http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/444450.html

Immigration targeted family, activist says

An immigrant student activist claimed U.S. immigration agents targeted her family for deportation to silence her.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 05, 2008

BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI


ROBERTO KOLTUN/EL NUEVO HERALD STAFF
Gaby Pacheco's family faces deportation. She has a student visa to attend Miami Dade College.

In July 2006, U.S. immigration agents rousted Miami Dade College student-activist Gaby Pacheco's parents and two sisters from sleep, briefly detained them, and put them into deportation proceedings.

Now, on the eve of an immigration court hearing that could decide their fate, the Pachecos and their attorneys are making a touchy allegation: They contend Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted the family to silence Gaby, a leader in efforts to legalize immigrant students who, like herself, were brought to the United States by their parents without permanent legal status.

In an e-mailed response to a request for comment, ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonza*** declined to address the allegations, citing the pending court case, but added: ``What I can tell you is that ICE officers are sworn to uphold our nation's immigration laws. Those who are in violation of U.S. law should not be surprised if they are arrested.''

Gaby Pacheco, 23, who is from Ecuador, is not directly affected by the deportation effort because she has a student visa to attend MDC, where she is studying for a degree in special education.

She calls ICE's effort to deport her family members ''punishment'' for her advocacy. She contends ICE officials told her sister while the family was detained that they had Pacheco's activism to thank for their detention.

''It was heartbreaking for me,'' Pacheco said Tuesday during a news conference at the office of the family's attorney, Ira Kurzban. ``I never imagined something like this would happen just because I have been outspoken in saying that every human being has a right to an education.''

TOURIST VISAS

Pacheco and her two sisters were brought to Miami by her parents in 1993 with tourist visas. The family remained after the visas expired. While overstaying a visa is not a crime, it means the family can be ordered deported by an immigration judge.

The four Pacheco family members now facing deportation are scheduled for a court hearing Thursday.

Pacheco, who has lobbied Congress and state legislators and organized student rallies on behalf of undocumented students, has often been featured in media reports over the past few years.

Students Working for Equal Rights, the organization in which Pacheco has been active, will hold a demonstration at 1 p.m. Thursday at MDC's Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami to rally support for the family.

Pacheco, a former president of MDC's student association, has continued her activism since the detentions. She was prominent last year in supporting a bill in Congress known as the DREAM Act. It would allow the children of illegal immigrants a shot at legal U.S. residency after attending college or serving in the military for two years.

The long-stalled bill was revived after the highly publicized case of brothers Alex and Juan Gomez, who were detained by ICE along with their parents, who had brought them from Colombia as young boys.

The bill died when the U.S. Senate refused to take it up for debate.

After graduating high school in Miami, Gaby Pacheco obtained an international student visa that allows her to attend MDC while working 20 hours a week to help pay tuition.

WHAT HAPPENED

Family members say three ICE agents, accompanied by Miami-Dade police officers, woke them around dawn on July 26, 2006.

The family gave this account: The agents said they were looking for a Maria Pacheco Chavez, who might be involved in document fraud. Two of the Pacheco sisters are named Maria -- including Gaby, whose full name is Maria Gabriela -- but neither one has the Chavez surname.

Told there was no one at the house by that name, the agents then focused on the family. Eventually, all five wound up at ICE offices at Biscayne Boulevard and 79th Street, where they were questioned. Initially, they contend, agents confused one of Gaby's sisters, Erica, with the student activist.

'They asked her, `Why are you coming out on TV and saying those things?' '' Gaby Pacheco said.

While the Pachecos say the agents told them they came to their house in error, that comment and others they describe convinced the family that ICE knew who Gaby was.

Their attorney, Kurzban, said it's a case of selective prosecution and a First Amendment violation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/04/usa.mexico?...ss&feed=networkfront

Death at US-Mexico border reflects immigration tensions

Tuesday March 4 2008

Javier Domínguez Rivera had worked at the New York cereal factory before. Now he was hoping to return, bringing his two brothers and a girlfriend with him.

