Border Agents Discover U.S.-Mexico Tunnel

Border Patrol agents discovered a 35-foot-long tunnel beneath the U.S.-Mexico border after it caved in and the asphalt roadway above it collapsed, officials said.

The tunnel ended in a patch of vacant land near the San Ysidro port of entry, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was reinforced and was about 3 feet by 3 feet, and it appeared to have been used recently, she said.

It wasn't immediately clear when the tunnel was built or whether it might have been used for smuggling drugs or people.

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Feds: Assassins menace Border Patrol

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Federal officials have warned U.S. Border Patrol agents that they could be the targets of assassins hired by immigrant smugglers, according to a confidential memo obtained by the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper.

"Unidentified Mexican alien smugglers are angry about the increased security along the U.S./Mexico border and have agreed that the best way to deal with U.S. Border Patrol agents is to hire a group of contract killers," the Department of Homeland Security said in a Dec. 21 officer safety alert.

The alert states that the smugglers intend to bring members of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang — known as MS-13 — into the country to perform the killings, The Sun reported Tuesday.

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Hearing ends in case of two entrant helpers
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Testimony in a hearing on whether to dismiss charges against two volunteer aid workers charged with violating federal immigration law wrapped up Tuesday, and now U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo P. Velasco is weighing a decision.

Shanti A. Sellz, 23, and Strauss, 24, face charges that they knowingly and intentionally conspired to transport an illegal entrants while volunteering for the local faith-based No More Deaths movement, which during the summer provides food, water and medical aid to people entering the United States illegally on foot. The pair say they were taking three entrants to get emergency medical care when they were arrested July 9 en route from the Arivaca area to Tucson.

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License proposal re-introduced
By Edwin Garcia
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Despite six failed attempts over the past seven years, state Sen. Gil Cedillo on Tuesday re-introduced his proposal to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses.

And no matter what happens politically, the measure is sure to drive a contentious debate far beyond the state Capitol between undocumented workers who say they are in California to meet labor demands, and conservatives who insist the state must not reward those who violate federal immigration laws.

The new legislation, SB 1160, is identical to last year's SB 60, which Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed in October, saying the measure ``could undermine national security efforts to identify individuals who pose enormous risk to the safety of Californians.''

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One of three alleged smugglers surrenders
Times staff reports

One of three alleged people smugglers, who became fugitives after their Socorro-based rings were dismantled last week, turned himself in to Socorro police Monday night, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. Fermin Rodulfo Dominguez, 37, who was accompanied by his niece, told ICE agents a relative persuaded him to turn himself in after seeing his picture on the news.

Raul Lorenzo Lezama Landeros, 35, of El Paso, and Maria Guadalupe Castro, 46, of Dallas, remain at large.

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Mexican newspaper: Alleged Education Department official selling false university titles
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY – A Mexico City newspaper released a taped conversation on Tuesday in which an alleged official from the Education Department offered false Mexican university degrees for up to US$4,000 (euro3,300) and claimed he could also get fraudulent titles from schools in the United States, Spain, Chile and Puerto Rico.

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Steel poles to block cars of smugglers
ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
The Associated Press

Federal officials will begin installing steel-pole barriers this month to stop drug and migrant smugglers from driving through high-traffic corridors along the Mexican border in Arizona and New Mexico.

The poles, spaced about 4 feet apart, will be placed along two miles of border east of San Luis and along a 1-mile stretch west of Columbus, N.M., in areas frequented by smugglers using cars, pickups and vans. The barriers have previously been used near San Diego.

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PALM VIEW MAN SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Drug trafficker is also wanted for capital murder and is awaiting trial

MCALLEN, Texas — A Palm View resident was sentenced Monday to 13 years in federal prison for drug trafficking, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Francisco Longoria, 44, pleaded guilty June 6 to possessing more than 1,100 pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute. Prior to his arrest, agents linked him to at least eight other drug-trafficking loads, resulting in a combined seizure of 3,170 pounds of marijuana, 40 pounds of cocaine and $46,000 in U.S. currency.

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Feds to expand hunt for those ordered to be deported
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented crackdown on more than 500,000 illegal immigrants who have not followed deportation orders, U.S. authorities this year are nearly tripling the number of federal officers assigned to round up such fugitives.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will deploy 52 fugitive-hunting teams across the nation by December, up from 17 teams last year, says John Torres, the agency's acting director of detention and removal.

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Should Anchor Babies be granted citizenship?

Jack Ward

Whenever immigration is discussed, advocates of immigration (legal and illegal) make the claim that immigrants actually aid the US economy. While that claim can be debated, nobody can claim that ‘anchor babies’ provide a boost to the US economy. Anchor babies are babies of immigrants that are born in the US. Based on a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, these babies are granted immediate US citizenship.

Some parents come legally as temporary visitors but others enter illegally. In either case anchor babies are granted immediate US citizenship. Immigration officials seldom initiate deportation proceedings against illegal aliens with anchor babies, so they simply remain here illegally. After all what heartless bureaucrat would deport illegal immigrant parents and separate them from their newborn?

Since anchor babies are considered citizens they instantly qualify for public welfare which means they gain access to free medical care, schools, housing, food stamps, and all the other benefits of our welfare state. While the anchor babies do not provide immediate citizenship to the alien family, they do provide an anchor for that family – hence the name anchor baby.

Granting automatic birthright citizenship is a huge magnet that attracts immigrants from all over the world. It is estimated that roughly 10 percent of births in the United States are babies born to immigrants. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985 requires that hospitals and doctors treat the uninsured mother and baby without reimbursement. That means the taxpayers pick up the tab. California is even more generous. So it's no surprise that 60% of babies born in LA community hospitals are born to illegal immigrants.

How did all this nonsense get started?