Mexico ties flooding in Nogales to U.S. Border Patrol-built wall

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Mexican officials say a concrete barrier constructed by the U.S. Border Patrol in a storm-water tunnel beneath Nogales appears to be on Mexican soil and was the main cause of serious flooding July 12 in Nogales, Sonora.

The flooding caused about $8 million in damage in Nogales, Sonora, the officials say.

The 5-foot-high wall on the floor of the tunnel in front of a gate was put in without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. section of the commission. The commission requests that any agency doing work on the border that could affect storm drainage send it plans.

"We do have concerns about structures that are placed on the international boundary that could affect storm-water flow," Spener said.

The U.S. side of the commission hasn't yet determined if the barrier caused the flooding, Spener said. It's important to remember the Mexican side of the tunnel was old and in poor condition, she said.

A delegation from the commission, including Commissioner Carlos Marin, was en route to Nogales on Tuesday.

While in Arizona, the delegation will be analyzing whether the structure is in Mexico, what role it played in the flood and what should be done to remedy the situation, she said.

Officials with the Mexican section of the commission say the barrier reduced the flow of storm water through the tunnel by 40 percent, said Jesús Quintanar, a representative in Nogales of the Mexican side of the commission. The barrier was put up in January by the Border Patrol without letting anyone else know, he said.

Hispanic lawmakers question sweeps

LAUREN PROPER

Published: 04.18.2008

A group of Hispanic state lawmakers called Thursday for a federal civil rights investigation of sweeps by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that have led to arrests of dozens of illegal immigrants.

"There can be no disagreement with the fact that violations of people's rights are not acceptable and clearly unconstitutional," said Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix.

Accusing sheriff's officials of racial profiling, Miranda and other members of the group said at a news conference they had sent a letter asking U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate.

In recent weeks, sheriff's deputies and posse members have conducted what they refer to as saturation patrols in areas with large populations of illegal immigrants, drawing protests from immigrant rights advocates and civil rights groups.

Earlier this month, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon sent a letter asking the FBI and Justice Department to investigate the sweeps, ordered by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Members of the Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus, all of them Democrats, said Arpaio is using the patrols to grab election-year headlines.

Rules, decisions hard to figure for those seeking visitors visa

But with millions overstaying approved visits, consular officials are leery about all applicants
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

HERMOSILLO, Sonora — The tears well up in Velia Johana Castro's eyes as she repeats what the consular officer told her just minutes earlier.

"He said, 'You didn't qualify yesterday, you don't qualify today, and you won't qualify tomorrow,' " Castro, 19, says in Spanish, as her fiance, Jose Eduardo Alvarez, 21, kisses her forehead and pulls her into his arms.

The young couple from Guasave, Sinaloa, say they wanted to visit Velia's aunt and uncle in Ontario, Calif., for a honeymoon following their February wedding.

I don't want to hear any more whining about how long it takes to get permission to come to the US when nearly half or almost 6 million of those Mexicans currently illegally in the US have overstayed their welcome. These are criminals who were welcomed into our country and then chose to abuse our system by refusing to obey the law and either renew their visas or return to their native land when they permission to be here ended. I won't listen to the whining. I don't care how many tears are shed. Rather than being angry with the US, they should pour out their anger on their fellow countrymen who have abused the system, resulting in the wait and the restrictions - Mexicans are to blame, not the US government! -mm

But in the eyes of the consular officer, they didn't present a compelling enough case — through bank accounts, property ownership, social and family ties — to convince him they would return to Mexico afterward. Officers are trained to assume every applicant intends to overstay a tourist visa to live and work in the United States.

There's a reason the U.S. government has such rigid rules. As many as 45 percent of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States overstayed non-immigrant visas, a May 2006 study from the Pew Hispanic Study found. The study estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 of that group had border-crossing cards, or laser visas, available only to Mexicans.

