Mexico acknowledges poor treatment of migrants in its own territory
MEXICO CITY - Mexico uses the same methods to deal with migrants _ mainly from Central America _ that it opposes in the United States, human rights officials here said Wednesday.
The admission comes as Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez called on Latin American countries to unite against a U.S. House bill to toughen border enforcement.
The bill, which passed Friday with a 239-182 vote, would make illegal entry a felony, and enlist military and local police to help stop undocumented migrants.
But officials of Mexico’s federal Human Rights Commission said Mexico uses both measures on its own territory.
Mexico’s “population law does include prison terms for illegally entering the country … and this is something that has been the subject of constant complaints,” said Mauricio Farah, a national inspector for the rights commission.
According to Article 123 of Mexico’s Population Law “foreigners illegally entering the country will be subject to punishment of up to two years in prison” and fines up to $28,200 (U.S.). Such prison sentences are rarely imposed.
Auto insurance premiums to be based on record, not home’s ZIP code
SACRAMENTO - Thousands of California drivers with good records who still pay high insurance premiums because of where they live can expect to see some relief next year under new state regulations proposed Thursday.
Moving to end years of wrangling over the “redlining” issue, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said the new regulations will require insurers to look first at a driver’s record – not the community of residence – when determining rates.
Currently, many insurers consider a driver’s ZIP code as the most important factor in rate-setting, leading to horror stories of drivers facing premium hikes of hundreds of dollars just for moving across the street or living in urban areas.
“A good driver, wherever they are in the state of California, ought to have a lower rate than a bad driver, wherever that person is in the state of California,” Garamendi said.
Mexicans Head North to Snare Holiday Bargains
The annual border crush illustrates growing social and economic ties in the San Diego-Tijuana region
TIJUANA — The pedestrian lane at the San Ysidro port of entry backed up nearly a quarter-mile into Mexico, weaving past the churro vendors, discount drugstores and tin-shack candy booths.
Gloria Escobar, standing near a display of Santa Claus pinatas, already had waited half an hour to cross into California. Only one more hour left, she hoped.
“It’s worth the sacrifice,” Escobar said one morning this week. “In San Diego, the stores are better than Tijuana…. Everyone in this line is going for Christmas shopping.”
The annual holiday season crush at the border reached its height this week as Dodger Stadium-size crowds from Mexico headed north in search of bargains at swap meets, outlet stores and suburban shopping malls.
They endured extra-long waits in the pedestrian and vehicle lanes, which were already jammed with thousands of Mexicans
Wednesday, December 21st, 2005
Mexico bristles at idea of wall
It’s denounced as ‘stupid’, ‘shameful’
The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it.
Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm, Allyn & Company to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration.
Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives on Friday, as “shameful” and his foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, echoed his complaints on Tuesday.
Teens deny charges in ‘Columbine’ plan
SYLMAR - The arraignment of two teenagers on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a Columbine-style attack at Quartz Hill High School ended in a matter of minutes Tuesday.
With one set of parents present, the two unnamed minors, ages 15 and 17, both denied the charges in the closed hearing, Deputy District Attorney Lonnie Felker said.
“It went over to Jan. 4 for a fitness-setting (date),” said Felker, “to determine whether they are to be tried as juveniles. If they are found to be unfit to be tried as juveniles, based on a number of considerations, like the nature and severity of the crime, they’ll be tried as adults.”
Sheriff’s deputies announced the arrests of the teens last week.
EMAIL ALLYN & COMPANY - LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!
Tuesday, December 20th, 2005
Heavy crowd, celebrities expected at Williams funeral service
LOS ANGELES – In the kind of funeral normally reserved for a dignitary, religious leaders and celebrities traveled to violence-wracked South Los Angeles to pay respects to the man who helped found a deadly street gang, then spent the years before his execution denouncing the gangster life.
Stanley Tookie Williams’ funeral was scheduled for noon Tuesday, almost exactly a week after he was put to death for murdering four people during a pair of 1979 robberies. Williams, who in the 1970s co-founded the Crips gang not far from the church hosting his funeral, wrote from Death Row children’s books warning against the gang life.
Federal Judge Rules Against ‘Intelligent Design’
A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled today that it is unconstitutional to compel teachers there to present “intelligent design” as an alternative explanation to evolution because it amounts to establishing religion in public schools.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III wrote that the Dover, Pa. school board cannot require teachers “to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution” or “refer to a religious, alternative theory known as I.D.”
