tagged w/ Illegal Immigration
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Reporting from Pantin, France — To survive, her grandparents ate grains of corn they picked out of horse excrement.
"It was real misery, not like now," said Ellena, who calls herself a Gypsy but prefers Roma because, she adds with a smile showing two gold-capped teeth, the name "demands respect."
Her grandparents traveled through Germany and Russia, escaping Nazi death camps. And before that, their ancestors suffered persecution in neighboring European countries.
Now Ellena, 26, who withheld her last name because she does not have a French residency permit, lives in a camp about a 40-minute Metro ride northeast of the Eiffel Tower in a low hut built out of scavenged scraps of wood and fabric.
The Roma are Europeans believed to be of Indian ancestry. For centuries they have lived nomadically, migrating throughout Europe, fleeing discrimination and poverty. The majority come from — and still live in — Bulgaria and Romania.
Most of the squatters in the camp here are from Romania. Work for the undocumented migrant in France is scarce, and begging only brings in about $5, a day. Yet life here is better, mainly because there is enough work to feed the family, they say.Reporting from Pantin, France — To survive, her grandparents ate grains of corn... more
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By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Four million children in the U.S. were born of illegal immigrant parents but were granted U.S. citizenship because they were born on American soil, according to a report released today.
Those children represented about 5% of all the children in the U.S. under the age of 18 in 2009, according to the report from the Pew Hispanic Center. That percentage will increase in the future, however, as an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 — about 8% — came from illegal immigrant parents, the report says.By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Four million children in the U.S. were born of illegal... more
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(CNN) – Americans are split right down the middle when it comes to the question of changing the Constitution to prevent children of immigrants from automatically becoming U.S. citizens.
According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll out Wednesday, 49 percent of Americans are in favor of changing that portion of 14th Amendment while 51 percent oppose doing so.
Full results [pdf]
"That's not a recent development," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "A 1993 poll found the same even split on this issue."
The poll also shows a clear partisan divide on the issue, with 58 percent of Republicans supporting a change while only 39 percent of Democrats do so. Independents are split exactly 50-50.
Several leading GOP senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain, have said they would support holding hearings into the matter as part of the heated debate over immigration.
The Reconstruction-era 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection of law and defines who is a U.S. citizen. Critics of illegal immigration have long accused migrants - particularly those coming from Mexico or Latin American countries - of giving birth to children in the United States in hopes that their babies' citizenship will keep them in the country as well as to avail their children of the more generous benefits of the wealther United States.
The amendment has been cited as the foundation of U.S. civil rights law in cases ranging from Brown v. Board of Education to last week's decision that struck down a ban on same-sex marriage in California. Changing it would require a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and the approval of three-quarters of state legislatures.
The survey interviewed 1,009 adult Americans between August 6-10 and carries a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.(CNN) – Americans are split right down the middle when it comes to the question... more
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Saad Nabeel was an ordinary young boy going to college at UTA on a full scholarship for Electrical Engineering when the unthinkable happened, he was arrested and deported. Why? Because his father had brought him here at the age of 3 while seeking political asylum. For all means and purposes Saad is an American teenager, never knowing his home of Bangladesh until he was forced back after signing an agreement stating he won't return for 10 years. What makes this story worse is that his green card request was approved following his deportation, but he is not allowed to return because of the 10 year ban. Help join his cause to bring him home and bring this nightmare to an end. You can hear him tell his story from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2-7-OxLwNQ
Help bring Saad home!!!
http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-fight-to-bring-deported-student-home-story,0,4597256.storySaad Nabeel was an ordinary young boy going to college at UTA on a full scholarship... more
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Sharron Angle is now getting on board with those Republicans who are calling for an end to birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. But instead of amending the Constitution, Angle is apparently in the camp that believes it can be done through legislation.
Jon Ralston reports that Angle said during a media availability yesterday that "certainly someone who has not come here under the rule of law is not under our jurisdiction." She also added: "I think Congress needs to become involved."
