Richard Ruelas
Republic columnist
Feb. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
The original plan was for Elias Bermudez not to eat anything until Congress had passed immigration reform.
But instead of waiting for the country to change, Bermudez worked on changing himself. At noon today, he and 17 other people will have a sip of chicken broth, breaking their seven-day fast. Bermudez said he was drinking two bottles of water each day and, by Friday, had taken three teaspoons of honey...
But Bermudez said his actions weren't about changing law. The fast was about channeling a higher power.
"Our actions are 100 percent spiritual. They have nothing to do with convincing lawmakers," Bermudez said Friday. "Our people, we are people of faith. We all believe in the power of prayer, the power of faith."
It was a priest who advised Bermudez not to starve himself until reform came about. Instead, the priest suggested, Bermudez and others should go on a weeklong fast as a spiritual quest. Bermudez said that if he ended up dying while waiting for immigration legislation, he would have been just "another dead Mexican."
...Bermudez said that so many days without food makes one's senses sharper, and one's emotions quicker to surface.
Bermudez has heard his fast mocked on talk radio last week. Yet, he believes that his actions are making a difference in the community...
Gov. Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon had declined invitations to come pray, Bermudez said.
But it was like a prayer being answered when another politician showed up, unannounced and unexpected. Especially because he is someone who talks tough about immigration. He met with some of the fasters and showed compassion, Bermudez said.
The politician even placed a note on a wall next to others, written in English and Spanish, that ask God for the "miracle of immigration reform" and state that "only Jesus can touch hearts."
The note says this: "Keep up the fight. Good luck. Sheriff Joe Arpaio."
But instead of waiting for the country to change, Bermudez worked on changing himself. At noon today, he and 17 other people will have a sip of chicken broth, breaking their seven-day fast. Bermudez said he was drinking two bottles of water each day and, by Friday, had taken three teaspoons of honey...
But Bermudez said his actions weren't about changing law. The fast was about channeling a higher power.
"Our actions are 100 percent spiritual. They have nothing to do with convincing lawmakers," Bermudez said Friday. "Our people, we are people of faith. We all believe in the power of prayer, the power of faith."
It was a priest who advised Bermudez not to starve himself until reform came about. Instead, the priest suggested, Bermudez and others should go on a weeklong fast as a spiritual quest. Bermudez said that if he ended up dying while waiting for immigration legislation, he would have been just "another dead Mexican."
...Bermudez said that so many days without food makes one's senses sharper, and one's emotions quicker to surface.
Bermudez has heard his fast mocked on talk radio last week. Yet, he believes that his actions are making a difference in the community...
Gov. Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon had declined invitations to come pray, Bermudez said.
But it was like a prayer being answered when another politician showed up, unannounced and unexpected. Especially because he is someone who talks tough about immigration. He met with some of the fasters and showed compassion, Bermudez said.
The politician even placed a note on a wall next to others, written in English and Spanish, that ask God for the "miracle of immigration reform" and state that "only Jesus can touch hearts."
The note says this: "Keep up the fight. Good luck. Sheriff Joe Arpaio."
******************
Sarah Muench
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 1, 2007 05:47 PM
Authorities are searching for four men who attacked 12 undocumented immigrants, killed an Eloy man and shot a teenager, Pinal County Sheriff's Office officials said.
Authorities said David Norris Jr. was driving a pickup truck containing 12 illegal immigrants late Saturday in an Eloy farm field when four heavily armed men in a white full-size van began firing on them.
All four men were wearing military-style berets, camouflage pants and shirts, authorities said.
Authorities said David Norris Jr. was driving a pickup truck containing 12 illegal immigrants late Saturday in an Eloy farm field when four heavily armed men in a white full-size van began firing on them.
All four men were wearing military-style berets, camouflage pants and shirts, authorities said.
| advertisement |  |
|
"As far as being a group we don't know that yet," said Pinal County Sheriff's Office Detective Buddy Johnson, who is investigating the case. "Is there any group of people we are looking at? No. Anybody can dress in anything and they can do this."
Detectives aren't sure of a motive, that the attackers could have been vigilantes, rival smugglers or criminals trying to steal drugs, although no drugs were found in the truck, Johnson said.
"Anything's possible, we are taking all the information we can," Johnson said.
