The mayors of six communities in South Texas want to widen the Rio Grande to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S. Hundreds of illegals wade across shallow parts of the river each day.
The government plans to build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border, but that has raised hackles from ranchers who would be cut off from access to the river, which is the main source of fresh water in the region.
A widened river would increase the time it takes to cross into the country and would make it easier for Border Agents to spot trespassers.
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (Nov. 13) - Texan mayors opposed to a planned border fence with Mexico want to widen and deepen the Rio Grande river instead, and say it will be more effective in keeping out illegal immigrants.
The U.S. government aims to build 700 miles of new fencing along the frontier with Mexico to boost security and try to stem the tide of immigration from the south.
But the Texas stretch of the fence, which would be built on the Rio Grande's desert flood plain, would cut off some ranchers' access to the river, the main source of fresh water in the arid region. Mayors say it would also damage trade and centuries-old ties with Mexico.
The calm brown waters of the Rio Grande, famed in Western movies and cowboy ballads, have marked the Texan border with Mexico since the 19th century.
Known in Spanish as the Rio Bravo, or "Rough River," it is nevertheless shallow enough to wade across in parts.
Undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans try to swim it or cross over with tire inner tubes.
Six mayors in mainly Hispanic south Texas on the Mexico border call the fence a wall of shame and have vowed to take the federal government to court to block its construction.
They say a wider, deeper waterway along the lower Rio Grande would create a more formidable barrier than a fence that immigrants can cut, climb over and tunnel under.
"We already have a virtual fence and we should work with that," said Brownsville's mayor, Pat Ahumada, who has proposed 42 miles of river widening at a cost of $40 million.
"A widened river would be a bigger deterrent to illegal immigration and the project doesn't send the wrong message to Mexico that the wall does," he added.
The city of Laredo is also pushing to widen a stretch of its river front and the other four mayors along the Mexico-Texas line say they are evaluating similar plans.
The Brownsville and Laredo projects involve digging out the river bank on the U.S. side to triple the river's width to up to 500 feet and deepening the river from 2 feet
to about 10 feet at its shallowest, and up to 24 feet in the deepest sections.
By constructing a series of low dams, or weirs, at different parts of the river, water would gradually back up behind them and fill the widened river channel, engineers say.
MORE DEATHS?
A wider river would increase the time it takes to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico to up to four or five minutes, making it easier to spot would-be immigrants and allow Border Patrol speed boats to monitor the river and make arrests more easily.
But a government official who requested anonymity said Washington was concerned a bigger river may cost more lives.
"A wider, deeper river means more people may drown," the official said.
Texan mayors reject that claim and are lobbying hard to convince the government that the project is safe and feasible, holding a series of meetings this month with Department of Homeland Security officials.
"A wider river is a huge disincentive to cross and is no more dangerous than a wall that people will risk their lives to get over," said Horacio de Leon, who heads the Laredo project.
President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act last year, requiring the construction of the border fence as part of a plan to have "operational control" of the U.S.-Mexico border by 2013.
"The big question is whether the plan falls within the language of that law. We believe it does," said Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass.
Mexico, which must also approve the project because the river is a binational waterway, has shown support for the plans, although Brownsville and its Mexican sister city Matamoros have yet to agree on the position of the weir.
Some Border Patrol officials are also warming to it.
"We can further exploit the natural barrier that is the Rio Grande," said Carlos Carrillo, the head of the Border Patrol in the border city of Laredo.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that there are up to 12 million immigrants living in the U.S. The U.S. Border Patrol employs over 11,000 agents to stem the flow, but has drawn criticism for its "catch-and-release" policy.
The Secure Fence Act, which President Bush signed last year, mandates that the U.S. to have "operational control" of the U.S.-Mexico border by 2013.
Erik Wackernagel and Steve Murphy have been released! Juan Ruiz, the musician who is seen in the videos dancing before he is violently thrown to the ground and beaten by several Border Patrol agents, was arraigned today and charged with felony assault of a federal officer. The judge has not decided on the terms of his release yet and Juan will appear before the judge again tomorrow.
ACTUALIZACION LEGAL 13 Nov 2007 - 5:20 pm: Erik Wackernagel y Steve Murphy han sido soltados! Juan Ruiz, el musico que se ve en los videos bailando hasta que esta asaltado y golpeado por un grupo de agentes de la Migra, tenia su juicio de comparacencia hoy y fue cargado con asalto de delito grave a un oficio federal. El juez todavia no ha decidido los terminos de su liberacion y Juan aparecera ante el juez manana.
NEW VIDEO! The Week in Context "compare and contrast sunday night's migra freakout with calmness earlier in the week"
NUEVO VIDEO! La Semana en Contexto "comparar y contrastar la locura de la Migra la noche de domingo con la calma de mas temprano en la semana"
NEW VIDEO! Border Patrol Beats Peaceful Demonstrators
NUEVO VIDEO! La Migra Golpea a Manifestantes Pacificos
To view or post camp news and content, go to San Diego Indymedia.
Para ver o subir noticias y contenido nuevo relacionado al campamento, vete a San Diego Indymedia.
Border Patrol agents brutalize non-violent protesters during the No Borders Camp closing ceremony. Click on the picture below to view and/or download the video of Border Patrol agents tackling a musician to the ground, proceeding to fire pepper spray rounds at close range into the surrounding crowd, and beating fleeing people with batons. All of the brutality committed by the Border Patrol agents occurred with no orders to disperse. All of this brutality occurs daily with migrants on the border, but unlike the repression that occurred on 11/11, this brutality is invisible. La Migra brutaliza a manifestantes pacÃficos durante la ceremonia de clausura del Campamento contra las Fronteras. Oprima la foto de abajo para ver y/o descargar el video de agentes de la Migra asaltando a un músico, disparando balas de spray pimienta desde cerca a los manifestantes pacÃficos y golpeando a los que huyeron con bastones. Toda la brutalidad cometida por los agentes de la Migra occurrió sin ordenes a dispersarse. Toda esta brutalidad occure diariamente con migrantes en la frontera, pero a diferencia de la represion de 11/11, esta brutalidad es invisible.
Call the info line / Llame al numero para información | 760.989.4457 Call the media line / Llame al numero para los medios | 760.890.1022 View / Ver Videos More info in Spanish at Regeneracion Radio / Más información en español en Regeneracion Radio
NY Times By JESSE McKINLEY Published: November 15, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 14 "” The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has given preliminary approval to an ordinance allowing municipal identification cards to be issued to anyone living in the city, regardless of their legal status.
