CALIFORNIA

LANDLORDS CAN'T ASK ABOUT IMMIGRATION

On the Net:
California Legislature: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/
Apartment Association, California Southern Cities: http://www.apt-assoc.com/
Californians for Population Stabilization: http://www.cap-s.org
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund: http://www.maldef.org/
California Immigrant Policy Center: http://www.caimmigrant.org/

Associated Press
By JULIANA BARBASSA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) "” California has become the first state to prohibit landlords from asking tenants about their immigration status, drawing sighs of relief from property owners who were concerned they might have to be "de-facto immigration cops."

The law signed this week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger prevents cities from punishing landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. More than 90 communities nationwide have tried to curb illegal immigration by proposing crackdowns on property owners who rent to them or businesses that employ them, among other measures.

Supporters of tighter immigration control said the California law would prevent local governments from acting on an issue where the federal government has failed.

"It's clear that Washington, D.C., doesn't want to deal with this problem," said Rick Oltman of Californians for Population Stabilization. "You have cities that want to deal with the problem and this bill would stop them."

California's law "certainly adds salt to the wound for mayors who are trying to protect their legal residents and their budgets from the burden of illegal immigration," said Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazleton, Pa., which passed an ordinance last year penalizing landlords and employers who do business with illegal immigrants. The rule was struck down in federal court as unconstitutional. The city is appealing.

California, which has more immigrants than any other state, is home to as many as 2.8 million illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Landlords were concerned that, without the law, they could be forced to take on the cost and liability of enforcing federal immigration laws.

"We have huge anti-discrimination obligations," said Nancy Ahlswede, executive director of the Apartment Association, California Southern Cities. "We understand the frustration, but that burden shouldn't be placed on landlords."

If the law had failed, she said, property owners were worried they might have to serve essentially as immigration agents, policing their properties for illegal tenants.

Immigrant-advocacy organizations argued that any rule requiring landlords to pry into their tenants' immigration status would infringe on privacy and the federal government's authority.

"If the federal government wants to go after someone, they can do that, but a city can't," said Kristina Campbell, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who helped sue Escondido, Calif., after it passed an ordinance punishing landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants.

The lawsuit was later settled out of court, city officials said.

Advocates also said any proposition that orders landlords not trained in immigration law to determine a tenant's immigration status could risk discrimination.

A property owner trying to hazard a guess about someone's immigration status could rely on that person's appearance or accent, said Reshma Shamasunder, director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.

Greg McConnell, who has two rental properties and helped organize landlords in Berkeley to support the bill, said he's just glad to be out of the "bitter and inflammatory" immigration debate.

"It's not a question of where landlords stand on the immigration issue. It's a question of who's to enforce those laws," he said

NEW JERSEY, BOGOTA

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION OPPONENT SAYS HE ACCIDENTALLY HIRED ILLEGALS

4:33 PM EDT, October 13, 2007
BOGOTA, N.J. (AP)

Borough Mayor Steve Lonegan, an outspoken foe of illegal immigration, admits he accidentally hired two men whom authorities say were in the U.S. illegally.

Bogota's Republican mayor says he enlisted the men last Monday to help assemble political signs in the garage of a vacant home he owns in the borough.

Lonegan told The Record of Bergen County that the men told him they had proper documentation when they approached his taxpayer advocacy organization, Americans for Prosperity, looking for work.

According to Lonegan, he dropped the men at the house before going to retrieve working papers for them to fill out. However, they were gone when he returned.

"It was the mystery of the week," Lonegan said told the newspaper for Saturday's editions.

Lonegan says it was only days later, when The Record contacted him, that he found out police had gone to the house after someone called police and reported that two Hispanic men walking through the home.

One of the men was charged with a disorderly persons violation because the name he gave didn't match the Mexican identification card he had with him, according to police. The other man, who wasn't charged, told police they were in the U.S. illegally, and that a person he refused to identify had hired them to work on the signs for $80.

Lonegan said he usually hires temporary workers from an area agency, Express Personnel. However, when the two men came asking for work, he had no problem hiring them as long as they were legal.

"If I have work, and there are two guys willing to do the work, and they have papers, that's fine," Lonegan said.

An unsuccessful 2005 Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lonegan has been a frequent critic of illegal immigration.

He once tried unsuccessfully to have McDonald's remove a Spanish-language billboard in Bogota that advertised iced coffee, and also sought to designate English as the town's official language, a move that was rebuffed by courts.

Lonegan told The Record that his accidental hiring of the two men shows how difficult it can be for an employer to verify the status of a worker, and that any controversy over the matter is "absurd."