Norris, 46, of Eloy, was fatally shot and 19-year-old Andres de Jesus, from Oaxaca, Mexico, was shot in the leg during the attack, authorities said.
"They told them to get down to the floor and then they shot and everyone started running," said Alejandro Ramos, a spokesman with the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, from the immigrants' reports. "They didn't take anything. It's pretty strange. We aren't sure who (the attackers) are."
******************************************
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 43
Break into my home and you will die!!
In the first story, Bermudez says:
"Our actions are 100 percent spiritual. They have nothing to do with convincing lawmakers,"
but then he says:
"Bermudez has heard his fast mocked on talk radio last week. Yet, he believes that his actions are making a difference in the community..."
So just which is it Mr. Bermudez? Are you starving yourself as something 100 percent spiritual and thus, for yourselves alone or are you doing it because your "actions are making a difference in the community"
Sorry, but you can't have it both ways.
Now, the next story:
Here is the key element:
"Detectives aren't sure of a motive, that the attackers could have been vigilantes, rival smugglers or criminals trying to steal drugs, although no drugs were found in the truck, Johnson said.
"Anything's possible, we are taking all the information we can," Johnson said."
Interesting- the article clearly states that police do not know who did this or why. Yet the assumption is made here, sans this crucial evidence- that these illegals were killed as some sort of retaliation against them as a group of people.
Jackie- isn't that exactly the kind of assumptive discourse that you say you abhor? Why then, do you use it yourself to try to force a verdict here and incite hatred towards something there is no evidence of?
Yes, it's tragic and awful that these people were killed. But, there is absolutely no evidence about who did it or why.
STOP THE MANIPULATION AND DISHONESTY!
Try your case for illegal immigration in the court of public opinion without all the made up stories and forced conclusions.
I read the Arizona Republic daily and participate on its blogs, as I lived there for 8+ years and I still have a son and a lot of friends who live there.
This is why the Arizona Republic wanted to put it into people's heads that they were possibly vigilantes, as they were getting ready to vote on the following: Jackie was pathetically attempting to do the same thing..........
Anti-vigilante bill voted down
Measure sought ban on armed civilians patrolling border
Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 6, 2007 12:00 AM
"Armed people or groups who patrol to protect against illegal activity are not domestic terrorists, lawmakers decided Monday in rejecting a bill that flamed fears and passions at the Statehouse and beyond.
The hearing on House Bill 2286 was more about message than substance, as its defeat was all but sealed even before the first comments were made.
Despite its near-certain fate, lawmakers spent nearly four hours discussing border security in a debate that veered from racism to hatemongers to free-speech and gun rights.
On a 7-3 vote, members of the Homeland Security and Property Rights Committee rejected the bill that had been introduced by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix.
She said it was aimed at cracking down on armed vigilante groups who, she said, are taking the law into their own hands when it comes to protecting the Arizona-Mexico border."
Entire story available through link...........
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0206domestic-terrorism0206.html
If there is another case of someone being murdered because of possibly reporting an illegal alien to the authorities, I don't know of it. That fact makes this crime uniquely shocking, as well as how a 40-year-old actress, Adrienne Shelly, was killed in a situation disguised to look like suicide. But what was really being hidden was the immigration status of the killer.
"I was having a bad day," illegal immigrant Diego Pillco, 19, allegedly told cops. "I didn't mean to kill her. But I did kill her."
Pillco told detectives that he punched Shelly, 40, last Wednesday afternoon outside the Abingdon Square apartment she was using as an office after she yelled at him about the noise he was making while working in a vacant apartment below. [...]
After seeing she was unconscious and believing she was dead, Pillco claimed, he dragged Shelly into her apartment, wrapped a bed sheet around her neck and attached it to a shower rod in the bathroom to make it appear she had hanged herself, sources said.
[Star's Suicide Was Killer Cover-Up, New York Post, 10/7/06]
Shelly was discovered hanged in the shower of her Greenwich Village apartment/office on Nov. 1 by her husband Andy Ostroy. Police originally thought she might have been a suicide, but the family objected that her life was going too well for that, plus a sneaker print in the bathtub was from a stranger.
