Illegal Immigration

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10-year-old gives birth in Idaho; Suspected illegal immigrant charged with rape

USA Today

A 37-year-old man is charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who gave birth last month in Idaho. "St. Anthony Police said they were notified of the young girl's pregnancy by medical personnel after she went in for treatment at a doctor's office," KIFI-TV reports on its website. One day later, the ABC affiliate says the young mother delivered a 6-pound girl at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Idaho. KIDK-TV says Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, a suspected illegal immigrant, is being held at the Fremont County Jail. He's due in court next week to face rape charges.

Coast Guard tests fingerprinting at borders

USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard is using a new weapon to fight illegal immigration: electronic fingerprinting. A test program in which Coast Guard sailors take digital fingerprints from people picked up on boats headed to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic has led to more than 100 prosecutions in the past year. The fingerprints are e-mailed to the U.S. mainland by satellite and are checked against a government database that shows deportation orders and criminal records. Those prosecuted were charged with attempted illegal entry into the USA, Coast Guard data show. The Coast Guard says the prosecutions are deterring other potential illegal migrants, who in the past were not identified and typically rode back to the Dominican Republic on Coast Guard boats. "Before, it was pretty much a ferry service to repatriate them," said Coast Guard researcher Tom Amerson, who came up with the idea for the fingerprinting program. "But now there's a consequence that they can serve jail time."

'Virtual Fence' Along Border To Be Delayed

Washington Post

The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday. Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee. Though the department took over that initial stretch Friday from Boeing, authorities confirmed that Project 28, the initial deployment of the Secure Border Initiative network, did not work as planned or meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol. The announcement marked a major setback for what President Bush in May 2006 called "the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history." The virtual fence was to be a key component of his proposed overhaul of U.S. immigration policies, which died last year in the Senate.

Virtual Fence Is A Virtual Farce

WeNeedAFence.Com

The “virtual fence” era in America’s long-running immigration debate ended on Friday – less than 24 hours after both Democratic candidates for the Presidency put themselves squarely on the wrong side of it. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would abandon plans to extend the Boeing-designed “virtual fence” beyond its initial 28-mile long demonstration phase. In the Thursday night Democratic debate, Senator Clinton said “there is technology that can be used instead of a physical barrier.” A minute or so later, Senator Obama said “this is an area where Senator Clinton and I almost entirely agree,” and then added: “for the most part, having …surveillance, deploying effective technology, that’s going to be the better approach.” Within a few hours, this “better approach” was revealed to have been a failed experiment. There are three elements that are essential to achieving genuine border security: physical infrastructure, adequate manpower and technological backup. Failure to provide any one of them will result in failure to secure the border. A physical fence by itself can be breached, but one that is properly designed, backed up by cameras and high-tech detection devices and adequately staffed with border agents that can get to a point of attempted or successful breach within minutes will in fact secure the border against mass intrusion like nothing else.

Virtual Fence is a Virtual Farce

WeNeedAFence.Com

The “virtual fence” era in America’s long-running immigration debate ended on Friday – less than 24 hours after both Democratic candidates for the Presidency put themselves squarely on the wrong side of it. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would abandon plans to extend the Boeing-designed “virtual fence” beyond its initial 28-mile long demonstration phase. In the Thursday night Democratic debate, Senator Clinton said “there is technology that can be used instead of a physical barrier.” A minute or so later, Senator Obama said “this is an area where Senator Clinton and I almost entirely agree,” and then added: “for the most part, having …surveillance, deploying effective technology, that’s going to be the better approach.” Within a few hours, this “better approach” was revealed to have been a failed experiment. There are three elements that are essential to achieving genuine border security: physical infrastructure, adequate manpower and technological backup. Failure to provide any one of them will result in failure to secure the border. A physical fence by itself can be breached, but one that is properly designed, backed up by cameras and high-tech detection devices and adequately staffed with border agents that can get to a point of attempted or successful breach within minutes will in fact secure the border against mass intrusion like nothing else.