Forum aims to address racial-profiling concerns

Daniel González

The Arizona Republic
Mar. 4, 2008 12:00 AM

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants over the past year, but some Latino community leaders say the crackdown has come at a price: a surge in racial profiling.

"It appears that this is an issue that is occurring in our state, and there is definitely concern over it," said Melanie Pate, chief counsel of the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General's Office.

Her office, along with the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board, will hold a forum Thursday on the issue. Public comments help determine whether to draft recommendations to combat discriminatory police practices, she said.

Phoenix lawyer Antonio Bustamante said authorities use traffic stops as a pretext to arrest illegal immigrants. Racial profiling is hard to prove, he said, and there is no hard data. But Bustamante said anecdotal evidence is increasing and supports claims.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said his deputies have been trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to avoid profiling. Since 100 deputies received training last March, they have arrested 790 illegal immigrants on federal charges while performing routine duties, including traffic stops.

Few comment at meeting on border fence

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 02/29/2008 12:29:08 AM MST

A few El Pasoans offered comments on a proposed 57 miles of border fence during a meeting Thursday evening, while others demonstrated outside against what they called a "wall."

Officials from Customs and Border Protection and from the Army Corps of Engineers were on hand to answer questions and collect public comments at an East El Paso ballroom.

"We're still in the decision-making process," CBP spokesman Greg Gephart said.

Marchers decry slow process for citizenship

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/29/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

Members of ACORN from El Paso and Las Cruces on Thursday marched to the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Services to protest nationwide processing delays that could keep some immigrants from getting their citizenship in time to vote in the presidential elections.

Belem Lara of Las Cruces, a permanent legal resident for 30 years, said she was beginning to gather her documents to apply for U.S. citizenship.

"It is my dearest wish to be able to vote, and more than anything, to be able to stay in this country," she said. "I fear that I won't be able to vote while I wait for a response."

Delays have not been an overwhelming problem at the El Paso CIS office, and Thursday's protest attracted only about 20 people. ACORN members were to march in protest in other cities such as Los Angeles.

The CIS has acknowledged the delay and said on its Web site that applications filed after June 1, 2007, could take 16 to 18 months to process. This could mean that someone who filed in June 2007 becomes a citizen in December 2008, too late for the November election.

The naturalization process used to take three to four months from application to interview, immigration lawyers said.

El Paso protester Israel Perez said he felt the delays were deliberate.

"I think they're thinking Mexicans can sway the election," Perez, a U.S. citizen, said.

Federal officials blamed the holdup on an onslaught of applications this year. Many were made by people wanting to beat a steep increase in filing fees that took effect July 30, 2007.

U.S. immigration law drives husband, wife apart

U.S. man's Mexican wife forced to leave country

Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 17, 2008 12:34 AM

EL NACIMIENTO, Mexico -
Brown, 44, lives in Mesa. Carrillo, 29, lives in Mexico, staying with her parents in the village where she grew up. She is raising Bryan, a U.S. citizen who turned 3 in December.

As the Browns' case shows, the days when illegal immigrants could marry U.S. citizens and easily get green cards are long over. In 1996, Congress passed a law that made it much tougher for illegal immigrants who marry U.S. citizens to acquire legal status, part of an effort to crack down on illegal immigration and sham marriages.

To apply, illegal immigrants must now leave the country first. But once they do, they risk being barred from re-entering the U.S. for up to 10 years unless they can prove that the separation would create an extreme hardship for the U.S. citizen spouse.

More than a decade after the law went into effect, Americans remain largely unaware of the tougher rules, which even when followed can have disastrous results, as the Browns discovered.

