Mexican drug cartels now operate in almost every region of the United States and bring in as much as $23 billion a year in revenue, according to a Government Accountability Office report that will be released Thursday.
    U.S. assistance has helped Mexico combat cartels, the report says, but those efforts have been hampered by Mexican government corruption and by the failure of key players in the United States, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to coordinate better with Mexican law enforcement. The White House drug policy office, the report says, has prepared a counter-narcotics plan but has not discussed portions of the initiative that require Mexican cooperation with authorities in Mexico.

•   •   •  

Durbin's Bad Dream   [9/20/07]
Is there anyone on earth more arrogant than a US Senator? In June, patriotic Americans crashed the Congressional switchboard with calls condemning the proposd amnesty legislation. Among most elected bodies, such a strong show of sentiment would be given due attention as the "will of the people" about which we hear so much blather.
    The switchboard meltdown was not an isolated event. Polls consistently show that the American people want immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced. A recent Zogby poll found that "Two-thirds of Americans support more restrictive immigration polices and more than a third believe they would benefit the U.S. economy."
    Yet the US Senate does not care that the American people strongly reject another amnesty for lawbreaking illegal aliens. The current amnesty is gussied up as an education program for illegal kiddies brought here by their parents. But the legislation encompasses far more than taxpayer-subsidized tuition for illegal alien students.

But this is amnesty by any other name. It gives aliens who entered this country before the age of 16, and who have successfully evaded the law for five years, conditional green-card status that can later be converted to a regular green card. Then it can be used to seek green cards for the parents who brought their child here illegally.
    That this amounts to back-door amnesty is borne out by the legislation's lack of an upper age limit for an illegal alien to apply. Any alien of any age can simply queue up at the nearest Customs and Immigration office and declare that he or she was here illegally before reaching 16. No documentation or proof is required. [...]
    Durbin's legislation repeals a 1996 law that bars any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens who have gotten by a Border Patrol agent unless the children of that agent are also offered the same opportunity. After all, should illegal aliens in a state get preference over, say, the children of 9/11 victims?

•   •   •  

DA rails against illegal immigrants at community meeting   [9/19/07]
Greeley Colorado would have been an interesting place to be last night, since it was the site of a forum focused on the crime victims of illegal aliens.

Only a few hundred people were expected at the meeting, but close to a thousand turned out to hear more about how illegal immigrants who commit crimes are impacting the community.
    "We may not have 10,000 illegal immigrants committing crimes in Weld County, we may just have a couple hundred, but each one of them impacts someone in a significant way and we want to make sure we help these folks," said Buck.
    Like Sandy Ross, for example, who was one of several victims who shared her story. Two years ago she and her 4-year old son were hit head on by a career criminal who was drunk and in this country illegally. "I was more upset that he was driving under the influence, that his license had been suspended, that he had stolen someone's car and that he had priors. He should have been deported the first or second time this happened," said Ross.

Congratulations to Weld County DA Ken Buck for shining a light on forgotten Americans who have been harmed or lost a family member as a result of the criminal activities of illegal aliens. Plenty of squawkers showed up and they have gotten lots of press coverage prior to the event.
    See also Immigration Strains Greeley:

Sandy Ross, 55, is among a group of people who will talk about how crimes committed by illegal immigrants have damaged their lives.
    Ross said she was driving home from church in Weld County on Sept. 2, 2005, when a car driven by Armando Rodriguez Romero slammed into hers. Rodriguez Romero was here illegally from Mexico and had stolen his brother's car.
    Ross suffered two broken legs, a broken arm and a crushed right foot in the crash. Her 4-year-old son also was injured and traumatized by the crash.
    "For the longest time, he would just break down and cry," Ross said.
    Ross lost her apartment trying to pay bills related to the crash and now lives with a friend in Arvada. Rodriguez Romero is serving an eight-year sentence for vehicular assault while under the influence.

Rodriguez Romero had four previous DUI charges over 10 years.
    If you want to thank the DA for standing with citizens rather than lawbreakers, write him an email at kbuck@co.weld.co.us or use some other means of communication.
    See also the VDARE.com version, Crime Victims Get a Hearing.

•   •   •  

Increased immigration boosts knife crime and drink-driving, police chief says   [9/19/07]
This honest headine is from Britain (if you didn't notice the use of "drink driving," a British expression).
    Apparently there is a cultural adjustment problem in the UK, where immigrants don't feel they are required to assimilate to British laws and values.

[Police spokesperson Julie] Spence said the new communities needed to adjust to British standards of behaviour.
    "When they arrive they think they can do the same thing as in the country they have come from," she said.
    "There were a lot of people who ... because they used to carry knives for protection, they think they can carry knives here.
    "We have worked with the communities because they don't necessarily come to commit crime but they need to be told what you can and can't do.
    "We can identify a significant rise in drink-drive, which was down to people thinking that what they did where they came from, they could do here."
    She said immigrants' attitudes to drink-driving were probably what they were in the UK 20 years ago.

How familiar this sounds, particularly the acceptance of drunk driving among foreigners. The psychologically false ideology of multiculturalism (that all cultures are morally equal) has infected Great Britain as well as America.

•   •   •  

Muslim Brotherhood's papers detail plan to seize U.S.   [9/18/07]
There has not been much attention paid by the MSM to the terror trial in Dallas of the Holy Land Foundation. The group was a major funder and fifth column using American freedoms to undermine western civilization with a goal of replacing republican government with an Islamic caliphate.
    Similar groups pretend to be "moderate Muslims" but actually support the goals of the Islamists even as they benefit by living in America. Recent polling revealed how many of these 'assimilated" Muslims living in America believe for example that suicide bombing against infidels is justified. (See Muslim Fifth Column Polled.)