Adrienne Shelly had everything to live for. She had become more interested in writing and directing, and was looking forward to the release of her film "Waitress." She had a 3-year-old daughter, Sophie.
But her life meant nothing to an illegal alien who would do anything to protect himself.
Diego Pillco, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant who had been renovating the apartment below Shelly's office, told cops in a chilling confession that he was afraid of getting arrested and deported, sources said.
[Killer staged her 'suicide', New York Daily News, 10/6/06]
To be clear, the medical examiner said that Shelly died from "compression to the neck" meaning she was alive when Diego Pillco hanged her to prevent her reporting him to immigration agents.
From: A Mexican-American Social Worker [Name Withheld To Protect His Job]
Re: Allan Wall
First and foremost, let me thank Allan Wall for his honesty and great courage. Today I came across VDARE.COM quite by accident, but was pleased with what I observed.
I am an American living in Northern California. I have a wife who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, she came here as a young girl, and is completely bilingual, as am I. I was born in California as a 5th generation Mexican-American. My parents do not speak Spanish, therefore I am not a native speaker, but I learned Spanish in school.
I am a social worker, employed by the County Human Services Agency. I am not a racist, nor am I a "Hater of Mexicans"—it is my heritage.
I have been a social worker for 23 years, and remember Prop 187.
In my time here, I have grown increasingly frustrated. I cannot believe how our broken system is taken advantage of by the large influx of immigrants.
Billions of dollars are distributed to immigrants, many of them illegal!! YES, "undocumented" people.
EVERY welfare agency in the United States is considered a "non-reporting agency" This means, that every applicant/recipient of public welfare programs has the right to apply and receive benefits with dignity, respect and CONFIDENTIALITY.
We are forbidden to breach these "rights". When a family of seven undocumented immigrants applies for welfare, and openly admits to having fake immigration cards (I-551) we CANNOT call the INS office and report them.
For years, we have flooded the illegal community with taxpayer dollars. Cash, food stamps, and Medicaid benefits equating to BILLIONS of dollars. California even has the CAPI Program (Cash Assistance program For Immigrants)
I can tell you of countless situations where the system continues encourage people to immigrate here illegally. We give automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented parents. Free money, free training, and free education. When I went to college, because of my Latin surname, I was offered fabulous grant opportunities designed for children of migrant farm workers. It's incredible!
The administrative cost alone to hire bilingual employees, pay them bilingual pay, have them prepare non-English forms in language is millions in California alone.
Because some of the other countries lack welfare systems, and individuals have no "entitlement" rights, they come here to rape our system. I have worked with many Senators, Congressmen/women who are afraid to tackle the issue for fear of being tagged as "anti-immigrant" It's all about the vote…
I have a colleague at the local Social Security office who shared with me this tidbit: Any legal immigrant who lives here for 5 years, and is 65 years of age, can apply for Social Security Benefits. They will be denied SS benefits, due to not paying into the system, but will receive SSI benefits equaling $700.00 each. Per couple $1400.00 !!
Most often what happens is this: They come to the US to live (age 60 well-planned out) with an adult child that is here legally. The adult child agrees to sponsor them, then conveniently in five years claims to be a hardship situation and can no longer sponsor them. Because they are now 65, they can apply for SS benefits. My colleague reports that many of these people only keep a few hundred dollars, give some to the adult child for living cost, but send hundreds back "home" for support of other family members!
I have been to Mexico many times...The rich are rich, and the poor are poor. No social benefits, no pity, no mercy, no liability suits (very hard to prove there) no rights to protest poor living conditions. "You want that...go to the United States, those fools are afraid to be viewed as 'heartless' and will give us the shirts off their backs...after all that's their nature. If they deny us, we can sue for discrimination." I have heard this!
Fortunately I was raised to be an American, and love my country, not to hold on to the fact that my ancestry was from Mexico, and maintain allegiance to Mexico.
Can you imagine Americans living in Mexico, marching down the streets, demanding English speaking schools, property rights, welfare benefits with forms in English and English-speaking workers, college grants for immigrants ? You'd be shot, put in jail, or deported. No que no?"
http://www.vdare.com/letters/tl_020607.htm
In regard to parts of your copy and paste
I think people should celebrate their heritage.. whatever it may be.. I don't think it makes them any less American. My son is Guatemalan American.. and I want him to embrace both cultures and languages.. why not?