Needed on the Border: A Real Fence and a Real Gate

"Virtual Fence" is a virtual farce

An era in America’s long-running immigration debate ended on Friday – less than 24 hours after both Democratic candidates for the Presidency put themselves squarely on the wrong side of the fence. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would abandon plans to extend the Boeing-designed “virtual fence” beyond its initial 28-mile long demonstration phase. The night before, Senator Clinton said “there is technology that can be used instead of a physical barrier.” A minute or so later, Senator Obama said “this is an area where Senator Clinton and I almost entirely agree,” and then added: “for the most part, having …surveillance, deploying effective technology, that’s going to be the better approach.” Within a few hours, this “better approach” was revealed to be a failed experiment. There are three elements that are essential to achieving genuine border security: physical infrastructure, adequate manpower and technological backup. Failure to provide any one of them will result in failure to secure the border. A physical fence by itself can be breached, but one that is properly designed, backed up by cameras and high-tech detection devices and adequately staffed with border agents that can get to a point of attempted or successful breach within minutes will in fact secure the border against mass intrusion. Sophomoric comments such as Arizona Governor Napolitano’s that even a 50 foot fence will prove useless because border crossers will just find 51 foot ladders miss the point entirely. A fence does not need to be completely impenetrable in order to be effective. It merely needs to slow intruders down sufficiently to permit border agents to get to the point of attempted intrusion in time to stop it or in time to close the breach after only a small number of intruders have successfully entered. Inadequate staffing will cripple the fence’s effectiveness. Inadequate fencing will cripple the Border Patrol’s effectiveness. And poor technology will severely diminish the effectiveness of both infrastructure and staffing. The “virtual fence” or Project 28 was doomed from the start. It failed the most fundamental test of a fence: to serve as a barrier. The “virtual fence” was thus never a fence at all; it was merely a series of detection and depiction devices that would not even slow down intruders, must less stop them. It can be fairly easily defeated by a simple parry and thrust decoy strategy, in which a small contingent of intruders crosses in one spot, attracting Border Patrol agents to chase them as soon as they enter United States territory, leaving another area unprotected which is then flooded with a much larger group of intruders. Senator Clinton got it precisely backwards when she said:”there is a smart way to protect our borders, and there is a dumb way to protect our borders.” She meant that the physical fence was the dumb way, but in reality the virtual fence is the dumb one. That same technology, however, or even a scaled-down version of it, becomes smart when coupled with a well-designed physical fence and adequate manpower. Even a good fence backed up by technology and staffing is still missing an important element, however. A real fence also needs a real gate – in fact, many of them. The purpose of border security is to stop illegal immigration, not legal immigration, commerce and tourism. The proposed barrier is between allies and trading partners, and the legal free flow of persons and goods must be facilitated, not impeded. Finally, once illegal immigration has been reduced, legal immigration almost certainly must be increased. This great country should remain a welcoming nation to those whose skills, values, ideals and culture will make us stronger. It only makes sense, however, to welcome them on our terms and we must know who they are.

Arizona 'Virtual Fence' to Get Final OK

My Way

WASHINGTON (AP) - A 28-mile "virtual fence" that will use radars and surveillance cameras to try to catch people entering the country illegally has gotten final government approval. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Friday was to announce approval of the fence, built by the Boeing Co. (BA) and using technology the Bush administration plans to extend to other areas of the Arizona border, as well as sections of Texas. These projects could get under way as early as this summer, officials said. The virtual fence is part of a national plan to secure the southwest border with physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and drug smugglers in vehicles. As of Feb. 8, 295 miles of fencing had been constructed. The virtual fence already is working. On Feb. 13, an officer in a Tucson command center - 70 miles from the border - noticed a group of about 100 people gathered at the border. The officer notified agents on the ground and in the air. Border Patrol caught 38 of the 100 people who tried to cross illegally, and the others went back into Mexico, a Homeland Security official said.

Arizona Seeing Signs of Flight by Immigrants

The New York Times

PHOENIX — The signs of flight among Latino immigrants here are multiple: Families moving out of apartment complexes, schools reporting enrollment drops, business owners complaining about fewer clients. While it is too early to know for certain, a consensus is developing among economists, business people and immigration groups that the weakening economy coupled with recent curbs on illegal immigration are steering Hispanic immigrants out of the state. The Arizona economy, heavily dependent on growth and a Latino work force, has been slowing for months. Meanwhile, the state has enacted one of the country’s toughest laws to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants, and the county sheriff here in Phoenix has been enforcing federal immigration laws by rounding up people living here illegally. “It is very difficult to separate the economic reality in Arizona from the effects of the laws because the economy is tanking and construction is drying up,” said Frank Pierson, lead organizer of the Arizona Interfaith Network, which advocates for immigrants’ rights and other causes. But the combination of factors creates “ a disincentive to stay in the state.” State Representative Russell K. Pearce, a Republican from Mesa and leading advocate of the crackdown on illegal immigration, takes reports of unauthorized workers leaving as a sign of success. An estimated one in 10 workers in Arizona are Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal, twice the national average. “The desired effect was, we don’t have the red carpet out for illegal aliens,” Mr. Pearce said, adding that while “most of these are good people” they are a “tremendous burden” on public services.