A knot of terrorism researchers say the memos and audiotapes, many translated from Arabic and containing detailed strategies by the international Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, are proof that extremists have long sought to replace the Constitution with Shariah, or Islamic law. [...]
    A 1991 strategy paper for the Brotherhood, often referred to as the Ikhwan in Arabic, found in the Virginia home of an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, describes the group's U.S. goals, referred to as a "civilization-jihadist process."
    "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions," it states. This process requires a "mastery of the art of 'coalitions,' the art of 'absorption' and the principles of 'cooperation.' "

For more on the trial and the strategy of the Islamists, see "Deception" Dominates HLF Closing Arguments.
    If you think the idea of undue Muslim influence in Amrica is ridiculous, consider how the sons of Allah have essentially taken over the town of Hamtramck, Michigan. They demanded and got a city-wide public call to prayer over loudspeakers. Because of demographic warfare from unwise imigration, the increased number of Islamic voters in the town means that the city council is now half Muslim, with more possible after November's election.

•   •   •  

France's open door is closing   [9/17/07]
Apparently France's new PM Nicolas Sakorzy is serious about slowing the influx of immigrants into the country. Imagine that.

Last year, France's famously open doors began closing on individual immigrants. This week, France starts making it harder to bring families and spouses to a country where joblessness and welfare are seen as draining the treasury and creating reservoirs of ill feeling, particularly among the middle class.
    In a new measure expected to pass the French Assembly in 15 days or less, new family arrivals must speak French. Immigrant parents must guarantee their kids will behave. And breadwinners must show earnings of up to 1,600 euros a month.
    When then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy pushed tough limits on immigrants last year, the left called it an attack on France's African and Arab populations. In a country roiled by changing complexion and identity, and on the eve of national elections, Mr. Sarkozy's new "contract" set a high bar: Know the French language, embrace civic values, and show means of support.

•   •   •  

Saudi Women Petitioning Govt for Driving Rights   [9/16/07]
In Saudi Arabia, women are still struggling to be allowed to drive.

A group of Saudi women plan to give a petition to the government asking to be allowed to drive cars. The organizers say the petition would be sent to the government on Sept. 23, the Saudi National Day.
    We demand that the right of women to drive is given back to us, says the petition. Its a right that was enjoyed by our mothers and grandmothers in complete freedom to (utilize) the means of transportation in those times. [...]
    On Nov. 6, 1990, 47 Saudi women were briefly detained while driving cars publicly while demanding the right to drive. After this, the debate disappeared from the media for a few years. In recent years it has re-emerged as a topic that is no longer a taboo.

•   •   •  

Immigrant Songs Offer New Twist on Old Sounds   [9/16/07]
For a blood-pressure-raising experience, you might listen to NPR's segment on "immigrants" making music about their experience in America. There's nothing like hearing "This Land Is Your Land," the old Woodie Guthrie standard, being sung with a Mexican back-up.
    There was one ditty that I enjoyed...

Other immigrant farm workers are not as optimistic. Benigno Pedraza sings, "The doors of opportunity are closing in America, so I'm going back to Mexico."

This being NPR communist radio means that there was no mention of the destruction wrought by job-stealing, neighborhood-degrading illegal foreigners on poor Americans, who are singing the blues.

•   •   •  

The Perfect Day Video, Part 1   [9/16/07]
Glenn Beck presented a series last week about an Islamic terrorist plan called "The Perfect Day" in which there would be many small acts of terror around the country rather than one big attack like the one on the Trade Center. There are indications that schools may be targeted in a horrific Beslan-style scenario.
    Keep in mind that Osama was criticized by other Muslims after 9/11 for not going through the proper religious channels for killing infidels. As a result, he requested and got permission to kill 4 million Americans, including 2 million children.
    If this idea sounds far fetched, read the Investors Business Daily apprisal of the threat, written last March: An American Beslan?. And remember the odd precursors of 9/11, like Arabs learning to fly planes with no interest in takeoffs or landings. School-related activity by Muslim men could be another early warning sign.
    Video, Part Two centered on the Beslan attack, with more details of the horror that you probably haven't heard before.
    Part Three investigates the backlash that would supposedly occur after another major terror attack, particularly if the victims were mostly children.
    Video, Part Four discusses practical strategies for schools, parents and police.
    See also a transcript of Beck's radio interview of author Brad Thor:

THOR: Okay. What was found in an insurgent, an Al-Qaeda affiliated safehouse over in Iraq, they were school blueprints, basically, floor plans for schools across the country. San Diego, California, West Salem, Oregon, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, schools in Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, and this was very, very disconcerting and there was a cover story that was concocted that, hey, this was just some Iraqis who were involved with the Ministry of Education in Iraq and they're looking to rebuild their schools and all that kind of BS.

As important as this series was, however, the "I" word was not spoken. Islam is the religion and political belief system of foreign immigrants who have come here to force their religious fascism on America. There are converts, of course, but the engine for recruitment comes from the Saudis who plow big money into building huge mosques and outreach efforts.
    Islam expert Bernard Lewis was clear about the purpose of Islamist immigration, remarking on that point in his March 30 speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

In the eyes of a fanatical and resolute minority of Muslims, the third wave of attack on Europe has clearly begun. We should not delude ourselves as to what it is and what it means. This time it is taking different forms and two in particular: terror and migration.
    The subject of terror has been frequently discussed and in great detail, and I do not need to say very much about that now. What I do want to talk about is the other aspect of more particular relevance to Europe, and that is the question of migration.
    In earlier times, it was inconceivable that a Muslim would voluntarily move to a non-Muslim country.