But first the group had to negotiate the difficult journey from their home in Puebla, 60 miles south of Mexico City, across the US-Mexico border and on to New York.

They crossed on foot in the barren desert of Arizona, near the town of Naco, where anti-illegal immigration groups have erected their own fence to keep out unwelcome visitors.

But the crossing didn't go to plan. After spending hours hiking through the scrub and brush of the Sonora desert, the four had got just a mile and a half from the border. When they realised that the Border Patrol, the federal agency charged with policing the border, was close by, they decided to turn around and go back to Mexico to prepare to cross another day.

When they were just 150 yards north of Mexico, the distinctive markings of a green and white Border Patrol vehicle appeared.

What happened next is disputed, but the result is not: Domínguez Rivera lay dead on the ground, killed by a shot fired by Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett.

Last week, just over a year since the January 2007 shooting, Corbett went on trial in downtown Tucson, charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Border Patrol agents have killed 12 people in the last two years; Corbett is the first to be tried for murder since 1994. Agent Corbett may take the stand for the defence today, probably the last day of testimony in his trial.

If convicted of second-degree murder, he faces a sentence of 10-22 years; the lesser charge of negligent homicide carries a sentence of four-eight years.

The trial comes at a time when tensions at the US-Mexico border are heightening.

With immigration reform stalled, the federal government has worked to increase border security, beefing up Border Patrol numbers, building a fence along parts of the border and spending more than $85m trying - with little success - to build a "virtual" fence.

In opening statements, Corbett's defence team portrayed the death of the 22-year-old as a case of self-defence by the 40-year-old agent.

"Nick Corbett had to defend himself, and he had to defend himself against Mr Domínguez, who was trying to crush his skull with a rock," said defence attorney Sean Chapman. "Nick Corbett did not want to shoot this man, but if he hadn't done it, he might be dead today."

The prosecution, led by former Arizona attorney general Grant Woods, told a different story.

"This young man - while surrendering, going down on his knees, putting his hands in the air - from behind was hit, yanked and shot through the heart," Woods told the jury.

"We all respect the Border Patrol and law enforcement, but you don't kill somebody who is trying to surrender," he said.

The three eye witnesses to the death took the stand for the prosecution, while Woods also called two Border Patrol agents who arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting, the lead detective on the case, and a forensics expert.

In testimony to the court, the victim's brother, Jorge Domínguez Rivera, said that when they saw Corbett's vehicle they decided to surrender, putting their hands in the air.

As Corbett approached, pointing his gun at them, he said, they dropped to their knees. Corbett skidded to a halt, he said, and ran towards them.

The agent put his gun in his left hand and it fired as he tried to push Javier to the ground with his right hand.

"The officer released him and took a step forward and my brother just held himself, said 'Ah' and just moaned", before falling onto his back and going into convulsions, Jorge Domínguez Rivera said.

Using a hand-held radio, Corbett called for help. Another agent, Steve Berg, arrived on the scene within 90 seconds, to find Corbett trying to remove the clothing from around Domínguez Rivera's wound.

Corbett appeared to be in shock, he said. When a supervisor subsequently arrived, Berg said that he heard Corbett explain that the man had tried to attack him with a rock.

The supervisor, Murray Adams, took the stand on Friday. He said that Corbett told him that he was holding his gun in both hands, came around his vehicle, saw a person moving to throw a rock at him, and shot him.

Another Border Patrol officer, called to the stand by the defence yesterday, said that agents are taught that a rock is considered a deadly weapon, and that therefore the killing was justified.

Forensic evidence from the scene shows that the gun that killed Domínguez Rivera was fired three inches to one foot away from the him, and that he was shot from slightly behind at a downward angle.

Defence attorneys argued that three Mexican witnesses had colluded in their account of the incident and had received guidance from the Mexican consulate.

