MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government reported the results of recent studies on Tuesday showing that 68 percent of Mexicans who migrate or try to migrate to the United States do so without documents and 55 percent of them hire immigrant smugglers.The report, timed to coincide with the U.N. International Migrants Day, also noted that the Mexican-born population living in the United States from about 800,000 in 1970 to more than 11 million in 2006. ( Note from D.A. -But we are NOT being colonized! ) The majority of Mexicans now living in the United States — 6.2 million — are undocumented, according to the report, which was based on surveys of migrants and information from the government's National Population Council.Almost 30 million people in the United are direct descendants of Mexico's migrants, the report stated. D.A. King The Dustin Inman Society www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org
Nearly 7 in 10 Mexican Migrants Enters U.S. Illegally, Says Mexico Wednesday, December 19, 2007
MEXICO CITY —
The Mexican government reported the results of recent studies on Tuesday showing that 68 percent of Mexicans who migrate or try to migrate to the United States do so without documents and 55 percent of them hire immigrant smugglers.
The report, timed to coincide with the U.N. International Migrants Day, also noted that the Mexican-born population living in the United States increased from about 800,000 in 1970 to more than 11 million in 2006.
The majority of Mexicans now living in the United States — 6.2 million — are undocumented, according to the report, which was based on surveys of migrants and information from the government's National Population Council.
Almost 30 million people in the United are direct descendants of Mexico migrants, the report stated.
In contrast, the report said the immigrant population in Mexico is quite small and has not experienced rapid growth.
The number of foreign residents in Mexico grew from 340,000 people en 1990, or about 0.42 percent of the population at the time, to about 493,000 in 2000, or about 0.5 percent, the last year for which data is available.
The former assistant chief in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in Alexandria on two felony counts of harboring an illegal alien and encouraging and inducing an illegal to reside in the United States.
Lloyd W. Miner, 49, of Centreville, served as the assistant chief of investigations/internal affairs for the Office of Security and Investigations at CIS, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
The illegal alien, identified by federal authorities as Tsomorlig Batjargal, also known "Somoun," a native of Mongolia, also was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud with identification documents.
The case against Miner began last year with the investigation of former Homeland Security supervisor Robert Schofield, who pleaded guilty last year to accepting cash bribes in exchange for creating phony visas, green cards and citizenship documents. Schofield was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay the government $3.1 million.
Miner's attorney, John E. Gullette, has said his client was targeted because his superiors thought he was passing embarrassing information about the agency to advocates of stricter immigration controls.
U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said Batjargal obtained a driver's license from Washington state when Virginia would not renew her license because she was not a lawful U.S. resident. He said she flew to Washington state in March 2006, acquired the driver's license and then returned to Virginia.
In court documents, prosecutors said Miner paid for the plane ticket.
Testimony during the trial showed that Miner met Batjargal in 2005 and later provided her with a black convertible Volkswagen Beetle with Fraternal Order of Police license plates personalized with her name. Mr. Rosenberg said Miner also permitted Batjargal to reside in his residence for over a year and paid her expenses. On April 23, when a federal search warrant was executed at Miner's residence in Centreville, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took custody of Batjargal.
Miner had been a sworn federal law enforcement officer since 1987 when he joined the now-defunct U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady scheduled sentencing for both Miner and Batjargal for March 7. Miner faces five years in prison for each count. Batjargal faces a maximum sentence of 15 years. Miner's vehicles and house also are subject to forfeiture at sentencing.
Immigrant rights march proceeding peacefully with small group.
Daniel Gonzá*** Dec. 19, 2007 03:17 PM
About 100 immigrant-rights advocates marched from a Phoenix furniture store to City Hall on Wednesday to protest Mayor Phil Gordon's efforts to have Phoenix police take a more aggressive approach toward arresting undocumented immigrants.
The march came on the last City Council meeting of the year, and marchers used the opportunity to speak out against Gordon's decision to no longer back a 20-year-old policy that restricts officers from asking people about their immigration status during routine duties.
Under a mounting public frustrated with illegal immigration, Gordon has asked a panel to come up with a new policy that gives police more authority to enforce immigration laws, usually the job of the federal government. The decision marked a reversal from his earlier support for the policy, known as Operations Order 1.4.