Glenn Beck insisted that the authorities have downplayed the terrorist threat against schools because they fear Americans will "panic" at the thought of Muslims killing and torturing hundreds or thousands of children. Supposedly the Islamists believe Americans will lynch Muslims and burn down mosques, which the Qaedas believe will make fine reading in the foreign press for young Muslim fellows insufficiently stoked for jihad and suicide bombing.
    Nonsense. For all the jabber in the press about "backlash" against immigrants after a terrible crime committed by a foreigner, such reactions are practically non-existent. Citizens have become so weakened by the pacifist, anti-American left that the thought of rising up against invaders is slim to none.
    When a few thousand citizens (who called themselves Minutemen) took up cell phones and binoculars to watch the border against the Mexican invasion, they were and are condemned as racists and accused of violence, despite the fact that no specific violence by a Minuteman against an illegal alien has ever been charged.
    There is no armed resistance against invasion in America. Even some of the French rose up against the Nazi onslaught in WWII. The Germans should have called themselves immigrants in tanks to quiet the French.
    The only thing authorities fear from citizens is a breakdown in the economy from people staying home. Police and elected officials are too imprisoned by political correctness to fear the wrath of citizens. So instead of protecting the populace, they guard the economy.

•   •   •  

Jihadist threat   [9/15/07]
Immigration is the new way of war, in case you hadn't noticed, and America is losing because our open borders welcome enemies.
    Terrorism expert Bill Gertz recently discussed the Muslim Brotherhood as one of the more threatening front groups pretending to embrace American values while in reality planning a jihadist future for this country.

The Muslim Brotherhood memo on organizing Muslims in North America said that all members "must understand their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

But as Gertz points out, many in Washington are still cluelessly pursuing strategies of touchy-feely outreach, which was employed at the recent Islamic Society of North America conference. ISNA has been identified as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, yet the DOJ legitimized them by attending their event.

In August, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, and Rep. Sue Myrick, North Carolina Republican, wrote to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to oppose the Justice Department's attendance at the ISNA conference in Chicago as a "grave mistake" because it would legitimize a group with "extremist origins."
    The Justice Department said in response that its participation at the Labor Day weekend meeting was part of "outreach efforts ... to educate the public about how the department works to protect religious freedom, voting rights, economic opportunity, and many other rights."

In another reminder of how stupid it is to permit Muslim immigration, the two Egyptians studying engineering in Florida who were arrested last month were found to have produced a video about how to build a remote bomb.

TAMPA - When a South Carolina police officer pulled over two Egyptian engineering students for speeding last month, he noticed one trying to put away a laptop computer.
    That computer contained a 12-minute video showing how to take apart a remote-control toy car and reassemble the wiring to make it into a remote detonation device, a federal prosecutor said Friday. The video's narrator, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, said the device helped "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle," the prosecutor said. [USF Suspect Produced Video on Remote Controlled Explosives, Investigative Project]

And in Europe, Muslims are protesting cartoonist Lars Vilks' drawing Muhammed with the body of a dog. Over a hundred people were killed in various riots around the world inthe earlier cartoon jihad, so there's no telling how far this fracas will go.
    See also the longer VDARE.com version, Washington Ignores Enemies among Us (Again), and Rod Dreyer's comments What the Muslim Brotherhood means for the U.S..

•   •   •  

Not at home with English   [9/14/07]
La Times tries to put a happy face on the fact that the Ununited States of Babel is increasing rapidly. A new Census survey found one in five (19.7 percent) over age 5 spoke a language other than English at home. That figure is an increase over 17.9 percent in 2000, which indicates a worsening situation over just a few years.
    California is the worst, of course, with 43 percent of residents speaking a language other than English at home. In the Mexican city of Lost Angeles, the number is nearly 58 percent. (There are so few white American students in the LA school district that they are included in the "Other" category.)

"Isolation is problematic," said Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, chairman of UCLA's Department of Asian American Studies. "While it reflects the strong ties to the home country, it also suggests that folks in this situation are inherently more cut off from society and less able to participate and take advantage of opportunities here."
    And the isolation is also felt by some English speakers living in areas where foreign languages are prevalent. Dental office administrator Mia Bonavita, 39, recently moved from San Diego to Monterey Park, where business at many stores is done in Chinese. Bonavita says the language barrier is difficult.
    "I feel like an outsider," she said. "It's difficult to get to know your neighbors."

•   •   •  

Son of Deported Immigration Activist Urges Congress to Bring Mom Back to America   [9/13/07]

Poor little Saul Arellano, the son of convicted felon, church squatter and all-around face of the invasion movement Elvira, is racking up the Frequent Flyer miles. The eight-year-old boy has been forced to be the mouthpiece for his riff-raff illegal alien mother all over the continent.
    Incidentally, according to a recent Mexican interview, he doesn't enjoy his role as political pawn, saying "I should be doing kids stuff and be studying, not doing all this."
    His most recent appearance was in Washington to troop through the Capitol chanting anti-American slogans with a gaggle of reconquistas.

Saul Arellano led about 150 pro-immigration activists and children through the halls of Congress carrying a sign "Born in the U.S.A. Don't take our moms and dads away." Capitol Hill Police arrested two activists for disorderly conduct.

According to the Dobbs report Wednesday, the Mexicans went crazy in the Capitol.

WIAN: It really is unbelievable. And I can't imagine that those protesters, who were on their way to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, taped a letter to the door of her office, can't imagine they made any friends in Capitol Hill with that demonstration.
    They basically overran the Capitol Hill Police for a brief period of time. They lost control of the situation briefly.