Birthright citizenship comes from the very first sentence of the 14th Amendment: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." This was enacted in order to guarantee racial equality, especially for the freed slaves after the Civil War, and has been extended to cover all racial groups.
But when it comes to the children of illegal immigrants, some conservatives think they've found their loophole. However, experts have told TPM that any such plans to change the law are "clearly unconstitutional."
The TPM Poll Average for the Nevada Senate race gives Harry Reid a lead of 45.1%-42.7%.Sharron Angle is now getting on board with those Republicans who are calling for an... more
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My point here is the question of licensing isnt to reduce the number of accidents it is help assure they have insurance and and a traffic record. They will still drive and when they crash without insurance then it is the legal drivers who pay more.My point here is the question of licensing isnt to reduce the number of accidents it... more
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If the voters fault President Obama for dropping the ball on job creation and spending too much time on passing health-care and financial-services reform, what will they make of Republican efforts to gin up a debate about the 14th Amendment and the constitutionality of awarding citizenship to babies born on American soil to illegal immigrants? Feckless is the word that comes to mind. With voters wanting elected leaders to chart a path out of the economic doldrums, an effort to inflame passions about so-called anchor babies looks like another one of those wedge issues that Republicans are so good at finding every election season.
At a breakfast with Republican leader Mitch McConnell organized by The Christian Science Monitor, the issue of the GOP’s intentions came up in an exchange with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cynthia Tucker, who prefaced her question by noting that she grew up in Alabama in the era of Jim Crow and that African-Americans view the 14th Amendment’s extension of equal-rights protection as the Republicans’ greatest achievement. With Republicans talking about congressional hearings to examine the 14th Amendment, Tucker wanted to know if the debate would end there, or do hearings suggest there is something wrong with the amendment that must be addressed?
McConnell defended the idea of holding hearings to examine what he called “a burgeoning and unseemly business” of illegal immigrants flying to the United States to give birth and then getting back on the plane confident their newborn is a U.S. citizen. There is an industry of travel agencies and hotel chains catering to “baby tourists,” according to a report on ABC, but they cater to high-end moms with packages that cost $45,000, and they don’t constitute a widespread or worrisome phenomenon. If these babies are meant to anchor a spot in the U.S. for their parents, the child would first have to reach age 21, which is really planning ahead. These aren’t the folks Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham and others who first raised this issue have in mind.
They’re aiming their divisive rhetoric at the babies born to illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico, who are already in the country and whose children are American citizens, thanks to the 14th Amendment. It is the latest iteration of the anti-Hispanic sentiment that has gotten the GOP into political trouble in California and elsewhere with this fastest-growing segment of the population. It also speaks volumes about what the GOP thinks of its prospects for getting African-American votes, since the 14th Amendment is sacrosanct to them.
Narrowing the discussion to “birth tourists” is McConnell’s effort to pull his party back from the precipice where Republicans further alienate Hispanic voters. This is “base talk,” says Simon Rosenberg, an immigration expert with NDN, the New Democrat Network. Republican primary voters care a lot about immigration, but it’s not a voting issue for the broader public in an election where jobs are the priority. Besides, he says, Republicans are already so motivated to vote this November “it’s like pouring a gallon of fuel on a massive fire.”If the voters fault President Obama for dropping the ball on job creation and spending... more
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Just as jury selection was about to begin in his trail late yesterday, Rudy Trace Soliz III, a former Customs and Border Protection agent, pleaded guilty to alien smuggling and bribery, the U.S. Attorney's office announced today.
Soliz, 28, let a female co-conspirator bring illegal aliens and merchandise into the U.S. via his car-inspection lane. Why, why would he hate America so?
He did it "in return for sexual favors with the co-conspirator," the feds say.
Pussy trumps patriotism. Once again.
He admitted that he had let the illegal aliens in on September 25 of last year. He did not admit to reading Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece: "This momentary joy breeds months of pain; This hot desire converts to cold disdain." (Hey, we're nothing but classy here.)
