County's TB rate is more than double the state's average
By Juana M. Gyek, Sun Staff Writer

Janette is a nurse for the Yuma County Department of Public Health's Tuberculosis Control Program. She and the other nurses get tested because they work daily with patients who have tuberculosis in a county where, according to the most recent figures, the TB rate is the fourth-highest among Arizona counties and more than twice the statewide average.

Border states and border counties have a higher incidence of TB because of their proximity to Mexico, which has a high incidence of the disease, said Gale Hutchinson, the county's tuberculosis control supervisor.

"So many people crossing to and from the border, it makes a difference," said Hutchison.

The U.S.-Mexican border is the busiest border in the world, with 400 million crossings yearly, said Hector Martinez, executive secretary of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, during a telephone media briefing Thursday.

TB disregards borders and does not target any specific person because the disease can spread when someone breathes in germs that are released into the air when a person who has the disease talks, breathes, sings, laughs, coughs or sneezes, Janette said.

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House passes bill on illegals
Senate prepares to iron out differences
By Jim Tharpe, Carlos Campos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's sweeping attempt to confront illegal immigration moved a step closer to becoming law Thursday when the state House voted 123-51 in favor of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

The Republican-dominated chamber debated Senate Bill 529 — a complex proposal aimed at illegal immigrants and those who employ them — only 90 minutes before House leaders called for a vote.

State Rep. Dan Lakly (R-Peachtree City), the son of a legal immigrant from Yugoslavia, told the House the bill is a simple case of "right vs. wrong, legal versus illegal."

Lakly and other speakers pointed a stern finger at the federal government, which they said has failed to fix a broken immigration system.

"There comes a time when the states have to stand up as one and send a message to the federal government," Lakly said. "The people of our country want our borders secure. The people of this country do not want to be overrun by illegal immigrants."

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Texas sheriffs reach out to neighbors
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times

The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, which has asked for federal help in combating rising illegal immigration and drug smuggling, wants to expand its membership along the U.S.-Mexico border and has invited sheriffs from New Mexico, Arizona and California to meetings today and tomorrow in El Paso, Texas.
The coalition, which includes all 16 Texas border sheriffs, has asked its New Mexico, Arizona and California colleagues to join the two-day session to discuss pending federal immigration legislation and to set the groundwork for establishing the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition.

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Bush re-enters debate over guest workers
Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Just days before the Senate is to begin a full-blown debate on immigration and border security, President Bush is pushing harder for reform.

Bush met Thursday with business, religious and civil rights leaders who want comprehensive changes in immigration laws, repeating a call he initially made more than two years ago for temporary visas for foreigners to work in the United States, coupled with tougher border enforcement.

"I think now is the time for the United States Congress to act to get an immigration plan that is comprehensive and rational and achieves important objectives," Bush said.

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25 under indictment in Cleveland as Ariz.-based entrant smugglers
By Joe Milicia
Associated Press Writer

Twenty-five members of an Arizona-based smuggling ring that made millions of dollars bringing people into the United States from Mexico were indicted this week in Cleveland, authorities reported.

Federal prosecutors said the group would transport illegal entrants from the border in Arizona to Ohio and other states for $1,800 to $2,000.

U.S. Attorney Gregory White identified Manuel Valdez-Gomez, who owns an auto sales and repair business in Phoenix, as the ring's leader.

Valdez-Gomez, 55, was in federal custody Thursday along with 15 other defendants. They face five to seven years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say the ring had been in operation since 1997, smuggling entrants from Mexico to Nogales, Ariz., and then to Phoenix.

The ring provided false documents to the entrants and moved them from Phoenix to a network of safe houses, prosecutors allege.

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Suspects In Texas Trooper Shooting Wore Body Armor, Had Weapons

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- Two Tulsa men charged with shooting a Texas trooper during a stop near Tyler wore body armor and fired about 100 rounds as they fled.

Both men were caught when their vehicle crashed.

37-year-old Ramon Ramos and 38-year-old Francisco Saucedo were in a vehicle that was pulled over for speeding.

Department of Public Safety Trooper Steven Stone is hospitalized in fair condition after last night's attack. He was shot in the left shoulder.

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Non-Mexican migrants 'rent a family' to avoid deportation
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times

Migrants sneaking illegally into the United States from countries other than Mexico are renting families -- mostly small children -- to ensure that if they are apprehended, they won't be deported, but released back into the United States, a top immigration official said yesterday.
The "rent-a-family" scheme, said John P. Torres, director of the Office of Detention and Removal at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is being used by alien smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border -- mainly in Texas -- to circumvent a new expedited-removal program for non-Mexican aliens, whose arrest under existing deportation policies had become known as "catch-and-release."
"They are passing themselves off as a family, paying to have children smuggled with them across the border, because the smugglers know we're not going to break up a family for the deportation process," Mr. Torres said. "They're renting babies -- the younger the better -- including those not yet of speaking age.
"They get processed as a family and released together, under the law, pending an immigration hearing," Mr. Torres said

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Fake ID business booms in Los Angeles
California metropolis is the forged document capital of America
By George Lewis
Correspondent
NBC News

LOS ANGELES - The Federal Trade Commission says identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country. The thieves often use phony Social Security numbers belonging to innocent citizens — and do it with the greatest of ease.

Undercover video, shot by agents of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, was used to help convict a man of forging Social Security cards and other government IDs.

Kevin Jeffery, a special agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, says computers make it easy for the forgers.

"The document vendors themselves, they just make up random numbers," Jeffrey says. "To do this would take maybe about two minutes, tops."

Jeffery says Los Angeles, with its huge population of illegal immigrants, is the counterfeit document capital of America.

NBC News asked an employee of its Spanish language sister network, Telemundo, to walk through Los Angeles' MacArthur Park, where he was approached four times in 30 minutes by document vendors.

"They told me I can get everything from IDs to permanent resident cards, or green cards, Social Security numbers," he says. "They have everything."