The Oklahoman         Bill seeks to defend English as the common language    Winston Churchill once said, "The gift of a common language is a priceless inheritance.” Churchill's words remain true today. It is our common American language, English, and the "melting pot” process it supports, that has made the United States the most successful multi-ethnic nation in the history of the world.

San Antonio Express-News       As federal presence at jail grows, so do numbers of immigrant detainees    For the past 30 years, federal immigration agents have regularly popped in the Travis County Jail and other correctional institutions, combing records and quizzing inmates to identify deportable immigrants and those with criminal records...

Coming Up May 6 John and Ken Show -- Los Angeles -- 7:30 pm -- Skirball Center | Other Events Benefit for Ramos & Compean

Arizona Republic -- Phoenix        Shadegg backs guest-worker program    On the eve of a key vote on a temporary-worker program for Arizona, the proposal has won the endorsement of a friend in a high place: U.S. Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz. -- "I have been a consistent supporter of a guest-worker program from . . . forever," Shadegg said Friday. "Since when I was growing up in Arizona."

Daily Telegraph -- Surry Hills, New South Wales         Rioting inmates decapitate prison boss    Angry Guatemalan prisoners decapitated a senior prison official during a riot, emergency officials said [Saturday]. -- Jorge Augusto Mendoza, deputy director of the prison, was beheaded in the riot in Chimaltenango prison last night, said Mario Cruz, an emergency services spokesman.

East Valley Tribune -- Phoenix        Why so angry about illegal immigration?    ...Now, the anger has reached a point that people on both sides of the issue worry that violence is a very real possibility as people take their feelings beyond internet postings, letters to the editor and emotional phone calls to elected leaders...

Thomas L. Friedman -- International Herald Tribune        Who will tell the people?    Traveling the country these past five months while writing a book, I've had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it's this: People want to do nation-building. They really do...

Providence (Rhode Island) Journal        Remarks on immigrants raise concerns    A nonprofit group whose board members include First Lady Sue Carcieri asserts that nearly 45 percent of all immigrants in Rhode Island — legal and illegal — lack high school diplomas and “this low-skilled cohort of immigrants to Rhode Island costs state taxpayers about $212 million per year.”

American Conservative         Mexico's racism toward 'gringos'    Our government by it's not ensuring equity of treatment of it's citizens in Mexico is complicit to the perpetuation of the Mexican government's criminality against US citizens. -- "When one is critical of either the Mexican government, or denying US government benefits to it's citizens residing in the US, one risk the label of racist."

Arizona Daily Star -- Tucson         McCain: Focus on illegal immigration hurt GOP's image    Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says the focus on illegal immigration during the Republican primary season harmed his party's image among Hispanics. -- Speaking to reporters in Phoenix on Cinco de Mayo, McCain said that Hispanic citizens want America's borders secured and illegal [aliens.... criminals] to be treated humanely.

Denver Post      sc    Driver proposal stirs bias claims    Unlicensed drivers would see their cars impounded under a Denver ballot measure that opponents say targets illegal [aliens.... criminals]. -- The proposed ordinance states: "Unlicensed drivers including illegal aliens are not eligible for auto insurance and pose a significant danger to the people of the city and county..."

WFAA-TV -- Dallas / Fort Worth        August execution set for Mexican-born inmate    A Mexican-born Texas prisoner whose death sentence set off an international dispute that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffing the White House has received an Aug. 5 execution date. -- A state district judge in Houston on Monday set the lethal injection date for 33-year-old Jose Medellin...

Fort Worth Star-Telegram        Hispanic candidates travel a rocky road    Hispanic residents making their first run for office are on Saturday's ballot for City Council in Farmers Branch and Irving, where illegal immigration is a major issue. -- The candidates, two of them 21-year-old college students whose parents are immigrants, say the issue is not the only thing that motivated them to run, but they oppose their cities' tough stands...

El Paso Times         Immigration lawyers to keep up advocacy    El Paso immigration attorney Kathleen Walker said she would continue to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform [translation: amnesty] at her new, statewide law firm. -- Walker, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, is one of four immigration lawyers who joined the El Paso office of...