The female co-conspirator has already pleaded guilty to possession of more than five kilos of cocaine with intent to distribute. She had yet to be sentenced, so we guess Soliz figured she wouldn't exactly keep his secret when she got on the stand.
The transporting of illegal aliens conviction carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment, while the bribery conviction is punishable by a maximum 15-year-term of imprisonment, the U.S. Attorney's office says. Each count of conviction is also punishable with fines of up to $250,000.Just as jury selection was about to begin in his trail late yesterday, Rudy Trace... more
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We're Moving to Mexico!
We can't stand it anymore, so we're moving on if President Obama can pull some strings for us. Hope they have some nice golf courses in Mexico.
Dear Mr. President:
I'm planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me. We're planning to simply walk across
the border from the U.S. Into Mexico, and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.
We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration
quotas and laws.
I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here.So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over? Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:
1. Free medical care for my entire family.
2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need,
whether I use them or not.
3. Please print all Mexican government forms in English.
4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking
(bilingual) teachers.
5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture
and history.
6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag
poles at their school.
7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and
lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy
access to government services.
9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don't plan to purchase
car insurance, and I probably won't make any special effort to learn local
traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo
from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every
patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.
11. I plan to fly the U.S. Flag from my house top, put U S. Flag
decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I d o
not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or
have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.
13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be
extremely nice and never say a critical things about me or my family,
or about the strain we might place on their economy.
14. I want to receive free food stamps.
15. Naturally, I'll expect free rent subsidies.
16. I'll need Income tax credits so although I don't pay Mexican
Taxes, I'll receive money from the government.
17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Gov't pays $ 4,500 to help
me buy a new car.
18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican
Social Security program so that I'll get a monthly income in retirement.
I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for
all his people who come to the U.S. From Mexico. I am sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.
Thank you so much for your kind help. You're the man!!!We're Moving to Mexico!
We can't stand it anymore, so we're moving... more
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Blane Beckwith wants to keep living at home with his mother and younger brother in Berkeley, Calif.
For that to happen, Beckwith, 54, who has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a wheelchair, relies on an aide paid by the state to get him in and out of bed, bathe him, feed him, dress him and do everything he can't do for himself.
Now that kind of help is in jeopardy. California, facing a $19.1 billion budget gap, is considering a reduction in funding that pays for home care aides for the disabled. It already cut funds last year.Blane Beckwith wants to keep living at home with his mother and younger brother in... more
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"The Mexican economy faces a dilemma: Either choose the path toward growth or choose to control inflation [a byproduct of growth]; the latter option has a negative impact on job growth. In Mexico, industrial production grew by only 1.6% between January and May, yet inflation grew by 4.33% over the same period. Mexico’s production problem is a serious one when compared with other Latin American countries such as Chile, Argentina and Brazil where industrial production grew 6.8%, 6.3% and 6.8%, respectively during those months. Over the last five years, the official unemployment rate in Mexican cities has grown by 0.72% to reach 3.8%. Although that figure is far below the unemployment indexes in the rest of Latin America, the European Union, the United States and much of Asia, Mexico faces a serious problem generating jobs.
The Mexican economy’s inability to generate jobs has become a chronic problem. According to Ibrahim Villaseñor, a Mexican researcher currently in the economics doctorate program at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), “The structural reforms begun by neo-liberal governments have limited the ability of the economy to create jobs.” Villaseñor says that the strategies of recent Mexican governments have focused on three goals: First, economic liberalization – above all, free trade. Second, privatization of 1,200 state-owned companies; this has left only a portion of the energy sector in state hands. Third, deregulation of the national legal framework to make it easier for the neo-liberal model to function.""The Mexican economy faces a dilemma: Either choose the path toward growth or... more
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Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Sunday that President Obama doesn't have the "cojones" to secure the nation's borders and fix its immigration system. She defended Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's decision to fight the federal government in court over Arizona's new, controversial immigration law.