I also think if they are out making money they can do whatever with it they want... for example sending it to relatives
In the case of illegal immigration, the illegals are lured into breaking our immigration laws by businesses who offer them jobs paying many times what they can make at home, and law enforcement agencies do not enforce laws prohibiting employers from hiring them. How is this different from "entrapment?"
I recently read a book by Lou Dobbs called "War on the Middle Class." It has changed my thinking about illegal immigration. I am now convinced that the horde of illegals must be stopped, and most of the ones already here must be convinced to return home voluntarily. There is a simple way to do this. Enforce the laws prohibiting the hiring of illegals. If there are no jobs here, they will not come, and the ones that are here will leave.
Employers protest that they cannot determine who is legal and who is not with the ready availability of false Social Security and other ID cards. According to Dobbs in his book, this is nonsense. He says the Social Security Administration can quickly and easily confirm the validity of an SS card.
I will have a lot more to say about this book in a future article. I don't think Dobbs is entirely correct in all of his positions, but he has convinced me that the decline of the middle class in the US has two major causes: Outsourcing of jobs and illegal immigration. Together with "Free Trade," they are part of the basic strategy on the part of US businesses to cut their labor costs and increase their worldwide business and profits. Nothing wrong with that, you say? Even if it impoverishes a major portion of our citizens, and depresses salaries for many others?
I have been criticized and even insulted repeatedly for my views on this subject by people who seem to have all the answers. I don't, and I don't think Lou Dobbs does either. But I am willing to change my mind when I learn more about a subject.
I think spending billions of dollars erecting a fence on the border nd manning it with a hundred thousand troops is silly. We probably do need to beef up our INS/Border Patrol forces, and give them some sophisticated surveillance equipment, but if we just enforced the laws prohibiting the hiring of non citizens, most of the problem would go away.
Now, there are some industries, like agriculture, who will be hurt by this, at least in the short term. We once had a "bracero" program to allow them to bring in temporary workers to harvest crops, etc. They were not illegals. I see nothing wrong with such a program if it is needed...i.e., enough citizen workers cannot be found. AND the workers should be paid a fair wage...at least the minimum wage, probably more because that is very hard work. I know. I grew up on a farm. Anybody that thinks harvesting crops is easy should go try it for a day.
I just went to the government web site and took a look at the Form I-9. It seems to me that this form WILL "get the job done" if the employer makes a simple check on the SSN or other documents that must be provided. The reason this isn't working is obviously because employers are NOT checking out the information provided by applicants, and the government is not requiring them to do so.
The government, and law enforcement agencies have made a decision NOT to enforce this law. Why? Who has authorized this blatant violation of our laws?
Jackie, isn't Sherrif Joe Arpaio the guy that's been around forever in Arizona? He's responsible for tougher reforms to the treatment of inmates.
It's terrible about the crimes!
That's Joe Arpaio. He won his last election on promises to strictly enforce current immigration policies in AZ.
I think it was a noble gesture. It demonstrates humanity - a feature many would like to forsake in this debate.
***
Hi, Bert: What do you think about the rash of books written about immigration and the ease at which extremist groups have picked up on the dissent?
How do you think that can be avoided and what particularly changed your mind - if you don't mind me asking...
Be sure to share this great news with Senobia!!!!
Judge rules.....anchor kids will not prevent illegal parents from being deported!!!!
Judge rejects lawsuit filed to protect immigrant parents from deportation
By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 13 2007
"A Miami federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to stop immigration officials from deporting undocumented parents of U.S.-born children.
U.S. District Judge Paul Huck threw out the suit after the lawyers who filed it in October said legislation pending in Congress could meet their goals.
The bill they referred to is the Child Citizen Protection Act, which was introduced in the House of Representatives in January. It would allow immigration judges to consider whether deportation of a parent is "clearly against the best interests of a U.S. citizen child."
More than 3 million children born in the United States have parents who are undocumented immigrants, according to researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute.
The lawsuit named as defendants President Bush, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and federal immigration officials. It claimed that U.S. immigration laws separating U.S. citizen children from their parents violated the children's constitutional rights. "
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/bro...2C2022816.story
Because that is money that should be spent in our own economy.
