Corpus Christi, TX

Randall Kendrick, executive director of the police organization, said Padre Island National Seashore earned its No. 4 ranking because of drug and immigrant smuggling occurring at night after park rangers call it a day. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona ranked first because of drug trafficking, and Big Bend National Park ­ the only other national park in Texas to make the top 10 ­ ranked 5th because of a comparatively small ranger staff. Mr. Whitworth said park rangers have picked up about 300 undocumented immigrants on the island in each of the last two years.

Bullhead City, AZ

An illegal immigrant who became critically ill this month after allegedly eating methamphetamine appeared in court Wednesday on five charges. Defendant Jose Matilo Hernandez Gallegos, 31, wore shackles on his wrists and ankles while in Bullhead City Justice Court. Charges against him include theft/control of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of dangerous drugs and possession of dangerous drugs for sale. Gallegos, a Mexican with a Bullhead City address, could serve as many as 17.5 years in prison if convicted of all five crimes.

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Get lost, Mexico

If Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Casteneda really believes there are "only" three or four million Mexican illegal aliens already in our country, I've got a bridge I'd like to talk to him about. -- Even the INS now admits they've been grossly under-estimating the number of illegal aliens in our country, and now puts the number closer to eleven million. -- I'm sick and tired of the Mexican government sticking its nose into our domestic immigration policies and telling us what we must and must not do.

Another Reason to Ban Mexican Trucks

You would never know by looking, but there are fewer trucks on the highways and streets of America. The slowing of the US economy has resulted not only in fewer goods being produced but fewer goods being shipped, which means less hectic times among American shippers. Difficulties for the carriers not only include slowing freight demand, which began about eight months ago, but rising prices for diesel fuel and skyrocketing insurance rates have also put a pinch on over- the- road hauliers.

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Attention: Bill O'Reilly

  Thanks for having Glenn Spencer on your show. It was a rare moment of honesty on a major media outlet.
  There is so much denial in Washington and the media about how the America Southwest is being turned into an extension of Mexico as a result of the torrent of illegal immigration. The Mexicanization of the U.S. is the biggest national security threat facing our country -- yet political correctness prevents its open discussion.
  I hope you will have Mr. Spencer back on your show and allow him more time (preferably uninterrupted) to speak. Thanks again........

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Re: Tennessee governor seeks answer to driver's license dilemma

A driver's license to an illegal alien is like the keys to the vault to a bank robber. This document opens the door to public benefits, employment (illegal because of employer sanctions law), and every other benefit that rightly belongs to citizens and lawfully present aliens. Violating our immigration laws is a criminal act; several U.S. Supreme Court cases have held that remaining illegally in the United States is a continuing crime. California's Governor Davis vetoed a similar bill last year, and we are urging him to veto an identical one up now by the same state assembly author.

Atlanta

Remedios Gomez Arnau, Georgia's Mexican consul general, promised she'd learn the communities after being crowned top diplomat in April, reports the Atlanta Constitution- Journal. She steps into Gwinnett County today as guest speaker for El Concilio Latino, a loose- knit group of Latino advocates, between 1 and 3 p.m. at the county chamber building on Sugarloaf Parkway. Pedro Marin, chairman of El Concilio, asked Arnau to make an appearance. Arnau happily obliged. Arnau said it's "up to the people" to improve life for the strugglers, notably undocumented workers.

Tulsa, OK

Tulsa County's Hispanic population has nearly tripled since 1990, boosting the area's economy despite Hispanics' continuing struggles with low wages and a lack of health care, a recent survey said. The study, released Wednesday by the Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa, also showed that many Tulsa Hispanics are not as proficient in English as they'd like to be. The survey of 490 respondents found that 82% of adult males and 52% of adult females were employed full time. But 75% of the respondents reported a household income of less than $2,000 per month.

Out-Of-Control Migration

Rural Georgia is not the place you'd expect to find a boom in Spanish-language media. But Dalton, a small town in the north, is now home to three Spanish- language newspapers and a Spanish- language pop radio station. Hispanic media have grown in the past decade - newspapers alone have increased 55 percent - and with the news this year from the census that Hispanics are the largest US minority, more attention is being paid to how to reach this group that has a purchasing power of more than $490 billion a year.

Washington Times

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol and Mexico´s deputy director of protection and consular affairs have agreed to new measures to enhance the lifesaving capabilities of both countries along Arizona´s 350- mile international border. Pledging to do everything possible to reduce migrant deaths and injuries, Border Patrol chief Gustavo De La Vina and Mexican Deputy Director Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez said the new agreement would include the deployment of additional resources to high- risk areas and will involve closer collaboration on mapping and electronic communications. "Both countries are committed to working to promote safe, legal, humane and orderly migration," said Mr. Rodriguez Hernandez.

Mexican Dictates Immigration Policy?