The proposal passed the first of two required votes on Tuesday night, putting San Francisco, with a population of 725,000, on track to become the largest city in the nation to issue identification cards to anyone who requests one and proves residence.
In June, New Haven, Conn., passed a similar measure, believed to be the first in the nation. Since then, several other cities, including New York, have floated the idea.
In San Francisco, supporters said that the ordinance was intended to make life easier for the large number of illegal immigrants working in the city, many of whom cannot get access to services because they have no formal identification. The city already has a "sanctuary" policy forbidding local law enforcement or other officials to assist with immigration enforcement.
"I think it's admitting the reality of the situation that we depend on, our tourist and hotel industry depends on, a labor force that's supplied by, for lack of a better term, undocumented residents," said Tom Ammiano, the supervisor who sponsored the bill. Mr. Ammiano described the measure as "a passport of sorts," to "take the kid to the library or open a bank account, or report a crime without being deported."
Supporters and opponents of such measures said states and cities were more likely to take up issues like this one since Congress rejected a comprehensive immigration bill this year.
"The brass ring collapsed in Congress, so the people on the ground are still trying to think of things that are going to help this issue down the road," said Steven A. Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which advocates stronger enforcement of current laws.
And while Mr. Camarota said the card's uses would be largely symbolic, he said passage of the ordinance might force Democratic presidential candidates to talk more about immigration, an issue that public opinion polls show is of concern to many voters and has already been part of the Republican campaign.
"It keeps the issue on the front burner," he said.
Supporters of the ordinance say it has more practical effects, including crime prevention. John Trasviña, the president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles, said he had recently received several reports of so-called SOM, or Sock on Mexican, attacks in the Los Angeles area, crimes he hoped might be reduced if victims came forward.
"The victims are living in a cash economy, and they are reluctant to go to the police," Mr. Trasviña said. "Having an ID card addresses both of those issues: it reduces the reliance on cash, because it opens up the opportunities for banking, and it takes away a barrier between community and police."
Mr. Ammiano said the card would also be useful to other groups without government-issued identification, including the elderly, students and transgendered people, who have long found a sympathetic home here.
The bill, which passed the first vote by 10 to 1, will be taken up by the board again before going to Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has indicated his general support.
If the experience in New Haven is any indication, the demand for the card here could be strong. More than 4,800 cards have been handed out since late July, said Kica Matos, the New Haven community services administrator, with a "significant number" going to illegal immigrants.
"The second day there was a line halfway down the block, and by the third it was all the way down," Ms. Matos said.
FIND LOW-COST & FREE CLASSES FOR CITIZENSHIP DV-LOTTERY VISA
nydailynews.com Thursday, November 15th 2007, 4:00 AM
Where can I get information about free and low-cost citizenship classes? I am a parent coordinator at a New York City school. Some of our parents have asked about where they can take classes to prepare them for the citizenship exam. Monsie Felicier, New York
A. Free and low-cost citizenship classes are available at many New York City libraries, at City University of New York (CUNY) campuses and at community-based organizations. You can get information about these classes by calling 311, New York City's information hotline.
You also can visit the Web site of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project,
Free and low-cost citizenship classes are available at many New York City libraries, at City University of New York (CUNY) campuses and at community-based organizations. You can get information about these classes by calling 311, New York City's information hotline. You also can visit the Web site of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project, http://www1.cuny.edu/about/citizenship/faqs/ESLandCivicsClasses.html, or the Web site of the New York Public Library, http://www.nypl.org - click on "classes." Q. My sister came here on a B-1 business visitor visa, then overstayed. She has an indefinite, multiple entry B-1 visa. However, because she didn't return after her last visit, she is now here without legal status. Should she enter the green card lottery? Can she get a DV-2009 lottery green card? If she applies, but doesn't get a green card, will the government deport her?A., Manhattan
A. In most cases, a person here illegally won't be able to get a DV-Lottery visa. The exception would be someone who qualifies to interview here for permanent residence, the process called adjustment of status. Unless an employment-based or family-based case was started for your sister by April 30, 2001, she can't adjust status based on having won the lottery. The fact that she has an unexpired B-1 visa won't help her.
In most cases, a person here illegally won't be able to get a DV-Lottery visa. The exception would be someone who qualifies to interview here for permanent residence, the process called adjustment of status. Unless an employment-based or family-based case was started for your sister by April 30, 2001, she can't adjust status based on having won the lottery. The fact that she has an unexpired B-1 visa won't help her. The alternative to adjustment of status is applying for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad. If however, your sister has overstayed more than 180 days, traveling abroad for her interview will make her subject to a three- or 10-year bar on returning.
The law provides for a waiver of the bar for some applicants. However, because all DV-2009 lottery green cards must be issued between Oct. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2009, your sister would likely not have enough time to get the waiver.
As for being deported, that's unlikely to result from your sister entering the lottery. Thus far, entering the lottery hasn't led to immigration arrests. That's why I suggest that immigrants who are not sure whether they qualify for the lottery to go ahead and enter. If they win, they can then check with an expert before applying for permanent residence.
Applicants need not give their home address on their lottery entries. They can use the address of a friend, relative or attorney.
This year's lottery entry period ends at noon on Dec. 2.
Q. I have been waiting since June 8 for USCIS employment authorization. I qualify based on my having an application for adjustment of status pending. What should I do? Anonymous, New Rochelle A. USCIS regulations mandate that the agency decide employment authorizations within 90 days. To check on your application, make an Infopass appointment and speak to a USCIS official at the New York District Office. You can make the appointment at http://infopass.uscis.gov/ or at the district office.
USCIS regulations mandate that the agency decide employment authorizations within 90 days. To check on your application, make an Infopass appointment and speak to a USCIS official at the New York District Office. You can make the appointment at http://infopass.uscis.gov/ or at the district office. The USCIS in New York advises employment authorization applicants who haven't received their cards to use the Infopass appointment process to visit the district office after waiting 70 days after applying. Typically, applicants receive their employment cards 10 to 14 days after the visit.
Applicants inquiring about their employment authorization card should bring their filing receipt for the card and proof of why they qualify - in your case, your filing receipt for adjustment of status.
Allan Wernick is a lawyer and director of the City University of New York Citizenship and Immigration Project.
He is the author of "U.S. Immigration and Citizenship - Your Complete Guide, Revised 4th Edition."
Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, Daily News, 450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001. Prof. Wernick's Web site: www.allanwernick.com.
Story Created: Nov 14, 2007 at 5:56 PM MST By Nicole Navarro
Faki escaped Somalia one month ago. Militants killed his brother and he knew he couldn't live there anymore. He came to Idaho looking for change. His interpreter, Abubakar Mohamed says "Since he came down here, he got a lot of peace, new life, so he's happy."