More and more cities are now putting their own police officers through the same training!!!
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.13.2007
"PHOENIX — A House panel voted Monday to spend state tax dollars to put National Guard troops on the border to actually begin apprehending those who cross the border illegally.
The 6-4 vote by the House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights would authorize Gov. Janet Napolitano to deploy Guard units in cases of a declared emergency because of "unauthorized border crossings" resulting in an increase in deaths, crime and property damage.
Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler, said Napolitano probably can already do that. But HB 2766 actually would give her the necessary $10 million, enough said Nichols for 100 soldiers for a year.
But the measure comes with a hitch: The soldiers actually would have to be in the primary role of catching border crossers. That differs from the approximately 2,000 Guard troops now in Southern Arizona doing support functions ranging from surveillance to repairs.
Monday's vote came over the objections of the four Democrats on the panel. Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said it made no sense to spend state tax dollars when the federal government is finally putting major resources into the region.
Gallardo made a similar argument against HB 2473, which would provide $25 million over two years to the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to set up a high-tech system to spot people entering this country illegally. He said the federal government already has spent more than $1.2 billion along the border on fencing and technology and is prepared to spend another $1 billion this coming budget year.
"
For the state right now to spend state taxpayers' money on something the federal government ultimately has responsibility for … would be very irresponsible," he said.
Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, was unconvinced.
"We've waited 26 years on the federal government," he said. In the meantime, Pearce said, Arizona taxpayers have picked up the costs, including a figure he put at $2 million a year to educate not only illegal immigrants but the U.S.-born children of people who are not supposed to be here in the first place.
Napolitano already has said she does not support having Guard soldiers actually enforcing immigration law.
Even if she lets the bill become law, there is no requirement for her to actually deploy any troops. And legislators lack the constitutional authority to overrule her decisions as the Guard's commander in chief.
But the lawmakers may have some options should Napolitano veto the appropriation for border technology: The same committee approved an identical version of that appropriation, but this one subject to voter approval in 2008 rather than gubernatorial signature or veto.
The committee also approved HB 2765 giving immunity to Guard soldiers who kill or injure people while on duty in Arizona. But the panel first narrowed the scope of that immunity to the same as police officers and limited their freedom from being sued to instances where they are acting under a direct order from a commanding officer or according to standard operating procedures."
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/168925.php
Utah House passes immigration enforcement bill
By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/13/2007 03:48:41 PM MST
Posted: 3:50 PM-
"The Utah House approved a bill today to allow local law enforcement officers to also perform as immigration agents under certain circumstances.
Lawmakers approved the measure in a 43-30 vote after a 20-minute debate on the House floor. HB105 now heads to the Senate.
Bill Sponsor Rep. Glenn Donnelson told lawmakers an agreement between state police agencies and federal immigration officials is needed before Utah becomes a "magnet state for illegal immigration."
The bill, Donnelson said, has "strong support" from law enforcement officers around the state, even though he couldn't name any group that supported HB105.
The proposal would require the Utah Department of Public Safety to enter into an agreement with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that would allow state law enforcement officers to cross train as federal immigration officers. Eligible officers would have to volunteer for the ICE training. Local law enforcement agencies, such as city police and county sheriffs departments, also would choose whether they want to join the state-ICE agreement."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5218851
Rather than trying to explain here why I changed my mind (partially) on illegal immigrants, I will write an article on this subject. I still do not think they should be rounded up like criminals and deported. Businesses have lured those people here with offers of wages ten times what they can make at home, and our government has not enforced employment laws for years. Now, all of a sudden these people are criminals? If a law is not enforced, is it still valid? I think there are better ways to solve the problem. Stay tuned.
Ummmmm.....They are criminals. They came into our country ILLEGALLY....Illegal means against the law.
With all due respect, I really dislike the way you selectively quote from comments.
Read what I said...all of it. The government has not enforced these laws for many years, and businesses have lured these people here with tacit approval of the government. So, now, after all this time, you call them criminals. LAWS THAT ARE NOT ENFORCED ARE NOT LAWS!!! Stop saying the same stuff over and over and THINK ABOUT IT. Can you put yourself in the position of a poverty stricken person who is offered a job here making ten times as much as he can at home, and, has worked here for many years with no prosecution? This is a problem we need to solve, but treating these people who have be LURED here as criminals is not the answer, and it is profoundly inhumane and unfair to do so. I repeat: Profoundly inhumane. If you like that appellation, then we have nothing further to discuss.