•   •   •  

Union sues, seeking to stop some immigration raids   [9/13/07]
Shame, shame on today's labor movement. Union founders like Sam Gompers insisted that the number of immigrants be kept down, because his goal was to increase the wages of his American workers. Today's union organizers are extreme leftists who care about political clout only, rather than the well being of the people they are supposed to serve.

A major union filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop U.S. immigration officials from conducting what it says are illegal workplace raids that violate the rights of workers.
    The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union claims agents unlawfully detained workers and violated their constitutional rights during December raids at six JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants.
    The lawsuit filed in Amarillo, Texas, also demands that the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pay damages to the workers. It names as defendants Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, both agencies and unnamed federal agents who conducted the Swift raids.

Who stands on the side of the American worker and the middle class? Certainly not Congress, the President or the union movement.
    In other sellout union news, Linda Chavez announced she was stepping down from the leadership of the AFL-CIO.

"Countless working women and men, not only in the United States but throughout the Western Hemisphere, have a better life because of all she's contributed," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

•   •   •  

Number of Immigrants Hits Record 37.5M   [9/12/07]
Numbers are up! Ever more immigrants! Growth continues to be worshipped to maintain our Ponzi scheme economy (gross increase versus improved earnings per capita.

Nearly one in five people living in the United States speaks a language at home other than English, according to new Census data that illustrate the wide-ranging effects of immigration.
    The number of immigrants nationwide reached an all-time high of 37.5 million in 2006, affecting incomes and education levels in many cities across the country. But the effects have not been uniform.
    In most states, immigrants have added to the number of those lacking a high-school diploma, with almost half of those from Latin America falling into that category.

California has been hit the hardest, as shown by a recent projection graph in the San Francisco Chronicle.

•   •   •  

Illegal immigrants from India on the rise   [9/11/07]
It's six years since the 9/11 attacks, and America still can't keep anyone out or track temporary workers to make sure they go home when specified. Most Indians arrive legally and then never leave.

The fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants in the United States doesn't speak Spanish. They typically aren't found at day labor sites or streaming across the Southwest border into the U.S.
    Instead, they're here in America working in tech companies, small businesses, as engineers or other highly skilled jobs. And they're coming from India.
    The profile of the illegal immigrant may need to take on a slightly more South Asian persona since a recent federal report revealed that India had the greatest percentage increase in unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. since 2000.
    Illegal immigrants from India grew to 270,000 in 2006 from 120,000 in 2000, a 125 percent increase, according to a report late last month from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

•   •   •  

Senator makes bid to block Bush on Mexican trucks   [9/11/07]
Senator Byron Dorgan has long been a critic of harmful trade treaties, outsourcing and open borders. He is providing leadership on the issue of Mexican trucks being permitted to drive throughout America.

Congress could act quickly to block a new Bush administration pilot program allowing long haul Mexican trucks to operate anywhere in the United States, a U.S. senator said on Monday.
    "My hope is the Senate will do as the House has done and we will put the brakes on the pilot program," Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, told reporters.
    Dorgan proposed an amendment denying funding for the one-year program, which was begun late last week.

Today's Lou Dobbs opened with the sentence: "Tonight, new evidence the Bush administration apparently believes commerce with Mexico is more important than border security."
    Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) agrees that opening US highways to dangerous Mexican trucks is a terrible idea.

POE: I think it's certainly unwise. It doesn't help the United States. The system is not reciprocal. American trucks are not yet allowed to go into Mexico. But having trucks that are overweight, with people who may not be able to read a street sign is not going to be advantageous to the United States. We need to study this longer and make sure that each truck is secure. We've got word from homeland security they're going to inspect all these trucks. They're not even inspecting the people that come into the United States now adequately. They're not going to be able to inspect these vehicles for safety and pollution and for who is on those vehicles, must less what cargo they're carrying.

For a recent example of how dangerous foreign drivers can be, see Lack of English blamed for train-truck wreck in North Carolina.
    In July, a non-English-speaking foreigner was sentenced for a horrific crash he caused: Illegal Alien Trucker Is Sentenced for Killing Four.
    And several Americans have already been killed by a Mexican truck: Victims of Mexican Trucks Remembered.

•   •   •  

Lodi man convicted of aiding terrorists gets 24 years in prison   [9/11/07]
Remember the the Lodi jihadists who were prosecuted for training in a terrorist camp in Pakistan? Hamid Hayat was found guilty well over a year ago and he was finally sentenced.

SACRAMENTO - A federal judge sentenced a Lodi man today to 24 years in prison for supporting terrorists by training with them in his family's homeland of Pakistan.
    Hamid Hayat, 25, was convicted in April 2006 of providing and attempting to conceal material support and resources to terrorists and of making false statements to federal agents.
    At a hearing today in Sacramento, U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. agreed with federal prosecutors that Hayat believed in violent jihad, had trained at a terrorist camp in Pakistan and returned to the United States in May 2005 to commit terrorist acts once he was ordered to do so.

Daniel Pipes pointed out at the time of the arrest how odd it was that Hamid Hayat, a member of a family that is "Pakistani religious royalty", would be picking cherries in a backwater California farm town.

•   •   •  

Truck Explosion in Mexico Kills 37   [9/10/07]
Many lives were lost in a shocking Mexican truck accident.

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 10  At least 37 people were killed and scores injured today when a truck carrying explosives blew up after crashing into a pickup truck and catching fire, state and federal authorities said.
    The victims included three local reporters, four paramedics, three police officers and more than a score residents of the nearby village of Celamania. All were looking at the burning wreckage of the two vehicles early this morning when an enormous explosion ripped the machines apart and left a crater 15 feet deep and 60 feet across, officials said.

This terrible crash is a foreshadowing of what the Mexichurian President is welcoming onto our own highways. As Rep Duncan Hunter remarked on Lou Dobbs last Thursday...