KTAR -- Phoenix        90 busted in drug smuggling operation    Nearly 90 people were busted in a four-month investigation called "Operation Piano Man." -- A group of ten illegal [aliens] were getting weekly shipments of drugs smuggled in from Mexico. Phoenix police lieutenant Vince Piano said their east Valley customers were mostly teens and young adults. [Video from KPHO-TV]

E. J. Montini -- Arizona Republic -- Phoenix        Fear of once again rousing sleeping giant in Arizona    You'll have to excuse those of us in the media for missing last week's most significant news event. The reason for our lapse of judgment is simple: Nothing happened. -- That was the news. -- We overlooked the fact that there was no large local demonstration in support of immigration reform, as there were in other cities...

KTAR -- Phoenix        Cinco de Mayo celebration includes breaking Arpaio pinata    A new human rights organization is using Cinco de Mayo to kick off a campaign to help end what it calls hateful attacks against [illegal aliens]. -- The group is called the Pueblo Center for Legal and Human rights. -- As a symbolic message, members plan to break a Sheriff Joe Arpaio pinata during their celebration... [Related item]

Immigration Watchdog         John Hunter: Reconquista zealot Morones lies about water stations     In regard to your recent article "Border Angels founder to get honorary degree" for "installing 340 water stations in the Imperial Desert" (Short Takes, April 21), I would like to set the record straight about the water stations Enrique Morones is claiming credit for... [Also see this video]

WGNO-TV -- New Orleans         Fat City man recovering after brutal attack    ...Richard says at least six men attacked him -- choking him, biting off his thumb, slashing him with a knife, severing his fingers -- even biting him so hard in the arm, teeth marks remain. "I hollered police, police, they bit me on the arm here -- what scared them off most -- was I hollered, 'Ice, ice." ICE is short for Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Mexidata.info        Central American crime waves threatens Mexico, U. S.    The stability of democracies within the northern triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras is at great risk. This vicarious instability, due to violence and criminal activity within the region, poses a significant threat to Mexico and the southern border of the United States. Within these poorly defined borders of the triangle...

Newark (New Jersey) Star Ledger    Video Included     Essex judge makes 'offensive' remark to lawyer, grousing ensues    Superior Court Judge James Convery may have meant it as a joke when he looked out at an attorney in his Newark courtroom and asked, "Well, when did you become an illegal alien?" But given that the attorney, Ivette Ramos Alvarez, was the immediate past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, the joke went over like a lead balloon.

Phyllis Schlafly -- Eagle Forum        England's call to repeal our declaration of independence    It's a good thing that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's U.S. visit was upstaged by the dramatic reception Americans gave Pope Benedict XVI. Brown might have been booed if he hadn't delivered what aides called his "signature" speech within the cloistered walls of Harvard's Kennedy Center....

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers         Latest news from south of the border (May 4)    Sixty to seventy killers dressed in "AFI" (Mex. Fed. Inv. Agency) arrived in a convoy of ten vehicles at the house of Rogaciano Alba in Petatlan, state of Guerrero. Alba is the ex-mayor of Petatlan and was also president of Guerrero's Regional Cattlemen's Union...

Newsday -- New York       Activist blasts immigration policy in Danbury speech    Danbury, Conn. -- Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton has told a Danbury church congregation that the immigration policy in the city is unfair. -- Sharpton is criticizing the way Danbury officials have handled the illegal immigration issue...

American Border Patrol     Photo of the day Photo taken April 29, 2008 by American Border Patrol shows Port of Entry at Sasabe, Arizona. Note what appears to be new radiation detection equipment...

Ron Ewart -- Canada Free Press -- Toronto       What has the government done for you? Let us count the ways...   ...Your federal government (that’s the 545 people who control almost everything in America - a president, 435 representatives, 100 Senators and 9 Supreme Court Justices) has seen fit to encourage (indeed provide a magnet) illegal immigration by not forcing existing law and sealing our borders...

Washington Post        Day-labor issue has cooled, but only to simmer    Ky Truong looked out the window of the Herndon Shell station he manages at what he calls "a lot of problems": clusters of immigrant day laborers, who he says have been trampling his flower beds and bothering customers since September, when the town shuttered its controversial day-laborer hiring center...