Some local critics disagreed.

Among them were Charles Severino, the vice president of the borough school board.

"He wants to deputize the police to go after (illegal immigrants) and then he's hiring them? I think that's ironic," Severino said.

___

Information from: The Record of Bergen County, http://www.northjersey.com

SAN PEDRO IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITY LOSES ACCREDIDATION

By PETER PRENGAMAN,AP
Posted: 2007-10-13 15:13:52

LOS ANGELES (AP)- The immigration detention facility in San Pedro, one of several nationwide to come under scrutiny from immigrant and civil rights groups, has lost its accreditation.

The center houses several hundred illegal immigrants who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and are facing deportation.

The facility lost accreditation in August after failing to comply with mandatory standards, an official with the Alexandria, Va.-based American Correctional Association told The Associated Press.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public comments.

Citing agency policy, the official declined to release the inspection report or elaborate on why the facility failed the renewal inspection, done every three years.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice confirmed the lost accreditation, but said it was not related to detainee care - an issue that's drawn criticism and lawsuits.

"It was a facility maintenance issue," said Kice, who declined to elaborate.

Kice said the problem was corrected, and the agency planned to apply for reaccreditation early next year.

The facility is still operating, and it was unclear what continued loss of accreditation could mean for it longterm.

Accreditation is important for immigration and other correctional facilities because it shows that national standards of care have been met, provides arguments against lawsuits and can reduce liability and insurance costs.

Ranjana Natarajan, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said immigration facilities strive for accreditation, so having it revoked was significant.

"We don't yet know the specific reason" for losing it, she said. "But we do know there are serious problems at San Pedro."

The San Pedro facility came under sharp criticism last summer when a transgender Mexican immigrant with AIDS being housed there died while in custody. The family claimed Victor Arellano was improperly denied medical attention, a contention immigration officials rejected.

In recent years, the ACLU and other groups have sued ICE over several detention facility issues, ranging from alleged inadequate access to health care to prolonged detention.

A lawsuit filed by the ACLU in June, aiming to stop immigration authorities from forcibly drugging deportees, cited an immigrant allegedly drugged at the San Pedro facility.

IMMIGRATION SPILLS INTO FARM BILL POLITICS
PROMISE OF LEGAL STATUS STYMIES SOME SUPPORT FOR AgJOBS PROPOSAL

By PHILIP BRASHER
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has had enough trouble trying to write a farm bill as it stands, but there's one issue that could complicate matters further - immigration.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pledged in June to try to add provisions to the farm bill for farm workers who are here illegally.

Now, backers of the farm worker legislation, known as the AgJOBS bill, are trying to round up the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The legislation could benefit produce growers and dairy farms as well as custom harvesters and seed companies, who rely on foreign workers to detassel corn.

Under the bill, immigrants could obtain legal status if they have been working on farms for at least two years. More than 800,000 workers, plus their spouses and minor children, could qualify. The legislation also would overhaul a visa system that farmers say is too restrictive and costly.

"It would provide American agriculture with a stable work force that is treated fairly and ensure a productive agricultural sector," says Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farm worker Justice, an advocacy group.

But Reid's promise, which he made to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on the Senate floor, won't be easy to fulfill.

Farmers have been warning that crops will rot in the fields if they don't get more workers, or some production is going to move out of the country.

But immigration is a toxic issue for many in Congress after failure of the Bush administration's broader overhaul. Republicans have warned that the farm worker bill would need major changes.

A federal judge last week took some heat off farmers and other employers by temporarily blocking a rule that they fire workers whose names don't match their Social Security numbers.

The Senate agriculture committee is set to take up the farm bill the week of Oct. 22, three months after the House passed its version of the bill. The committee's chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin, is a co-sponsor of the farm worker legislation. But he already has been struggling to get agreement on a range of issues, from subsidy levels to conservation and rural development, and he has no plans to include immigration in his draft legislation, according to his staff.

The American Farm Bureau Federation supports the farm worker legislation but doesn't want it added to the farm bill.

"The issue of immigration itself is problematic," said Paul Schlegel, who follows the issue for the Farm Bureau. "The farm bill, given its own difficulties with the budget and other things, we don't think lends itself being a vehicle to resolve that issue."

But there aren't many other options for AgJOBS advocates.

"The farm bill establishes our policies for the agricultural sector. Farm workers should be included in the farm bill," Goldstein said.

