Senators Back Guest Workers
Panel's Measure Sides With Bush
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer

A key Senate panel broke with the House's get-tough approach to illegal immigration yesterday and sent to the floor a broad revision of the nation's immigration laws that would provide lawful employment to millions of undocumented workers while offering work visas to hundreds of thousands of new immigrants every year.

With bipartisan support, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 6 to side with President Bush's general approach to an immigration issue that is dividing the country, fracturing the Republican Party and ripening into one of the biggest political debates of this election year. Conservatives have loudly demanded that the government tighten control of U.S. borders and begin deporting illegal immigrants. But in recent weeks, the immigrant community has risen up in protest, marching by the hundreds of thousands to denounce what they see as draconian measures under consideration in Washington.

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Agents arrest 10 illegal entrants, then 18 more
Arizona Daily Star

Border Patrol agents caught 28 illegal entrants who were attempting to drive north in pickup trucks Sunday night.

At about 6 p.m. Sunday on Arivaca Road east of Arivaca, Border Patrol agents noticed a pair of eastbound pickup trucks traveling in tandem with people in the back, said Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Sean King. Checking the plates, the agents determined the trucks were stolen and continued to follow them.

About five minutes later, some 16 miles west of Interstate 19 on Arivaca Road, the first pickup, a Ford F250 from New Mexico, veered off the road and ran into a fence before coming to a halt. There, agents arrested 10 illegal entrants, King said.

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Bush Says Immigration Law Changes Must Include Greater Security

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, addressing critics of his immigration proposals among fellow Republicans, said the U.S. must bolster border security while bringing illegal immigrants out of the ``the shadows.''

``Our immigration system cannot function if we cannot control the border,'' Bush said during a naturalization ceremony for new immigrants in Washington.

Congress will consider immigration proposals this week in a debate that has divided Bush's Republican Party. Lawmakers are trying to balance voter demands for tighter border security with a need for companies to hire workers from abroad.

Bush backs a so-called guest worker program to encourage people already in the U.S. to register. Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, support the idea. The president called for a ``civil and dignified'' debate that allows for compromise.

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Troops border deployment helped catch illegal aliens
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times The deployment of federal troops along the U.S.-Mexico border in October netted a 60 percent increase in apprehensions of illegal aliens by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, a congressional report says.
The report given this month to the Senate Armed Services Committee says a Texas-based Stryker-armored reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition squadron helped CBP agents capture 2,000 illegal border crossers in New Mexico and Arizona.

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Investors Believe Illegal Immigration Is Hurting the U.S. Economic Climate
Eight in 10 investors say the government should do more to stop illegal immigration
by Dennis Jacobe

Two in three investors believe that illegal immigration is hurting the U.S. economic climate according to the March UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism poll. While most investors also recognize that illegal immigrants take jobs that American workers don't want, few believe that illegal immigrants will eventually become productive citizens and pay their full share of taxes. Most importantly, in overwhelming numbers investors think that the federal government should do more to prevent illegal immigration.

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Report: Radioactive material easily brought into U.S.
By Toby Eckert
Copley News Service

Washington – Congressional investigators posing as businessmen were able to carry enough radioactive material across the borders from Mexico and Canada to potentially make two radiation-spewing bombs, according to a report that will be released today.

While radiation monitors at the two borders detected the material, the investigators used easily faked documents to dupe border security officers into believing it was for legitimate purposes.

The investigators had purchased the radioactive material over the phone without providing any documentation of their identities or its potential use. The material is commonly used in medical, construction and research equipment, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission challenged the assertion it presented a possible threat.

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Mexico remains optimistic a guest-worker program will be approved in the United States
By Olga R. Rodriguez
Associated Press

Mexico City – Heartened by huge marches across the United States and President Bush's support for a guest-worker program, Mexico remains optimistic the immigration bill in Congress can be transformed into something that will benefit millions of illegal migrants.

Mexicans welcomed the proposal approved Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee to legalize undocumented migrants and provide temporary work visas, and President Vicente Fox told local media the bill was a “very important” step.

Considering the corruption of the Mexican government and their total disregard for sovereignty of the USA, can legislation they approve of be good for us? - mm