“The conservatives love their cheap labor; the liberals love their cheap cause.”

Environmentalist Edward Abbey, 1988, on illegal immigration.

In an essay entitled ”Immigration and Liberal Taboos” he builds a case for sealing our border with Mexico. The core of his argument is that ”ever-continuing industrial and population growth is not the true road to human happiness, that simple gross quantitative increase of this kind creates only more pain, dislocation, confusion, and misery. . . . Especially when these uninvited millions bring with them an alien mode of life which – let us be honest about this – is not appealing to the majority of Americans.” Why does the United States still allow more immigration – legal and illegal – than all other nations combined? Because, says Mr. Abbey, ”the conservatives love their cheap labor; the liberals love their cheap cause.”

The New York Times! HERE

Business Journal of Phoenix

Congressional study shows invaders sap tax dollars

A study by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday backs up the view that [illegal aliens… criminals] sap more tax dollars than they provide, especially in education, health care and law enforcement. — The study pulled together reports from the past five years… READ IT HERE AND PASS IT AROUND.

Fence photo here.

Spending bill shrinks border fence
By S.A. Miller and Stephen Dinan
December 18, 2007

Congress last night passed a giant new spending bill that undermines current plans for a U.S.-Mexico border fence, allowing the Homeland Security Department to build a single-tier barrier rather than the two-tier version that has worked in California.

“The fact that this was buried in a bloated, 3,500-page omnibus speaks volumes about the Democrats’ unserious approach on border security and illegal immigration,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. “Gutting the Secure Fence Act will make our borders less secure, but it’s consistent with the pattern of behavior we’ve seen all year from this majority.”

The 2006 Secure Fence Act specifically called for “two layers of reinforced fencing” and listed five specific sections of border where it should be installed. The new spending bill removes the two-tier requirement and the list of locations.

Read it here.

And read about the THE PINOCCHIO TEST for Candidate Huckabee here and here.

One of my matricula consular ID’s on Google…and in a Mexican newspaper…origianlly posted September 12, 2007. Mexican matricula consular acceptance: not so much in Mexico.

“Being the proud owner of my own Mexican matricula consular ID cards (I have three, the name on one I keep to myself) has proven invaluable to illustrate the ease of forgery and access to these little laminated stealth amnesty cards…”

Read it here

Response to the Southern Poverty Law Center from FAIR.

FAIR Statement Regarding a Recent Report Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center

FAIR President Dan Stein issued the following statement today:

December 14, 2007: In the wake of the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy mass amnesty bill, a handful of organizations have attacked the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) for its efforts to lead a national debate on how America thinks about immigration and its role in the 21st Century. These reports are clearly an orchestrated attempt at political retaliation.

The most recent report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has crossed the line. It demonstrates a lack of internal fact-checking standards and an inability to grasp the complexities of immigration policy and the current public dialogue surrounding it. It also demonstrates why those supporting mass amnesty lost the immigration debate earlier this year. That is, instead of tackling a tough, complex and emotional policy debate on the merits, the SPLC chooses to preach intolerance by insisting that there can be no legitimate opposing side on the debate over immigration reform. Its objectives are always the same: to try to discredit Americans who want the nation’s immigration laws and policies changed to reflect the broad national interest. When one takes into account that FAIR has hundreds of thousands of members and that the policies and positions FAIR advocates are supported by the vast majority of the American people, one wonders why the SPLC did not save itself time and money and simply declare the entire United States a “hate group.”

This aside, FAIR wishes to state for the record that the SPLC statement is replete with accusations that have no factual basis. Moreover, the material facts that are offered in the SPLC statement are either false or misleading. In light of the fact that FAIR has requested the SPLC to correct these errors on at least three different occasions dating back to 2001, the publication of this erroneous information appears to be willful and malicious. Unfortunately, FAIR’s requests continue to go unanswered and the SPLC continues to publish and circulate this erroneous information. FAIR urges readers of the SPLC report to search the text for footnotes and citations. Given the magnitude and scope of their allegations, we believe most readers will be appalled to find few, if any citations. … MORE HERE.