Another Border Patrol agent called by the defence testified that she had seen an official from the local Mexican consulate coaching the three Mexican witnesses through hand signals during an earlier court hearing. The prosecution disputed the account.

In an earlier interview, Renato Domínguez, the father of the dead man, denied that his son had been a "delinquent" or that the family was looking for a cash payout.

"The idea that a person can be a federal agent and behave like a psychopath is really incredible," he told Wick News Service.

"They have the power in their hands, and they abuse their authority. In my point of view, this man was either demented or an abuser of authority, or a racist.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8840.html

Immigration: New bills, old borders

By: David Rogers and Patrick O'Connor
Mar 5, 2008 05:40 AM EST



For seasonal employers, whether crabbers in Maryland or grand hotels in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the real calendar — not politics — makes the pressure very real and immediate.
Photo: AP

Immigration reform is raising its head again in Congress, stirring old hopes and fears among Democrats and forcing Republicans to re-evaluate their tactics given the re-emergence of John McCain.

Nothing is anticipated on the scale of the comprehensive immigration bill that collapsed in the Senate last year. But seasonal employers, such as the restaurant and tourism industries, are pressing hard for more H-2B visas for lower-skilled workers this summer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised Hispanic lawmakers an opportunity to add provisions addressing concerns in their community.

A third potential piece is a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) — with the support of fellow “Blue Dog” Democratic moderates — that takes a more conservative approach: beefing up border security and requiring employers to use a government database to verify that their workers are in the U.S. legally.

Mindful of the splits among Democrats, House Republican leaders met Tuesday night to discuss a potential discharge petition aimed at forcing Pelosi to allow a floor vote on the Shuler measure, first introduced last November. A final leadership go-ahead could come as early as Wednesday, with the goal of beginning to collect signatures next week and thereby elevating the issue prior to the spring recess beginning March 14.

The strategy is designed to force Pelosi’s hand on immigration, assuming whatever option the speaker chooses will pose problems in the fall. “That’s going to be a problem for us, because it is such a volatile issue,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). “I don’t think the Republicans are interested in good policy. They’re interested in good politics right now, and they think the discharge is good politics.”

To a point, that is. Privately, some in the Republican leadership are skeptical of ever succeeding in getting the 218 signatures needed for the petition to be effective. And much as conservatives have pressed for the strategy, it could reopen old wounds with Hispanic voters at a time when the party’s likely presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, an immigration reformer, has sought to smooth over the bitter debate of last year.

The run-up to Tuesday’s Texas presidential primary only punctuates these concerns. The two Democratic contenders, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), actively competed for the votes of the state’s large Hispanic population, even as McCain was hoping that a victory there would seal his claim to the Republican nomination.

Exit polls in Texas suggested Hispanic voters represented about 32 percent of the Democratic vote, up from 24 percent in 2004. The same surveys showed more sympathy for immigration reform, with only one in five Democratic voters saying illegal workers should be deported.

Caught most in the middle of the House maneuvering is the 21-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is torn between taking a tough stand for immigration overhaul and calibrating its demands to at least allow some progress.

Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), who chairs the CHC, said drafters of the more comprehensive bill are meeting Wednesday to discuss their final package, but he would not divulge details of that legislation.

“We’re working on it,” Baca said. “Something will happen, and it will have bipartisan support.”

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who has taken the lead for employers seeking H-2B visas, said: “If it came to the floor today, it would squeak by. But we need more Republican support.” Portions of Shuler’s bill could be added to gain moderate support, but the essential trade-off for the Hispanic Caucus will be some protection for undocumented workers deemed “essential” employees.

Critics argue that the CHC has been too ideological thus far to allow a deal, and without more movement it risks being run over as pressure mounts for some relief on the H-2B visa issue.

“It is big enough to carry something decent or it is big enough to run over us,” said Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who has been a strong ally of the caucus on immigration issues. “If we don’t scale back our demands to be commensurate with what H-2B can carry, we’ll get H-2B without anything.”