Let's see - she entered the country illegally, violating US sovereignty and federal law. She was illegally employed by a defense contractor, obviously lying on her application and providing false documents. He knew she was illegally in the country and married her anyway, being complicit in the falsifying of records for the marriage to take place. Just how many laws did she break? How many did he violate that should disqualify him from his job with Boeing? I seem to remember a Border Patrol agent going to jail for marrying and harboring an illegal. Sorry, it is not the U.S. immigration law that is separating this "poor family" but their own blatant disregard for the laws of the nation, thinking that the law applies to everyone else but not them. No sympathy for the overtly stupid! -mm

Migrant issues worry students

Town hall introduces teens to college life

Lauren Proper
Cronkite News Service
Feb. 13, 2008 12:00 AM

At one end of the classroom, Jessica Alexander, Mabel Muñoz and five other high-school students discuss immigration's impact on education in Arizona.

Muñoz, a senior at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, says she's concerned that classmates who are in the U.S. illegally now have to pay out-of-state tuition to attend a state university and aren't eligible for many scholarships.

"Many people have been living here all their lives and have to pay more money just because they're immigrants," Muñoz says.

It's not "just because they're immigrants". It's because they are in this country illegally, violating our sovereignty! -mm

Immigrants rally in Salem

YouNewsTV™
Story Published: Feb 4, 2008 at 4:17 PM PST
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER Associated Press Writer

Video

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - About 500 Hispanics marched around the state Capitol Monday to protest tighter rules for getting driver's licenses as sign-bearing advocates for even tighter rules watched from the Capitol steps.

The Legislature is considering a bill that would codify an executive order issued last month by Gov. Ted Kulongoski that requires proof of legal residence in the United States to get an Oregon license, effective Monday.

Hispanics who participated in the march don't like the order signed by Kulongoski, and are concerned legislators could tighten restrictions on getting drivers' licenses even further.

Cable news blamed for rise in Latino 'hate crimes'

'La Raza' targets guests who call illegals 'invaders,' blame them
Posted: February 2, 2008 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

The fierce debate over illegal immigration on cable news channels could be the cause of a purported increase in hate crimes against Latinos, charges the radical Hispanic rights group National Council of La Raza.

The group, which says it's launching a campaign against vilification of immigrants and Hispanic Americans, wants to meet executives of the Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN and press them to stop "handing hate a microphone" on their programs, the Dallas Morning News reported.

"This surge of hate is being driven by a relatively small but vocal and extreme segment of our society," said Janet Murguia, La Raza's president and chief executive.

Murguia claims a 25-percent increase in hate crimes against Latinos between 2004 and 2006, according to FBI statistics the group compiled.

The group, the Dallas paper reported, has called on Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to renounce his endorsement by Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, an opponent of open borders who frequently appears on cable news shows.

Gilchrist responded to the Morning News, calling La Raza a racial supremacy group that "dwarfs the combination of Black Panthers, KKK, American Indian Movement and Asian gangs."

As WND reported, La Raza, which means "The Race," was condemned in 2006 by Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical "pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland."

Mexican Farmers Protest US Trade Pact

By MARK STEVENSON
The Associated Press
January 31, 2008

Led by a column of tractors, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown Mexico City on Thursday to protest recent trade openings that removed the last tariff protections for ancestral Mexican crops like corn and beans.

Chanting 'Without corn, the country doesn't exist!' farmers and farm activists from across the nation demanded the Mexican government renegotiate the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, to reinstate protection for basic crops.

Farmers here say the can't compete with bigger U.S. farms which receive more government support. Under the terms of NAFTA, Mexico got a 15-year protection period to improve its farms, but that phase-in period ended Jan. 1, and Mexican farms _ mostly tiny plots of 12 acres or less _ still lag behind.

'The truth is, we can't compete, that is why we're demonstrating ... because we're really getting hit hard,' said Telespor Andrade, 44, a weather-beaten farmer from central Mexico who grows corn and beans on about 7 acres of land.

Protesters pastured their cows outside the Mexican Stock Exchange on the city's main boulevard, and burned a tractor at a nearby monument to the 1910 Mexican Revolution.

19 senators: Implement new border rules next year

SHERYL KORNMAN

Published: 01.30.2008

A bipartisan group of 19 U.S. senators Monday urged Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to wait to implement new U.S.-Mexico border travel rules until next year. The rules also affect the U.S.-Canadian border.

But Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern, in Tucson Tuesday, said federal officers at land and seaports at both borders will require a document proving citizenship and a government picture ID proving identity beginning Thursday.

The changes will take full effect in June 2009, Ahern said. The senators want Homeland Security to wait until then and not implement ID requirements Thursday as planned.

But until 2009, Customs and Border Protection officers can use discretion in determining if a traveler has satisfactorily proved his citizenship and identity.

Some who voted for sanctions seek rollback

By Howard Fischer

CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — Some state lawmakers who backed Arizona's new employer sanctions law last year now are pushing to dilute some of its provisions.

Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, prime sponsor of the rollback, wants the law altered so a firm cannot lose its license to do business for having an undocumented worker on the payroll unless the worker was hired after the law took effect Jan. 1.

He said it's not fair to punish employers who had no opportunity to verify the legal status of new workers through the federal government's E-Verify database program, as required by the sanctions law.

Further, Konopnicki wants to require prosecutors to prove "regular, repeated and intentional actions" of illegal hiring before a license could be suspended or revoked. Companies would not be penalized for "isolated, sporadic or accidental acts."

Konopnicki's bills also would limit the types of licenses a judge could take away, a move Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who crafted the original measure, said could exempt more than half of Arizona businesses from any type of punishment.

And even in those cases left, a company would be subject to license suspension or revocation only if guilt was proved "beyond a reasonable doubt," the same standard that applies for criminal convictions.

Mexico criticizes US for firing tear gas across border

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government criticized the U.S. Border Patrol for firing tear gas into Mexican territory, a new tactic that U.S. authorities say protects agents against rocks and other projectiles hurled at them from across the border.

U.S. agents fired three canisters of tear gas or pepper spray Friday into the Tijuana neighborhood of Colonia Libertad, the latest of several counterattacks in recent months, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities. Two canisters exploded, but no one was injured.

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said it would investigate the incidents, which it called "unnecessary, unacceptable and out of place."

Mexico criticizes Arizona employer sanctions law

Associated Press

Jan. 4, 2008 01:45 PM

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government promised Friday to defend any Mexicans affected by an Arizona law that punishes employers who hire undocumented migrants.

The Arizona law, which went into effect Tuesday, prohibits businesses from knowingly employing illegal immigrants. Violators face business license suspensions for up to 10 days; a second offense triggers permanent revocation.

"Measures like the one approved in Arizona do not contribute to solving the issue of migration by workers between the two countries, and ignore the contributions that migrants make to the U.S. economy and society," Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said.

The department said it will "intervene, through its consulates, in any situation in which the rights of Mexican workers are affected, regardless of their immigration status."

Immigration officials say raids on illegals are within the law

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER

The federal government is increasingly deceiving unsuspecting illegal immigrants into granting entry to their homes, a growing chorus of lawyers and civil rights groups say.

They charge that in an overzealous effort to deport illegal immigrants, federal immigration agents forgo required search warrants, instead using ruses and intimidation to gain consent to enter and search private dwellings. In interviews with The Record and in a growing number of lawsuits, immigrants and critics of the raids say that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is violating the U.S. Constitution.

"They're armed agents showing up at 5 a.m., banging on doors, kicking them in, going into people's bedrooms, ripping covers off people in their beds, asking them questions when they're half asleep, and seizing them and taking them away," said Patrick Gennardo of Englewood, one of several area attorneys who have filed suits recently asking that such ICE practices be found unconstitutional. "These aren't fine lines between consent and storming in; these are scary, major violations of the Constitution."

But Scott Weber, field director for ICE's office in Newark, takes exception to those claims.

Mexican woman with three U.S. citizen children departing country

Associated Press

Dec. 31, 2007 04:38 PM

TUCSON - A 23-year-old illegal immigrant woman with three American-born children, including one just three weeks old, will return voluntarily to Mexico after what supporters call a harrowing experience with authorities during a traffic stop.