Now a local group wants to make sure other immigrants feel welcome too. On one bus bench it says "Immigration is an American experience." It's part of a campaign by the Idaho Community Action Network called the "Welcoming Idaho Initiative." It's a way to reach out to the entire community to help gain acceptance.
"The current climate right now around race and immigration in Idaho does not reflect our values. It is a climate of fear," says ICAN member Antonina Robles.
The coalition says immigration raids in Idaho have divided the community.
Faki says even though he already feels welcome here, the new advertisements are a good idea. He likes the area so much, he wants to give back in the future by working, going to school and then joining the army.
A new Oklahoma law designed to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver's license is causing problems for other drivers. Oklahoma tag agents say renewing a license now isn't as easy as it used to be. KTEN's Hailee Holliday reports.
In order for someone to renew their driver's license they must now go to a Department of Public Safety Driver's License Examiner to have their citizenship verified. You must show an examiner a certified birth certificate, a valid passport, a certificate of naturalization or a citizen born abroad certificate.
Local tag agents say the new law restricts alot of people. They say now, they have to send people to Ardmore in order to renew their license and the process is especially hard on the elderly who may not have an original birth certificate.
Wilson Tag Clerk Sis Turner says, "It really makes it hard on them. I'm 78-years-old and it would make it hard on me if I lost mine because I have no idea where my birth certificate is."
Wilson tag agents say they sent five people to Ardmore before eleven Thursday morning and many have complained that the new law is inconvenient to people who work.
Tag agents say the best way to avoid an inconvenience is to renew your license at least six months before it is expired.
AMERICANS IMMIGRATION TO SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE STIRRING UP COMPLAINTS
06:32 PM CST on Thursday, November 15, 2007 By Angela Kocherga / 11 News
Some Texas towns try to keep immigrants from moving into their communities. But across the border, the locals are complaining about American immigrants.
More Americans are retiring or buying property in Mexico. San Miguel de Allende is known for its rich culture and its large community of U.S. citizens. There are so many Americans you're just as likely to hear English as Spanish on the streets. There's even an English-language newspaper.
If the Americans act like they own the place, well, they practically do. They're behind a booming housing market that's also driving up prices.
It's just one of the reasons some natives are beginning to question the impact of immigration on their hometown.
Some are so concerned about uncontrolled growth that they've started the campaign "basta ya," meaning "it is enough already."
It's clear the group's leader also has had enough of foreigners who criticize local customs.
"The sounds of the bells at six o'clock or the fireworks," said. "'Why don't you use traffic lights here?" Arturo Morales from the "Basta Ya" Campaign said.
So is it just a few people complaining or is the concern about U.S. influence in San Miguel more widespread? It's hard to know for sure because most people are reluctant to speak on camera. They don't want to be perceived as anti-American.
The Americans spend a lot of money, a shoe shine man said.
There's another major source of income here: Cash sent home by Mexicans working in the United States - immigrants who now face a backlash.
"They mistreat our countrymen and discriminate against them," one resident said. "We don't behave that way toward Americans."
Immigration is a divisive issue in the United States, but here in San Miguel, there's still common ground. Many U.S. expatriates agree newcomers should do more to adapt to Mexico.
Plenty of Americans embrace San Miguel's culture, even the things others criticize.
"This morning at 5 a.m. they were shooting off fireworks and the church across the street was just singing and dancing and beating drums all day," visitor Brandon Shields said. "It's just great."
It's a great big melting pot where, increasingly, Americans are the immigrants.
EL PASO, Texas - A Mexican man shot by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents who were later convicted in the shooting has been indicted on federal drug smuggling charges, authorities said Thursday.
Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was arrested Thursday at an international port of entry in El Paso, according to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.
A sealed indictment was issued in October charging him with smuggling marijuana in September and October of 2005, several months after he was shot in the buttocks while fleeing from a pair of Border Patrol agents.
The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were convicted last year of shooting Aldrete and lying about it.
Aldrete is scheduled to appear in federal court in El Paso on Friday.
Sutton noted that critics of the prosecution of the agents have complained that Aldrete, "the fleeing, unarmed drug smuggler they shot," should have been prosecuted.
"I have repeatedly said that if we obtained sufficient competent and admissible evidence against Aldrete, we would prosecute him," Sutton said in a statement.
The Washington Times By Jerry Seper November 15, 2007
Alien and drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border have spawned a rise in violence against federal, state and local law-enforcement authorities, who say they are outmanned and outgunned.
"They've got weapons, high-tech radios, computers, cell phones, Global Positioning Systems, spotters and can react faster than we are able to," said Shawn P. Moran, a 10-year U.S. Border Patrol veteran who serves as vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613 in San Diego.
"And they have no hesitancy to attack the agents on the line, with anything from assault rifles and improvised Molotov cocktails to rocks, concrete slabs and bottles," he said. "There are so many agent 'rockings' that few are even reported anymore. If we wrote them all up, that's all we would be doing."
Assaults against Border Patrol agents have more than doubled over the past two years, many by Mexico-based alien and drug gangs more inclined than ever to use violence as a means of ensuring success in the smuggling of people and contraband.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledges that although the department has begun to make progress against "the criminals and thugs" operating along the U.S.-Mexico border, "we are beginning to see more violence in some border communities and against our Border Patrol agents as these traffickers ... seek to protect their turf.
"We must provide the manpower and resources they need to carry out their duties, and we are working hard to make sure they get them," Mr. Chertoff said during a speech in Houston this month.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the investigative arm of Homeland Security, stated in a report earlier this year that border gangs were becoming increasingly ruthless "” targeting rivals, along with federal, state and local police. ICE described violence on the border as rising dramatically over the past three years in what it called "an unprecedented surge."
But many agents think they are viewed as "expendable" by the managers within Homeland Security and the Border Patrol. They say that while the number of agents overall has increased dramatically over the past year, the actual number of line agents has not seen a corresponding jump.
Several noted that one six-mile section of border near San Diego, regarded as one of the most dangerous alien- and drug-smuggling corridors in the country, previously was assigned as many as 50 agents, but has been expanded to 13 miles and has one agent posted for each mile.
"That kind of situation is becoming increasingly common," Mr. Moran said. "The status quo is unacceptable. Agents are being assaulted four to five times per shift. Ironically, the region has often been touted as the cornerstone of Operation Gatekeeper. Well, the cornerstone is crumbling and if changes don't happen soon, we will lose an agent."