Then we have nothing further to discuss!!
They are in this country illegally. Illegal means against the law. Therefore, they are criminals and should be treated just like any other criminals.
The party is over....time to pay the piper.
They knew that there was a chance that this day would come. Well, surprise surprise....the day is here!!
Goodbye illegals.....Either leave on your own, or we will help you to leave---but either way you are leaving!!!
KNDO/KNDU
February 14, 2007
Feds arrest 51 suspected of working in U.S. illegally
"AUBURN, Wash. The U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says its agents arrested 51 foreign nationals today at two warehouses in Auburn.
The agency says they were believed to be working in the United States illegally. Most are from Mexico, with several from Guatemala and El Salvador.
The agency says an audit of employment records at U-P-S Supply Chain Solutions and Spherion, a temporary employment agency used by the warehouse company, led agents to believe that some employees used counterfeit documents to obtain their jobs.
The arrested workers are being held at a federal detention facility in Tacoma pending rulings on their cases."
http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=6089971&nav=menu484_2_8
Brenda - do you know any "illegals"???? Are they all raping child-molesting murders??? (I know thats how much respect you have for them!!)
I love how you characterize these people as garbage (My opinion - just a broad uneducated stereotype from someone who obviously lacks an ounce of compassion)
GO TO YOUR ROOM!
By Citizen Conservative (02/14/07)
The American Daily, Phoenix
..........."illegal aliens kill 12 Americans a day through murders, drunken driving, and other violent crimes."
http://www.americandaily.com/article/17684
Arizona taxpayers spend up to $1.2 billion annually to educate children of illegal immigrants
Nicole Beyer, Tribune
"Fewer than 10 percent of Lindbergh students were Hispanic in 1980. Today, the figure has swelled to more than 75 percent.
People who do track immigration trends estimate that 125,000 to 145,000 children of illegal immigrants attend public elementary and secondary schools in Arizona.
That figure comes from the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., which is quick to point out that about half of these students are likely U.S. citizens born in this country.
The Pew estimate nearly equals the enrollment of the Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler unified school districts combined.
More than one in nine Arizona students is an illegal immigrant or the child of an illegal immigrant, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
To educate these children, school finance experts in Arizona suggest taxpayers will spend as much as $1.2 billion this year alone.
Billion-dollar debate
Depending on whom you ask, it costs between $7,720 and $8,500 each year to educate one Arizona child in the public school system.
Those numbers include federal, state and local funding for everything from teacher salaries, transportation, school nurses, meals, tutoring, special education, administration and school construction and maintenance.
The estimate also includes money the state sets aside each year for special English instruction for students not yet fluent.
All this spending infuriates opponents of illegal immigration.
"We have no obligation whatsoever to the illegal immigrant that's here," said Albert Rodriguez, a Hispanic U.S. citizen from Scottsdale.
Gabriela, a 17-year-old illegal immigrant who moved to the United States with her family when she was 2, said most illegal immigrants pay taxes and should be welcome at public schools.
"One way or another, we should be getting what we pay for," she said."
Entire article available through link......
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/84115
Feb. 15, 2007, 1:11AM
Tip leads to arrest of 46 illegal immigrants in north Houston house
By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
"An anonymous tip led to the arrests of 55 people — at least 46 of them illegal immigrants — by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities Wednesday at a north Houston house in "extremely deplorable" conditions.
ICE spokeswoman Luisa Deason said that of the 46 illegal immigrants, 10 were women and eight were juveniles, between the ages of 8 and 17. All were being kept behind locked doors. Firearms also were recovered at the house, Deason said.
The nine others taken into ICE custody "are people whom we have reason to believe may be involved in (human) smuggling," Deason said.
The house is located at 627 Hahlo, near Lyons, in the Denver Harbor neighborhood.
"The conditions inside the house were extremely deplorable," Deason said. "There was no furniture in the home. There were four or five bedrooms in which the aliens were being kept behind locked doors. There was a real bad smell in the house, and there was garbage.