The reversal has put the mayor at odds with Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris, but more in line with rank and file officers who through the police union have pushed for a change in the policy.
Immigrant rights advocates and many Latino community leaders fear a change in the policy will lead to widespread ethnic profiling and civil rights violations in Phoenix. It could also undermine community police efforts by making immigrants afraid to report, they say.
"We want the mayor to listen to his police chief and not change Operations Order 1.4," said Salvador Reza, who organized the march.
As Phoenix police officers, some on bicycles, kept watch and blocked traffic, the marchers made their way eight miles from Pruitt's Furniture Store on Thomas Road near 35th Street to City Hall. The furniture store has become a flashpoint in the deteriorating national debate over illegal immigration, with weekly protests between advocates of day laborers who congregate in the area, and members of the Minutemen and other anti-illegal immigration groups who want the government to deport illegal immigrants and seal the border with Mexico.
Some marchers carried signs with slogans such as "No human being is illegal." Along the way, they were met with small groups of anti-immigrants, which led to some verbal exchanges.
"If you are illegal, go home," yelled Bobby Wright, 30, of Buckeye, as the marchers passed. "Get legal or go home. You are all terrorists."
The march, however, remained peaceful.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been using federally trained deputies to crack down on illegal immigration, sent a contingent of deputies to patrol the march route. The deputies arrested at least three undocumented immigrants after making traffic stops near 24th Street and Thomas. Sheriff's deputies have arrested at least 60 undocumented immigrants in the area over the past five weeks, Arpaio said.
"I am against the mayor's decision t put Latinos on the firing line again," said Cleopatria Martinez, 59, a Phoenix College mathematics professor.
Reach the reporter at daniel.gonza***@arizonanarepublic.com or 602-444-8312.
Illegals Found in Murder Victim's Car Tuesday , December 18, 2007 Posted: 09:54 PM
Vehicle an old Minnesota police car
LA GRULLA - Police are calling it a bizarre case. A traffic stop leads to the discovery of three illegal immigrants hiding in the back seat.
As police are processing the scene, they notice the car is an old police car from Minnesota, but the case took another strange turn.
Police soon found out the car belonged to Jose Luis Resendez, a victim of the only murder in La Grulla's history.
"Pretty coincidental, he was the person involved in the murder we had last week in La Cabana Bar," says Police Chief Alfredo Hernandez.
Now police are trying to determine if the car that used to belong to a cop, but most recently belonged to a murder victim, may have now been stolen and used for smuggling.
Originally posted by explora: Immigrant rights march proceeding peacefully with small group.
Daniel Gonzá*** Dec. 19, 2007 03:17 PM
[quote]"I am against the mayor's decision t put Latinos on the firing line again," said Cleopatria Martinez, 59, a Phoenix College mathematics professor.
LATEENO's PUT THEMSELVES ON THE FIRING LINES BY SUPPORTING ILLEGAL ALIENS BASED SOLEY ON THE PREMISE OF SHARING A RACE WITH THEM. DO YOU PEOPLE EVER TAKE RESPONSIBLITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND DECISIONS? DO YOU EVER THINK THE LAWS APPLY TO YOU? TALK ABOUT RACISTS AND XENOPHOBES
Never mind don't bother answering that the evidence that you don't is the reason you have to flee your homelands trying to escape your culturally embedded flaws. You can't out run yourselves which is evident by the perpetual crimes you are responsible for committing here.
Either play by the rules or go back to your lawless hell holes we don't need anybody who comes here illegally and willfully break the laws of OUR COUNTRY and support others who do the same.
Please GET THE H-ELL OUT before we are pushed beyond the limits of human tolerance. Buh bye . . . .and good riddance.
Dec 19, 2007 1:46 pm US/Pacific Criminal Illegals May Get To Stay In US, In Prison
Illegal Immigrants With Gang-Connections Could Get 20 Years In Federal Prison
Twenty-three gang-members awaiting their release from state prisons and various jails around southern California are facing new federal charges which could land each of them behind bars for up to another 20 years in federal prison.