HUNTER: Well, let me tell you, Lou, I don't know if you saw my closing speech when we passed NAFTA in '94, but I gave the closing argument against it from the Republican side. And I predicted it would be disastrous for our country.
    This is a piece of the NAFTA deal, the so-called trucking piece. This is going to allow every truck in Mexico, if they simply sign up with one of the 100 trucking companies, to access our borders. [...]
    HUNTER: and we're going to have -- you know, the drug dealers are going to have their best thugs behind these 18-wheelers moving those narcotics across. We'll have a big security problem. We have no transparency into the criminal records or driving records of the guys behind the wheels. We can't get that out of Mexico.

In other Mexico explosion news, a leftist group blew up some gas pipelines.

•   •   •  

Visas for victims   [9/10/07]
Just when you think America cant get any stupider about immigration, with policies that favor lawbreakers and deter educated people, now Washington intends to reward illegal aliens for experiencing a crime.
    Its hard to image a program more prone to abuse: its a gilt-edged invitation to report a non-existent malfeasance in order to secure a Victim Visa.
    Wasnt immigration supposed to be beneficial to the American community as a whole? The commons is certainly not improved when a broken arm is more valued than a college degree in determining who is permitted as an immigrant.

The new visa will be retroactively available to those victims, along with any illegal immigrants who procure certification from a law enforcement agency that they've suffered crimes such as rape, domestic violence or extortion committed on U.S. ground. As long as the petitioner cooperates with law enforcement, the visa would protect him or her from deportation and grant employment authorization for four years. Three years after receiving a U visa (or three years after receiving interim relief), the immigrant would be eligible to apply for legal permanent residence, though the rules for adjusting status have yet to be clarified.

See also Obtuse about Abuse.

•   •   •  

Britain puts brakes on immigration   [9/09/07]
Better late than never, as they say.

LONDON  Tens of thousands of immigrant workers will be forced to learn English before they are allowed into Britain under a plan Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce tomorrow in a speech to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, informed sources revealed yesterday.
    The rules, expected to reduce the number of people entering Britain by at least 35,000 a year, will affect those from countries outside the European Union who are seeking to work and settle permanently in Britain.
    "Those who we welcome into the UK to work and settle here need to understand our traditions and feel that they are part of our shared national culture," Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. "They need to integrate into our country, learn English and use our language."

Keep in mind this is from the Labour government, the rough equivalent of the Democrats. Can you imagine our supposedly conservative President expressing an idea like that last bit?
    See also Door opens for migration debate.

•   •   •  

Immigration Myopia in Virginia   [9/08/07]
Mexico expert George Grayson currently works as a professor at the College of William and Mary, but before that he served 27 years as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates. In today's opinion piece, he offers members of his party some advice about the lack of intellectual intellectual integrity in their open-borders position.

• The Democrats should align themselves with the working people whom the Bush administration has disdained. It's not a Fairfax County lawyer or a Richmond businessperson whose wages and job opportunities are threatened by the mushrooming number of unlawful aliens. Instead, it's housekeepers, construction workers, hospitality industry employees and child-care providers, who feel abandoned when the party of Truman, Kennedy and Roosevelt elevates the interests of lawbreakers over the well-being of these forgotten blue- and pink-collar citizens.
• Finally, in scorning rigorous law enforcement, Democrats are compromising opportunities for African Americans, who have been our party's most faithful backers in the Old Dominion. The Congressional Black Caucus, which rakes in donations from corporate giants that exploit illegal aliens, has urged African Americans to join forces with Hispanics and other minorities in a "rainbow coalition" that supposedly will uplift the nation's downtrodden. In fact, such vapid sloganeering means that "African Americans have been left devoid of a strong black voice in Congress on a topic [illegal immigration] that affects them deeply, given their high unemployment rates and historic struggle to get quality housing, health care, education and other goods and services," writes Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain, who happens to be black. Virginia's Democrats risk displaying equal callousness toward this constituency.

•   •   •  

Lead found in lollipops   [9/08/07]
in 2004, the Orange County Register produced an important series concerning the presence of dangerously high levels of lead in Mexican candy found in California. The state was slow in confronting this public health threat because coming down on Mexican treats "would seem culturally insensitive." Now that the state is actually testing the stuff, there appears to be a lot of dangerous candy out there.
    Even a small amount of lead in the bloodstream can lower IQ significantly, and no one is asking whether poison candy contributes to Mexican children's shocking school drop-out rate. "Lead is toxic to humans, especially infants, young children and developing fetuses, and can result in learning disabilities and behavioral disorders that could last a lifetime," said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the state Department of Public Health.

State public health officials warned consumers today not to eat certain Mexican candy because of high lead levels, the fourth warning in recent weeks after an increase in funds for testing.
    The warning is for JOVY Shaiky POP tamarind hard candy lollipops and INDY Cerillos Spicy and Sour candy watermelon flavor lollipops. The candy was found to have levels of lead that exceed health standards.
    The candies are distributed by Triunfo-Mex Inc. of City of Industry, which is recalling the candies.
    Last week, public health officials warned against INDY Dedos Spicy and Sour candy is distributed by Dulceria Guadalajara of Commerce, which is recalling the candy.
    Lead is particularly harmful to babies, children and pregnant women. Anyone with the candy should throw it away. Pregnant women and children who have eaten the candy should see a doctor.

•   •   •  

Water shortage ominous   [9/08/07]
Southern California faces mandatory water rationing in a few months, but every reason under the sun is mentioned in this article except the growth in the demand side of the equation as the result of the immigration-driven population explosion.