"Someone was cooking them food," Deason said. "When you see those kinds of conditions, it's a pretty clear indicator that it's a drop house."
A drop house is a place where smugglers hold illegal immigrants, until their friends or relatives "can buy them out," Deason said.
Of the 46 people taken into custody for illegally entering the country, 11 were from Mexico, 19 were from Honduras, 10 were from El Salvador, five were from Guatemala, and one was from Brazil.
Deason did not say what counties the nine other people are from, but added: "We believe those individuals have some role in how these other people were smuggled illegally into this country.
This is why we ask the community to be aware of their surroundings. If there is constant movement of people, or people bringing in a lot of food on a constant basis, if it makes you uncomfortable, call the local authorities," Deason said. "This was a rare case, when we were the first law enforcement agency on the scene."
Because of potential danger, people should call 911, and allow local police to handle any "life-threatening" circumstances. Then, people should feel free to follow up with a toll-free call to ICE, at 1-866-DHS-2ICE, Deason suggested."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4555179.html
Feb 13, 2007
Linda Muller
"There are many radical Latino groups calling for the violent overthrow of their "white" oppressors and the return of the American west to the mythical Aztlan from which they believe their land was stolen. Many Americans do not believe these fringe groups have any power and influence, so they dismiss them as harmless. Yet these groups continually draw U.S. Congressmen and staff members to their meetings. Corporate benefactors and foundations contribute funds and other means of support that enable these groups to thrive and proliferate. Recently, two representatives from Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project attended a meeting of the National Alliance for Human Rights, whose coordinator is Armando Navarro, a professor at the University of California, Riverside. Minuteman Project National Spokesman Raymond Herrera and National Rally Coordinator Robin Hvidston, two of Gilchrist's most street-savvy rally organizers, were alarmed by the racist rhetoric that permeated the meeting, punctuated by calls for violence against "white" people.
Two members of the Minuteman Project attended an "Emergency immigration meeting" in San Bernardino coordinated by Armando Navarro of the National Alliance for Human Rights.
The reason for calling this meeting, according to NAHR, is that "Mexicano and Latino efforts to push for a comprehensive humane immigration reform at this time lack the requisite mobilization power to influence the now Democratic controlled Congress.
After referring to the Minutemen as racists, Navarro gave opening remarks. He talked about the recent ICE raids. Then the floor was open for comments. "I was astounded by the nonstop hate talk about 'white' people," Hvidston said.
There was talk of how poorly Latino children are doing in school. White people were blamed. Talk about raids at work sites by ICE. White people were blamed. Talk about not enough Hispanic school teachers. White people were blamed. Talk about imprisonment of Latinos. White people were blamed," Hvidston recounted.
People stood up and gave testimonials about white people being the cause of poor education, prison sentences, police brutality… They used slang such as 'gavachos' to refer to white people.
Navarro is planning a march for March 17th in San Bernardino. He said they will be calling on cities such as L.A. to join them. He said if civil disobedience is needed to stop any future ICE raids, so be it. One man stated that if guns and violence are needed, they should use violence to overwhelm the white people. He encouraged the community to take what they want by overwhelming and overpowering force.
Robin Hvidston believes the group is nervous because they still do not have amnesty, even with a Democratic majority in Congress. Raymond Herrera stated at the meeting that Navarro's leadership is much needed in Mexico, to fix Mexico. Raymond believes that there is a Mexican Revolution taking place, but that it should move down to Mexico where it can do the most good."
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=177128
1. Alien loads are often hijacked in this area by rival gangs, The entire I-10 corridor from Tucson to Phoenix has experienced this kind of crime.
2. A vehicle was successfully jacked in this same incident.
There is no way to tell how many lives have been lost to crimes related to illegal aliens. The best way to preserve these lives is to secure our borders and end the hiring of illegal aliens.
You mentioned the old "bracero" programs that the U.S. employed years ago. The U.S. still has NINE temporary guest worker programs operational right now, with many of them attached to the agriculture industry. The reason the ag industry doesn't want to use the program is that they don't want to have to comply with the wage and benefit standards the programs call for. They would rather hire illegal aliens, pay them a ridiculously low "slave wage", deny them any further employment benefits and then threaten them with firing or reporting them to ICE if they protest their treatment.