The twenty-three defendants were charged as part of an effort by local and federal law enforcement to further punish convicted illegal alian gang members. The idea is to charge them with felony re-entering the United States after deportation, U.S. Immigragtion and Customs Enforcement said. If convicted, each gang member faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Six of the defendents were scheduled to make their appearances Wednesday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
One defendent, Ascencion Hernandez-Perez, 38, of Mexico, has been deported seven times and has prior convictions for making criminal threats and domestic violence. Hernandez-Perez allegedly has ties to the Valerio Street gang, according to ICE.
Julio Cesar Mata-Sosa, 34, of Mexico, has also been deported seven times and has been convicted of robbery, possessing and selling illegal drugs, and auto theft.
The new effort is called "Operation Winter Warning" and is part of a combined effort by ICE, the U.S. Attorney's Office and trhe Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to keep those with gang ties off the streets.
"The strong support we've received from Steve Cooley and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has allowed us to increase the number of prosecutions of those criminal aliens who repeatedly return to the United States to commit gang crime," said U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien in a statement.
ICE officers screen roeign-born inmates at area jails to find those with deportations and ties to violent street gangs, ICE said. Thus far, most of the cases involve inmates at more than 50 local and county jails in the Los Angeles County.
One of the driving forces behind this new move was the April 2002 fatal shooting of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy David March. March was killed by Armando Garci, a Mexican national illegallu living in the United Staes, and who had been deported three times prior to March's death.
In a satement, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said that Oscar Gabriel Gallegos, another illegal immigrant, attempted to kill to Long Beach police officers in December 2006 - Abe Yap and Roy Wade, Gallegos had also been deported three times prior to then.
ICE said it is training personnel from sheriff's departments in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties to investigate and lodge immigration holds against deportable foreign nationals in Southland County jails.
As a result, the number of potentially deportable criminal aliens in Los Angeles area jails nearly tripled next year, jumping from 707 in October 2006 to 1,742 in November 2007, ICE said.
Subject(s): Mexicans, immigration Dear Mexican: U.S. citizens are sick and tired that for more than 40 years, Latin American elites have lived like monarchs because they pimp their poor to American businesses for cheap labor that American taxpayers have been forced to subsidize with health care, food, housing, education and so forth, costing taxpayers trillions of dollars annually. Meanwhile, our infrastructure, education and health care systems have deteriorated because our government spent our tax dollars supporting Latin America's poor citizens. It's way past the time for our government to tell Latin American government elites to end their caste system and take care of their own people; we refuse to continue the travesty. It would be beautiful to see Latin American people given the opportunity to have a good life in their home country rather than leave their families and risk their lives to become part of the underclass in the U.S.A.! Why do you support this modern-day slavery?
—Please Remember Americans Vent **** Always
Dear PRAVDA: Chingao, where to begin? Let's start with labels—this is ¡Ask a Mexican!, not ¡Ask a Latin American! Questioners: por favor remember this small detail; if you send me questions about Latinos, I'll forward them to Carlos Mencia so he can duh-duh-duh them to death. Next up are your lies. For one, even the Federation for American Immigration Reform, one of the pre-eminent Know Nothing think tanks and an organization predisposed to project worst-case scenarios, estimates "the annual net cost of illegal immigrants (after subtracting their tax payments) to the American taxpayer is likely to be more than $45 billion"—a lot of dinero, but hardly the trillions you claim. And Latin American elites have lived like monarchs since...well, forever—that's why they're elites, silly! Ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine? Read up on it, and spare me your interventionist pendejadas. Drop the class-warrior rhetoric—you sound like a Chicano studies major, except whinier and with less logic. Finally, your slavery question begs la pregunta: Is our present peculiar institution, as insane as it is for both sides, slavery? Not in the Mexican's book: Illegals have free will to leave this country (except in a couple of cases; visit ciw-online.org for more details about true tragedies in the fields) but don't because of America's unquenched thirst for higher profits and cheaper costs—and if this smacks of Marxist drivel, then I suggest you tune in to Lou Dobbs tonight for more of it.