Clyburn, who has strong ties to the caucus as well, said he has urged members to accept an incremental approach, just as Southern blacks like himself pursued a step-by-step process toward civil rights legislation in the 1950s and ’60s.

“We can continue to just do nothing, but at some point in time a price is going to be paid for that,” Clyburn said in an interview. “Right now, we’re sort of operating at the mercy of the bureaucracy. I’m a great believer that we ought to do something. What can we do that is in fact an improvement over what we currently have?”

Citing a five-year period in the ’60s when the civil rights movement advanced with a succession of laws running from manpower training to voting rights and fair housing, Clyburn said: “Over that five-year period, you got the whole hog; you just didn’t get it all at one time. When I talk to my brothers and sisters in the Hispanic Caucus, I say, ‘If this is what we want, what can we carve out of this right now and come back?’”

Watching from the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said any progress will depend on the House going first. “I think anything dealing with immigration is going to be extremely difficult,” Reid said in an interview this week. “The House is the one where it has to come, and when it comes over here, we’ll deal with it.”

Clyburn agrees the immediate chances are “slim,” but if the seeds are planted now, more could come depending on the presidential campaign. “When we settle down and get two candidates, and if you have the right kind of rhetoric from them, the chances improve,” Clyburn said.

For seasonal employers, whether crabbers in Maryland or grand hotels in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the real calendar — not politics — makes the pressure very real and immediate.

The current caps on H-2B visas have been a recurring problem for several years. In March 2004, employers hit the ceiling of 66,000 H-2B visas for the first time under the current program. The number ran out even faster the next year, at the beginning of January, only three months into the fiscal year.

Congress responded by tweaking the rules to create an exemption for employees who had worked under the program in the three previous years. As part of that same fix, lawmakers also divided the allotment in half, giving summer employers the same chance to compete for these visas as businesses that operate in the winter.

But competition remained tight, and last year the annual extension became ensnared in the immigration debate and Congress failed to include the provision in a final year-end spending deal with the White House.

Outside groups, such as the National Restaurant Association, are pressing for relief and say they need a solution by April so summer employers have enough time to complete the necessary paperwork and recruit foreign workers to fill these positions. Absent some deal soon, pressure will mount to add an amendment to a must-pass spending bill in April to include funding for the Iraq war.

“It’s critical that Congress reauthorizes this temporary worker provision,” said Mike Shutley, who chairs the National Restaurant Association’s H-2B coalition. “Waiting till the next fiscal year is not acceptable.”

Every year, Bill Zammer, a restaurant owner on Cape Cod, recruits about a quarter of his more than 400 employees from Jamaica on temporary-worker visas. This year, fearing Congress will fail to extend the current program, he has traveled to Florida and Pennsylvania looking for cooks and waitstaff to work his large dining rooms. He even made a recent trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) in a fruitless effort to find workers with the necessary paperwork for his six-month summer season.

But he may need to cut that season short this summer if he can’t find the workers he needs to fill these positions. He recently traveled to Washington to make that point to a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill as part of a broad coalition effort to extend the temporary visa program.

“These are not people coming to steal our jobs,” Zammer said. “These are jobs that are not being filled.”

Cockfighting Ring Found During Drug Bust
Animals, Numerous Drugs, $4,730 In Cash Seized
POSTED: 12:39 pm EST March 4, 2008
UPDATED: 3:16 pm EST March 4, 2008

MANCHESTER, Conn. -- Authorities discovered a cockfighting ring during a drug bust in Manchester on Monday inside a house along a quiet country road that winds its way through farmland.

Manchester police said the animals were part of a cockfighting ring, an illegal sport in which the birds fight to the death and people bet on which rooster will win. Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Len Besthoff reported one of the animals has to be put down because of its ailing health.

"It's kind of a first for around here," Manchester police Sgt. Chris Davis said.

Officers seized $46,600 worth of heroin from Efrain Bracero on Monday. Authorities had arranged to meet with Bracero in a parking lot on Buckland Hills Drive at 5 p.m., and said he has in his possession 116 grams of raw heroin.