Southern California water officials are drawing up plans that could force rationing in some cities as early as next year, officials said Wednesday.
    For now, residents are being asked to voluntarily use less water, but the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California warned that mandatory rationing could become necessary for the first time since 1991.

•   •   •  

Newsom prepares for opposition to ID cards   [9/07/07]
San Francisco gay Supervisor Tom Amiano is now promoting a city identification card for illegal aliens. The place is already a sanctuary city, but that's not enough for the ultra-lib cadre in charge.

Illegal immigrants in San Francisco and other residents will be able to get an identification card that establishes residency in The City under a plan in the works by Supervisor Tom Ammiano, which has the support of Mayor Gavin Newsom.
    If The City were to adopt a municipal identification program, it would follow in the footsteps of New Haven, Conn., which began issuing local IDs in July. To date, about 3,000 of the cards have been issued.
    A city-issued ID card would allow everyone, regardless of immigration status, to participate fully in San Francisco civic life, Ammiano said.
    Newsom said he is prepared to deal with the criticism that would likely ensue from those who want stronger enforcement of immigration laws.
    In April, the mayor came under attack from conservatives when he publicly condemned immigration raids in the Bay Area and vowed to stay true to San Franciscos sanctuary status, promising that San Francisco officials would not help federal authorities in looking for illegal immigrants.

You would think that a city that depends on tourists to pay its bills wouldn't be continually poking citizens in the eye with its extremist anti-American agenda. But no.
    See also Chronicle coverage: Supervisor Ammiano drafting legislation for ID card for illegals.

•   •   •  

Teamsters continue battle against truck initiative   [9/07/07]
On Thursday, Teamsters and other friends of safety on America's highways rallied against the NAFTA scheme to allow Mexican trucks access to all of the United States. Not only will uninspected Mexican trucks make it enormously more difficult to keep out drugs, terrorists and illegal aliens, but clunkers driven by foreigners are absolutely accidents waiting to happen.
    Globalization continues to shred hard-won improvements in safety, as shown by one American family that has already paid the ultimate price:

In Washington, foes held a morning news conference on Capitol Hill to make their case. Sheryl McGurk, who lost three family members in a collision with a Mexican truck in San Diego two years ago, was one of the speakers.
    To lose your mom, your dad and your nephew all at once is indescribable, she said.
    McGurk's parents, Robert and Marie Jennings of Carlsbad, and her nephew, David Jennings II of Beaver Creek, Ohio, were killed when their van hit a Mexican truck that was stalled on Interstate 5 near Carmel Valley Road.

The terrible crash that killed the family was characterized at the time as an unfortunate accident, where the Mexican truck had stalled and the Jennings' car plowed into it in the early morning darkness.

The truck lost its drive train and stalled in the No. 4 lane about 10 minutes before the 5:15 a.m. accident south of Carmel Valley Road, Officer Mark Gregg, Highway Patrol spokesman, said Wednesday. [Truck in fatal crash appears to have had no violations North County Times 2/16/05].

However, more facts have come to light and the situation appears far more troubling than initially described.

Investigators had determined that the truck had actually been rolling down the incline toward oncoming highway traffic that predawn morning. Its driveshaft had fallen out and was found 30 feet in front of the crash site. Its lights were not operating and it was not equipped with the reflectors or reflective tape required on all U.S. trucks.
    The driver was apparently on his way to Los Angeles, illegally breaking the ban on Mexican trucks beyond the 25-mile border commercial zone. He apparently realized his truck wouldn't make it to L.A. because witnesses said he turned around and got back on the highway heading south. [Mexican Truck Killed Family, DailyKos.com 9/6/07]

Sheryl McGurk, daughter of Robert and Marie Jennings, no longer accepts the official story, as she stated at the press conference held by several members of Congress on Thursday.

"If you have an accident with a Mexican truck, how do you deal with the Mexican company? How do you deal with the Mexican government? How do you contact the driver? It's not like simply exchanging insurance information."
    And because Mexico does not have a comprehensive data base of commerical drivers license holders or traffic violations, there is no way of knowing if that driver is still operating on American roads today.
    McGurk hired a wrongful death attorney, who in turn hired a private investigator to reconstruct the accident. They were able to inspect the truck, but it had been tampered with since the accident. The driver couldn't be located.

The outrageous details of this case fortell an unacceptable and deadly future for many other families if this monstrous program is allowed to be fully enacted.
    See the VDARE.com version Early Warning: Victims of Mexican Trucks Remembered.

•   •   •  

Special Visas for Illegal Aliens Who Become Crime Victims   [9/06/07]
The government is crazy to hand out Victim Visas just because someone has been robbed or hurt. Rewarding people with no street smarts is another stupid idea. Wouldn't it be better to welcome intelligent persons who manage to avoid trouble?
    Furthermore, rewarding crime victims creates an unconscionable incentive for fraud and false accusations, as I pointed out in Obtuse about Abuse.

People who come into the United States illegally and then become victims of crime may get special protection from the U.S. government.
    The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday announced an interim final rule that grants "temporary immigration benefits" to crime victims who assist government officials in investigating or prosecuting the criminal activity.
    The goal is to bring crime victims out of the shadows where they tend to hide if they fear deportation.
    The new rule offers protection and temporary benefits to victims who are illegal aliens -- and it also bolsters the capabilities of police to investigate and prosecute criminal activity, USCIS said.
    The public will have 60 days to comment on the rule, which is about to be published in the Federal Register.

•   •   •  

Illegal Front Room Plastic Surgery Clinic Busted   [9/06/07]
From San Jose, California, comes a story about medical diversity and immigrants in search of a better life.