While at an art gallery, a female friend seemed to shrivel at the sight of people sipping wine in huge glasses. She leaned over and whispered, "I am so out of my Mexican comfort zone." Is she just crazy or is there some logic behind her statement? Please enlighten us.
—Brownie Bourgie
Dear Wab: What's with the whiners this week? I've heard your amiga's line muchos times from assimilated Mexicans in different situations—university classrooms, workplace, new neighborhoods—and my response is always the same: Get over yourselves. Yes, Mexicans are going places we've rarely visited in a non-janitorial situation, but that's a cause for celebration, not brown guilt. Stride with pride, o pioneers! If you don't feel comfortable surrounded by gabachos, leave or smuggle in a couple of cousins to get the fiesta started. And if it makes your friend feel any better, Brown Bourgie, those gabachos that freaked her out probably also hyperventilated at the thought of a non-peon wab in their midst.
Love your wit and witticisms! If I weren't already engaged to a muy guapo mexicano, I'd tell you "¡Llamame pa'tras!" How is it that you always manage to one-up your readers?
—¡Llamame!
Dear Call Me: I get the last word. Plus, daily doses of Chocomil.
Got a spicy question about Mexicans? Ask the Mexican at themexican@askamexican.net. Letters will be edited for clarity, cabrones. And include a hilarious pseudonym, por favor, or we'll make one up for you!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: explora,
Prison Sentence for Brother in Queens Green Card Scam
Posted: Wednesday, 19 December 2007 7:53PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- A former federal immigration employee was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half years in prison for his part in a phony green card scam that charged immigrants up to $16,000 each for marriages that would let them stay in the United States.
Philip Browne, a former district adjudication officer with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence M. McKenna in Manhattan.
Prosecutors said the conspiracy made more than $1 million for the scam's organizers.
The sentence followed guilty pleas in September by Browne and his sister, Beverly Mozer-Browne. The sister is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 3.
The brother and sister were among 28 people charged in the fraud. Of those, 26 pleaded guilty, one was convicted by a jury and charges are pending against one.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said Browne, 41, ``sold his government office for personal gain,'' betraying the trust of the public, honest fellow employees and immigrants who followed the rules.
Prosecutors said the scheme resulted in the issuance of hundreds of green cards for customers of Mozer-Browne's Queens business between 2001 and 2006.
Federal authorities said Mozer-Browne was the ringleader, accepting between $8,000 and $16,000 each time from people who wanted to get green cards.
In return for the fees, Mozer-Browne and her workers prepared papers containing phony details so the customers could obtain marriage licenses and other documents. American citizens were paid to participate in phony marriages with the customers.
The fraudulent business was discovered after an immigrant who was solicited as a customer wrote to the FBI. The federal government is helping the informant obtain a green card.
Irving shools offer transitional classes in majority-Spanish district09:18 PM CST on
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News kunmuth@dallasnews.com
REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor CAPTIONHERE Irving schools reaches a new milestone this fall: More than half of the district's students come from Spanish-speaking homes. Students who speak only English are a minority.
Walk through the doors of Keyes Elementary School, and a "Bienvenidos" sign greets you first, followed by the English translation, "Welcome."
REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor Veronica Luna, a kindergarten teacher at Keyes Elementary School in Irving, quizzes Lizeth Garcia in a dual-language program's Spanish class. After lunch, the students switch to an English class next door. Bilingual signs are everywhere in this Irving school. Children learning English as a second language fill seven of eight kindergarten classrooms.
Keyes Elementary is living proof of a new milestone that Irving ISD reached this fall: More than half of the district's students come from Spanish-speaking homes. Students who speak only English are a minority.
Irving now joins Dallas ISD, which crossed the same line three years ago, on the front lines of demographic change in North Texas.
"As our population changed, our programs evolved," said Keyes principal Irma Vega-Zadeh, who grew up in South Texas and is bilingual. "Our job is to build up their vocabulary."
Other districts in which more than half the students grew up speaking Spanish at home are clustered along the Texas-Mexico border in communities with a long history of biculturalism. They are very different from Irving, where recent and rapid demographic shifts are fueling immigration tensions.
"What we've seen in terms of the growth of Latino students and the loss of white students has been going on for a while now," said the district's director of planning, Whit Johnstone. "And that change continues."