"That's a substantial quantity of heroin," Davis said. "It was a very good bust."

Bracero, 27, of West Hartford, remains held on $500,000 bond on heroin possession and intent to sell charges. He does not face any charges related to the cockfighting allegations.

Upon executing a search warrant of a house on Woodside Street in Manchester, from which authorities observed Bracero leaving shortly before his arrest, authorities discovered what they deemed to be a cockfighting ring.

Six months ago, police in Bloomfield arrested a person who they said raised 17 fighting roosters and 15 breeding hens in an unrelated case (Full Story). Investigators said it's hard to tell how widespread the illegal sport is in the state.

"I don't think they let a lot of outsiders in. So, it's kind of difficult to infiltrate this type of activity and to find out about it," Davis said.

Investigators said they seized suspected blood splatters, eight live gamecocks, hypodermic needles, bird supplements, fighting spurs, a scale to weigh the birds and two slot machines. Officers said they saw suspected blood splatters on the basement floor outside the ring.

Authorities seized the animals and suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia, including 4 ounces of suspected cocaine, 2 ounces of suspected marijuana, a scale, suspected drug balance sheets and $4,730 in cash.

Officers arrested the residents of the house, identified as Felix Martinez, 63, and Carmen Gomez, 46. Police charged both with numerous drug charges, eight counts of cruelty to animals and possession of a gambling device.

Martinez remains held on $750,00 bond and Gomez remains held on $500,000 bond. All three men are scheduled to appear in court on March 17.

If you have information regarding this or any other drug investigation in this area, you can confidentially contact the East Central Narcotics Task Force by dialing 860-645-5548.

In October, the state established a hot line for citizens to report illegal animal fighting (Full Story). The attorney general's office announced a national effort of state attorneys general to crack down on animal abuse and illegal animal fighting.

As part of this national effort, The Humane Society of the United States also announced the launch of a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in illegal animal fighting.

Animal fighting -- including dogfighting and cockfighting -- is a pervasive problem in Connecticut and throughout the country, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.

The Connecticut illegal animal fighting hot line number is 860-808-5180, and callers can remain anonymous.

http://www.wfsb.com/news/15487278/detail.html?taf=hart

Child rapist sentenced to life
Click-2-Listen
Staff Reports

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

DAYTON — A judge on Monday sentenced a Dayton man to life in prison for raping a 10-year-old girl.

Adrian Garcia-Garcia, 23, pleaded guilty Feb. 11 to rape and one count of importuning a child under 13.


Authorities deported Garcia-Garcia to Mexico in August 2007 because he was in this country illegally.

He returned to Dayton about a month later and moved in with his girlfriend, according to county Prosecutor Mathias **** Jr.

On Oct. 22, Dayton police were called to Childrens Medical Center on a report of a child rape. The investigation led to Garcia-Garcia's arrest and conviction.



http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/...headlinesrapist.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.immig05mar05,0,408198.story

GOP to present immigration bills
Package is to place emphasis on tougher enforcement steps

By Nicole Gaouette
March 5, 2008

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are set to announce today the most hard-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet, one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.

Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but the move by some of the Senate's leading Republicans underscores how potent the issue of immigration remains, particularly during a presidential election year.

The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take a tougher stance on immigration. They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul last year.

The package, an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers, consists of 11 bills but could expand to include as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.

One would discourage states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10 percent of highway funding from states that continue to do so. Another would extend the presence of the National Guard on the border, and a third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.

A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year sentence on someone caught crossing the border a second time.

"The point is to reinforce the idea that most of us here feel that we need to make enforcement and border security a first step to solving the overall problem," said Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, one of the sponsors.

Although Congress usually avoids tough legislation during an election year, Vitter insisted that he and his colleagues could still get something done.

"There are concrete steps we can take," he said. "None of us see any reason to waste this time."