FAIR is highly respected for the very reason that it has always argued that immigration policy should not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. FAIR is a large, prominent national organization with hundreds of thousands of members and supporters. Its board of directors and advisory board contain people from across the political spectrum. Indeed, that is why FAIR has become the leader in this movement: we are a broad spectrum of people working hard to advance the way America understands the role of immigration in the U.S. in the 21st century. We urge everyone to look at FAIR’s 29-year record of public service and advocacy. We urge everyone to look at what we say and what we stand for and see why FAIR is the leading public charity working to reform immigration policies in the United States today.

Organizations that resort to such tactics in trying to discredit opposing organizations and individuals should be examined very closely as to their own motivations and purposes. It is our experience that groups who throw spiteful insults at their opposition are unable to win the public policy debate on the merits. The SPLC’s motivation for its pronouncement is further called into question given the timing of its release. The SPLC has published this information repeatedly over the past 15 years in an attempt to discredit FAIR. The most recent instance was a press conference two months ago in Washington D.C. held with the Center for American Progress and the Center for New Community—a press conference that received no media attention. It is clear that this new tactic of calling FAIR a “hate group” is an act of desperation, resulting from the SPLC’s failure to convince the American people of their viewpoint.

Moreover, we feel that the groups that assert that there is only one legitimate position in any public policy debate are the organizations that should truly be under public scrutiny. Do the SPLC’s actions not constitute the very definition of intolerance? FAIR encourages reporters to ask the Southern Poverty Law Center the following questions:

As a portion of total income, what percent of the SPLC programs go to alleviating poverty? Does the SPLC provide legal services to the poor?

What charity rating service gives the SPLC a satisfactory mark or grade or seal of approval as being in compliance with all their standards for the operations of a charity?

What are the internal review standards applied by the SPLC before it publishes information?

Does the SPLC provide the public an opportunity to correct materials published on its web site?

How does the SPLC believe long-range U.S. immigration policy should be formulated? Whose interests should be considered and how?

What are the standards used by the SPLC to designate an organization a “hate group”? How is a hate group defined? What are the objective standards and are they available for public inspection?

Comments:

Money talks; I and many others have quit giving to the food bank, the Salvation Army, the blood bank, my church, toys for tots, and all charities that give to illegal aliens. This upsets me but instead I give to veterans, service men and their families. This weekend the reports came in that donations are down so I hope our efforts are working.

Enough of my tax dollar is being spent on them already. My taxes are all the charity they get. This could become a serious movement. They won’t listen to us, bu we can get their attention. it is called tough love.

P.K.
Idaho

Border Patrol agents were attacked 987 times along the U.S.-Mexico border during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the agency said. That’s up 31 percent from 752 attacks a year earlier, and it’s the highest number since the agency began recording attacks in the late 1990s.

About two-thirds of the attacks were with rocks. Many of the rest involved physical assaults, such as illegal immigrants getting into fist fights with guards

Associated Press HERE.

Oconee sheriff asking feds for immigration law training

Two years after day-laborer roundup
By Adam Thompson | ATHENS BANNER HERALD | Story updated at 10:50 PM on Saturday, December 15, 2007

WATKINSVILLE – Two years after immigrant rights groups cried foul when deputies rounded up and arrested 30 Hispanic day laborers, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry says the controversy mostly has quieted.

Prosecutors late last month dropped local loitering charges against most of the men caught in the raid Dec. 1, 2005, and the sheriff says he’s received no further complaints from businesses near the Epps Bridge Parkway home improvement store where a shifting group of men continues to gather most days looking for work.

If the raid has any legacy, it probably left a false impression with some people that his office is aggressively targeting Hispanics, the sheriff said.

“There’s a very loud minority that seems to think that our motivation was racial. That’s just ridiculous,” he said.

He points to a jail log for October to December that shows more whites than Hispanics were arrested.