Border safety is a top priority for Mexico, but any immigration deal with the U.S. must legalize the estimated three to four million Mexicans here illegally, Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda [a so-called 'former Marxist'] told a group of Hispanic journalists in Phoenix today, according to the AP. Castaneda noted last month's tragedy in desert near Yuma, Arizona in which 14 illegal Mexican aliens died in the sweltering heat [Mexico encourages illegal immigration and is responsible for such incidents]. Castaneda apparently told the journalists that he would push for better 'guest worker' programs for Mexicans, among other things. (AZ Republic - Free Reg.)

Washington

House Democrats were told at a closed-door strategy session yesterday that President Bush is making great gains with Hispanic voters and Democrats must pound home the election theme that Mr. Bush is not their friend. The Democratic Hispanic strategy, presented yesterday by consultant Sergio Bendixen of Miami, emphasizes the minority group´s loyalty to the Democratic Party and the message that "'W´ is not a good friend," according to documents prepared by his firm. "My message is that Democrats are in deep trouble with Hispanics," Mr. Bendixen told The Washington Times yesterday.

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"Day laborers eye nonprofit status"

Mayor Ansley Meaders, the Marietta City Council, the Marietta police, and various local citizens continue to plan a hiring hall that would primarily serve illegal aliens, despite citizen protests and despite the day laborers committee's being given a clear written presentation of the federal laws they are violating. -- It is illegal to assist illegal aliens in gaining employment. It is illegal to encourage those one should reasonably know are illegal aliens to remain in the United States. I hear the Marietta Day Laborers Committee, meeting in near secret for months now, had quite an interesting meeting recently.

Strip-Mining America

NAPÍZARO, Mexico - In this village of cobblestone streets and adobe brick homes on the shore of Lake Patzcuaro, the newest building is the church. While other small towns ringing this serene lake show off plazas dating to the Spanish Conquest and churches established by 16th-century priests, the temple of Our Lady of Guadalupe rises, pale yellow, hulking and shiny new. It stands in stark contrast to its surroundings and is an affront to the notion that its parishioners live only within town limits. It was built entirely with money sent home by migrant workers who traveled north and left the town nearly empty of men.

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Re: Ruben Navarrette, Jr.

I recently e-mailed Ruben Navarrette of the Dallas Morning News.I didn't agree with a lot of things he wrote in his articles. This is what I said: I have read a few of your articles and every time you mention a potential black/brown rift, you always blame it on the blacks. Yes, some blacks contribute to this, but this is a two way street. There is blame on both sides. -- Some Hispanics (not all) don't learn the laws, language, and customs of the United States. I recently saw a poll where less Hispanics felt it was important to integrate now than they did 5 years ago. When cities pay to have signs and interpreters in Spanish, usually spending is cut from other programs.

BBC

Spanish-speaking nations have complained that the United Nations is tilting further toward English and have urged the world body to take a more multilingual approach to diplomacy. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, envoys from 20 nations said there was a "growing imbalance" in favour of English in UN affairs and called the situation "disturbing and alarming to those we represent". While Spanish is spoken by some 400 million people around the world and is one of the official UN languages, it is used sparingly on UN internet sites and in documents issued by its public information services, the letter charged.

Tower of Babel

At a school where roughly 60 to 70 percent of the students take English as a Second Language, this news was treated with the kind of joy usually reserved for the ringing of the recess bell. Many of these students immigrated from Spanish-speaking countries. Others were born in the United States to recent immigrants. -- Many Langley Park students arrive and leave throughout the school year. Scores on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program exams are low: Just 16.7 percent of students passed the exam last year, compared to 31 percent countywide.

Aztlan Express

President Bush has received a letter from 10 Democratic senators who claim they support the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yet, they urged him to ignore a provision of the treaty that would allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. roads. Permitting such access, the senators said, "could seriously jeopardize highway safety, road conditions and environmental quality." They would have the president continue current policy, which limits Mexican trucks to a zone 20 miles north of the border, beyond which they must transfer their cargoes to American trucks.

Aztlan Express

The Mexican writer, Carlos Fuentes, tells a story of his travels in central Mexico when he was looking for the birthplace of Emiliano Zapata. It was high noon, and he stopped and asked a campesino, "How far is it to that village?" The man answered, "If you had left at daybreak, you would be there now." That answer, notes Fuentes, was given by a specific man from a unique culture, reading his own internal clock. -- Soon the United States, operating under a clock of its choosing, under the obligations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will open its border to unsafe Mexican trucks.

Reconquista Laws

Assembly Member Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, will be in Fresno today with fellow Democrat Sarah Reyes to drum up support for his AB 60 to make drivers licenses available to immigrants seeking legal residency. His bill, which has cleared the Assembly and is in the Senate, would reverse a 1994 law that barred undocumented residents from obtaining licenses after decades during which they had enjoyed driving privileges. Cedillo projects that more than a million immigrants could be eligible for licenses under his bill. This is Cedillo's second time around with the measure, which Gov. Davis vetoed last fall.

