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ALERT! - Senate leadership plans new push for immigration bill that includes amnesty!

Many analysts thought that the economic crisis had pushed illegal immigration to the back burner, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that he wants to pass amnesty legislation early in the next Congressional session, and... he thinks it may be easy.

Indications are that Senator Reid, Senator John McCain, and President-elect Barack Obama—all supporters of an amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens—want to demonstrate this bi-partisan "accomplishment," even as millions of American workers are losing their jobs. An amnesty will, of course, encourage more illegal immigration and more illegal workers taking jobs from Americans.

Let your Senators know at this early opportunity that Americans still do not want an amnesty, and that this proposal will spark the same outrage that killed the last bill.

Please click here (http://www.capsweb.org/wrapper.php?wrapper_id=1&men
u_id=5&menu_item_id=19)  to learn more and to take action.

WAKE UP AMERICA, Illegal Aliens  Are Overrunning The USA!!!

Immigrant Advocates Reach Out To Obama

Coalition Appears in D.C. To Press Agenda, Events

By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post, November 12, 2008; B05

Dozens of immigrant advocates from across the country convened in Washington yesterday to call on President-elect Barack Obama to halt work-site immigration raids and fulfill campaign pledges to offer the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship within his first year in office.

Representatives of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a coalition of grass-roots organizations from Los Angeles, New York and the Washington area, also announced plans to mobilize tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters for a demonstration on the Mall on Jan. 21, the day after Obama's inauguration.

'We voted in the millions, and now we're going to demand progress in the millions,' said Angelica Salas, director of one of the allied organizations, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, at a news conference to publicize the movement's efforts.

The last attempt by Congress to overhaul the immigration system foundered in spring 2007 amid a storm of angry phone calls from constituents complaining that the legalization component amounted to an unacceptable 'amnesty' for lawbreakers. And several members of the coalition acknowledged yesterday that the tanking economy had further complicated their efforts.

However, they said they were also confident that the record participation of Hispanic and immigrant voters in last week's elections would translate into greater political clout.

Turnout among Latinos -- who tend to favor legalizing undocumented immigrants -- increased by 30 percent from the 2004 presidential race. Two-thirds of the Latino vote went to Obama, compared with barely more than half for the 2004 Democratic nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.). And Latinos proved particularly helpful to Obama and other Democrats in the battleground states of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.

'Historically, we've never had legislative progress on immigration during an economic recession,' said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of another alliance member, the New York Immigration Coalition. 'On the other hand, we've never had these kinds of numbers turn out at the polls. . . . The immigrant and Latino vote has permanently established itself as part of the electoral calculus.'

Although Hong and the other speakers said they did not expect Obama to tackle immigration legislation within his first 100 days, they outlined several executive decisions such as the moratorium on immigration raids that they hoped he would take immediately. These included devoting more resources to clearing up a backlog of visa applications, improving conditions at immigrant detention facilities and suspending the Bush administration's recent decision to begin mailing notices to 140,000 employers of workers with suspect Social Security numbers, warning them that they have 90 days to resolve the discrepancies or fire the workers.

'We need an end to these harsh tactics that don't work,' Salas said. 'Americans have shown that they want practical solutions.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/articl
e/2008/11/11/AR2008111101596.html?hpid=topnews

FREE RAMOS AND COMPEAN!!!

Former border agent resentenced in border shooting

The Associated Press, November 12, 2008

El Paso, TX (AP) -- A former Border Patrol agent convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler was resentenced to his original 12 year prison term Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

A federal judge in El Paso resentenced Jose Alonso Compean to 10 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of using a weapon in the commission of a felony and another two years for assault and other charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Compean, along with former agent Ignacio Ramos, was convicted in 2006 of shooting admitted and now convicted drug smuggler Osvaldo Adlrete Davila and trying to cover up the incident.

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans threw out some convictions against Ramos and Compean earlier this year, prompting Wednesday's new sentencing hearing. But the court upheld the majority of the case, including the weapons charge that brought a mandatory 10-year prison term.

Lawyers for Compean announced Wednesday they are also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

Both men have been in prison since January 2007. Ramos, who was originally sentenced to 11 years and a day in prison, is scheduled to be resentenced in federal court in El Paso on Thursday.