Huckabee vows to send all illegal aliens home

The Washington Times

TIGERVILLE, S.C. — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee yesterday continued to move to the right on immigration during this year's presidential campaign, signing a pledge to enforce immigration laws and to make all illegal aliens go home. The pledge, offered by immigration control advocacy group Numbers USA, commits Mr. Huckabee to oppose a new path to citizenship for current illegal aliens and to cut the number of illegal aliens already in the country through attrition by law enforcement — something Mr. Huckabee said he will achieve through his nine-point immigration plan. "Some would say it's a tough plan. It is, but it's also fair and reasonable," Mr. Huckabee said. Mr. Huckabee signed the pledge in South Carolina, whose Saturday Republican primary is shaping up as the most important contest so far. Unlike the previous primaries and caucuses, which have been contested usually by just two candidates, four Republicans are making all-out efforts here: Mr. Huckabee, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Faithful find controversy within ranks

USA Today

In 2007, believers took their principles into the streets and the political arena. And sometimes, they found themselves opposing fellow believers.

Bullet 333Karin Agness, Founder and President, Network of enlightened Women (NeW)
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Phil Burress, President, Citizens for Community Values
Bullet 333Alan Chambers, President, Exodus International
Bullet 333Rev. Clenard Childress, Jr., Assistant Director, Life Education and Resource Network
Bullet 333Demos Chrissos, Writer/Producer, RapidResponse Media, Inc.
Bullet 333Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Scott Davis, Director of Student Ministries, Exodus International
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333Len Deo, President, New Jersey Family Policy Council
Bullet 333William Devlin, National President, Redeem The Vote
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Jessica Echard, Executive Director, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Tim G. Echols, President/Founder, TeenPact
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Todd Friel, Radio Host, Way of the Master
Bullet 333Mike Gottfried, Founder, Team Focus
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Dr. Janice Hollis, Bishop, Progressive Believers Ministries
Bullet 333Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church
Bullet 333Peter Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Alex McFarland, President, Southern Evangelical Seminary
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President, Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny
Bullet 333Elizabeth Racine, Founder, Moralert.com
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Christopher Slattery, Founder and President, EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers
Bullet 333David Smith, Executive Director, Illinois Family Institute
Bullet 333Randy Thomas, Executive Vice President, Exodus International
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333David Wheaton, Author, Speaker, Radio Talk Show Host, TheChristianWorldview.com

Virginia groups unite against illegals

The Washington Times

Seven grass-roots organizations across Virginia have joined together to form a statewide coalition to lobby state officials for tougher enforcement of immigration laws. The umbrella group, called Save the Old Dominion, was started Dec. 13. A mission statement on the group's Web site, at www.savetheolddominion.org, says its members are dedicated to "preserving the commonwealth for future generations" and "pursuing legislative action in Virginia to reduce the number of illegal aliens unlawfully present in the commonwealth."

Stoking the Immigration Fire

Wall Street Journal

MERRIMACK, N.H. -- Only 5% of the New Hampshire population is foreign-born, but even here, illegal immigration is among the most volatile issues in the presidential primary campaign. Dennis Williams is one reason why. Mr. Williams, a retired computer project manager, says he has faxed his senators, representative and the presidential candidates 217 times in the past 20 months about his opposition to illegal immigration. He has made dozens of phone calls to Washington. He emails immigration news to a circle of 100 friends. "Have I ever felt so empowered politically? No," says Mr. Williams in his living room here, which is crowded with Christmas decorations. "Something is finally happening." Mr. Williams, who calls himself a conservative Republican, is a member of what political scientists call the "issue public" -- people whose passion about an issue elevates it to prominence and keeps it there.

Republican Presidential Candidates Tone Down Illegal Immigration Rhetoric at Spanish Debate

FoxNews.com

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Republican presidential candidates sought to embrace Hispanics in a Spanish language debate, striving to mark common ground with a growing voter bloc while softening the anti-illegal immigration rhetoric that has marked their past encounters. The candidates avoided the harsh exchanges and name-calling of their most recent debate, while still emphasizing the need for border security and an end to illegal immigration. The polite debate Sunday night came less than four weeks before the Iowa caucuses that traditionally start off the months of primary contests in which the parties decide on their final candidates. In the topsy-turvy race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has bolted to the lead in Iowa. Only Sen. John McCain warned that harsh immigration views voiced by some Republicans have driven Hispanics away from the party. The senator from the border state of Arizona has stood apart from most of his Republican rivals because he supported changing immigration laws and creating a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants. "I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country," he said.

Lawmen outgunned on Mexico border

The Washington Times

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.

