The Advocate - Baton Rouge

Convicted felon arrested for illegal entry into
A convicted killer is accused of illegally re-entering the United States after being arrested during a drug investigation in St. Helena Parish. A federal grand jury in Baton Rouge on Wednesday indicted Ramon Mejia-Suero on a charge of illegal re- entry by a deported alien. The INS deported Mejia- Suero, who prosecutors say has used as many as 30 aliases in the last 20 years, in 1995 after he served five years for manslaughter in the beating death of a Massachusetts man.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Video link helps INS identify and question possible violators
The Cherokee County jail is serving up a little TV justice to immigrants charged with crimes. Jailers began using a video link to the INS office in Atlanta last month to help cull and deport those who are here and shouldn't be. Agents from the INS review an electronic list of names of those arrested in Cherokee County each morning, said Maj. Tyrone Duke of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. -- Sue Brown, spokeswoman for the INS, said it's a time-saver for INS agents.....

Alamance Independent

Amnesty suicidal for Republicans, new report documents
This week, the Center for Immigration Studies released a new report - on the issue of whether amnesty could buy the Hispanic vote for the Republican Party. -- Among the facts that the new CIS report makes undisputable is that the Hispanic vote just isn't up for grabs - but is solidly liberal. In 1980 and every election since, the Hispanic vote for Democratic presidential candidates has hovered between 56% and 62% - regardless of whether the Republican candidate was the George W. Bush .......

Thank you for writing to me about issues of importance to you. I have updated my website e-mail system to make it easier for you to keep in touch with me [see below]. -- I eagerly await your message!

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

L. A. Times

Mexico Is Still Waiting for Human Rights Probe
So whatever happened to President Vicente Fox's promise to investigate the human rights violations of Mexico's past? -- Eight months into his presidency, Fox has avoided taking a stand on the divisive issue of forming a truth commission or finding some other way to uncover the facts about past massacres, torture and disappearances. Among those who would like to know are family members affected by the more than 500 cases of political disappearances documented by human rights groups.

WorldNet Daily - J.R. Nyquist

The new racism
Is there some group of people whose liquidation you'd tolerate? Perhaps some race, religion or creed that deserves punishment, even extermination? What if I told you that such a group exists and you have been taught to silently condone their destruction? -- Well, there is a group whose persecution you are indoctrinated to tolerate. Atrocities against this group are not to be mentioned in polite company. Murders and rapes against this group are not worthy of detailed TV news reports. -- I am talking about persecution against African whites.

El Paso Times

Voting official expects strong Hispanic interest in 2002
The new Texas regional director for the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project is an El Paso native who views the coming gubernatorial candidacy of Tony Sanchez as a way to motivate Hispanic voters. Ricardo Castañon, a 1983 graduate of Coronado High School, will supervise voter-registration projects and the Latino Academy in the San Antonio region, which includes New Mexico.

L. A. Times

Mexico Sees No Swift End to Recession
Dragged down by its dependency on the slumping U.S. economy, Mexico registered its ninth month of recession in June amid waning hopes for a quick recovery and fears that illegal immigration to the United States could increase. -- After predicting 5% economic growth and 1.3 million new jobs this year, Mexican President Vicente Fox now confronts a much harsher reality. Economists say his economy will be lucky to grow 1.5% or end the year with as many jobs as he started it with.

L. A. Times

Sentenced janitor placed in INS custody
A former school janitor who pleaded no contest to fondling an 11- year- old girl was sentenced to probation Wednesday and turned over to the custody of the INS. Luis Higueros, 63, pleaded no contest in April to a single charge of lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14. As part of a plea agreement, offered well into the trial, another nine counts were dropped. Higueros' lawyer argued that he should be sentenced to 359 days in county jail. A sentence of less than a year would have meant Bestard could argue against deportation. But the judge disagreed.

Tucson Citizen

Border agents' tasks switch from anti-migration to rescue
Despite efforts by the United States and Mexico to ensure "safe and orderly migration," as the two governments pledged June 15 at a border- security summit in Tucson, the 2,000- mile line between the two countries is becoming an increasingly disorderly and dangerous transit zone. The U.S. Border Patrol, which once focused on blocking illegal immigrants, is evolving into a search- and- rescue operation. Specially trained agents with elite Border Search, Trauma and Rescue units roam the border to maintain order and provide emergency medical services.

WorldNet Daily

'English-only' group launches new push
A Washington, D.C.-based group that believes English should be the official language of the United States has launched a new drive to force Congress to pass a bill making English America's "common language." -- The group, U.S. English, says efforts by federal and state governments to make various forms multilingual is not only unnecessary in a nation that has spoken English throughout its history, but such requirements are a drain on the economy, costing taxpayers needless millions of extra dollars in printing and production costs. [Free Republic item] [Source URL]

Washington Times

Bush woos Hispanic votes for 2004
President Bush yesterday made an early campaign swing through New Mexico to push his education initiative and open trade with Mexico, two issues important to Hispanic voters. At a gymnasium of an elementary school in a poor Hispanic neighborhood, Mr. Bush told parents and students he wants a nationwide policy to evaluate schools. -- At a later ribbon-cutting ceremony at Albuquerque's Hispano Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bush voiced strong opposition to legislation that would restrict Mexican truck operations in the U.S., calling the effort "discrimination."