Other bills in the package would:


• Block federal funding from cities that bar their police from asking about immigration status.


• Give the Department of Homeland Security authority to use information from the Social Security Administration to target illegal immigrants.


• Require construction of 700 miles of fencing along the southern border, not including vehicle barriers.


• Impose sanctions on countries that refuse to repatriate citizens.


• Deport any immigrant, legal or illegal, for one drunken-driving conviction.


• Enable local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said the GOP proposal "falls far short of what is needed."

Democrats want to combine enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to deal with an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Reid "continues to support legislation that is tough on people who break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement," Manley said.

But Democrats have begun embracing a tougher stance on immigration. A confidential study assembled for Democratic leaders this year urged them to use tougher language.

Democrats have focused on offering opportunity to immigrants, but the study by two think tanks urged them to begin speaking in terms of "requiring" illegal immigrants to become legal and about what's best for the United States.

Many House Democrats have gone a step further, endorsing an enforcement-only bill by freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina that would bolster border security and require employers to verify their workers' legal status with an electronic verification system.

The SAVE Act has drawn 140 co-sponsors, 48 of whom are Democrats, many vulnerable freshman who won seats from Republicans.

The Democratic leadership dislikes Shuler's bill and refuses to schedule a debate. Republican leaders are considering collecting signatures for a petition that requires House leaders to bring a bill up for debate if 218 members sign. There are 198 Republicans.

7 of 10 Migrant Women Are Abused By Mexican Police

Cimacnoticias:

Mexico - In the southern border of our country, 7 of each ten migrant youth women originating from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, they are attacked in their human rights by officials of customs, agents of the Preventive Federal Police, state and federal courts, municipal police officers and elements of the armed forces.

Thus the president of the Commission of Equity and Gender of the Chamber of Representatives, Maricela Contreras Julián, assured through a document to be given out to the mass media, in which it adds that these central american youths are sold for 200 dollars each one for the purpose of being utilized for sexual exploitation, in bricklaying, walking commerce and pickers of trash in the interior of the Mexican territory.

The legislator, who also belongs to the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), indicated that the report elaborated by the non-governmental organization (NGO) End of Childlike Prostitution, ****ography and the Traffic of Children with Sexual End and well-proportioned data by the Economic Commission of Latin America (CEPAL).

Contreras Julián indicated, “on the one hand the abuses received in the neighboring north country by our people are condemned and, on the other, the same practices are reproduced by some Mexican authorities with the people that cross the southern border of Mexico, conducts that are declared in *** abuses, labor abuses, violence in all their forms and a lack of respect to their rights.

Data of CEPAL registered that in that southern border region of our country “70 percent of the migrants are victims of violence, that 60 percent suffers some type of *** abuse including rape”. But if the migrants manage to arrive at the border with the United States of America, that can become more dangerous since, besides being abused sexually and be forced to be prostituted, they can be murdered.

http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=5962

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md....ar05,0,2290653.story

Lawmakers skeptical of illegal-immigration bill

By Bradley Olson | Sun reporter
March 5, 2008

The most comprehensive of a series of bills seeking to make Maryland a less hospitable place for illegal immigrants got a cold reception in a legislative committee yesterday, as lawmakers questioned whether it would cost more to implement than it would save.

Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the minority leader from Southern Maryland, proposed cutting off all state benefits to those who cannot prove they legally reside in the U.S., exempting only the benefits that are required by federal law, such as emergency health care and public education.

"Those who come here illegally detract from those who come here legally," said O'Donnell, who opened his remarks by noting that he was the grandson of immigrants and supported legal immigration. He added that the legislation was passed in Colorado by a Democrat-dominated legislature and "was recommended" this year by the Council of State Governments, a nonpartisan national public policy organization.

But he was met with skepticism by members of the House Appropriations Committee, who pressed O'Donnell on what precise impact the measure would have in the state.

"What evidence do you have that this is a problem in Maryland?" asked Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, a Montgomery County Democrat and immigrant advocate who has said many of the 30 bills dealing with immigration this session are "hate-filled."