Agents' pardon urged of Bush

The Washington Times

Top conservatives have joined ranking House leaders in their bid to pressure the president to pardon two Border Patrol agents imprisoned for the nonfatal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler in El Paso, Texas, in 2005. In a letter that was delivered today to the White House, 31 major conservative petitioners joined a campaign led by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and presidential candidate, asking President Bush to pardon Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean before Thanksgiving. The letter comes on the heels of the arrest of admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila on charges of trafficking marijuana while he was profiting from the federal immunity deal as the star witness in the shooting case against the agents.

Poll: 77% oppose illegals' licenses

Washington Times

Voters oppose driver's licenses for illegal aliens by a nearly five-to-one margin, a new Fox 5/Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll finds. As immigration politics explode into the presidential race, polls show Americans are taking a hard line on benefits for illegal aliens, including opposing driver's licenses and such taxpayer-funded benefits as scholarships at state colleges for illegal-alien students. The new poll found 77 percent of the adults surveyed opposed making driver's licenses available to illegal aliens, while just 16 percent supported the idea. Licenses fared poorly across party lines, including near-blanket opposition among self-identified Republicans, at 88 percent. Among independents and Democrats, it was still overwhelmingly unpopular, drawing 75 percent and 68 percent opposition, respectively.

GAO: 21,000 Crossed U.S. Borders Illegally

CBS News

(AP) Some 21,000 people who should not have been allowed to enter the United States came through official border crossing points between Oct. 1, 2005 and Sept. 30, 2006, according to a government report released Monday. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government reorganized its border security operations and increased security measures to prevent people from falsifying travel documents or using other deceptive methods to enter the country through such legal entry points as airports and border crossings. Some of the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks entered the United States this way. "The point is that we need to actually do a better job," Ahern said. Customs, as mandated by Congress, has stepped up efforts to make sure everyone who enters the country has a valid document, he said, and about 400 million people enter the United States through legal checkpoints each year. Staffing shortages and poor management at legal border crossings are among the reasons that people got through improperly, the GAO found. A publicly released version of its report states "several thousand" of these people made it past Customs and Border Protection officers. An official with access to more detailed information told The Associated Press the number is about 21,000.

Fence's presence felt

Chron.com

PALOMAS, MEXICO — At this fabled border crossing, where the last armed conflict between the United States and Mexico flared, the rancorous debate over the new U.S. anti-immigrant fence has been resolved. The fence works, residents north and south of it say. At least it works for now on this snippet of the line. "You hear it all the time: Fences don't work. Fences don't work," said Mark Winder, a transplanted New Englander and part-time deputy sheriff who lives on a small ranch outside Columbus, N.M., where a 3-mile stretch of wall was completed in August. "I live 2½ miles from the border, and the fence is working." Many merchants agree in Palomas, once a sleepy farm town, now a booming haven for smugglers. "The fence has destroyed the economy here," said Fabiola Cuellar, a hardware-store clerk on the main street of Palomas who used to sell supplies to the throngs heading north from here. "Things are going back to the way they were before." Of course, with only about one-fifth of the fence complete, migrants from Mexico and other countries who had planned to cross the border illegally in places such as Palomas-Columbus can simply go elsewhere.

Republican Hot Flashes

Washington Post

Has America become a mean, ungenerous, cramped and crabby nation, a deeply insecure colossus -- one that just might be taking all those Viagra and Cialis commercials a bit too personally? Is the country desperate to find scapegoats for a perceived decline in, um, vigor? Or is America still a confident land of hope and promise, a place still potent with possibility? It's watching the Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail that makes me pose those big-picture questions. I'm just suggesting a context for assessing the actions and rhetoric of a party that seems to be in the throes of andropause. That's the popularly accepted term for "male menopause," which medical dictionaries tend to describe as a "purported" syndrome rather than an actual clinical diagnosis. I'm not qualified to offer an opinion on whether dads go through a Y-chromosome version of what used to be euphemistically called the "change of life." But I think the "Daddy party" has been presenting clear symptoms. The latest was the Senate vote Wednesday in which Republicans, supported by a handful of red-state Democrats, narrowly scuttled the Dream Act, a bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for some young undocumented immigrants -- but only those who did everything this country once found worthy and admirable in pursuit of the American dream.

Senate faces new immigration-bill showdown today

Arizona Star News

WASHINGTON — The Senate faces another contentious showdown on immigration today when it considers legislation designed to put thousands of illegal immigrant students on track to U.S. citizenship. Though far more limited than an immigration bill that collapsed in the Senate in June, the debate on the proposed DREAM Act will nevertheless resurrect the same warring sides. The Senate faces a vote to take up the measure today, with backers needing at least 60 votes to move forward with debate. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the chief sponsor, acknowledged that his side has solid assurances of only about 55 votes. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would allow illegal-immigrant children who have grown up in the United States the opportunity to apply for citizenship if they graduate from high school and get two years of college or serve in the military.

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