Houston Press

Border Patrol agents in South Texas contend they are getting paid to stay put as illegal immigrants go around them. Is this how the much-hyped crackdown along the Rio Grande is supposed to work? --- For agents, who signed up to fight off the smugglers, bandits and migrants who once flooded these parts, the foe is simple, insidious boredom. Conversation- starved, they venture off to visit their neighbors, shooting the bull through open windows. They guzzle coffee, chew tobacco and suck sunflower seeds to stay awake. One reserved fellow has his Bible. Another says he tunes in to Rush Limbaugh.

Phoenix

U.S.-Mexican relations and racial profiling are among the issues taking center stage this week as 1,000 Hispanic journalists convene in Phoenix. The 19th annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention opened Wednesday and wraps up Saturday. NAHJ prepares Latino journalists for leadership roles in the nation's newsrooms and works for accurate coverage of Hispanic issues. -- On the agenda: A panel on U.S.-Mexican relations featuring Mexico Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda [a 'former Marxist' and rabid reconquista].

London

Public concerns about immigration and race relations in Britain have dramatically increased in the past five years, according to a survey just published. A total of 19% of people questioned cited the issue among the three most important problems in the UK, compared with just 3% in 1996. It topped economy, education, drugs or Europe in the poll "What's Worrying Britain?," commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund. A spokeswoman from the National Assembly Against Racism, Sabby Dhalu, attributed the rise to negative portrayal of asylum seekers in the media.

Salt Lake City

The League of United Latin American Citizens has jumped into a strike against Utah Structural Coatings following allegations that a company official threatened to turn in illegal workers if they didn't go back to work. J. Michael Clara on Wednesday faxed a letter to the INS urging the agency "not to become a weapon of retaliation" for companies that exploit immigrant workers. Exploitation has become so bad immigrants must assert their rights, wrote Clara, president of LULAC's Salt Lake City Council.

Mexico City

Vicente Fox admits that his country is in a recession, but claims it is not as bad as some had feared because consumer spending should help ease its severity. In a speech to the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers late Tuesday, he admitted that growth was "at a dead-end" situation but "consumer spending is keeping the economy afloat, because people have more purchasing power than ever before." The slowdown in the United States, Mexico's major export market, was responsible for this state of affairs, but in Fox's view Mexicans have been spared the worst of the crisis.

Tucson

U.S. Border Patrol agents and Tohono O'odham police found two more bodies Wednesday, raising to 46 the number of illegal entrants found dead since October after they crossed into Southern Arizona. A group of border crossers told Tohono O'odham police Tuesday evening that they had seen a body as they walked near Little Tucson, about 60 miles southwest of Tucson, said Lt. Kevin Shonk of the Tohono O'odham Police. The nation's police called in Border Patrol agents, who found the body about 6:20 a.m. Wednesday.

Cochise Co., AZ

U.S. military helicopters are flying southeastern Arizona's border with Mexico in a short- term mission to look for drug-smugglers, said U.S. military and Border Patrol officials. The helicopter crews are flying day and night hours primarily over Cochise County, officials said. Their job is to look for evidence of drug smuggling and report it to the Border Patrol. The helicopter crews are attached to Joint Task Force 6, a Department of Defense group based at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

El Paso

A man suspected of smuggling immigrants escaped authorities Wednesday by grabbing a 2-year-old boy and fleeing into a storm tunnel. Border Patrol agents were approaching the man, who was suspected of smuggling the immigrants across the U.S.- Mexican border, when he fled into the city's drainage system, authorities said. The man had been traveling with seven immigrants, including the boy's mother, a Guatemalan woman. All seven were arrested.

San Antonio

Federal agents made 76 arrests in 16 cities Wednesday in a crackdown on the U.S. operations of a Mexican drug-trafficking ring that they alleged shipped millions of dollars of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI and U.S. Customs Service made the arrests in cooperation with police in the culmination of an 18-month investigation of the trafficking ring, based in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas.

Washington Post

Spurred by an aggressive campaign by their government, Salvadoran immigrants in Washington and other U.S. cities are applying in unexpectedly large numbers for a new benefit that allows them to live and work temporarily in the U.S. authorities had initially predicted that as many as 150,000 Salvadorans would take advantage of the program, announced in March by President Bush as part of an effort to help El Salvador recover from two devastating earthquakes. But the INS says that more than 166,000 have signed up and immigrants still have another 15 months to apply. [Also see .]

Another Cost of Illegal Immigration

At best, they say, Californians can expect some gridlocked intersections, an occasionally overloaded 911 system, perhaps some business bankruptcies, certainly inconvenience. At worst, the Western power grid could crash, causing uncontrolled blackouts that might lead to looting, contaminated water supplies, even civil unrest. "How bad could this summer get?" said state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana). "This summer could be the worst disaster to ever hit the state of California." A new report by the United Seniors Assn. predicts that more than half a million elderly Californians could need hospitalization for heat-related ailments this summer.