Jones’ ruling came in Tammy Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board, the first legal challenge to teaching intelligent design, which holds that organisms are so complex and highly perfected, a designer must have created them. The designer is not identified in the theory, though some supporters believe it is God.
Monday, December 19th, 2005
House votes to build a border fence
House approves tough immigration bill
WASHINGTON - Far-reaching legislation that turns America’s estimated 11 million illegal aliens into felons passed the House late Friday after a raging two-day debate.
The bill passed 239-182 largely along party lines after Republicans beat back a last-ditch attempt by Democrats to scuttle it.
The legislation authorizes construction of a fence along 698 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and makes employees responsible for knowing the immigration status of their workers. Anyone who hires an illegal immigrant could be fined as much as $25,000 per worker.
It encourages state and local police agencies to enforce immigration laws and lets them use first-responder grant money to do so. It also ends the “catch and release” policy for illegal non-Mexicans and imposes tougher penalties for smuggling and illegal re-entry.
Council members say they’re worth it
Pay far higher – $149,159 – than colleagues’ in other big cities, where the weather is far worse.
A staff of about 20 each and a $1 million annual budget.
A car of choice, with gas paid for, along with a free cell phone.
Three-day workweek with as many extra paid days off as desired.
And work that – if often demanding and stressful – also is personally satisfying and provides high status and invitations to great parties.
But as the nation’s best-rewarded City Council gets ready to unwrap yet another perk – a proposed 20 days time off from regular council sessions next year – some may wonder: Just how much is too much?
Group fights Wal-Mart on ‘happy holidays’
SACRAMENTO (AP) — A group of religious protesters demonstrated outside a Wal-Mart superstore Saturday, hoping to turn away customers by calling attention to the retailer’s decision to use “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in its seasonal advertising.
But even shoppers who agreed with the protesters weren’t willing to interrupt their quest for holiday deals.
“I believe in Christ, and I don’t like the use of ‘xmas’ or the use of ‘happy holidays,’” said Steven Van Noy, 39, as he left the store loaded down with packages. “The bottom line is that they had what I needed at Wal-Mart, so I went to Wal-Mart to buy it.”
Controversy over the secularization of Christmas is nothing new, but this year religious groups are publicly taking on retailers who have decided to tone down the religious aspects of the holiday in their store decorations and promotional material
Friday, December 16th, 2005
House nears vote on immigration
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives scrambled on Thursday to bridge deep divisions within their party over President George W. Bush’s proposed guest worker program as lawmakers neared a vote on legislation aimed at stopping illegal immigration.
The House was poised to vote on Friday on the bill that its Republican backers say will strengthen border security and stanch the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States by forcing employers to check the status of employees.
Democrats generally oppose the legislation and Friday’s vote could be close. The White House said it supported passage of the House bill but remained committed to comprehensive immigration reform that includes a guest worker program.
House debate exposes Republican split on reform bill
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WASHINGTON - Bitterly divided Republicans opened debate Thursday on a sweeping illegal-immigration enforcement bill that exposed the party’s deep fractures on the issue and left uncertain the fate of President Bush’s guest-worker proposal.
The House easily passed a series of noncontroversial amendments to the bill, including condemning rape by smugglers and mandating all border patrol officers’ uniforms are made in America.
Lawmakers also passed an amendment by David Dreier, R-Glendora, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, mandating construction of a fence along 698 miles of the Southwest border with the highest levels of illegal-immigrant crossings, deaths and drug smuggling.
A final vote on the legislation – which also would turn illegal immigrants into a new class of “aggravated criminals” and demand every employer verify their workers’ eligibility – is expected today.
House Moving to Tighten Immigration
The Republican bill focuses on border security and law enforcement and omits a guest-worker plan favored by Bush.
WASHINGTON — The House Republican leadership overcame resistance within its deeply divided ranks Thursday and pushed toward a final vote today on sweeping legislation to crack down on illegal immigrants and beef up border security.
The bill is believed likely to pass the House on a largely party-line vote. But its fate in the Senate is uncertain because it ignores calls by President Bush and some House and Senate Republicans for a guest-worker program that would temporarily legalize the status of millions of illegal workers. Bush has repeatedly called for a comprehensive approach to overhauling the immigration laws.
