Strength of planned immigrant work boycott called into question
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX (AP) -- A Hispanic advocacy group said Tuesday that it plans to go ahead with a call for immigrants to boycott work and school on May 1 to draw attention to the need for an overhaul of the country's immigration laws.

But one of the organizers of a massive immigration march in Phoenix on Monday said the boycott is generating little interest from other advocacy groups.

"Everyone else frankly is quite tepid about it," said Alfredo Gutierrez, a former Democratic state senator and an organizer of the 100,000-person march.

Gutierrez said march participants are tired and have to return to work. "We aren't talking about people with great disposable incomes," Gutierrez said.

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Agents seize pot from boat
FROM STAFF REPORTS

The U.S. Border Patrol seized 259 pounds of marijuana Monday morning from an abandoned boat seen floating in the Colorado River west of Yuma.

The seizure came after a patrol helicopter spotted the boat

"No one was in it," said Border Patrol spokesman Rick Hayes. "Apparently people had abandoned the boat. They jumped ship — no pun intended. (Smugglers) can hear helicopters coming from miles away," he said.

The helicopter pilot informed agents on the ground, who seized the marijuana after they found the boat washed up on the shore near County 8th Street.

The marijuana, which had an estimated value over $200,000, was given to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since the start of the current fiscal year on Oct. 1, agents in the Yuma sector have seized more than 24,000 pounds of marijuana valued at more than $19 million, according to Border Patrol statistics. The sector extends from the southeastern tip of California to the Yuma-Pima county line.

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Illegal aliens told to ‘pay toll,’ border agents say
BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER

A group of illegal aliens who attempted to cross the border were told they chose the wrong spot by bandits who robbed them Saturday night.

Twelve illegal aliens told U.S. Border Patrol agents who apprehended them that they were robbed at County 10-1/2 Street and the Colorado River at 11:30 p.m., according to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office. The robbers told the aliens that they "owned" that part of the border, and that it was used for smuggling drugs, YCSO said.

"They told them that to be allowed to come through (the smugglers they paid) would have to pay a toll," said YCSO Capt. Eben Bratcher. "It shows their mindset. They think that part of the border is theirs and theirs exclusively."

After taking all valuables, the suspects also allegedly fondled the female victims before they fled back into Mexico, YCSO said.

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Immigration issue at a glance
REUTERS

Tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities Monday to demand dignity and rights for millions of illegal immigrants. Following are key facts:

● There are 11.5 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, according to an estimate by the Pew Hispanic Center.

● Mexicans account for more than half of the illegal immigrants.

● Sparking the demonstration is a bill the House passed, mainly with Republican votes, focusing on tightening the border with Mexico and making felons of illegal immigrants and punishing those who employ or help them. The House bill also would build a 698-mile wall along parts of the 2,000-mile Mexican border.

● The Senate is at an impasse on a compromise plan that would open the way to citizenship for most illegal immigrants. Critics denounce the measure as amnesty that would lead to even more illegal immigration.

● The stalled compromise bipartisan plan in the Senate to overhaul immigration laws would create a temporary-worker program, as proposed by President Bush, and open the way for more than 7 million illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.

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Body found as rash of slayings continues
Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times

JUAREZ -- A rash of homicides in Juárez continued Sunday night with the discovery of the body of the fifth man found slain since Saturday, police said.

The unidentified man was found wrapped in a blanket in a plastic bag held by gray tape. The body had several wounds.

The cause of death was determined to be trauma to the head.

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Three shot dead as U.S., Mexican authorities announce security plan in violent border city
By Jorge Vargas
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – Assailants in Nuevo Laredo shot dead three men in two attacks that took place within hours of each other as U.S. and Mexican authorities announced a new joint plan to combat the relentless violence in this border city.

In the first attack, on Sunday night, an unidentified gunman opened fire on a group of men at a family party, killing Armando Gallardo, 28 and wounding two other men, one seriously.

Police were unsure of the motive in the attack. Relatives said the family deals in used cars.

Hours later, early Monday morning, gunmen in four vehicles pursued two men traveling in a Dodge car for 3 miles (5 kilometers) along a road leading out of the city then riddled them with bullets.

The victims were identified as Andres Cazares and Victor Aranda Jr, both Mexican citizens who had U.S. Green Cards and lived in Texas.

With the three deaths, there have been 80 killings so far this year in Nuevo Laredo, a city of 330,000 across the river from Laredo, Texas.

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Justice Sought in Mexican Femicide Cover-Ups
By Kent Paterson

In the balmy winds of late March, a bare lawn at the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces was transformed into a field of hundreds of pink crosses. Adorned with handmade clothing and pictures to symbolize the murdered women of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico, the crosses were put up by community members and organizers of the Las Cruces-based Friends of Juarez Women as a kickoff to the three-day J. Paul Taylor Symposium on Social Justice convened to promote justice for the more than 500 women and girls murdered or disappeared in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City since 1993.

The event came at a strategic crossroads in the justice movement: While the Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office (PJGE), long charged with investigating the killings, is paying more attention to murders related to domestic violence and assisting in efforts to locate some missing women and identify the remains of unidentified corpses, impunity reigns in the cases of scores of raped and slain women.