Craig Regelbrugge, who co-chairs a coalition of agribusiness groups pushing for the farm worker provisions, puts it this way: "While we're worrying about finding money for (agricultural) disasters, we've got a labor disaster under way."

If the farm worker legislation "has the votes, it doesn't kill the farm bill," he said. "If it doesn't have the votes, it falls away."

NEW YORK, LONG ISLAND

No Need for a Warrant, You're an Immigrant


Pool photo by Michael Schwartz
DIFFERENT RULES A federal raid aimed at illegal immigrants in Long Island last month angered local officials who objected to the lack of warrants.

By JULIA PRESTON
NY Times
Published: October 14, 2007

LONG ISLAND officials protested when federal agents searching for immigrant gang members raided local homes two weeks ago. The agents had rousted American citizens and legal immigrants from their beds in the night, complained Lawrence W. Mulvey, the Nassau County police commissioner, and arrested suspected illegal immigrants without so much as a warrant.

"We don't need warrants to make the arrests," responded Peter J. Smith, the special agent in charge in New York for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the agency that conducted the raids.

His concise answer helps explain the friction that the Bush administration's recent campaign of immigration enforcement has caused. Last week, immigration officials announced that they had made more than 1,300 arrests across the country over the summer when they went looking for gang members. Since the raids were carried out under immigration law, many protections in place under the American criminal codes did not apply. Foreign residents of the United States, whether here legally or not, answer to a different set of rules.

Immigration agents are not required to obtain warrants to detain suspects. The agents also have broad authority to question people about their immigration status and to search them and their homes. There are no Miranda rights that agents must read when making arrests. Detained immigrants have the right to a lawyer, but only one they can pay for.

While criminal suspects are generally sent to jails near the courts that hear their cases, immigration agents have discretion in deciding where to hold immigrants detained for deportation. Many suspected illegal immigrants who were detained in Nassau County, for example, were quickly moved to York, Pa., distant from family and legal advice.

This parallel course for noncitizens is not new. But it has come into fuller view as the enforcement drive has swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants, also reaching legal immigrants and citizens. In answer, a barrage of lawsuits is challenging both the laws and their enforcers.

"Buried within the proud history of our nation of immigrants, shrouded but always present, there exists a distinct system," wrote Daniel Kanstroom, a law professor at Boston College, in his book "Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History," which traces the history of the immigration code. To begin with, he writes, the Constitution does not specifically address the government's power to control immigration. This is "not a small problem for a nation of immigrants," he notes.

Immigration law remains founded on the notion that immigrants are not full members of American society until they become citizens, writes Professor Kanstroom, who is also a practicing immigration lawyer. The reduced protections in modern-day law were shaped by some of the darker episodes of the 20th century, he writes, including the prosecution of immigrant dissidents, like the Australian union leader Harry Bridges, in the 1930s; and the mass roundups of Mexican workers in the 1950s.

Arising from that landscape, the courts that handle immigration cases are part of the Justice Department, not the judiciary. Even immigrants who have lived here legally for many years, lawyers said, can run afoul of the immigration laws with minor infractions or misdemeanors. A late filing of visa renewal papers or a shoplifting citation can quickly spiral into an order for the ultimate penalty: deportation. Immigrants who fight the orders have more limited bail rights than American criminals and can spend years behind bars while their cases inch through the overburdened court system.

The immigration laws have gained new influence in everyday life because of the record number of immigrants "” 37.1 million, according to census figures "” now living in the United States. Of those, more than 22 million are not naturalized citizens and remain subject to the immigration system, including about 10 million legal residents and 12 million illegal immigrants, by estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. Increasingly, immigrants live in mixed-status families that include illegal and legal residents as well as citizens.

Over the last two years, ICE has grown more aggressive, entering factories and communities, hunting down foreign fugitives ranging from convicted criminals to workers whose visas have expired. Last year, the agency deported 195,000 people, another record. After President Bush's immigration overhaul failed in Congress in June, the administration has vigorously pursued the enforcement-first policy that Republicans demanded.

There are sharp differences among legal experts and law enforcement officials about the limited protections in the immigration laws, many of which have been upheld over the years by the Supreme Court. Officials point out that the majority of the people deported last year entered the country illegally or plainly had lost any claim to legal status, including thousands of convicts.

"Immigration law enforcement is all about getting you to where you belong, which is outside the United States," said Jan C. Ting, a law professor at Temple University who is a former assistant commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the precursor to ICE. He pointed out that immigration laws are civil codes, not criminal. "A lot of constitutional protections that one would normally expect in a criminal case do not necessarily apply," he said.