Operation Gatekeeper was a Clinton-era security initiative that put 300 agents on the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, along with more fencing and lighting. It was based on a similar program in El Paso, Texas, where agents were stationed within sight of one another at main crossing points in order to form a human wall.
"Where are all these new agents they say they're hiring?" Mr. Moran asked. "It's hard to believe that Mr. Chertoff means it when he says his job is to provide the manpower and resources the agents need to carry out their duties, to give them the means to protect themselves against violence from criminal traffickers."
Mr. Moran noted that many agents are being assigned to "non-border activities," including jobs at Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. He said the agency's headquarters soon may be the largest regional office in the entire Border Patrol, "assigned the task of telling the public what a good job we're doing."
Several agents noted that many of the alien- and drug-smuggling gangs targeting law-enforcement authorities are doing so with sophisticated weaponry. They noted that in February, an ICE-led task force seized two completed improvised explosive devices, materials for making 33 more devices, 300 primers, 1,280 rounds of ammunition, five grenades, nine pipes with end caps, 26 grenade triggers, 31 grenade spoons, 40 grenade pins, 19 black powder casings, a silencer and cash during raids in Laredo, Texas.
"Keeping explosives and other high-powered weaponry out of the hands of violent criminal organizations is a central focus of the new Border Enforcement Security Task Force in Laredo," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers, who heads ICE, said in announcing the seizures. "ICE is working day and night with its task force partners to stem the tide of violence that has been ravaging border communities in south Texas."
Enrique Soriano says he can "breathe a little" at his Pasadena home now that his deportation is no longer imminent.
DEAD SOLDIER'S DAD GETS REPRIEVE IN IMMIGRATION CASE
MOVE TO DEPORT HIM IS PUT ON HOLD WHILE HOUSE LOOKS AT BILL
By SUSAN CARROLL Nov. 15, 2007, 12:07AM Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
U.S. immigration officials have granted the father of a U.S.-born soldier killed in Iraq a reprieve from deportation while Congress considers a private bill that would give him a green card.
Enrique Soriano, an illegal immigrant and the father of Pfc. Armando Soriano, was facing deportation from Houston until U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials recently decided to grant him "deferred action," which will allow him to live and work legally in the U.S. for one year, said Maria Elena Garcia-Upson, a spokeswoman for USCIS.
Officials with the agency formally notified Soriano's attorney, Isaias Torres, of the reprieve by fax on Wednesday. It is effective for one year from the date of its request by the USCIS district director in Houston, meaning it will expire Sept. 10, 2008.
"It's a step forward, but it's not a long-term solution," Torres said. "At least he's not under the threat of being detained and removed anymore."
Enrique has lived with the fear that immigration agents would appear any day at his front door, decorated with a faded yellow ribbon in remembrance of his son. On Wednesday, the 47-year-old Pasadena resident said his worries have been eased.
"I can breathe a little now," Enrique said. "It gives me hope that my case is progressing."
The Soriano story has drawn widespread attention since the Houston Chronicle first reported on it in August. The family's plight highlighted the complicated issue of service members whose family members are illegal immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, has introduced a private bill that would grant Enrique and Armando's younger sister, Areli, legal permanent resident status. The bill, HR 3772, remains in committee. Jesse Christopherson, spokesman for Green, said they are optimistic about the bill's chances.
A private bill provides benefits to specified individuals. Immigration is one of the most common subjects of such legislation. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican in East Texas, has a private bill pending to stop the deportation of an Albanian immigrant who fears his life could be in danger if he's deported.
The House Judiciary Committee has approved a handful of private bills in recent months.
Wife granted green card
Armando was killed in Iraq in February 2004 when a military vehicle he was riding in rolled off a road, according to the Army's account of his death. The South Houston High School graduate was 20 years old. He was buried with military honors and awarded the Bronze Star posthumously.
After his death, the Soriano family benefited from an unofficial policy that gives the immediate relatives of service members who die in war the chance to become legal residents, even if they came to the U.S. illegally.
Armando's mother, Cleotilde, was approved for lawful permanent resident status. But Enrique's petition for a green card was denied.
In 1999, Enrique was formally deported after falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, but he sneaked back across the Rio Grande to rejoin his family in Houston. Immigration officials apparently didn't know he was back in the U.S. until his green card application was filed.
His application apparently alerted U.S. immigration officials that he was in the country illegally. He was facing deportation until the recent USCIS decision to grant "deferred action."
This distinction is granted at the district and regional level of USCIS, and does not offer a chance at a green card. It does, however, allow recipients to work legally in the U.S. "” at least temporarily.
Enrique spends his days working in construction. Because he was tied up with work, he couldn't visit his son's grave on Veterans Day.
So he stopped by the cemetery on Wednesday afternoon before he heard about his case and wiped down Armando's marble headstone. About two hours later, Torres called to tell him that he didn't have to leave his family any time soon.
OREGON GOVERNOR STILL FOR DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
11/15/2007 By BRAD CAIN Associated Press
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski still supports giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, even though New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has backed away from a similar proposal.
Spokeswoman Patty Wentz said Kulongoski believes life would be safer for all if illegal immigrants had to go through the process of getting licenses.
But the idea has drawn opposition from Democrats and Republicans in the Oregon Legislature.
The chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Democrat Rick Metsger, said the consensus among lawmakers is that the public strongly opposes the idea. And he says he doubts such a plan would work.
"You could count on one hand the number of supporters there are for this in the Legislature "” if there are even that many," Metsger said of Kulongoski's proposal to extend driving privileges to the thousands of undocumented workers who reside in Oregon.
Spitzer cited a similar wall of opposition among New York lawmakers as well as a public outcry against the idea in dropping his proposal earlier Wednesday.
Many lawmakers want Oregon to stop giving driving privileges to undocumented immigrants when it adopts new federal driver's license requirements, which require proof of citizenship or legal residence before someone can get a driver's license. The state is one of seven that do not require such proof to obtain driver's licenses.
An alternative proposed by Kulongoski would adopt the "legal presence" standard for driver's licenses but create a second-tier "driving only" card for those who can't prove their citizenship or legal residency. The card would not serve as identification for state or federal purposes, such as boarding an airliner.
Kulongoski, along with immigrants rights advocates and some agriculture industry officials, contends the current policy has worked well for the state because it encourages illegal workers who are driving anyway to undergo driver's training and pass a test showing familiarity with driving laws.
"Unlicensed drivers are more likely to get into accidents, because they haven't passed a test showing they know the rules of the road," Aeryca Steinbauer, coordinator for the immigrant rights group CAUSA.
Any move to create a "driving privilege only" card would have to be approved by lawmakers. Metsger said he doubts there's any support for bringing up the proposal in the Legislature's February session.