O'Donnell said he did not have any and expressed disappointment that a report from the Department of Legislative Services did not more clearly delineate what the impact of the bill would be. He added that he believed state agencies that claimed the measure would be too costly to implement were being recalcitrant.

That answer prompted a rebuke from Del. Mary-Dulany James, a Cecil County and Harford County Democrat, who urged him to be more prepared.

"Please try and gather as much information as you can so we have a better sense of what is this problem that needs a solution," she said.

O'Donnell replied: "I guess I'm not nearly as adequate a legislator as you are." He went on to say he hoped to work with the committee and wanted the bill to be a first step to discussing the issue.

Citing a 2007 report by the Congressional Budget Office, Maryland legislative analysts wrote that legal and illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in government services, due largely to the fact that they are ineligible for most federal programs, including Social Security, food stamps and Medicaid.

But illegal immigrants may use more in state and local government services, which usually cannot deny help, the policy analysis said.

"Consequently, while the federal government receives a net benefit from undocumented immigrants, state and local governments realize a net loss with undocumented immigrants paying less in state and local taxes than the cost to provide services to that population," the report says.

The bill, as well as another in the House Ways and Means Committee dealing with whether in-state tuition should be granted to illegal immigrants, spurred some of the most passionate testimony of this year's General Assembly session.

Susan Payne, a Montgomery County resident, said she believes an influx of illegal immigrants in her community had led to more crime and what she termed "impromptu boarding houses," where she said 17 or 18 people lived and parked their cars.

"We've seen the effects, not just in dollars and cents, but we've seen it in the deterioration of our communities," she said. "And I don't think it's because we've all of a sudden gotten an influx of the Amish."

Advocates who testified said the bill could adversely affect U.S. citizens who qualify for benefits but who are not be able to prove they are living here legally. In one hypothetical example, Kerry O'Brien, an attorney for Casa of Maryland, the state's largest Latino and immigrant-rights group, said an elderly woman who might not have a license because she has stopped driving might be denied benefits under the bill, or at least that the legislation could create insurmountable barriers for some people who legally qualify for state help.

"This bill creates unnecessary burdens on a wide variety of Maryland agencies, when most benefits and services are already either explicitly restricted or required by federal law or U.S. Supreme Court decisions," she said.

Illegal Immigration Cripples County Criminal Justice Systems Along the U.S. / Mexico Border

WASHINGTON, March 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

County officials along the U.S./Mexico border say the cost of apprehending, arresting and convicting undocumented immigrants is crippling their courts and the region's entire criminal justice system. In a report released by the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition (USMBCC), elected county leaders argue they are well past the national debate on immigration reform, and simply want to be reimbursed for the burden illegal immigration places upon their criminal justice systems, to the tune of about $200 million a year.

"It's all about the criminal justice costs associated with criminal aliens," says Kent Evans, Immediate Past President of the USMBCC and a Dona Ana County (NM) Commissioner. "Any way you look at it, border counties spent more than one billion dollars in less than a decade. That's a lot of money, money that should have been used to improve schools, roads and public safety in our communities."

In the study, conducted over a 12-month period by the University of Arizona and San Diego State University, it was revealed that the 24 border counties in Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico are spending a disproportionate amount of local tax dollars to provide law enforcement and criminal justice services to apprehend, transport and convict criminal undocumented immigrants.

"This updated study effectively illustrates that until our borders are secure and our immigration laws are adequately enforced, many states and localities, particularly in border states like Arizona, will continue to
incur overwhelming costs to process those illegal immigrants who commit crimes, or who, sadly, die trying to come to the United States," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who secured funding to produce the report.

"This study underscores the unfair and unacceptable fact that border residents continue to pay for our broken immigration policies," said Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, TX, a 26 1/2 year veteran of the
U.S. Border Patrol. "The current approach reflects a lack of understanding of border communities."