Professor Ting says ICE agents are well within their authority to question people they come across in the course of a raid, even if they are not its targets, and detain them as suspects.

But new legal challenges are seeking to restrain ICE's powers. A lawsuit in Tennessee challenges raids where agents teamed up with a county sheriff to search trailer parks, forcing their way without warrants into Hispanic immigrants' homes. In a suit against ICE in Texas, seven citizens and legal immigrants contend their rights were violated in raids last year at Swift & Company meatpacking plants.

These cases are spurred by people like Peggy Delarosa-Delgado, a naturalized citizen born in the Dominican Republic whose Long Island home was raided twice. She described the shock of having a dozen ICE agents march into her living room, terrifying her children. As the laws governing immigrants have left American citizens increasingly vulnerable as well, more legal challenges can be expected.

TEXAS, IRVING

PASSIONATE PROTESTERS ON BOTH SIDES OF IMMIGRATION DABATE TURN OUT IN IRVING

Opponents of illegal immigrant crackdown outnumber supporters

Photos by SONYA N. HEBERT/DMN

Left: Maria Gonzal.e.z. of The Colony joins in a group prayer before beginning the march to Irving City Hall to protest the city's use of the CAP program. For the second time in as many months, demonstrators clogged Irving's streets over the Criminal Alien Program, which allows local police to turn suspected illegal immigrants over to federal authorities.

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, October 14, 2007
By BRANDON FORMBY and SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING – Dueling protesters and divergent views of patriotism clashed Saturday over a controversial federal program designed to speed the deportation of illegal immigrants arrested by police.

Opponents of CAP outnumbered supporters about 6 to 1 in a demonstration where both sides waved American flags and spoke of justice.

Estimates of the crowd ranged from 1,000 to 4,000 people. There were no arrests.

As hundreds of people protesting CAP prepared to march to City Hall, state Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, thanked people for coming. He said their march was upholding rights given to everyone in the U.S. Constitution.

"It's our right to march, it's our right to protest, it's our right to voice our opinion," he said.

But as the Accion America rally began to pour into the nearby City Hall parking lot, the Citizens for Immigration Reform crowd began to chant, "Illegals, go home! Illegals, go home!"

Supporters responded in Spanish: "We are America!"

Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Criminal Alien Program provides around-the-clock communication with federal authorities, who interview arrestees and place immigration detainers on those who are suspected illegal immigrants.

A Sept. 26 rally protesting the program drew several hundred protestors to Irving City Hall. But the next day, those in support of CAP inundated the city with phone calls urging police to keep using it.

Irving has found itself in the national spotlight in recent weeks for its use of the program. But at least nine North Texas law enforcement agencies have a Criminal Alien Program or similar effort in which federal officials are routinely notified about arrestees whose immigration status is suspicious.

Several Irving minority leaders, activists and Hispanic pastors formed Irving Forward this week, a group that opposes some aspects of CAP. But they have tried to distance themselves from Carlos Quintanilla and his Accion America group. Accion America organized Saturday's protest march and rally, but members of Irving Forward urged people not to attend. They said it would do little more than stir up racial tensions.

On Saturday, one man repeatedly questioned why the largely Hispanic group's rally was on the City Hall steps while his group was cordoned off into a rear parking lot by the parking garage. "We're the Americans!" he shouted.

Later, as speaker after speaker addressed the hundreds of Latinos less than 100 feet away, the smaller crowd began to shout: "Deport! Deport! Deport!"

The organizer of the pro-Irving police rally, John Gorena, said he was saddened and disappointed by the turnout on the side to support the Irving police and the Criminal Alien Program. "I really feel that Americans should be out there supporting the rule of law," he said. "Irving, the city, is doing the right thing."

But Jesse Two Hawks, a Pueblo Indian, said he wasn't going to back down.

As he marched toward Irving City Hall on Saturday, a woman in support of the Irving Police Department's tactics held a sign that read, "Don't like our laws let me show you the front door, since you came through the back!!"

Mr. Two Hawks shouted back, "What about the Native Americans?"

His beef with the immigration debate goes back to what happened centuries ago. His argument: Hispanics are descendants of indigenous tribes present in the Americas long before the European explorers discovered the land.

"Hey, you don't belong here," he yelled at the woman.

For others opposed to CAP, the rally evoked memories of the civil rights movement.

"Back then, black people were being arrested all the time," said Julio Arellano of Dallas. "Black people weren't allowed to drink from water fountains. I feel that's what's happening now."

The rally in support of CAP was organized by