Kulongoski does plan to use his executive authority this week to enact tougher driver's license requirements. Motorists would have to prove they are in the state legally before they could be issued a license.
The Democratic governor first raised the issue last month, saying Oregon's loose rules have made the state a target for noncitizens who seek to obtain identification cards for "nefarious" purposes.
"Securing Oregon's driver's license is the governor's top priority, so that people can't come to Oregon with fake identification to get a driver's license," Wentz said.
An eight-year-old Honduran girl is left alone at an immigrant detention center in Williamson County. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials transferred the girl's pregnant mother from the T Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor to another facility in Laredo in mid-October. According to ICE representatives, as reported by the Associated Press, the woman was transferred, "because she twice resisted deportation attempts and was potentially disruptive."
The child stayed in Hutto and ICE officials say she was watched over by guards at the family detention center. Attorney Barbara Hines with the UT Law Immigration Clinic says fellow detainees told attorneys with the clinic the little girl was by herself for about four days. Hines says she also understands from her clients held in the facility, the girl's aunt, a legal resident, was not allowed to visit the child.
The mother and child are now back in Honduras. Their asylum request was denied. Hines says she does not if the woman gave birth while in the United States.
Background of T Don Hutto
T Don Hutto is run and owned by private jail firm Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and funded by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE contracted with the county, which then contracted with CCA. The federal government and private jail firm do not have a contract between them. The county then acts as the administrator, and is paid $1 per detainee per day. According to County Judge Dan Gattis, Senior, the federal government sought this arrangement in order to avoid a lengthy bid-out process required when a federal agency contracts with private businesses. The contracts with ICE and CCA were approved by the previous commissioners court and signed by former County Judge John Doefler. A renewal of the contract with CCA was approved earlier this year by the current commissioners court and signed by County Judge Gattis. The current contract expires in January 2009
About 500 people can be detained at T Don Hutto. About half of those people are under the age of eighteen. T Don Hutto is one of a handful of family detention centers in the United States. The people held there are typically not from Mexico, but rather from Africa, South-east Asia, South America, the Middle East and Canada According to attorneys representing the people held there, the detainees are typically awaiting immigration status hearings. Some are seeking asylum and presented themselves to officers at airports, borders or shipping ports. Some have been in the U S for a period of time and did not appear for a scheduled status hearing.
INCIDENT CLOUDS FUTURE OF SHAWNEE NATIVE WHO LEADS FEDERAL AGENCY
By LYNN FRANEY The Kansas City Star
Myers By most accounts, Julie Myers was on a roll.
The federal agency she leads, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants.
It is checking inmates' immigration status at all federal prisons now, not just some.
And when it catches non-Mexican illegal immigrants sneaking over the southern border, it no longer releases them, hoping they'll show up for immigration court hearings. Instead, it sends them home.
Three weeks ago, Myers, a 38-year-old Shawnee native, appeared to be cruising toward Senate confirmation for a permanent appointment.
Then came Halloween. Her picture was taken with an employee wearing a racially insensitive costume, and she applauded his originality.
She has since apologized, but the matter threatens to jeopardize her continued leadership of the nation's second-largest investigative agency. She could not be reached for comment Friday. ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Myers had done a "tremendous job" and should not be derailed because of one instance of poor judgment.
But the incident has raised concerns for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, his spokesman said Friday.
Reid plans to consult with Democratic caucus leaders, as well as the senators who lead the two committees that earlier voted to support the nomination. Then he will decide whether to bring Myers' nomination to the Senate for a vote, spokesman Jim Manley said.
If the Senate does not approve her nomination, Myers' emergency appointment will expire Dec. 31.
"The way things are going, we may not ever vote on her nomination," Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri said in a statement. "Our nation's immigration enforcement agency needs noncontroversial leadership. That would be best served by going in a different direction with this nomination."
But Myers' focus on ramping up the agency's enforcement of immigration law has won her plaudits from senators, too.
Brian Nick, chief of staff for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, said Dole was "quite a fan of hers" after Myers led ICE to work more closely with sheriffs in North Carolina to find and deport more illegal immigrants.
The Halloween matter is "something that Secretary Myers explained very quickly and doesn't affect all the good work she's done over the past year," Nick said.
An African-American employees group within the Department of Homeland Security is backing Myers' continued leadership at ICE, saying she has worked hard to recruit more minority employees and reached out to them to apologize. In a letter to Reid, the group said it considered Myers "a friend and an ally."
The agency's headquarters held an employee costume party. An employee attended in a striped costume-style jail outfit and a dreadlock wig and wore makeup, Myers wrote in a letter to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
Myers said she and two other employees served as judges for the costume contest.
"Unfortunately, not realizing that this employee was wearing makeup, I and the other judges recognized this employee's costume for originality," Myers wrote. "... I and the other judges were not aware that the employee's skin color was not as it appeared."
Myers said she found out about the makeup the next day and asked that the employee be disciplined. She said she deeply regretted the incident.
The agency's photographer had taken Myers' picture with the employee. But Myers said she had the photographer delete all photos of the employee in the costume so they would never make it into any ICE publication. She took that action, she said, even before she learned about the makeup because she quickly realized that the jail costume was inappropriate and offensive.
To reach Lynn Franey, call 816-234-4927 or send e-mail to lfraney@kcstar.com.
It's one of the toughest and most divisive issues facing the American people. And how we respond will have a profound impact on future generations. Yet many elected officials refuse to even talk about it. President Bush proposed a plan to deal with the issue but couldn't even get members of his own party to go along.
Congress blew its shot at reform in a flurry of distortions, sound bites and fear-mongering. And most of the presidential candidates won't go anywhere near the subject, perhaps sensing that it could cost them votes.
The issue, of course, is Social Security reform. And you probably thought I was talking about immigration.
But the immigration debate is minor league compared to the rough and tumble political environment surrounding America's most beloved entitlement program. Just ask Congress. As tough as immigration reform turned out to be, it was assumed that fixing Social Security would be even tougher.
Part of the reason is that people can't even agree that there's a problem, let alone how to fix it. There are those who are convinced that, because of the impending retirement of more than 78 million baby boomers, Social Security will be on the road to insolvency as early as 2016 - the point at which more money will be going out in benefits than coming in from payroll taxes. Others agree that there is a shortfall but they're more optimistic about when the dam breaks, insisting that the system will have enough money to pay all benefits until 2038. Then there's the last group, which insists there is nothing to worry about.
Sure. But if the issue isn't resolved, guess who'll foot the bill? Boomers' kids and grandkids.