A San Jose couple was in custody Thursday after authorities raided an alleged illegal home-based cosmetic surgery clinic that preyed upon immigrant women and has left at least nine people disfigured by procedures improperly done.
    Ha Nguyen, 48, and Zbigniew Makowski, 62, have been charged with practicing medicine without a license after a victim complained to a county welfare fraud investigator. The pair was also facing child endangerment and possible welfare fraud charges. [...]
    Authorities were alerted to the couple's activities by a former client of Nguyen's, according to a search warrant affidavit. The client said Nguyen was performing cosmetic surgery in her home and earning at least $500 a day, while also receiving welfare, the affidavit said.

See the slightly more detailed version at California Medical Diversity

•   •   •  

Importing Poverty   [9/05/07]
Columnist Robert Samuelson has long been a critical voice about American immigration policy, noting that basing who gets in on familiy unification is stupid and harmful.

The government last week released its annual statistical report on poverty and household income. As usual, we -- meaning the public, the media and politicians -- missed a big part of the story. It is this: The stubborn persistence of poverty, at least as measured by the government, is increasingly a problem associated with immigration. As more poor Hispanics enter the country, poverty goes up. This is not complicated, but it is widely ignored. [...]
    Only an act of willful denial can separate immigration and poverty. The increase among Hispanics must be concentrated among immigrants, legal and illegal, as well as their American-born children. Yet, this story goes largely untold. Government officials didn't say much about immigration when briefing on the poverty and income reports. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal advocacy group for the poor, both held briefings. Immigration was a common no-show.

•   •   •  

Law enforcers struggle with illegal-immigrant crime   [9/04/07]
Local law enforcement officers are our frontline protectors from the criminal aliens that open borders permit. Police have their hands full, according to reports from hard-hit areas.

Criminal aliens, as the federal government classifies them, constitute more than a fourth of the inmates in federal prisons. Those still at large often fall between the cracks of an overburdened and uneven enforcement system, escaping detection and deportation.
    More than 300,000 criminal aliens are expected to be placed in state and local jails this year, according to a forecast last year by the Department of Homeland Securitys inspector general. Most might remain in this country after serving their sentences because the federal government lacks the resources to identify, detain and deport them, the audit said.

•   •   •  

Abandon Stereotypes, Muslims in America Say   [9/04/07]
The liberal media remains the Energizer Bunny in promoting the failed ideology of multiculturalism, i.e. the belief that all cultures are equally moral and worthy of respect, despite the frequent examples that appear in their own reporting that indicate otherwise. (See the daily box score of Islamist violence and murders in TheReligionOfPeace.com.)
    The current fable focuses on Muslim immigrants. (While it's certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, nearly all terrorists are Muslims.) Yet the press is determined to have us abandon reasonable suspicion about the hostile culture of Islamic immigrants, the numbers of whom are increasing with troubling results.
    Today's New York Times features a boilerplate sniffler about innocent Muslims suffering at the hands of us cruel Americans, and includes a photo of a young Muslim male wearing a twisty balloon hat, Steve Martin style.
    Sorry, but his attempt at effecting harmlessness through humor didn't work for me. He evidently captivated the Timesians, however, who promoted the idea that the difficulty is an "image problem" that can be eliminated by expanded kumbaya.

It is time for the United States to stop treating every American Muslim as somehow suspect, leaders of the faith said at their largest annual convention, which ended here on Monday.
    Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans should distinguish between mainstream Muslims and the radical fringe, the leaders said.
    Muslim Americans feel an increasing level of tension and scrutiny in contemporary society, said Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim organization in the United States and the convention organizer.
    The image problems were among the topics most discussed by many of the 30,000 attendees. A fresh example cited was an open letter from two Republican House members, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan and Sue Myrick of North Carolina, that attacked the Justice Department for sending envoys to the convention because, the lawmakers said, the Islamic Society of North America was a group of radical jihadists.

The article overlooked important reasons why Americans don't trust Muslim immigrants, such as a recent poll indicating that assimilation is not a done deal at all: only 28 percent consider themselves Americans first; 47 percent have their primary identity in being Muslim, and among the latter group, 13 percent regard suicide bombing as justified to protect Islam from infidels. Remember that it only took 19 hihackers to bring down the Trade Center and kill nearly 3,000 Americans. And attempted attacks occur rather frequently, e.g. the JFK airport jet fuel scheme, the Fort Dix Six and the beach-going jihadis caught with explosives.
    On that last item, the Tampa Tribune hits all the sob story notes about two Muslim males (Ahmed Mohamed, 24, and Youssef Megahed, 21) arrested in South Carolina near a naval base with pipe bombs in their trunk.

Worse for Megahed's father, Samir, was the moment he was leaving and saw Mohamed talking to his own attorney. Mohamed, teary, had also just heard about the indictment.
    He hugged and kissed Samir and asked him to deliver a message to his own father in Egypt: "Tell my father I am not going to meet him in this life again."
    Mohamed, 24, fears he will be imprisoned longer than his father will be alive, Samir said.
[A Family In Despair 9/2/07]

Tears and Despair -- families of accused terrorists suffer so!

•   •   •  

The face of growth: Immigrant workers in booming St. George   [9/03/07]
The house-building boom is evidently continuing in Washington County Utah, where contractors are "heavily dependent" on illegal alien workers. Or so most of them indicate on the sly, although no one will openly cop to illegal hiring.
    There are citizen workers available, but they need an American wage to keep up with the expenses of life in this country. And when the market becomes recalibrated to the exploitation wages of foreign workers, then citizens are indeed shut out.