School officials in Texas ask parents two language questions when they enroll their children in school: What language is spoken in your home most of the time? What language does your child speak most of the time?
If a parent answers either question with a language other than English, that language is recorded as the child's "home language." Then, district officials test the child's English proficiency. If the child tests out as deficient in English skills, school officials recommend placement in bilingual or ESL classes.
"Just because they speak another language in the home doesn't mean they don't speak English well," said bilingual education director Dora Morón. "That's why we test them."
Last year, an estimated 1.1 million Texas school students spoke Spanish in the home, according to Texas Education Agency statistics. An estimated 3.4 million spoke only English.
The next closest language was Vietnamese, with about 28,000 children, followed by Urdu, Korean, Mandarin (Chinese) and Arabic.
A big challenge
Assimilating so many children poses a tremendous challenge, and Irving ISD is working to improve bilingual education programs designed to transition students from Spanish to English.
This year, Irving ISD added a $500 stipend for non-bilingual-education teachers who show they can speak Spanish. This includes principals, office staff and science teachers. Officials also added a bilingual parent coordinator in the central office.
"We have many parents and other community members who do not speak English well," said assistant superintendent for personnel Neil Dugger. "If you speak Spanish, that gives you an edge."
Irving for the most part sticks to the traditional transitional bilingual education model – where students are taught mostly in Spanish as young children and then learn mostly in English by fifth grade.
But the district is slowly expanding the number of dual-language classes – where children learn half the time in each language. That's because of recent research showing better performance on tests than the older program the district has long been using.
Keyes Elementary does not have enough children who speak English as a first language to offer dual classes that mix children of both language backgrounds together – something the principal said she wishes were possible.
Kindergartners in a dual-language class's Spanish room joke amongst themselves in Spanish. Some stare when asked questions in English. They play word games, write in their journals and learn about patterns from their teacher.
In the English room, they're already writing basic sentences on the wall – "The cat is mad," reads one written by Guadalupe.
Belinda Olvera says she likes "learning the ABCs" best.
"First I was in Spanish and then I learned English," said kindergartner Edwin Gonza***.
The children's teacher for the English portion, Miriam Camacho, was 10 when she arrived in the U.S. from Mexico. She remembers how much she struggled in school because she couldn't understand her teachers.
Her background makes her more sensitive to her students.
"After Thanksgiving they started talking to me in English and asking questions," she said. "Their self-esteem goes up because they can speak with other students and teachers who don't speak Spanish."
For many of these children, their exposure to English is limited to school, or older siblings.
Carmen Contreras, a mother of three from Mexico, has just a few years of primary school education herself, but recently signed up for English classes at a church. Her children speak to each other in English, but to her in Spanish.
"There's a lot I'm lacking," she said in Spanish. "I can't help them with homework. They ask 'Mom, can you help?' But I can't. Sometimes they try to translate it for me, but that's more work for them."
Alma Castillo, an Irving mother, came to the U.S. at age 14 and became a migrant worker. Today, she uses both languages as a secretary.
In elementary school, her son became confused in bilingual classes and began using Spanish accents with English words. So, she began speaking more English at home with her children. Her husband speaks to them in Spanish.
"To me, the priority is English," she said.
Segregated group
Patricia Gandara, co-director of The Civil Rights Project, said Hispanic children are one of the most segregated groups in American schools today – both in the inner city and in the suburbs.
Lack of interaction with children who speak English as their first language can have an impact on how children learn, said University of Colorado education professor Kathy Escamilla.
"It doesn't give them as many opportunities to practice their English in social situations," she said. "When you're outside on the playground, it's more comfortable to speak Spanish. You have no reason to switch if everyone else speaks your native language."
That doesn't mean the children don't learn over time. A recent survey by the Pew Hispanic Center said U.S.-born adult children of Latino immigrants overwhelmingly report they are strong in English.
The report also found that the Mexico-born parents have among the lowest English-speaking ability of any country, and much of that is tied to lack of education.
"Most Latino immigrants are not fluent in English, but their U.S.-born children are," said researcher D'Vera Cohn. "They're holding onto Spanish but they're using it much less than their parents do at home."