It’s also a question of proportion – statistics for the same period also show that 23 percent of male arrestees were Hispanic, versus 58 percent white – but Berry said his office’s law enforcement methods don’t target any group of people.

The arrests in 2005 provoked concern from local residents and Hispanic advocacy groups and, on the flip side, stoked a fiery anti-immigration crowd in and around conservative Oconee County.

Berry insists, though, that the action had nothing to do with the immigration status of any of the men arrested; at the time, he didn’t take any steps to determine whether they were here legally.

It was about law enforcement, he said.

That unapologetic approach is similar to the way he looks at another action he’s taken – one that’s definitely about illegal immigration.

Hot for ICE

Last year, Berry added his office to a list of law enforcement agencies around the country asking for training from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The training – often referred to by the name 287(g), the section of federal immigration law that allows it – would give deputies at the jail the authority to enforce immigration law against any inmates found to be in the country illegally.

If the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office receives the training, deputies would be able to initiate deportation proceedings against inmates and hold them in the jail until ICE agents in the region followed up and completed the deportation process.

Berry wants to get deputies trained so they can combat what he sees as a significant law enforcement problem that has risen in the county over the past 10 years.

“We’ve had an increase in our population of people we deal with on the street that are illegal aliens,” he said.

Booming development in Oconee County, as in many parts of Georgia, has brought an influx of immigrants looking for work. Most are Hispanic, Berry said.

Some of those people then commit crimes – often traffic and alcohol violations or identity theft, he said.

Berry thinks those people should be booted from the country, and he sees the ICE program as the best way to do that.

A new state law that took effect in July instructs jailers to make a reasonable effort to determine inmates’ nationalities. But illegal immigration ultimately falls under federal jurisdiction so the law hasn’t made much of a difference, Berry said.

Berry is unmoved by criticism that the participating in the 287(g) program could be about anything other than law enforcement or that deportation should be left up to the feds.

“If you break into the country, that’s one thing – that’s the federal government’s problem,” he said. “If you break into the country and commit crimes in Oconee County, that’s my problem. … We’re here; we’re on the ground.”

He talked with ICE officials months ago after applying for the 287(g) program, but the conversation hasn’t led anywhere yet, Berry said.

The list

Thirty-four local agencies nationwide so far have inked agreements with ICE allowing them to deport illegal immigrants, with assistance from the federal agency.

About 80 more are waiting for the specialized program, which includes training in immigration law and databases, and classes on racial profiling and cultural sensitivity, said ICE spokesman Richard Rocha.

However, ICE officials do not discuss where those waiting-list agencies are located or which ones are next for the training, Rocha said.

Sometimes, after an initial discussion, an applicant backs out after discovering the federal agency doesn’t provide much funding beyond the training, Rocha said.

“Some local law enforcement agencies realize that they’re enforcing immigration law with their resources,” he said.

So far, only two law enforcement agencies in the state have received the training.

The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, under Sheriff Neil Warren, in July became the first Georgia law enforcement agency to begin deporting people using the 287(g) training.

From July through October, Cobb deputies initiated deportation proceedings for nearly 700 inmates. ICE picked up 255 of them, according to the sheriff’s office.

Public outcry over the program has been steady throughout, however.

Critics charge that the program engenders distrust of law enforcement in the Hispanic population and has not received proper public oversight.

Warren so far has not backed down, which doesn’t surprise Berry.

“Why should he? He’s obeying the law,” Berry said.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 121607

HERE

From WHAT’S GOIN’ ON?
Wilson R. Smith, Esq. — Lyons, Georgia Audio Report

Open-borders crackpot interviewed on Georgia radio

Kevin Johnson is an attorney, a law professor, an author and a proponent of open borders. He teaches at the University of California, Davis. He has written many books on the issue of immigration. — He was recently in Atlanta, speaking at Emory University. He caught my eye with an article he wrote that was published in The Sacramento Bee…read more here.

LISTEN HERE ( 30 minutes)