Sacramento Bee

Kids fare poorly on new test
Only three out of 10 California students meet the state's new language-arts standards, and many children struggle with their writing skills, according to test results released for the first time Wednesday. The scores are an inauspicious debut for proficiency levels that the state is beginning to use to gauge what every student is learning in California classrooms. Scores continued to climb on a separate test, the Stanford 9, that compares how well the state's students perform with how well their peers do across the country.

We Need Guest Workers?

ABC Poll: Economy in Bad Shape
Fifty-one percent of Americans give the economy poor ratings, the first time in four years that a majority of the country felt that way. Public ratings of the national economy fell below an important benchmark this week: when a majority of Americans said it was in bad shape. It's the first time in more four years that ratings of the economy have been so negative. Fifty-one percent now call the economy "not so good" or "poor," the first time since May 1997 that a majority of Americans felt that way.

Palm Beach Post

Move to legalize immigrants sparks backlash
At the Center for Immigration Studies, a private group that favors restrictions, chief researcher Steven Camarota has watched business and labor get behind the new push for what he calls "mass immigration." -- "There's really only one group lined up against it, and that's the American people," Camarota said, citing polls such as a March survey by the Gallup Poll, which indicated that only 10 percent of the public favors increasing immigration, while 41 percent favors keeping the present level and 43 percent would reduce it.

Arizona Daily Star

TV pair alleged to aid migrants
Tucson - Two free-lance journalists are being investigated for allegedly aiding a group of illegal entrants detained Monday at a Sierra Vista motel in rooms rented by the reporters. U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Rene Noriega said the incident has been referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for review, but he declined to comment on the case or provide the names of the two individuals involved. --- According to the Border Patrol and the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, the two journalists were detained at about 11 p.m. with several other people after renting two rooms at the Motel 6 on Fry Boulevard.

The News - Mexico City

Mexicans claim illegals aren't criminals
In a meeting with senators and federal deputies on congressional foreign relations committees, Javier Moctezuma, the undersecretary of Population, Migration and Religious Affairs, and Enrique Berruga, the undersecretary of Foreign Relations (SRE), said President Vicente Fox would only put his initials on a plan that guaranteed fair and equal protection under U.S. law for the estimated 3.5 million Mexicans living in the U.S. "Undocumented Mexicans who cross into the United States are not criminals, they deserve to be treated in a dignified manner," said Moctezuma.

Newsday

Suffolk bill targets contractors who employ illegals
A Suffolk County lawmaker who has offered numerous proposals targeting the hiring of undocumented immigrants in Farmingville is now focusing on contractors who break local, state or federal employment or immigration laws. A bill written by Joseph T. Caracappa would subject employers to losing their county licenses for five years after three violations. "If you feel that you have the ability to break the law on three separate occasions and still have a contractors' license in Suffolk County, there is something terribly wrong," Caracappa said yesterday.

Washington Times

GOP sees woes with Mexican amnesty
President Bush's handling of illegal Mexican immigration is drawing praise from, of all people, Hispanic Democrats. But the explosive issue is making some Republicans hotter than Texas in August. They fear that it will put millions of illegal Hispanic immigrants on the path to U.S. citizenship, with far more of them voting Democratic rather than Republican at the polls. "Bush is doing very well in carrying out the strategy he set for himself to appeal to Hispanics," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes.... [Free Republic item] [Source URL]

Omaha World-Herald

Family Separated Following INS Raid
An 11- year- old in Clarion is a U.S. citizen, but her mother is being deported for the third time. Lilliana Salgado expects to follow her mother, Sylvia, to Mexico in December. Lilliana and her brothers, ages 6 and 14, meanwhile, have been separated from their parents since an April 24 raid on five egg plants in the Clarion area. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested 91 workers as undocumented workers from Mexico with false identity papers. Lilliana's mother, stepfather and aunt were among the people arrested. [There is a message board on this site]

Washington Times

Hispanics' work-fatality toll increasing
Job-related deaths among Hispanics are increasing while death rates among white and black workers are dropping, according to a new government report. The statistics bear witness to the fact the growing Hispanic population is filling the kind of low- paying, high-risk jobs that most often lead to death. "Hispanics are disproportionately represented in higher-hazard industries, such as construction and agriculture," said Scott Richardson, the BLS program manager who oversaw the job death- rate report.

New York Times

Cash Tempts Mexican Truckers to Haul Migrants
Immigration agents say that when they began to search Samuel Medina's 18- wheeler, it was the smell of human sweat that revealed that he was hauling more than bananas. The agents found 94 men and women hidden behind the crates of fruit. All were from Central America. And all, with Mr. Medina's help, were hoping to reach the United States. Moving migrants from many countries through Mexico to the United States has become a huge enterprise. (NY Times - Free Reg.)