The case against Compean and Ramos prompted a massive outcry from supporters of the former agents who argued that U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton should have focused his office's efforts on prosecuting illegal immigrant Osvaldo Aldrete Davila for his drug-smuggling activities. Several supporters, including members of Congress, have asked President Bush to pardon the men, or at least commute their sentences.

Aldrete, who admitted smuggling several hundred pounds of marijuana on the day he was shot in 2005, pleaded guilty earlier this year to drug charges related to two smuggling attempts several months after he was shot in the buttocks while running away from Ramos and Compean. The same federal judge who sentenced the former agents ordered Aldrete to serve 9 1/2 years in prison.

Ramos and Compean argued during their trials that they shot Aldrete, whom they believed was armed, in self defense. Aldrete has denied having a weapon the day he was shot.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6108584.h
tml

'Temporary' Border Patrol checkpoint is two years old

By Bud Foster
The KOLD News (Tucson, AZ), November 11, 2008

Two years ago this week, the Border Patrol set up a temporary checkpoint on Interstate 19 just South of Green Valley.

Now the Border Patrol has announced its intentions to move the temporary site to a new interim site about a mile and a half down the Interstate towards Tubac.

It will move from kilometer post 42 to kilometer post 40.

The Border Patrol has made no secret it wants a permanent station. The Tucson sector, which runs for 232 miles, is the only section of border which does not have a permanent site.

But public outcry and opposition has forced the agency to back off for the time being.

Now, a new appropriations bill passed by Congress says the Border Patrol must follow procedure if it wants its permanent site.

'We were planning on having a permanent checkpoint by 2010 or 2011. We're now looking two years beyond that,' says agent Michael Scioli, a public affairs officer.

'An adjustment has been made in the language which says we need an interim checkpoint put up first and then the GAO will come out and assess that over a two or three year period and then at that point, we can look at a permanent checkpoint,' he says.

The interim checkpoint will have a canopy over the freeway to protect the agents from the elements, another lane of freeway for trucks, lines for computer equipment, it will have air conditioning, more canines and more agents.

It will look a lot like a permanent checkpoint but it will not fit the definition.

'The reason it's not a permanent checkpoint is because its still on the interstate. A permanent checkpoint will route motorists off the interstate and then back on,' he says.

'We're certainly fighting an uphill battle, no doubt about that,' says Gary Brasher, a realtor in Tubac.

He says even the small, temporary checkpoint has disrupted the town's economy. He believes a permanent one will do even more damage.

'They have made no secret that they want the permanent checkpoint and I know they're not giving up on it. Actually, I've been working on this for 12 years and it's not built yet. Se we'll just keep fighting the good fight,' Brasher says.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=9332839&nav=
14RTPV3F

Economic Crises Will Take Precedence Over Near-Term Immigration Overhaul

By Joel Millman and June Kronholz
The Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2008

The next administration's preoccupation with economic crises will likely prevent immigration advocates from capitalizing on steep losses suffered by their foes in last week's election, delaying any attempt to ease entry for people in the U.S. illegally.

Of the 13 House Republicans who lost their seats on Nov. 4, nine were members of the Immigration Reform Caucus, which has opposed a path to citizenship for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. A 10th member, Virginia's Virgil Goode, is trailing in a race still too close to call.

In addition, caucus founder Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado is retiring, as is Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, another voice for increased border security and crackdowns on illegal immigration.

Together, these losses shifted the political landscape on a problem that has defied solutions over the past two decades.

The camps break down roughly along these lines: Business and immigrant groups argue for a three-pronged approach that includes legalizing immigrants who overstayed visas or entered the U.S. illegally; enhancing border security; and admitting more workers as the economy needs them. Social conservatives and law-and-order Republicans have argued that the border should be secured before there is any plan to expand immigration.

Many Republican candidates' strong stand against illegal immigrants was read by voters as anti-Latino, and likely hurt incumbents in Florida, Virginia and Colorado. More than 100,000 newly naturalized citizens registered to vote in Florida, where Reps. Tom Feeney and Ric Keller, both members of the immigration-reform caucus, lost their seats.

Immigration wasn't the only issue in any of those races. But in a study to be released Wednesday, the pro-immigration group America's Voice found that of 20 races in which candidates drew sharp distinctions on immigration, hard-line 'enforcement only' advocates lost in 18.

Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina counted on support from law-and-order voters when she ran ads on her work linking local sheriffs to a federal program targeting illegal immigrants. The move backfired after Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, who was campaigning with Sen. Dole, was quoted in a Charlotte newspaper characterizing Mexican immigrants as 'trashy.'

Sen. Dole's contest was one of five Senate races in which anti-immigrant candidates lost, America's Voice concluded.

Roy Beck, of the group Numbers USA, disagrees. 'Voters didn't punish anybody for taking strong enforcement stands,' Mr. Beck wrote. 'In most cases, our allies were replaced by challengers who worked hard to convince voters that they were just as tough -- or tougher -- on illegal immigration as the incumbents.'

But the defeat of so many caucus members has left immigrant groups optimistic that the Obama administration will reward Hispanic voters for their support with some sort of legalization program.

That doesn't mean a comprehensive immigration overhaul will be a legislative priority, or that its chances of passing are significantly better in Congress, though -- and the president-elect didn't make any promises during the campaign. Mr. Obama will be focused on the economy and tax policy and isn't likely to expend political capital on such a divisive issue, many immigration experts say.

There is also no leader to take up the immigration cause in place of Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is fighting cancer. Sen. John McCain was the lead Republican advocate of revamping immigration laws, but he took intense heat from primary voters for his stand and largely dropped the issue during his presidential campaign.

'Conventional wisdom that amnesty is a done deal is incorrect,' says Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group opposed to increased immigration.

Immigrant groups have long feared that any stand-alone bill seeking legalization for millions of undocumented residents would fail, and have insisted on legalization being part of a broader immigration bill. 'Illegals are so divisive [as a political issue] that the groups know there have to be sweeteners to get an overhaul passed,' said Kara Calvert of the Information Technology Industry Council.

But various groups have their own reasons to avoid lumping every immigration issue into an omnibus bill.

High-tech employers may argue for a separate bill that would provide more temporary visas and permanent green cards to engineers, mathematicians and scientists whom they believe would help spur the economy, she added. Agriculture may make the same case, arguing that it needs field workers to prevent production from moving to Mexico.

That could fracture the business-union-immigrant coalition behind bills that failed in 2005 and 2007. Trade unions will likely oppose a temporary-worker plan that was part of both earlier bills -- and a must-have for employers -- because it would affect jobs during a recession.

A hint of Congress's and the administration's intentions could come in March when the E-Verify program, which lets employers electronically verify the status of new workers, expires. The program is a cornerstone of the Bush administration's enforcement policies, but has detractors among civil-libertarian and immigrant groups. The next administration could seek a five-year renewal, a brief extension or let it expire.

Another key will be whether the Obama administration continues workplace raids, which have resulted in the arrest of thousands of illegal workers and criminal prosecution of at least some managers. The Bush administration, after pushing Congress for a legalization program, stepped up the raids after legislation failed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122645231349219391.
html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 Drunk illegal alien driver leads high-speed chase in Avon, police say

 Illegal alien reached speeds of 85 mph on Highway 6 before crashing, police say

By Matt Zalaznick
The Vail Daily (CO), November 10, 2008

AVON, Colorado – A drunk driver who was an illegal immigrant led police on a high-speed chase through Avon and Eagle-Vail, Colorado Sunday afternoon before rolling his car on U.S. Highway 6, the Eagle County Sheriff's Office says.

Horacio Marquez, 27, also known as Epifanio Larguero Castro, passed an Eagle County sheriff's deputy driving 66 mph in a 35 mph zone on Highway 6 near Avon Road, the Sheriff's Office says.

Marquez did not stop and continued driving east on Highway 6 at speeds in excess of 85 mph, eventually rolling the vehicle at mile marker 174, the Sheriff's Office says.

Marquez was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, vehicular eluding, reckless driving, possession of cocaine, and possession of a forged instrument, for presenting a fake driver’s license, the Sheriff's Office says.

Once Marquez was cleared by paramedics, he was taken to the Eagle County Detention Facility. Based on fingerprints, deputies discovered he had three outstanding warrants for traffic related offenses and a revoked license for prior alcohol offenses, the Sheriff's Office says.

Marquez is currently being held at the jail on $15,000 bond and also is being detained there by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20081110/NEWS/8111
09995/1078%26ParentProfile=1062%26title=Drunk%20driver%
20leads%20high-speed%20chase%20in%20Avon,%20police%20sa
y

Former IRA militant fights deportation in S. Texas

By Christopher Sherman
The Associated Press, November 10, 2008

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas -- A former IRA militant and escaped political prisoner who has lived in immigration limbo for 25 years in California may see it all unravel from inside a South Texas federal detention center.