By high school, most of the students chattering in Spanish came to the U.S. in their *****. Other Latino students tend to speak more in English or Spanglish – easily mixing the two.
So far, community efforts to teach English to adult immigrants have been minimal. Just 300 adults, many of them parents, are currently enrolled in free English classes offered in part by the school district.
Coordinator Delia Watley said one of the main goals is tear down the language barrier that makes many parents afraid to go into the schools. But a lack of funding prevents further expansion.
"That only puts a dent into the people who need our services," she said. "There are thousands of folks in Irving who need to learn English. We get calls all day, every day." EMERGING TREND
The Irving ISD has recently become a district that serves a majority of students who come from homes where Spanish is spoken.
By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 12/19/2007 02:46:44 AM PST
OAKLAND — Immigration agents detained a pregnant mother Tuesday morning at an East Oakland elementary school. The woman's frightened 6-year-old daughter was told to go to class as her mother was led away for questioning, according to staff at Melrose Bridges Academy. "She walked out, sobbing, down the hall," said Suki Mozenter, an English-language coach who witnessed the event.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the agents wanted to talk with Maria Ramirez about her husband's small business. Her husband, Jose De Jesus Guzman-Baez, faces federal charges of knowingly employing illegal immigrants. He has been in custody since November and faces deportation.
Ramirez was released before noon on Tuesday, but she could be ordered to return to Mexico. During questioning, Kice said, it became clear that she was in the country illegally.
Kice, who originally was told the agents had detained Ramirez on her way out of Melrose Bridges after she dropped off her daughter, later said the officers accompanied her into the school.
They did so for her child's sake, she said. "The officers wanted to ensure that the child was not left unattended," Kice said.
But Tuesday afternoon after school, dozens of parents, teachers and students came together to decry the event.
"This is supposed to be a safe place," Noemi Contreras, whose children attend the nearby middle school, Melrose Leadership Academy, said in Spanish.
"They are scaring people with everything that is happening." Moyra Contreras, principal of Melrose Leadership Academy, helped organize Tuesday's demonstration. Ramirez's son is an eighth-grader at her school, but he isn't the first student to fear the deportation of a mother or father.
In the last month, Contreras said, three parents have been detained or placed in detention.
"The fact that parents and children don't know if they're going to see each other at the end of the day is very difficult, psychologically, for our kids," Contreras said. She added, "We want our students and our families to come to the schools without fearing arrest."
Mozenter said she first saw the two immigration agents walking outside the school as she arrived in the morning. Minutes later, when she was picking up her keys in the main office, she saw them walk inside with Ramirez and her young daughter.
The girl was crying, Mozenter recalled.
Mozenter said the men explained that they needed to talk to Ramirez and that she was in the country illegally. When Ramirez asked to call her attorney before leaving the school, Mozenter said, the agents said they didn't want to have to take her away in handcuffs in front of the other parents.
Ramirez left with them. When she returned, just before noon, she gave her daughter a hug and told her to go to lunch with her friends. Her daughter didn't want to let go, Mozenter said.
Ramirez said to her in Spanish, "They're not going to take me away."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Julie L. Myers as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two years after President Bush appointed her to the position amid questions about her qualifications to lead the government's second-largest law enforcement agency.
Myers was among more than 30 people whose appointments were approved by a voice vote of the Senate as it concluded its session.
Bush had used a recess appointment in 2005 to put Myers, then 36, in charge of ICE, the branch of the Homeland Security Department that enforces immigration laws, when the Senate appeared unlikely to confirm her. Although she was a former Treasury official and assistant U.S. attorney, lawmakers debated whether she had enough experience to lead the agency.
Critics also noted her personal connections within the Bush administration. She was engaged — and is now married — to John F. Wood, who was chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and is now the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo. Ret. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is her uncle.
Myers herself was Chertoff's chief of staff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division. However, her appointment in 2005 came after Hurricane Katrina, which brought criticism over the experience of those handling the federal response to the disaster.