"She's going to do all that she can to continue down the litigation path to allow secure borders," Palin said on Fox News Sunday. "Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans, in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country, as was the purpose of immigration laws."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20012319-503544.htmlFormer GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Sunday that President Obama... more
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Brian Sandoval, the Republican nominee for governor in Nevada, is coming under fire for reportedly saying in an interview with Univision that he's not worried about his own children being asked for their papers in neighboring Arizona -- because his children don't look Hispanic. Sandoval has not acknowledged making the statement, but he has apologized just in case he did.
The gaffe was first announced by Adriana Arévalo, the news director for Univision Nevada, in a scathing column in the Spanish-language newspaper El Tiempo. If elected, Sandoval would be Nevada's first Hispanic governor. He currently has a lead of 53.4%-36.9% over Democratic nominee Rory Reid in the TPM Poll Average.
Univision has declined to release a full tape of the interview, on the grounds that it is their own work product.
In an interview on Wednesday with Jon Ralston, Sandoval denied making the statement:
Ralston: You're quoted as being unconcerned with your children being asked for papers in Arizona because you said, 'My children are not seen as Spanish.' That's what it says.
Sandoval: Ah...ah...
Ralston: That's not what you said?
Sandoval: No.
Ralston: That's the translation. We checked with the author of the article, too.
Sandoval: I've never heard that quote before and I've never described my children as looking Hispanic or not Hispanic. So I don't agree with that translation whatsoever.
Then on Thursday, Ralston confirmed through sources that the tape exists, but that Univision is not airing it: "My guess is that station folks also are apoplectic that a news director would consider it appropriate to write a harsh column about a gubernatorial hopeful - they are saying she did it in her capacity as an El Tempo columnist but she can't just wash away her TV title."
Sandoval then put out a statement: "I don't remember saying it and it is most certainly not how I feel. If I did say those words, it was wrong and I sincerely regret it. I am proud of my heritage and my family."
Meanwhile, the Nevada Dems have pounced with their own statement:
So now Sandoval is calling both Arevalo and Ralston liars?
If Sandoval maintains that he never made these shocking comments, he should give Univision the green light to release a tape of the interview, proving he never made such an insensitive remark.
"This is about more than just Brian Sandoval lying to Nevada voters," said Phoebe Sweet, communications director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. "It's also about his callous disregard for anyone but himself. Brian's disregard for the voters of Nevada - and the fact that he lied about it - is troubling."Brian Sandoval, the Republican nominee for governor in Nevada, is coming under fire... more
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(AP) Authorities say a federal judge in Phoenix has been getting some threats since her ruling on Arizona's controversial immigration law.
David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona, says U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails since her preliminary injunction Wednesday that put key provisions of the state's immigration law on hold.
Gonzales says some of the messages sent to Bolton are positive, but others are "from people venting and who have expressed their displeasure in a perverted way."
Gonzales says his agents are taking some of the threats to Bolton seriously. He refused to discuss any extra security measures, which U.S. marshals routinely provide federal judges.
Arizona officials have appealed Bolton's ruling.(AP) Authorities say a federal judge in Phoenix has been getting some threats since... more
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PHOENIX (The Borowitz Report) -- Hours after a federal judge struck down Arizona's controversial immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer decried the decision and vowed to block illegal immigrants on Facebook.
Speaking to reporters at the state capitol, a defiant Gov. Brewer pledged to build a "virtual wall" around Arizona's Facebook page, guarded by hit men from Mafia Wars.
"A federal judge has decided that these people can sneak over our border and live with us," Gov. Brewer said. "Well, they can't play Farmville with us." More here.PHOENIX (The Borowitz Report) -- Hours after a federal judge struck down... more
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PHOENIX – A federal judge dealt a serious rebuke to Arizona's immigration law on Wednesday when she put most of the crackdown on hold just hours before it was to take effect.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton sets up a lengthy legal battle as Arizona fights to enact the nation's toughest-in-the-nation law. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said the state likely appeal the ruling and seek to get the judge's order overturned.