Pol Brennan, convicted member of the Irish Republican Army and escapee from a notorious prison outside Belfast, was nabbed with an expired work permit in South Texas in January. He has been detained ever since, awaiting a hearing Wednesday and Thursday on whether he'll finally earn legal residency or be deported to Northern Ireland, where his wife says he'll face retaliation.

Brennan's situation is so muddied that questions of why he would be deported now after 25 years are balanced by the marvel that he was not sent home years ago for sneaking into the country under an assumed name. He had brushes with the law in the U.S. before his arrest in Texas, but was able to renew work permits without becoming a permanent legal resident.

Since coming to America, Brennan married and worked as a master carpenter, bought a gun under an assumed name, once applied for a passport, also with an assumed name, and was convicted of misdemeanor assault for scuffling with a contractor who he claimed owed him money.

Immigration officials won't comment on his case, citing the upcoming hearing. But Brennan's case has drawn attention, especially within the Irish-American community. Supporters have run a petition drive, raised money for his defense and recruited a bipartisan trio of congressmen who wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this summer supporting Brennan's request for bond.

Brennan, 55, a short man with wire glasses, gray goatee and love of political theory, wears a professorial air.

His Web site offers writings and radio interviews in which he rails against the bad food, guards, restrictions on reading material and what he sees as racist immigration policies.

Brennan was caught with an expired work permit in January while he and his wife, Joanna Volz, were driving to Austin from South Padre Island, where they had visited Volz's mother.

U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Sarita checkpoint ran Brennan through the computer and found: His conviction and 16-year prison sentence in 1977 in Belfast for possession of explosives; the infamous 1983 escape from the maximum security Maze Prison outside Belfast with 37 others; and his 1993 arrest by the FBI in Berkeley, Calif., after he had applied for a passport using an assumed name.

"They started getting really agitated and excited," Brennan told The Associated Press from the Willacy County Detention Center. "Like they were on to something. It was kind of comical."

Two days later Border Patrol announced its agents had captured an international fugitive. But Brennan had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1984, and his wife says he hadn't been hard to find.

"If I was an FBI agent (looking for Brennan and other Maze escapees) I would just go to a big Irish bar and look for who never had to buy his drinks," Volz said.

Brennan's 1993 arrest kicked off what became a 7-year fight against extradition to Great Britain. It ended when Britain dropped its extradition request, citing Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday accord, which called for the accelerated release of the conflict's political prisoners.

Ever since, Brennan and about 15 other former IRA prisoners, who made their home in the United States, have lived in a legal limbo. Even though they entered the country illegally, they can renew their work permits but have not been able to get permanent immigration status. Brennan's requests for political asylum and a green card are pending.

At his hearing this week, Brennan plans to argue that the extradition would cause hardship for his wife _ she quit her job to be near him in Texas _ and that he could face potentially violent grudges in Northern Ireland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/articl
e/2008/11/10/AR2008111001761_pf.html

Police: Victim's meth use irrelevant in fatal crash at Baskin Robbins

DA's office files 9 more charges against illegal alien

By April M. Washington
The Rocky Mountain News (Denver), November 10, 2008

It is immaterial that Patricia Guntharp - one of three people killed in a collision outside an Aurora Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop in September - tested positive for methamphetamine, police and prosecutors said Monday.

'Anything she has in her system doesn't change the outcome of the accident or the cause of the accident,' Aurora police Detective Johnny Lee testified at a preliminary hearing for Francis Hernandez, 23. 'It does not change the fact that (Hernandez) was running the red light at 78 miles an hour.'

Guntharp was making a left turn near Mississippi Avenue and Havana Street when Hernandez punched through a red light and broadsided her pickup.

Killed were Guntharp, 49, of Centennial; Guntharp's passenger, Debbie Serecky, 51, of Aurora; and Marten Kudlis, 3, of Aurora, who was in the ice cream shop.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office on Monday filed nine additional charges against Hernandez, including child abuse resulting in death. He now faces a total of 19 charges.

Judge Anne Ollada bound Hernandez over for criminal trial and set his arraignment for Dec. 11.

