Woman Uses Nail Clippers in Desert Birth
TUCSON, Ariz.

An 18-year-old woman who gave birth in the desert used nail clippers to cut her baby girl's umbilical cord before being rescued by U.S. Border Patrol agents, authorities said Wednesday.

The woman was spotted Monday night by a Border Patrol helicopter pilot about 25 miles north of the border, said Ron Bellavia, commander of the agency's search, trauma and rescue operations in the Tucson sector.

The woman, believed to be an illegal immigrant, was with two other people, and all appeared in distress, agents said. Her nationality was not immediately known.

_____

Measure would require agencies to divulge details of illegal workers
By Tim Funk and Liz Chandler
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Phot0 By Lauren Victoria Burke, AP

WASHINGTON - Congress is moving to knock down barriers that currently bar the IRS and Social Security Administration from sharing information that could help law enforcement identify illegal immigrants and the firms that employ them.

In the immigration legislation now in the Senate, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has included a measure that allows the sharing of information with prosecutors on the most egregious examples of employers who send the two agencies inaccurate Social Security numbers for their workers.

Grassley described the protection of taxpayer information "a cornerstone of our voluntary tax system," but he said that the IRS could share selected information that wouldn't violate the privacy protections Americans expect.

On Wednesday, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., announced plans to introduce bills requiring Social Security to notify immigration officials - and any American citizens affected - whenever more than one person uses the same Social Security number.

_____

U.S. firms say Mexico boycott could backfire
‘This is like shooting oneself in the foot,’ business group says of campaign
The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY - U.S. lobbyists lashed out Wednesday at the Mexican "Nothing Gringo" campaign timed for May 1 to coincide with the "Day Without Immigrants" boycott in the United States.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico said organizers are risking a backlash and foolishly targeting some of their best allies, since U.S. corporations have actively lobbied the U.S. Congress for immigration reform including legalization for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.

Mexicans' refusal to "buy American" on May 1 could further polarize the debate and make reform supporters seem anti-American at the very moment that lobbyists are trying to persuade lawmakers in Washington to pass a bill that would benefit migrants, worries Larry Rubin, the chamber's president.

_____

Schwarzenegger Calls On Californians To Ignore Protest

LOS ANGELES -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling on immigrants and supporters to ignore the call to protest a proposed limited-immigration bill that would criminalize undocumented workers by staying home from work and boycotting businesses on Monday, May 1.

Video

"No work, no school, no selling, no buying" is the call to action for Monday -- which is being billed by organizers as "The Great American Boycott" and "a day without an immigrant," but Schwarzenegger said he believes it's a bad idea.

"I don't see the upside .. I only see downside," Schwarzenegger said. "So therefore I strongly recommend to everyone to go and continue working."

_____

Extremists Declare 'Open Season' on Immigrants: Hispanics Target of Incitement and Violence.

As the public debate over immigration reform has taken center-stage in American politics and public life, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other racists have declared "open season" on immigrants and attempted to co-opt and exploit the controversy by focusing their efforts -- and their anger -- on the minority group at the center of the controversy: Hispanics.

As a result, to a level unprecedented in recent years, America's Latino immigrant population has become the primary focus of hateful and racist rhetoric and extreme violence -- aided, abetted and encouraged by America's white supremacist and racist haters.

Spurred in recent weeks by the debate on Capitol Hill and the groundswell of grassroots activism in support of America's immigrant community, extremists have become increasingly emboldened by, and fixated on, the controversy over immigration policy, encouraging their supporters to capitalize on the issue by encouraging anti-immigrant activism, and even violence against all Hispanics.

This is deplorable! The debate over illegal immigration is not a racist issue. It is a matter of law, of security, of the sovereignty of these United States. If Canadians or Europeans or Australians or Indonesians or Laotians were streaming illegally across our borders in the numbers that the Latinos are, the reaction would be the same. These hate groups only serve to give validity to claims of those who "play the race card". It is not about race. It is about law and soverneignty. It is about our right to decide who does and does not come into our country and under what circumstances. No foreign country or person has the right to demand otherwise no matter what their genetic origin! -mm

_____

Senate OKs $2 billion to stop illegals
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Senate yesterday approved immediately spending nearly $2 billion to stop illegal immigration, the largest such infusion of emergency cash for the effort in recent years.

Nearly every member of the Senate voted in favor of the new spending, but Democrats and Republicans split over whether to find cuts elsewhere in the massive spending bill to offset the border security expenditures. Republicans ultimately prevailed and roughly 3 percent will be cut from defense spending contained in the same bill.

"Porous borders are a threat to our national security, and the Senate has acted today to provide vital funding that will increase our border defenses," Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, said after the vote.

______

Smuggler once more convicted of murder
Illegal immigrants died in 2003 crash
By Jose Luis Jiménez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

VISTA – An immigrant smuggler was convicted yesterday of second-degree murder for killing three illegal immigrants in a high-speed crash while fleeing the California Highway Patrol near Borrego Springs.

Antonio Sanchez, 30, showed no reaction to the verdict, which marked the second time a jury has found him guilty of murder for the deaths stemming from the June 26, 2003, accident. An appellate court overturned the original murder convictions after the state Supreme Court changed the law under which Sanchez was first found guilty.

Shortly after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border near El Centro, Sanchez was driving a Ford LTD on state Route 78 near Borrego Springs when he saw a CHP officer. Sanchez sped away, lost control on a curve while driving an estimated 80 mph and collided with a car coming from the opposite direction, according to testimony.

_____

10 Guatemalan migrants en route to United States die in Mexico truck crash
ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAUDALES MALPASO, Mexico – A speeding truck loaded with Guatemalan migrants en route to the United States collided head-on Wednesday with another truck in southern Mexico, killing 10 migrants and injuring 16, authorities said.

Eighty Guatemalans were packed inside the truck at the time of the collision on a bridge in Raudales Malpaso, about 60 miles northeast of Tuxtla Gutierrez, said Martin Rabanales, a spokesman for the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.

The truck carrying the migrants was traveling at 87 mph in a 50 mph zone and the truck driver was inexperienced, Rabanales said.