Despite the myth that there is a kind of lockbox where the government stashes the money workers pay in Social Security taxes until they retire, that is not how things work.
Social Security is a huge transfer of wealth where every generation pays for the one before it. Seventy-eight million baby boomers had no problem paying the benefits that went to the World War II generation because, well, there are 78 million of them. Imagine the burden on younger workers - those who are now in their *****, 20s and 30s - who are expected to hold up their end of the bargain and keep millions of the boomers in a comfy retirement.
In 1946, the cost of supporting one retiree was spread among 42 workers. Now, we're rapidly approaching the point where the number of workers who support each retiree will be down to two. And, of course, that means more strain on those workers in the form of higher taxes.
Some tax hikes on future workers might be inevitable, but politicians would be wise to explore other options before traveling that route.
Someone should have told that to Fred Thompson, who raised the tax issue when he became the first presidential candidate in either party in this election to talk about saving Social Security. Front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton have run away from the issue and refuse to lay out specific plans. They speak only in generalities, perhaps because they fear incurring the wrath of AARP, the lobby that advocates for senior citizens and resists any tinkering with Social Security.
Of course, in politics, there can be a price to being specific. There are better ideas out there than raising taxes - such as raising the retirement age to 70, "means testing" the program so that anyone whose personal net worth is in the millions forfeits their benefits, creating personal retirement accounts, and slowing the rate at which benefits grow by tying them to inflation instead of wages. That last option did find its way into Thompson's plan.
Then there is Barack Obama, who said recently that he would push for higher Social Security income by raising the cap on payroll taxes. Currently, the first $97,500 of a person's annual income is taxed. Obama said that he is against pushing back the retirement age or cutting benefits.
We can argue the details. But at least Thompson and Obama had the guts to put something on the table. It doesn't reflect well on their opponents, who - on this issue - seem just as comfortable hiding under the table.
Ruben Navarrette is a San Diego Tribune columnist (e-mail: ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com).
Rodriguez, with whom I have crossed paths on occasion, has written a history which tells a far different tale of Mexican and Mexican American heritage. In "Mongrels," Mexican identity is no natural-born monolith, but rather a kaleidoscope crafted through creative strategies Mexicans used to resist and adapt to the rigors of white supremacy. Starting from the 1519 Spanish conquest of Mexico, his energetic saga recounts the ways in which Mexicans ingeniously absorbed the conventions of our conquerors by marrying with whites, sampling Anglo culture and even purchasing our way out of racial segregation up until the modern era. In these practices, Rodriguez, an opinion columnist for The Times, writes, Mexican Americans "have always confounded the Anglo American racial system, [and] will ultimately destroy it, too."
Since the first years of Cortes' appearance in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City), the Mexica have crossed color lines through cohabitation or marriage with whites. Rodriguez's initial chapters read like a novel when he tells how Cortes' lover and translator la Malinche, who was "as beautiful as a goddess," not only helped him annihilate the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but also "gave birth to [his] son, MartÃn . . . [who] was later made a Knight of the Order of Santiago, one of the most prestigious military orders of Spain." Such intermarriages were common in colonial Mexico, the 19th century Southwest, and 20th century California. ("By 1963, 25 percent of married Mexican Americans in Los Angeles County had wed non-Mexicans.")
The resulting children challenged racial lines, and the colonists of 18th century New Spain worked to preserve the fantasy of white racial purity by creating no fewer than 16 racial classes, including "moriscos," "albinos," "lobos" and "coyotes." Later, states enacted anti-miscegenation laws that applied to African and African/mestizo/Anglo unions, but usually not "Mexican-Anglo" marriages, as Mexicans were (often, but not always) classified as "white."
When intermarriage didn't fully integrate Mexicans into Spanish, then U.S. society, Mexicans adapted to (and altered) Anglo culture. For example, the Virgin of Guadalupe is a syncretic Mexican-Anglo phenomenon that personalized the Spaniards' Mary for many Latinos. But because she was brown-skinned and was sometimes called Tonatzin, after the Aztec mother of the gods, she was condemned by a leading Franciscan "as idolatrous." Facing off with racist colonials whose vigor and inventiveness matched their own, sometimes Mexicans didn't use nuanced approaches to integration, but simply bought themselves into prestigious racial categories: "In 1779, sculptor Pedro Huizar was listed as a mulatto in the census. But after amassing some money, he was labeled Spanish in 1793."
Impediments to "upward mobility," however, were violence (there were vast killings of Mexicans throughout colonial history) and repatriation back to Mexico. For example, Rodriguez writes compellingly of the INS' infamous 1950s "Operation Wetback" roundup of illegal immigrants in the Southwest, and the beefing up of the border that began in the 1980s (though not much time is spent on the recent heated debates over immigration reform.)
In the bulk of "Mongrels," Rodriguez describes Mexicans as a pragmatic people who have assembled racial categories that are "vague" and "situational," in part because of this history of racism. But he regards with trepidation the 1970s Chicano "brown power" movement, or movimiento, which represents a "fundamental break" from Mexicans' long-standing flexible attitude: "Inspired by an Aztec legend . . . the Spiritual Plan of Aztlán, was a call for ethnic unity and nationalism."
Rodriguez sees the movimiento as a perilous, but temporary, daydream of a uniform Chicano brand that has given way in the new century to the more traditional, fluid constructions of a pan-"Latino" identity: "The Chicano portrayal of Mexican Americans as a unified, downtrodden people preternaturally loyal to their ancestral culture was astonishingly similar to the way Anglo racists had been characterizing Mexican Americans for more than a hundred years."
Yet, was it really? How about an alternative way to frame the movimiento: We can see the Chicano movement's celebration of La Raza not necessarily as a backward, newfangled fiction, but rather as an extension of Mexicans' venerable race-innovations, and also as a corrective to some of the problems caused by some of the assimilationist practices that Rodriguez so skillfully describes.
Through intermarriage, culture sampling, and color- or class-jumping, Mexicans have recut race to fit our own imaginations. Chicanos' excavations of Aztec heritage may not rebut Mexicans' supple racial vision but simply provide another example of that creativity in action: We continue to dream ourselves into existence.
Moreover, the practices that Mexicans used to blur racial boundaries had their shadow sides. Rodriguez writes that many of the "marriages" that disrupted racial categories were really rapes: "While some women were 'given' to the Spaniards, others were taken by force." Also, the color and class jumps often exacerbated other social divides -- those between the wealthy and the poor, dark vs. light, and black vs. white. The movimiento used the imagination to rename race once again in a way that acknowledged the rape of our people by distancing ourselves from colonials, built bridges with African Americans by recognizing our debt to black leaders who laid the foundations for "Brown Power" and also worked to upend the color and class divides through unification.
