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Monday, December 29, 2008
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Fence Inflation
ABP Challenges DHS Numbers
Sierra Vista (Arizona) Herald / Review -- December 28
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| Short vehicle barriers A and B are used all along the border -- See Sasabe / See Lukeville -- Taller fencing now being installed (C) is more effective |
Watch group questions latest border fence tally
...However, Glenn Spencer, president of American Border Patrol, a non-government and nonprofit organization based in Hereford that performs aerial surveys of fence construction, said the figures provided by the Department of Homeland Security are misleading.
"DHS implies that it has built 278 miles of pedestrian fence. However, it is including in this figure 76 miles of old pedestrian fence that had been completed long before 2007. The number of miles of pedestrian fencing that had been built by the Secure Border Initiative in compliance with the Congressional mandate is 202 miles, not 278 miles as they reported," he said.
American Border Patrol conducted a survey of the border on Dec. 10 from Naco to the Pacific Coast, and then on Dec. 19 from Naco to 20 miles east of Douglas. The group last surveyed New Mexico and Texas on Oct. 2 and will conduct an update there beginning Jan. 4. [...]
[Spencer] pointed out [that] government officials are misleading the public by counting vehicle barrier mileage toward the Secure Fence Act's mandate of 670 miles of double-layer fencing.
"It is very unlikely that the 'reasonable person' or members of Congress would agree with this definition of a fence. They would say that a fence is not something that people can step through, step over or duck under, as is the case with the vehicle barriers installed by DHS," he said.
"As evidenced by recent reports, smugglers are using portable ramps to drive over these vehicle barriers and even old 10-foot fences. It appears, therefore, that these vehicle barriers may not even meet the definition of a 'vehicle fence,' i.e., they may not 'restrict or prevent movement across a boundary,'" he added. |
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Des Moines Register sc
Harkin move kept Agriprocessors plant afloat
A controversial Postville meatpacking plant might have been forced out of business if U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin hadn't stepped in four years ago to give it a multimillion-dollar boost with federal tax money. -- The money, nearly $8 million, came from an environmental program from which Agriprocessors normally would have been disqualified... |
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Targeting staffing agencies works for law enforcement
The federal case against the owners of Pittsburgh-area staffing agencies accused of illegally hiring more than 100 immigrants from Eastern Europe represents the ideal method for combating the problem, say people on both sides of the immigration debate... |
Las Cruces (New Mexico) Sun-News
Gang problem continues to plague Doña Ana County
...Las Cruces' estimated 26 gangs have mostly misleading (due to frequent migration) geographical names. Members of Central American gang MS-13, Mara Salvatrucha, also occasionally pass through southern New Mexico en route to larger American cities... |
Press TV -- Tehran
US apocalypse in 2010, scholar predicts
...Igor Panarin, doctor of political science and dean of the foreign affairs department at the Diplomacy Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry said while he does not dislike Americans, the outlook for them is gloomy. --And-- Panarin believes that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war in the United States as early as the autumn of 2009... |
Tony Dolz -- NewsBlaze.com
"Bank on California" money laundering scheme may bankrupt state
The state of California will go bust by March of 2009. Over the cliff we will go and to make sure there is no looking back, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave us an extra shove in the back - the Bank on California scheme. -- This week the Governor has startled even his most adoring followers... |
KTAR -- Phoenix
Marijuana found hidden in flatbed trailer
More than a million dollars worth of marijuana has been seized while being smuggled into the United States in a flatbed trailer. -- The seizure was made Saturday, near the Mexico border south of Patagonia, the U.S Border Patrol said... |
Houston Chronicle sc
Hispanics hold 52 percent of patrol jobs
Growing up along the Texas border, Edward Caballero remembers fearing the green-uniformed agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. -- Now, the 32-year old Caballero — a former schoolteacher in the Rio Grande Valley — is one of thousands of new agents who have swelled the force's ranks to more than 18,000... [also see this 2006 feature] |
Associated Press
Man who smuggled Lebanese, Hezbollah supporters into US gets 60-years
Mexico City -- Mexican prosecutors say they won a 60-year prison term for a human smuggler who helped about 200 people sneak into the U.S., including Hezbollah supporters. -- Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was arrested in 2002 and convicted on organized-crime and immigrant-smuggling charges... |
Boston Globe
State wage laws also protecting illegal workers
Except for his meticulous records, the fish man was invisible. -- He hustled for years in anonymity behind the seafood counter at Super 88 supermarket in Boston, serving up heaps of swordfish, salmon, and striped bass for $6 an hour. What customers did not know was that he earned less than the minimum wage... |
Dallas Morning News
Immigration officials curtail sedation of deportees after criticism, lawsuits
Federal immigration officials, over the past year, have dramatically curtailed the controversial practice of sedating deportees with powerful anti-psychotic medication. -- The move followed court challenges and a public outcry over the practice, which often involved the use of Haldol, a drug used to treat schizophrenia... |
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American Border Patrol
Border fence works
American Border Patrol has released a chart that demonstrates how well a border fence works. Using data from its Operation BEEF surveys and figures from Customs and Border Protection ABP produced a chart that shows a stunning connection between the amount of border fence in place and apprehensions of illegal aliens... |
Barbara Anderson -- WebCommentary.com
As goes California, so goes the nation?
A solution, in part, has been staring them in the face for years. Illegal immigration has swelled the deficit by affording them the same benefits, or better than, that of citizens. The schools are flooded with illegals who usually cannot even read in their own native languages, but are provided English as second language courses. These courses are not successful, for the most part... |
Market Watch
More than 1 million job cuts seen in 2009
The labor market faces persistent weakness in 2009, with more than 1 million jobs cuts expected due to weak spending among consumers and businesses, according to a Monday report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc... |
New York Times Editorial
The Labor agenda
There is no doubt that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen a labor secretary who could be a transformative force in a long-neglected arena. The question is whether he will let her. -- Hilda Solis, a United States representative from Southern California, is the daughter of immigrant parents with union jobs... |
Mexidata.info
Movements afoot to demolish the U.S.-Mexico border wall
As the Bush administration enters its final weeks, pressure is building to halt construction of the Department of Homeland Security's unfinished US-Mexico border wall. The controversial project, which was originally slated to be completed by December 31 of this year, is the target of reinvigorated opposition from border residents... |
San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sun
Immigrant assimilation critical, report finds
As the United States becomes more diverse, a greater effort must be made to integrate immigrants into American society, according to a new report by a federal task force. -- The steady rise in the foreign-born population and shifting demographic patterns make it essential for the country to embark on a renewed "Americanization" movement... [Related item] |
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