But for now, opponents of the law have prevailed: The provisions that angered opponents will not take effect, including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.
The judge also delayed parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places — a move aimed at day laborers. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.
"It's a temporary bump in the road, we will move forward, and I'm sure that after consultation with our counsel we will appeal," Brewer told the Associated Press. "The bottom line is we've known all along that it is The responsibility of the feds and they haven't done their job so we were going to help them do that."
Brewer's lawyers said Arizona shouldn't have to suffer from America's broken immigration system when it has 15,000 police officers who can arrest illegal immigrants.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_arizona_immigration;_ylt=Aqk0EvPDFMXnyRZL7CSU99ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNta2N1b3FnBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzI4L3VzX2FyaXpvbmFfaW1taWdyYXRpb24EY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM3BHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNqdWRnZWJsb2Nrc3A-PHOENIX – A federal judge dealt a serious rebuke to Arizona's immigration... more
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"In a bid to remake the enforcement of federal immigration laws, the Obama administration is deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants and auditing hundreds of businesses that blithely hire undocumented workers.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency expects to deport about 400,000 people this fiscal year, nearly 10 percent above the Bush administration's 2008 total and 25 percent more than were deported in 2007. The pace of company audits has roughly quadrupled since President George W. Bush's final year in office.""In a bid to remake the enforcement of federal immigration laws, the Obama... more
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So some Afghan soldiers studying English at an Air Force Base in Texas and a "loose network" of possibly illegal and maybe overweight Mexican women walk into a bar. Stop me if you've heard this one.
(And if you have, you've been reading FoxNews.com.)
Last month, reports surfaced that a number of Afghan soldiers studying at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas had been going AWOL. A "Be on the Lookout" bulletin was posted for 17 of them, and the base said they had left the base over the course of 18 months. Afghan soldiers on the loose in the U.S.? Fox News, of course, latched onto the story.
Fox went on to report that seven of the original AWOL Afghans had been accounted for -- then upped the number of Afghans that had gone missing over the years to 46. But Fox News' latest scoop puts quite a, um, twist on the story.
We'll let them take over here:
A loose network of Mexican-American women, some of whom may be illegal immigrants, have been responsible for helping numerous Afghan military deserters go AWOL from an Air Force Base in Texas, FoxNews.com has learned.
Many of the Afghans, with the women's assistance, have made their way to Canada; the whereabouts of others remain unknown. Some of the men have been schooled by the women in how to move around the U.S. without any documentation.
The Afghan deserters refer to the women as "BMWs" -- Big Mexican Women -- and they often are the first step in the Afghans' journey from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to Canada, a diplomatic official told FoxNews.com.
Got that? True or not, it's like a grab bag of conservative scare words: "loose," "illegal immigrants," "Big Mexican Women," "Canada." Fox goes on to report that the Afghan soldiers "usually meet" the women at three San Antonio night clubs: Tiffany's Cocktails, Mirage and Graham Central Station, where they presumably dance, drink shooters and hatch their illegal plots.
A bartender at Tiffany's refused to comment on the story to TPM, though she did say she'd seen the Fox report.
In an unsigned response to an e-mail from TPM, a representative of Graham Central Station wrote: "Graham Central Station can neither confirm nor deny the information reported on FOX News concerning Afghan soldiers deserting the Afghan Army while training at Lackland Air Force Base."
There have been no reports to any representatives of Graham Central Station concerning the issues reported by FOX News; consequently, Graham Central Station representatives have no knowledge of any such activities going on in or around Graham Central Station. We welcome everyone to come and enjoy the multi-venue nightclub experience.
Meanwhile, Fox News' anonymous sources say the Mexican women -- who "may be illegal immigrants" -- are "like groupies" for the Afghans.