Of course, Chicano fundamentalism would create dangers like any other sort of extremism. But the recent nationwide immigration rallies, in which some protesters invoked La Raza in the midst of pan-Latino (as well as Chinese American, Polish American, Irish American, African American and Native American) protests, may prove that persistent chicanismo can coexist with other practices that undermine a monolithic Mexica identity. The dream of Aztlan doesn't necessarily have to die for the Mexican American people to develop in a healthy way. I believe I can refresh myself with the dream that I hail from a concrete, transcendent past even as I enjoy a post-modern skepticism about the reality of any pure Mexicanidad (particularly as I am half-Anglo!).
Modern Mexican American identity is nourished by a belief in an ancestral heritage and an understanding that romantic genealogy has never been entirely possible or desirable. That is, in my dream-mind, my Aztec ancestor's gold shield continues to glitter in the sun and the quetzal feathers shimmer in her onyx hair. Simultaneously, my inner critic wryly observes that Mexican Americans are ethnic centaurs born of the marriages, rapes, lost and created language, genocide, litigation, heresies, sell-outs and pure acts of willpower that are detailed in Rodriguez's politically savvy and enchanting book.
Yxta Maya Murray is a professor at Loyola Law School and a novelist whose latest work is "The Queen Jade."
Mongrels, *******s, Orphans, and Vagabonds Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America
Gregory Rodriguez
Pantheon: 318 pp., $26.95
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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ALREADY DRIVE. THE REAL QUESTION IS WHETHER TO PROMOTE SAFETY.
The Washington Post Sunday, November 18, 2007; Page B06
LISTEN TO the fumblings and ***blings of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two otherwise canny and articulate senators, and you can hear a pair of candidates who probably know that granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is smart public policy but maybe not such smart politics. Both Mr. Obama, who supports the idea, and Ms. Clinton, who now says she does not, have come in for derision by seeming to straddle an issue that is becoming a surrogate for the broader, unresolved problem of illegal immigration.
Eight states already grant licenses to undocumented residents, from Washington and Utah in the West to Maine and Maryland in the East. All adopted the stance for clear and convincing reasons of public safety and in many cases at least partly at the behest of law enforcement officials. None has come to tragedy because of it.
Who's Blogging» Links to this article At least 12 million illegal immigrants live in America, and many of them, probably millions, are already driving regularly or periodically. They drive to jobs, to schools, to hospitals, to shopping malls and to grocery stores. By making licenses available to them, states are not enabling them to drive more; they are encouraging them to get the insurance and training that will allow them to drive safely. Deny them licenses, and be prepared to pay the consequences.
A report prepared for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety gives a sobering assessment of those consequences. The report, based on data collected in the 1990s, says that unlicensed drivers are almost five times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than drivers with valid licenses and that 20 percent of all fatal accidents involve at least one driver without a valid license. Such drivers are also more likely to operate vehicles under the influence of alcohol.
While the Democratic front-runners have equivocated, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who signed legislation allowing illegal immigrants to be licensed four years ago, was lucid about his reasons. Speaking at the Democratic forum held Thursday in Las Vegas, Mr. Richardson, who may feel that he has less to lose by his honesty than the equivocating Democratic front-runners, put the matter succinctly: "When we started with this program, 33 percent of all New Mexicans were uninsured. Today it's 11 percent. Traffic fatalities have gone down. It's a matter of public safety."
That was also the logic that led Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York to announce in September that driver's licenses would be issued without regard to immigration status. He withdrew the plan last week following a firestorm of political protest, not least from the state's Democratic congressional delegation. It was notable that many of those who urged the governor to reverse course did so not because they thought the policy was foolish but because they worried about an electoral backlash.
Polls show that a majority of Americans believe issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is a bad idea. Many fear that it will tempt more immigrants to enter this country illegally. That's hokum; people who sneak into the country or overstay their visas do so for jobs, not licenses.
A more serious concern is that granting licenses to illegal immigrants may give would-be terrorists a tool they would otherwise lack and that the licenses could be used to gain access to commercial flights. That could be addressed by making driver's licenses valid only for driving, not as all-purpose identity documents, and by creating for other purposes a separate national ID card, with stringent biometric and other safeguards -- much as European and other countries already have. Doing so would mean rethinking the federal Real ID Act, which requires states to adopt heavily vetted driver's licenses that would serve as all-purpose IDs. But with many states already balking at Real ID's onerous provisions, a rethink is in order anyway.
Rhetoric and reality already diverge on many aspects of the debate over illegal immigrants. Now driver's licenses are providing easy fodder for elected officials to prove their toughness and intolerance on the issue. By doing so, they ignore the everyday reality of safety on the nation's roadways. Illegal immigrants will continue to drive regardless of posturing by politicians. The important question is whether they will do so safely.
By LISA FALKENBERG Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
It seems like a simple notion: Children who haven't committed crimes shouldn't be locked up in a converted medium-security prison, especially when there are alternatives.
Congress has advised U.S. immigration officials not to do it. A decade-old settlement between immigration officials and human rights advocates says not to do it. The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children has asked immigration officials to stop doing it. And the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the immigration officials to get them to stop doing it.
Yet "” until the last few weeks "” there's been no sign that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be forced to stop doing it.
Since May 2006, ICE has locked up immigrant children, about 200 at a time, at the T. Don Hutto "Family Residential Facility," a converted medium-security prison in the Central Texas town of Taylor.
The children are accompanied by parents, mostly from countries other than Mexico, who crossed our borders illegally or overstayed their visas. Many are asylum-seekers fleeing threats such as war, rape and political prosecution.
ICE officials maintain that Hutto is a humane alternative to separating immigrant families while they await asylum or deportation proceedings. The agency began detaining families after 9/11 when it scrapped the old "catch and release" method because many immigrants weren't showing up for court.
Good chance of winning
Detainees at Hutto, which is run by a private prison operator, have complained of a structured, prison-like environment complete with camera surveillance, inadequate medical care, substandard food and psychologically abusive guards. Children, the ACLU lawsuit claims, have suffered weight loss, bed wetting and nightmares as a result of the stress from incarceration.
In April, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks ruled that the 10 child plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit were "highly likely" to prevail in arguments that immigration officials had violated legal standards for their treatment. The judge called the children's detention in "substandard conditions" an "urgent problem." The trial is set for August.
ICE officials claim reforms at Hutto, including changing the menu, allowing limited, supervised visitation and more hours of schooling.
Yet, just last month, when given a chance to show off their progress, they abruptly canceled a scheduled visit by a United Nations inspector. ICE officials later said "pending litigation" led them to deny access.
