Gov vetoes effort to criminalize immigrants' presence in Arizona
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX (AP) -- Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a bill Monday that would have criminalized the presence of illegal immigrants in Arizona, citing opposition from police agencies that want immigration arrests to remain the responsibility of the federal government.

The proposal would have expanded the state's trespassing law to let local authorities arrest illegal immigrants anywhere in Arizona, the nation's busiest illegal entry point. Congress also had considered criminalizing the presence of illegal immigrants in the country.

In a letter to lawmakers, Napolitano said she opposes automatically turning all immigrants who sneaked into the state into criminals and that the bill provided no funding for the new duties.

But Madam Governor, they have already broken the law and are criminal by crossing illegally. You have simply bowed to the PC crowd and made it more difficult for law enforcement. -mm

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How might you fare as an immigrant to Mexico?
DICK TUNISON
CNHI News Service

EDMOND— My last column on ignoring the law, and immigration laws in particular, brought more responses from readers than any column I’ve written. Comments ranged wide and far, and some proposed tentative solutions to our current immigration problems that have sent hundreds of thousands of Mexicans into the streets protesting the machinations of Congress. Other comments have carped at me for my own views.

One reader sent extracts from the Mexican Constitution (1917 as amended) to illustrate the constraints under which an American immigrant to Mexico would fare in that country. I found the e-mail quite intriguing and decided to research the Mexican Constitution to verify the facts. It was an eye-opening experience. You may check it out for yourself by accessing the full document on the Internet by entering the following address: www.ilstu.edu/class/hist263/docs/1917const.html.

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MEXICO'S GLASS HOUSE- How the Mexican constitution treats foreigners
Center for Security Policy
Michael Waller

In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that:

- Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.

- Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.

- Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.

- Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.

- Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.

- Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.

- Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.

- Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

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Georgia OKs tough actions against illegal immigrants
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — Georgia's governor signed a sweeping immigration bill Monday that supporters and critics say gives the state some of the toughest measures against illegal immigrants in the nation.

"I want to make this clear: We are not, Georgia's government is not, and this bill is not, anti-immigrant," Gov. Sunny Perdue said at the signing. "We simply believe that everyone who lives in our state needs to abide by our laws."

The law requires verification that adults seeking many state-administered benefits are in the country legally. It sanctions employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and mandates that companies with state contracts check the immigration status of employees. The law also requires police to check the immigration status of people they arrest.

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Employers paying for migrants to recruit workers from home
By Julie Watson and Olga R. Rodriguez
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SASABE, Mexico — When Pedro Lopez Vazquez crossed illegally into the United States last week, he was not heading north to look for a job. He already had one.

His future employer even paid $1,000 for a smuggler to help Vazquez make his way from the central Mexican city of Puebla to Aspen, Colo.

"We're going to Colorado to work in carpentry because we have a friend who was going to give us a job," Vazquez said.

Vazquez, 41, was interviewed along the Arizona border after being deported twice by the U.S. Border Patrol. He said he would keep trying until he got to Aspen.

His story is not unusual. A growing number of U.S. employers and migrants are tapping into an underground employment network that matches one with the other, often before the migrants leave home.

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Marching Against Law and Common Sense
By Michael Radu
FrontPageMagazine.com

We are told that hundreds of thousands demonstrated on April 10 throughout the country in favor of immigrants and against the proposed House of Representatives version of the immigration bill.

It is interesting and suspicious that, all of a sudden, and in contrast to the Los Angeles demonstrations a few weeks ago, the sea of Mexican flags of “la raza” have been replaced by white dress (“peace”?) and American flags. One should give the obviously well funded and organized groups behind it credit--but then, they have long experienced and enjoyed the unwavering support of such benefactors as the Ford Foundation, the Catholic Church, and assorted elements of the Left.

The demonstrators and their spokesmen are on the streets in support of three great lies, and they are fully aware of it.

Great lie #1. “We are all immigrants.”

Great lie #2. “Without illegal immigrants the country will come to a standstill.”

Great lie #3. “Illegal immigrants are honest, hard-working people who only want to participate in the American dream.”

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Mexican officer shoots local man in raid on Central American migrants
By Mark Stevenson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TULTITLAN, Mexico – A state policeman fatally shot a local man whom he apparently mistook for a Central American immigrant during a raid on undocumented workers Monday, infuriating residents who overturned and smashed two immigration service trucks.

People of this town just north of Mexico City expressed outrage that police would open fire on fleeing migrants and said the victim was a construction worker on a lunch break whose dark skin and work clothes may have made him look like a potential target.

State police commander Jorge Cruz Cid said several officers from the Mexico State police force who were helping federal immigration agents in the raid had been detained for questioning.