Guntharp's family members, many wearing black armbands, sat in the courtroom during the three-hour hearing.

Marten Kudlis' parents were also there. Both families declined to talk to reporters.

Nearly a dozen members of Hernandez's family also attended.

Before the hearing got under way, Hernandez winked at his 2-year-old daughter, who later was removed from the courtroom by her mother when she cried out for her father.

'I want my poppy,' she said. 'I want my poppy.'

Brenda Aleman, the mother of Hernandez's children, called the hearing painful.

'They're not letting his attorney say anything to help him,' she said as she wiped her tears. 'The accident wasn't just his fault. It seems so unfair.'

The Sept. 4 deaths rekindled a nasty immigration debate after it was learned that Hernandez was an illegal immigrant and had been arrested nearly 20 times but was never deported.

The case took a startling twist when an autopsy later revealed that Guntharp had enough methamphetamine in her blood to be considered intoxicated.

In testimony Monday, police said a data recording device in Hernandez's SUV showed he was going 78 mph two seconds before impact. Guntharp's speed was an estimated 10.4 mph.

'He killed a child and two women as result of his reckless driving,' said Rich Orman, Arapahoe County assistant district attorney. 'There is no evidence that Guntharp was driving bad; the issue is this defendant's reckless conduct.'

But Kallman Elinoff, Hernandez's attorney, said when Guntharp turned left, she was 30 yards from the intersection and crossed a double-yellow line, which he called dangerous and illegal.

Elinoff unsuccessfully petitioned the judge to drop what he called excessive charges. He also argued that toxicology reports prove his client was not at fault.

'The fact that she was on methamphetamine did contribute to the accident,' he said. 'I think 12 reasonable jurors will see that.'

Francis Hernandez, 23, is accused of causing the fatal car crash.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/10/9
-more-charges-filed-against-illegal-immigrant-dri/

Illegal alien shooter recently cited for carrying a concealed weapon

By Freeman Klopott
The Examiner (Washington, DC), November 10, 2008

Just weeks before police say an illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member shot and killed a 14-year-old Silver Spring boy, the 20-year-old man was charged with concealing a dangerous weapon by a Montgomery County police officer, court records show.

The citation was issued on Oct. 3, a little less than a month before police say Hector Hernandez — an El Salvadoran illegal alien living in Takoma Park — opened fire on a Montgomery County bus, killing Tai Lam and wounding two other teens, ages 14 and 15.

Hernandez was with four or five other alleged gang members when he got on the bus in Silver Spring, police said. Other arrests are likely.

The two groups got into an argument on the bus and, as Hernandez was exiting near Piney Branch Road and Arliss Street, he pulled out a handgun and started shooting, police said.

The limited records available on the Internet do not say if Hernandez was taken into custody for hiding the weapon on Oct. 3.

Police spokesman Lt. Paul Starks said the charge implies the weapon was not a gun, but possibly a knife or nunchucks, and the officer who issued the citation would not necessarily have brought Hernandez to jail.

This marks the second time in less than two years an illegal alien with possible MS-13 gang ties has slipped through the fingers of Montgomery County officials and gone on to commit another crime.

In July 2007, police had Milton Calderon-Melendez, an MS-13 gang member and El Salvadoran illegal alien, in custody on assault charges and then released him on bail.

A month later, he was charged with nearly stabbing a Gaithersburg man to death, but by then he had already left town.

Calderon-Melendez was caught in March by Prince William County police who have a policy of checking immigration status of people they arrest.

Brad Botwin, founder of anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Maryland, said Montgomery County’s policy of not closely checking immigration status is making the county a dangerous place to live.

'Here again is another example of people living in Maryland not being protected by the police,' Botwin said.

Calls to a spokesman for Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett were not returned.

http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/crime/Illegal_immi
grant_shooter_recently_cited_for_carrying_a_concealed_w
eapon.html

Odessa Truck Driver Sentenced for Running Illegal Aliens to Odessa

The KWES News, November 6, 2008 

Staff Report
NewsWest 9

An Odessa truck driver gets federal prison time for running illegal aliens.

36-year-old Derl Wayne Justice gets two years behind bars and three years of probation.

Justice admitted he took money to bring illegals from El Paso to Odessa.

Border patrol agents nabbed him near Odessa with seven illegal aliens hiding in his sleeping compartment.

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=9308288
&nav=menu505_2