Her appointment ran into trouble again this fall when she gave the "most original" costume award to a white employee who came to the agency's Halloween party dressed as an escaped prisoner with dreadlocks and darkened skin. The incident drew complaints of racial insensitivity and elicited an apology from Myers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the Senate's most vocal opponent of Myers' permanent appointment as head of ICE, placed a hold on her nomination after the Halloween incident. The senator's spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, said McCaskill "still believes Julie Myers isn't focused enough on employer enforcement and she's not the right pick, but there simply were not enough votes to oppose her nomination."
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the Senate's approval validates Myers' hard work and accomplishments.
ICE was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when parts of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs agencies were merged.
Associated Press writer Sam Hananel contributed to this report.
By EUNICE MOSCOSO Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service Thursday, December 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — Azteca America, a Spanish-language television network with 61 U.S. affiliates, is embarking on a nationwide quest to teach English.
The network is planning to launch a show early next year called Survival English. Aimed at immigrants, the program will teach basic language skills to help people with immediate needs such as renting an apartment, visiting a doctor or applying for a job.
The show, which may run on weekend mornings, is part of an aggressive effort by the network to help Latino immigrants assimilate into the larger culture.
Azteca America, which is available on some cable systems in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, also is developing a plan to offer Survival English classes in 50 U.S. cities without charge.
The classes, based on an existing program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, would be held at community centers and other locations, said Luis Echarte, chairman and president of Fundacion Azteca America, the nonprofit arm of the company.
"It's a very basic need in the community," he said. "If they're going to be in the country, they have to learn the language in order to succeed, and we want them to be a better and richer audience. The more successful they are, the better it will be for us and our advertisers."
The Survival English television program is being developed in partnership with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has three campuses in the U.S.
Echarte said it will be an entertaining show that will teach basic concepts and encourage people to learn more by reading or taking one of the classes. It will focus heavily on images to help people who cannot read, Azteca officials said.
It will include a cultural component, teaching immigrants how to dress for a job interview, how to wait patiently in a line, and basic civic responsibilities and rights.
The Azteca America plan comes as the assimilation of immigrants has become a hot political topic, especially in the Republican race for the White House. GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo recently boycotted a debate on Univision, a larger Spanish-language network, saying that bilingualism "has perilous consequences for a nation."
Earlier this year, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged immigrants to avoid Spanish-language television, books and newspapers if they want to learn English.
Rob Toonkel, spokesman for U.S. English Inc., a group that advocates making English the nation's official language, called the Survival English plan "brilliant" because it allows busy immigrants to learn the basics.
Toonkel, who teaches English as a Second Language classes, also said that teaching cultural lessons is critical and an important part of assimilation. Things as basic as saying "please" and "thank you" or tipping at a restaurant are not familiar to people from certain parts of the world, he said.
Echarte said there is a misperception that immigrants do not want to learn English.
"People are going to learn English. If you don't help them, they are going to resent you," he said.
A study released last week by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center said that 91 percent of Hispanic adults born in the U.S. of immigrant parents are fluent in English, showing that assimilation is occurring at the same pace as previous generations of newcomers.
But the study also found that 28 percent of Hispanic immigrants speak only Spanish in the workplace, signaling some enclaves where English is rarely spoken.
Echarte said the television show and Survival English classes are designed to fill a void in English-language instruction because many cities have waiting lists for English as a Second Language courses.
Azteca America is following a trend of Spanish-language networks becoming more involved in the daily lives of their viewers and promoting civic participation.
Earlier this year, the Telemundo network, which is owned by NBC Universal, launched a nationwide voter registration drive to encourage Hispanics to participate in the 2008 election. It includes many of the network's biggest stars and a strong push by the network's youth-oriented cable channel, Mun2.
Azteca America and Univision also have voter registration campaigns. The Univision effort includes public service announcements, news segments and 30-minute programs that teach immigrants how to apply for citizenship and vote.
Many of the campaigns have been influenced by the national debate on illegal immigration, which many Latinos feel has become hostile against all Hispanics.
Echarte said that learning English will help immigrants become more politically active and more accepted by the larger population.
"What's going on in immigration has developed into a persecution type of thing," he said. "The more (immigrants) that register to vote and the more they know the rights they have to do so ... the better it will be to calm this situation."
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