Meanwhile, the agency has largely refused alternatives to Hutto.
The Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which involves electronic monitoring and telephonic reporting instead of detention, has resulted in an average 93 percent appearance rate at court proceedings for final orders of deportation. That's compared to 41 percent for other illegal immigrants. And it's a lot cheaper than operating Hutto, which costs $2.8 million a month.
Another alternative is for ICE to replace Hutto with a model similar to its Pennsylvania facility, the only other place in the country where ICE detains immigrant families. The Berks County Shelter Care Facility in Leesport is a converted nursing home. Refugee advocates say families at Berks seem to be treating families humanely.
Marching orders
But ICE may not be able to snub alternatives for much longer. Signs of progress are emerging, in the form of proposed congressional mandates.
Earlier this month, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., added an amendment mandating improved treatment of asylum-seekers to the Comprehensive Immig-ration Reform Act of 2007.
"There are documented cases of serious abuses against asylum-seekers here in the U.S.," said Lieberman. " ... When they come to America, longing to breathe free, they are treated like convicted criminals. We allow DHS to detain them in harsh prison conditions with no due process."
The provision's future is brighter after senators agreed last night to revive the stalled immigration bill.
Pressuring ICE
A surer sign comes from the congressional committee that holds ICE's purse strings. In a Homeland Security spending bill being debated this week, the committee tells ICE to prioritize alternatives.
And, for the first time, the committee directs "” not advises or recommends "” but directs ICE, in cases where detention is necessary, to "house families together in non-penal, home-like environments."
The measure could be the push ICE needs to start treating all undocumented families with some dignity. Hutto, no matter how much razor wire is removed, how many coats of paint are added to the cinderblock, will never be home-like. It will never be humane. It will never be a place for children.
CALDERON TO CANDIDATES: DON'T USE IMMIGRANTS AS TALKING POINT
Mexican president calls on hopefuls not to use immigrants in speeches
08:40 AM CST on Friday, November 16, 2007 From Wire Reports
Felipe Calderón took the unusual step Wednesday of injecting himself into U.S. presidential politics, calling Mexican migrants "thematic hostages" of the race and urging candidates not to use them as a talking point.
Speaking at a conference here, Mr. Calderón criticized what he called "the growing harassment" of Mexicans in the United States and said his administration will finance a media campaign to underline immigrant success stories.
He made his remarks one day before his environment minister, Rafael Elvira Quesada, is scheduled to release a report concluding that a U.S.-Mexico border wall is damaging the environment.
Mr. Calderón's statement on the U.S. presidential race caught many people here by surprise. Addressing delegates at a conference sponsored by the Mexican government agency that assists migrants, he said: "It is my duty to make a respectful but firm call to the candidates of the various political parties in the United States for them to stop using Mexicans in that country as thematic hostages of their speeches and their strategies."
He has frequently criticized U.S. immigration policy, as do many Mexicans. But it is unusual for a Mexican president to make such a direct comment about U.S. presidential campaign strategies.
Immigration has emerged as a hot-button issue in the 2008 presidential contest, consistently ranking high on the list of voter concerns and figuring prominently in debates. Immigration also tops a list of issues that voters in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses want candidates to address, according to a CBS-New York Times poll released Tuesday. And 44 percent of caucus-goers want illegal immigrants to lose their jobs and leave the country, the poll said.
A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released two weeks ago found that 65 percent of Republican voters and 50 percent of Democratic voters ranked illegal immigration as a "very important" issue.
Republican candidate Fred Thompson has proposed taking federal grant money from so-called sanctuary cities in the United States that do not report illegal immigrants to the federal government. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has run television ads saying migrants cross the border "to take our jobs."
Given the national focus on immigration, it is very unlikely that candidates would heed Mr. Calderón's call, said Michael Dimock, associate director of the Pew Research Center.
"Good luck," Mr. Dimock said of Mr. Calderón's plea. "It's a potentially powerful voting issue for a significant segment of the electorate."
A CORPSE TAKEN FROM A MORGUE MAY BE THAT OF A KEY CARTEL FIGURE
SAN DIEGO -- Fifty heavily armed men cruised the streets of Ensenada on Wednesday night in an ominous show of force usually reserved for carrying out kidnappings of businessmen or organized crime rivals.
But this convoy of 14 vehicles pulled up in front of the city morgue on Calle Guadalupe. The attackers stormed the building, snatched a corpse, loaded it into a vehicle and sped off through the hills toward Tecate, where two police officers had set up a roadblock.
"They tried to stop them. The gunmen answered with bullets," said Edgar Lopez, a spokesman for the Baja California state police.
Even by the grim standards of violent crime in Baja California, the body-snatching incident set a bizarre precedent. Federal authorities are investigating whether the body is that of drug cartel figure Francisco Merardo Leon Hinojosa, nicknamed El Abulon -- The Abalone.
The gunmen fired more than 120 rounds from AR-15s and AK-47s at the officers, killing them before escaping near the wine-growing region of the Valle de Guadalupe. Hundreds of state and federal police officers followed in a fruitless manhunt.
In a crime-weary region where masked gunmen often leave a trail of beheaded or torture-marked bodies, people could only speculate on a motive.
"Maybe it was sentimental reasons," said David A. Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. The attackers, said Shirk and others, may have wanted to ensure that the man's funeral was attended by his friends. "If he was buried by authorities, they would expose themselves by coming out for any kind of public funeral," Shirk said.
The string of events occurred during the Baja 1000, which began Tuesday. The popular off-road race from Ensenada to Los Cabos draws hundreds of competitors from the United States. Among the last-minute entries were two men who registered a black pick-up truck called Azteca Warrior, according to media reports and Ensenada city spokesman Daniel Vargas.
One of the men, registered as Pablo Gonza***, was tracking the race team's progress in a helicopter when it crashed into high-tension wires, killing Gonza*** and another passenger and injuring two pilots.
Two people who said they were relatives of Gonza*** showed up at the morgue Wednesday and tried to claim the body, but were not allowed to take it, authorities said. A few minutes later, the gunmen struck.
Authorities are investigating whether Gonza*** was really Leon Hinojosa, an alleged lieutenant of the Arellano Felix drug cartel.
Mexican authorities believe Leon Hinojosa took on a larger role after the cartel's suspected leader, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, was arrested last year by U.S. officials. He was sentenced this month to life in prison.
Dozens of federal and state police officers Friday guarded the morgue and the hospital where the two helicopter pilots were being treated. More than 1,000 mourners attended the funeral Mass for the two officers, one of whom had five children.
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