Miriam Aviles-Reyes and the human rights group Derechos Humanos said Monday a Tucson police officer was abusive and called the Border Patrol without necessary cause.

Tucson police spokesmen denied that Officer James Kneup did anything wrong and said that he was following departmental policy when he pulled a pickup truck over on Dec. 9 after what Lt. Vicki Reza termed a random license plate check.

The check showed that insurance on the vehicle was suspended, and when the driver, Gustavo Reyes, could not produce a valid driver's license and the officer had difficulty communicating with him or his pregnant wife and children inside the truck, Kneup called the Border Patrol, Reza said.

This is a direct result of the Ramos-Campeon fiasco. These illegals know that if that make accusations, there will be an investigation and they might possibly be able to sue!

Undocumented workers bemoan U.S. crackdown

BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND HELENA POLEO

For thousands of South Florida's illegal immigrants, the new year offers more uncertainty, discontent and, for many, resigned departure.

From farms in Homestead to day laborer pickup sites in Florida City and Fort Lauderdale, migrant workers are struggling to find work as Homeland Security steps up enforcement after a firestorm of public opinion derailed an immigration overhaul in Congress. That proposal, which failed in the summer, would have eventually legalized millions of undocumented workers.

Adding to the turmoil: a slowing economy.

More than two dozen South Florida employers and undocumented workers interviewed by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald said they worry about tough times ahead. Evidence suggests immigrants are sending less money back to their families in Latin America and the Caribbean.

International economic analysts who track remittances said the immigration crackdown is a likely factor behind the slowdown in money transfers.

''Clearly, something is happening if the reported remittances to Mexico are flat,'' said Donald Terry, general manager of the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund, which has been tracking remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean since 2000.

Mexico welcomes returning migrants

As usual during this time of year, more than a million Mexican immigrants are expected to cross the border to spend the holiday season with their loved ones. But this time around, there is an added element to their journey: Many of them could end up making a one-way trip back home.

Mexican immigrants are finding it increasingly difficult to live in the United States. The land of opportunity that once embraced their work ethic and unique abilities is becoming, to many, a land of misfortune and rejection. A country that appreciated and took advantage of their hard labor is now telling them they are not welcome anymore.

For many immigrants, coming to this country is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work and help support their families back home. Some of them have established roots here. They've gotten married, had children; they have become an integral part of their communities and parishes. Others, however, just planned to save enough money to go back home and build a better future for themselves and their families. For those, maybe that time has come.

There are no exact figures, but stories abound of immigrants who have decided not to return to the United States after their holiday vacation south of the border. It's just not the same here anymore. Hate crimes have increased. Discrimination and racial profiling are on the rise as a result of the hostile environment toward illegal immigrants. Immigration raids and random collateral arrests have people living in fear. Many parents are afraid to take their children to school, not knowing if they will be picked up and separated from their family, even if the kids are U.S. citizens.

Do-It-Yourself Deportation Expands in Arizona

[Brenda Walker] @ 9:31 pm

Here’s a sweet headline: U.S. illegal immigrants ’self deport’ as woes mount (Reuters, Dec 23, 2007)

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.

She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.

“The situation has got so tough that there don’t seem to be many options left for us,” Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.

It must be self-esteem-enhancing for Mexicans to take charge of their own repatriation. True, it’s not as cheap as having La Migra provide free transport, but foregoing handcuffs must be highly empowering.

Anyway, the take-away point from the various Arizona Mexodus stories is that when the job magnet is removed, many illegals will skedaddle south to the beloved homeland. As we knew would happen.

The only other choices are working under the table or going full-tilt criminal. There is at least one reported case of “Arizona’s immigration enforcement drove me to crime.” Hopefully there won’t be more.

The tough Arizona law doesn’t take effect until Jan 1, but the countdown is becoming palpable, at least among the media.

We can count on the MSM to detail every iota of emotional turmoil endured by Mexicans et al as they struggle with hauling off all their American loot.