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
Language on guest worker program debated
WASHINGTON – The last-minute addition of language that expresses congressional support for a guest-worker program into the immigration bill headed for the House floor today has a group of Republican members up in arms.
For months, House GOP leaders have said they plan to go to the floor with an immigration bill that deals with border security and doesn’t include the kind of temporary guest-worker program that many Senate Republicans and the White House have been calling for.
But early Wednesday, House staffers learned that a one-paragraph section about the need for foreign workers to help the U.S. economy was being added to the bill. It was included as part of a wide-ranging amendment by the bill’s author, Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
Suit challenges California’s tuition rule for immigrants
WASHINGTON - About three dozen students sued the University of California on Wednesday, charging that it had violated federal law by allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates while maintaining higher rates for out-of-state students.
The students, all from out of state, are represented by a legal team that includes Kris Kobach, a former Justice Department official who shaped national immigration policy under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Kobach said the policy discriminates against out-of-state students who are U.S. citizens and pay higher tuition than students who are in this country illegally
Report Touts Advantages of Preschool
State program would cut high school dropout and youth crime rates, the Rand Corp. finds
Los Angeles County would have about 3,300 fewer high school dropouts annually and nearly 10,000 fewer criminal cases filed against juveniles each year if publicly funded preschool were available in California, according to a new report from the Rand Corp.
Every other populous region of the state would see similar benefits, said the Rand study, which is being released today and would for the first time quantify the benefits of universal preschool.
“We can reduce the numbers of children who struggle, in and out of school, if we get smarter about offering them preschool,” Maryann O’Sullivan, founder of the nonprofit advocacy group Preschool California, said Wednesday during a teleconference announcing the report.
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
Death Penalty Moratorium on the Table
Five Democrats want a hiatus until 2009 while a state panel reviews the system. The plan, unrelated to Williams case, faces a fight.
SACRAMENTO — State legislators in early January will consider what is likely to be a contentious proposal to postpone executions for as long as three years.
On Jan. 10, an Assembly committee plans to consider legislation that would place a moratorium on executions until a special commission finishes examining whether California’s criminal justice system allows innocent people to be convicted.
The bill, the first of its kind in Sacramento in more than a decade, faces substantial political and legal hurdles. Its hearing — scheduled long before convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams’ execution Tuesday — comes as the state is poised to perform a record number of executions in the coming year.
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, created by the state Senate last year, is studying the extent to which people have been wrongly convicted of crimes. The commission, composed of people on all sides of the issue, was charged with suggesting improvements to lawmakers by the end of 2007.
New rules proposed for car-pool lanes
Following the Bay Area model, the plan would let solo drivers in during off-peak hours.
ORANGE – A push began Monday to revolutionize Orange County’s car-pool lanes by allowing qualifying motorists to enter and exit them whenever they choose instead of only at certain stretches that can be miles apart.
Further, car-pool lanes would be open to solo drivers outside of rush hours in an attempt to make the county’s freeways more free-flowing.
WASHINGTON — Immigration, both legal and illegal, has accelerated, pushing the percentage of the U.S. population born in other countries to the highest point in nearly a century.
There are 35.2 million foreign-born people living in the U.S. — about 12.1 percent of the population, according to a report Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The report comes as the House prepares to take up a bill to curb illegal immigration by boosting border security and requiring workplace enforcement of immigration laws.
Fear of Exile Vexes Many in South O.C.
San Juan Capistrano streets ‘go dead’ when immigration agents are around, one activist says.
Construction worker Miguel Garcia was headed to a discount store when his sister-in-law called and told him to get off the streets as quickly as he could.
“I told him, ‘Don’t go out, the migra is in town,’ ” she said. Passing along a rumor, the sister-in-law said federal officials had arrested an undocumented immigrant at the store where Garcia was headed.
Although the report was apparently untrue, Garcia, 36, who has been in California illegally for three years, spent the rest of the day at home in San Juan Capistrano with the blinds shut.
So goes life in the small, tightknit immigrant communities of southern Orange County, largely an area of affluence and master-planned cities. Taking such precautions in San Juan Capistrano, known for its historic mission, swallows and rolling hills, is common among undocumented immigrants who work in restaurants, farms and homes.