If an Afghan needs a ride, they'll pick him up. If they're needed to run errands -- or to take them away from the base in the middle of the night -- they will be there at a moment's notice, the sources said.
But the real key to the relationship between these soldiers and the women, according to Fox, is that the women are apparently well acquainted with living in the U.S. illegally.
The official said most of the students were too afraid of life on the run to ever consider going AWOL -- until they met the women, who assured them that many people live illegally in the U.S. and in Canada without getting caught or deported.
"They hear stories from them about people who do it ... some of their family came here illegally, some of them I think are not legal themselves," said the official.
"They say, 'See, it's OK. I am fine. I will help. No problem.' And the students listen and then they go."
Officials tell Fox that the AWOL Afghans are considered to be in violation of immigration laws -- but aren't security threats, and that Institute students not from Afghanistan have also gone missing in recent years.
U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement referred all TPM's questions to the Department of Defense, who subsequently told TPM the content of the Fox News report was not a DoD concern.
The Department of Defense did say -- without really confirming or denying the Fox news report -- that missing soldiers are only a small part of a larger program it considers successful.
"The Department of Defense treats all such incidents very seriously, and we work closely with appropriate federal agencies to respond to each event," DoD spokesperson Mark Wright told TPM in an email. "I would also note that while the incidents of Afghan students going AWOL (absent without leave) are a matter of concern, there are thousands of other international students who successfully attend training each year without incident."
Calls to Lackland Air Force Base were not immediately returned.So some Afghan soldiers studying English at an Air Force Base in Texas and a... more
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PHOENIX — Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.
Jason "J.T." Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on "narco-terrorists" and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants. So far, he says his patrols have only found a few border crossers who were given water and handed over to the Border Patrol. Once, they also found a decaying body in a wash, and alerted authorities.
But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready's group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn't white should leave the country "peacefully or by force."
"We're not going to sit around and wait for the government anymore," Ready said. "This is what our founding fathers did."
An escalation of civilian border watches have taken root in Arizona in recent years, including the Minutemen movement. Various groups patrol the desert on foot, horseback and in airplanes and report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, and generally, they have not caused problems for law enforcement.
But Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, is different. He and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.
"These are explicit Nazis," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves."
Ready is a reflection of the anger over illegal immigration in Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial new immigration law in April, which requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.
But Brewer hasn't done enough, Ready said, and he's not satisfied with President Barack Obama's decision to beef up security at the border.PHOENIX — Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new... more
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“Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border 2: Drugs, Guns, and 850 Illegal Aliens” is the Center for Immigration Studies' second web-based film on the impact of illegal alien activity in Arizona. The Center's first video on the subject, “Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border: Coyotes, Bears, and Trails,” has received over 50,000 views to date. This new 10-minute mini-documentary raises the bar, featuring footage of both illegal-alien entry as well as gun- and drug-smuggling. At minimum, the inescapable conclusion is that hidden cameras reveal a reality that illegal-alien activity is escalating.
The hidden camera footage, acquired from a variety of sources, indicates that there is an unfortunate lack of federal law enforcement presence on Arizona’s federal land on the border in Nogales, in the Coronado National Forest (15 miles inside the border), and the Casa Grande Sector (80 miles inside the border). Also significant to the story are responses received as part of Freedom of Information Act requests made by Janice Kephart, the Center’s Director of National Security Studies, in August 2009. Featured in the film is a 2004 federal government PowerPoint showing the near-complete devastation of a borderland national park due to illegal-alien activity, highlighting the disconnect between the situation on the ground in Arizona and Washington rhetoric.
Credits:
Director/Writer/Narrator/B roll film:
Janice Kephart
Video Production/Graphics/Editing:
Bryan Griffith
Music Composition/Production/Editing:
Buddy Speir
Nogales/Casa Grande Footage:
SecureBorderIntel.org
Coronado Footage:
BorderInvasionPics.com“Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border 2: Drugs, Guns, and 850 Illegal... more
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