Migrant bills put pressure on hirers

Dems' measures require employers to check IDs
Mary Jo Pitzl and Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic

Jumping into a debate they have largely avoided, top Arizona Democrats are proposing legislation that would penalize employers if they knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.

The bill drew immediate opposition from business lobbyists and some immigrant rights groups as well as a firm denunciation from a key Republican who has pushed unsuccessfully for similar sanctions.

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Chertoff: Mexico troop reports overblown
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Reports of Mexican soldiers frequently crossing onto U.S. soil are overblown, and many of the incidents are just mistakes, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

Chertoff's remarks followed a newspaper report that Mexican military units had crossed into the United States 216 times since 1996. The report by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario on Sunday was based on a Homeland Security Department report.

Chertoff estimated there were only about 20 crossings a year, and said "a significant number of those are innocent things" in which police or military from Mexico step across the border because they're not aware of exactly where the line is.

"I think to create the image that somehow there is a deliberate effort by the Mexican military to cross the border would be to traffic in scare tactics," he said Wednesday.

The head of a labor union that represents about 10,500 U.S. Border Patrol agents dismissed Chertoff's remarks as a "diplomatic response" to a long-running problem on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Illegal migration to U.S. dominates Mexico presidential campaign

By Will Weissert
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY – Mexico's presidential campaign is focusing on the millions who leave for better-paying jobs in the United States, with candidates promising to create better opportunities at home while railing against American immigration policies.

Illegal migration should again seize the spotlight Thursday, when the three major presidential hopefuls begin official campaigning after a Christmas break mandated by the country's electoral body.

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U.S. bracing for smuggling rings to retaliate
By DAVE MONTGOMERY and MARIA RECIO
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is bracing for increased violence against Border Patrol agents as Mexican smuggling rings retaliate against a high-profile crackdown by federal law enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.

While declining to elaborate on reports that smugglers may be planning contract-style hits on Border Patrol agents, Chertoff acknowledged "an uptick in violence" against the federal officers after months of intensified enforcement aimed at crushing immigrant- and drug-smuggling rings.

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Alpine Border Patrol agents grab $2.3 million in cocaine

Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agents of Marfa Sector's Alpine Station seized $2.312 million in cocaine from three men carrying the drugs in backpacks late Friday night, Jan. 6.

Two of the men were captured and arrested. One left his backpack behind but was able to escape.

Agents discovered the men about 18 miles south of the Border Patrol's Hwy. 385 checkpoint in Brewster County. The cocaine weighed 72.25 lbs. and was distributed in three backpacks. When agents approached the men, they all dropped their backpacks and ran. Agents were able to capture two of them. The men captured are aged 18 and 35, and are citizens of Mexico.

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M-13 Gang Member Arrested For Smuggling

A routine traffic stop uncovers 13 illegal immigrants traveling along IH-35, and now investigators say one of them is could be to be part of a notorious gang.

The U.S. Border Patrol picked up the suburban Wednesday morning after being tipped off by D.P.S. Agents say the 13 included a Honduran along with a member of the violent M-13 gang.

11 others, including one female and a 17-year old boy were from Mexico. They will be deported back to that country.

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Driver in fatal accident one of thousands who crossed border illegally
By Tom Dalton
Staff writer

SALEM — Magno DaCosta, the Peabody man charged in last weekend's fatal pedestrian accident on Canal Street, is one of thousands of Brazilians who entered the United States illegally last year by crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico.

He also is one of thousands of Brazilians who were stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol and then let go under a catch-and-release policy that has been harshly criticized. Under that rule, Mexicans caught entering illegally are sent back home, while illegal immigrants from other countries are given court dates and released.