Count business owner Jonathan Koski among the [restrictionist] groups' supporters. If undocumented workers were hauled out of St. George, he argues that the only thing it would do is force businesses to hire legal employees and to pay better wages. He also says immigration raids are "long overdue" in the area.
    "We are not dependent on illegal help; there are tons of people who will do the job," he maintains. [...]
    Business owner Koski started his company, Prime Roofing, about 10 years ago and once employed seven workers. Now, he's a one-man roofer, who will most likely close his business soon because he refuses to hire undocumented workers.
    Why? For Koski, it boils down to costs. His roofing price is $2.65 per square foot compared to other company bids that come in at under $2 - which can mean between a $1,500 to a $4,000 difference on a project. Koski says it's expensive to pay for workers' compensation, health insurance and federal payroll taxes.
    "I can't afford to keep anybody," he complains. "I can't continue to compete with these businesses that keep hiring illegals."

For another view of the state of employment on Labor Day, see the Coalition for the Future American Worker, including a video advertisement, an informative Lou Dobbs clip and a petition to put American workers' rights first.
    The fact that President Bush chose Labor Day to leave the country on his junket to Iraq shows his disdain for citizen workers. The day used to be an important benchmark for Presidents to honor workers and celebrate their economic gains and place in society.
    Here's part of Lyndon Johnson's 1964 Labor Day message:

Now, the worker in America is a full citizen of the first class--accorded a place of dignity in our society, a role of participation in our affairs, and a trust of high responsibility for the success of our system. A compassionate society cares for the life he leads as well as for the labor he performs.

Republican Richard Nixon's remarks in 1973 were not much different:

On Labor Day we pay tribute to the working men and women to whom America owes so much. On this day, we also give thanks for the fact that in our free society--more than anywhere else on earth--the laborer can enjoy' the results of his labor and the freedom to choose where and how he will apply his skills. By working together, labor, management and government in America have achieved a standard of living and a climate of opportunity and individual rights unequalled in the history of man.

But today, productivity and the human ingenuity behind it are discounted in favor of increasing consumption, often based on credit card debt. Business is driven by an unquenchable urge for cheaper labor, despite the destructive effects on the economy as a whole. A 2002 study by the Los Angeles Economic Roundtable found that up to 28 percent of the workforce in the county was paid in cash, meaning no money was taken out for state and federal payroll taxes for those workers.
    Foreigners come here illegally to escape the corruption and poverty of the Third World but only bring it with them. Their presence in the tens of millions fuels falling wages, worsening safety standards in the workplace, an industry of counterfeit identification and a host of other ills.

•   •   •  

Mexico Blasts U.S. Immigration Policies   [9/03/07]
In some respects, Presidente Calderon is an improvement over his doofus predecessor Vicente Fox, for example the way in which Calderon has taken action against the powerful criminal gang organizations.
    But at heart, he is just a typical Mexican, raised with the belief in total Mexican entitlement in the style of "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine also," an outgrowth of living in a corrupt socialist country.

He also reached out to the millions of Mexicans living in the United States, many illegally, saying: "Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
    Since taking office in December, Calderon has maintained strong ties with the United States, but he has often denounced U.S. immigration policy, including more deportations that have divided many families, sometimes forcing U.S.-born children to build new lives in Mexico.

In reciting this attack on American sovereignty, Calderon is taking a page from the book of Presidente Zedillo who is remembered for remarking in Chicago, 1997, "I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important - a very important - part of this."
    Of course, Mexico is not shy about enforcing its sovereignty when annoying Central Americans want to mosey in.
    The VDARE.com version: Travel Agents of Destruction.

•   •   •  

Number of Hunters Falls, Worrying Some   [9/03/07]
America's explosive population growth has many instances of collateral damage. The spreading pavement means there is less wild land and diminished wildlife.

New figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006  from 14 million to about 12.5 million. The drop was most acute in New England, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific states, which lost 400,000 hunters in that span.
    The primary reasons, experts say, are the loss of hunting land to urbanization plus a perception by many families that they can't afford the time or costs that hunting entails. [...]
    "We hear concerns about land access," Stokes said. "People grew up hunting -- you went out with your family, your uncle. And now you go back, and there's a shopping plaza or a housing development. Some of your favorite places just aren't available anymore."

•   •   •  

Mexican Truckers Could Be On U.S. Roads This Week   [9/03/07]
This is terrible news, and shows again how our Mexichurian President will do anything for his pals in Mexico, no matter how many American citizens are killed as a result.

As soon as this Thursday, 100 Mexican trucking companies could be allowed to haul cargo anywhere in the U.S. That's Instead of the current 20 mile buffer zone at certain border crossings.
    The year-long pilot program got the final go-ahead Friday after a judge denied the Sierra Club and the Teamsters Union effort to stop the program, citing safety concerns. Jim Santangelo, Teamsters Union, says "You will be able to see smoke, you will be seeing smoking equipment. It's bad. You are going to hear trucks barely making it up the road."

•   •   •  

U.S. Tour Industry Focuses on Foreigners   [9/02/07]
One of the less noticed lobbies against American border security is the travel business. It routinely fights against passports and visas (in particular the dangerous Visa Waiver program) as making travel more troublesome for foreigners, and therefore lessening profits for hotels, airlines and other members of the "hospitality" industry.

"Tourists complain that U.S. immigration officials are rude and disrespectful, and they don't think that's a good way to start a vacation," Bloomberg said. "This is another one of those things that is diminishing our competitive edge."
    Travel industry advocates say the U.S. should be working harder to maintain an industry that brought $107.9 billion into the country in 2006 - essentially making services to travelers one of the nation's major exports.

That's big money that travel honchos want to protect. Incidentally, there's no reason why immigration officials cannot be professionally polite while thorough in checking entrants for potential enemies.
    Many of the Visa Waiver countries