Immigration Activists Gather
Prominent anti-illegal-immigration activists joined this weekend to call on public officials to enforce federal immigration laws and protect the country’s borders.
Buoyed by last month’s Minuteman Project citizen border patrols in Arizona, leaders made plans for a multi-state coalition of organizations that could be called the Minuteman Campaign USA.
The groups called for the creation of a legal defense fund, a campaign to target employers who hire undocumented workers, and increased apprehension of illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Read the story here.
Lawyers Argue Over Jackson Jury Instructions
Lawyers in the Michael Jackson trial today argued about the instructions Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville will give the 12 jurors who will decide the fate of the pop star.
Jackson, 46, faces 10 felony counts, including child molestation, conspiracy and giving alcohol to a boy to aid in the commission of the molestation. If convicted on all charges, Jackson could be sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.
Melville today said he would instruct jurors that they could consider misdemeanor alcohol charges as well. He also said he will give the jurors and eight alternates copies of his charge. Read the story here.
Tensions rise in U.S.-Mexico border region
Forecasts for the California-Mexico border this summer have risen to somewhere between sizzling and explosive, with Minutemen Project volunteers and pro-immigration activists poised to clash amid re-emerging political rhetoric and public tension.
After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s calls forbetter federal border controls and praise of Minutemen patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border to report illegal immigrants, the group expects to begin similar efforts in California – a move pro-immigration demonstrators plan to counter.
A new poll shows, meanwhile, Schwarzenegger’s comments won him the Republican backing he wants, while riling the Democratic lawmakers he’s already battling over the deficit-plagued state budget and government-reform measures. Read the story here.
Dan Walters: California has huge stake in rational immigration policy
Every few weeks, hundreds of people line up outside the Crest Theatre, two blocks from the state Capitol in downtown Sacramento, for ceremonies that will bestow U.S. citizenship. Their celebratory mood and immense variety of nationalities and ethnic groups attest to California’s magnetic attraction to those seeking better lives.
As Sacramento welcomes the newest U.S. citizens, 600 miles to the southeast, men and women are dying from thirst and sunstroke in the Arizona desert as they, too, seek better lives.
What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. Had we set out to deliberately create an utterly illogical, unworkable and inhumane immigration policy, we could have scarcely done worse than what piecemeal decrees and political posturing have wrought. Read the story here.