The Coalition asked that the federal government cover three major costs associated with undocumented immigrants who commit state felonies and/or multiple misdemeanors by fully funding the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative and county law enforcement and criminal justice services. "We are not asking for a hand out," said Manny Ruiz, Vice Chairman of the USMBCC and a Santa Cruz County (AZ) Supervisor. When federal lawmakers fail to secure our borders, our local taxpayers should not have to pay for the skyrocketing costs."

The Coalition is a nonpartisan, consensus-based policy and technical forum founded in 1998 to address challenges facing county governments
located on the United States/Mexico Border. For a copy of the 155-page report, visit

http://www.bordercounties.org.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&S...08/0004768472&EDATE=

quote:

A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year sentence on someone caught crossing the border a second time.

B R I L L I A N T ! ! !

$85 a day per incarcerated alien
$85 x 365 = $31,025
$31,025 x 2 = 62,050 per alien for incarceration

100 aliens incarcerated = $6,205,000

Send the Bill to Beverly please.

Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification: Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration

"A mandatory national EEV system would have substantial costs yet still fail to prevent illegal immigration. It would deny a sizable percentage of law-abiding American citizens the ability to work legally. Deemed ineligible by a database, millions each year would go pleading to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration for the right to work. By increasing the value of committing identity fraud, EEV would cause that crime's rates to rise. Creating an accurate EEV system would require a national identification (ID) system, costing about $20 billion to create and hundreds of millions more per year to operate. Even if it were free, the country should reject a national ID system. It would cause law-abiding American citizens to lose more of their privacy as government records about them grew and were converted to untold new purposes. "Mission creep" all but guarantees that the federal government would use an EEV system to extend federal regulatory control over Americans' lives even further." Jim Harper, CATO Institute, Mar. 5, 2008.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-612.pdf

A Check on Name Checks How useful are FBI background reviews for green-card applicants? WP EDitorial, Mar 5

THANKS to a new fee structure, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services faces a backlog of 140,000 green-card applications. To reduce the backlog, the agency said it will give green cards to many people who are in the country legally without first completing required FBI background checks. If these FBI checks don't contribute to national security, this new rule's ability to safely and expediently improve the lives of tens of thousands of law-abiding immigrants is commendable. But if the checks do contribute to national security, skipping them will have been a terrible decision. The problem is that USCIS hasn't investigated to find out.

Currently, green-card applicants must undergo three background checks: checks against fingerprint databases, consolidated federal law enforcement databases and FBI investigative files (called name checks). Ninety percent of FBI name checks are completed within 60 days, according to the FBI. The remaining 10 percent can wait years while the FBI locates paper files scattered around dozens of field offices.

Under the new rules, to take effect in mid-March, a green-card applicant whose name check has been pending for more than 180 days will automatically get approval if the applicant has cleared every step but the FBI name check. If the name-check process, which would continue, later yields information that should be acted on, the green card would be revoked and the person deported. USCIS argues that this rule affects only people who would be living in the United States anyway while awaiting their green cards, and so it will promote expediency without harming national security.

For practical reasons, it's harder for USCIS to revoke a green card than to deny one in the first place. Thus the new rule could potentially allow permanent residency for dangerous immigrants who would otherwise have been denied green cards. USCIS says "anecdotal" evidence suggests the "majority" of name checks don't turn up negative information that would affect the status of applicants, so the risk of this happening is remote. But since the agency has no statistics about how many bad actors were caught through name checks after not being flagged through the other required background checks, it doesn't actually know what additional national security risk, if any, the new rule will present.

The usefulness of putting every applicant for a green card (and for naturalization) through this third background check has been questioned before by immigrant advocacy groups and USCIS's own ombudsman. (FBI spokesman Bill Carter said only that "our position is that we have no position" on whether USCIS's new rule will affect national security.) Rather than adopting a tough-sounding process and then disregarding it, USCIS needs to do a thorough assessment of whether this third check yields valuable information. If FBI name