The Ultimate Slap in the face of Conservatives
Here's a statement by Karl Rove, White House Assistant to the President, which was reported by Lee Rodgers of Conservative TalkRadio Station KSFO...
"We are trying to achieve liberal goals by conservative means"
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AP: Hutchinson Leaving DHS
WASHINGTON - A top Homeland Security Department official resigned his post Monday after he was passed over twice by the Bush administration to be secretary of the agency.
Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, in charge of border and transportation security issues, submitted his letter of resignation to the White House early Monday morning, said a DHS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the resignation had not yet been announced.
Hutchinson is a former Arkansas congressman and former federal drug czar who is believed to be considering a run for Arkansas governor next year. His resignation is expected to be effective March 1.
"It was just a good time to change for me personally and for the department," Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which first reported his plans.
Earlier this month, President Bush (news - web sites) tapped federal appears court judge Michael Chertoff as his second nominee to head the Homeland Security Department and its 180,000 employees. The president's first choice, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, withdrew shortly after he was nominated in December, citing immigration problems with a former nanny.
Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge plans to leave his office Feb. 1.
Hutchinson, 54, has said that he was disappointed that he wasn't selected to be secretary but is excited about other options, including a possible run for Arkansas governor in 2006. But Hutchinson didn't give any definite political plans for the future.
"We'll wait and see," Hutchinson told the newspaper. "I'm ruling nothing out. I'm taking the decision-making process a step at a time."
Hutchinson served three terms in Congress, representing the state's 3rd Congressional District. He served as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and then in the Department of Homeland Security.
Protestors back Redondo Beach day-laborer arrests
About 50 people say illegal immigrants are ruining the economy and stealing jobs.
By Josh Grossberg, Daily Breeze
In an effort to support the city's recent attempt to crack down on day laborers -- many of whom are in the country illegally -- a group of about 50 anti-illegal immigration demonstrators waved signs in Redondo Beach on Saturday.
Coming from as far away as Orange and Ventura counties, members of the protest said they wanted to get the word out that illegal immigrants are ruining the nation's economy and taking jobs away from citizens.
"I'm trying to stand up for America here," said Michelle Alessi, who graduated from Mira Costa High School before moving to Glendale.
Alessi said many people would consider the group racist for holding the demonstration, but they were only trying to stop people who were coming to the United States through improper channels.
"If they were Canadians, I would do the same thing, but this problem starts in Mexico," she said.
Other demonstrators complained that Mexican immigrants were not interested in learning about American culture.
"They're not coming to assimilate, they're coming to take over," said protestor Gayle Nybers of Murrieta.
Waving banners saying "Hey Redondo Beach -- Wake Up" and "Stop the Invasion. Enforce the Laws," the group stood on Pacific Coast Highway and Diamond Street, while police officers waited nearby in case there was any trouble.
There wasn't and the group, which gathered around 9 a.m., started to disperse after noon.
Passers-by react
As they held their signs, many cars driving passed honked at them.
Other drivers waved or shouted epithets.
Like many participants, Brenda Sanders of Lomita became interested in the cause when it became a popular topic for local talk radio stations.
She said she didn't want people in the country illegally squandering government services.
"It's our tax dollars," she said. "We should be taking care of our own people."
Tony Ballejos of Redondo Beach happened to walk past the protest. He felt little sympathy for their cause.
"It's a big state," he said. "There's plenty of work for everybody. I don't think a Mexican is going to take that blond lady's job."
If the protest was peaceful, there was controversy swirling under the surface.
The event was organized by Joseph Turner, who calls his new organization Saveourstate.org.
The name is very similar to Save Our State, an organization that was instrumental in passing Proposition 187, an anti-illegal immigration measure that was approved in 1994.
In fact, said Save Our State executive director, the name is too close.
"We have a record of accomplishment," Andy Ramirez said. "People are going to see that name and think we sponsored it. I vehemently complained. We asked them, 'we understand what you're trying to do, can you change your name?' "
Threat of violence
Furthering angering Ramirez was a notice appearing on Turner's Web site.
On the page instructing people about the Redondo Beach protest was the phrase, "Bring your bats, fellas. If we are lucky, we are gonna need them. PING!"
"You don't incite violence," Ramirez said. "It's racist crap. Emotions are hot to begin with.
"What he says is insensitive, disrespectful and racist. It's neo-Nazi thuggery. What's next, the sheet and hood?"
Turner removed the offending passage, but said he would be willing to resort to violence if anybody opposing the group showed up.
"I don't mind going toe-to-toe with people, but we're here for a peaceful demonstration," he said.
Late last year, undercover police officers arrested 60 laborers at two well-known gathering spots in town: the intersections of Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Inglewood Avenue, and Artesia Boulevard and Felton Lane.
The sweeps came in response to a barrage of nuisance calls from nearby business owners, according to police.
Shop owners had said they had seen laborers littering, harassing customers and urinating in public.
In response, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and National Day Laborer Organizing Network filed a lawsuit in November, contending that a provision in the city's Municipal Code banning solicitation of work from streets and sidewalks deprives laborers of their free speech rights.
Anti-migrant groups clash over name use
By STEPHEN WALL, Staff Writer (SBSun.com & LA Newspaper Group)
Two organizations with the same name are at odds in the battle to stop illegal immigration.
Save Our State, the political action committee responsible 1994's Proposition 187, is feuding with the leader of a new group called Save Our State Inc.
The latter registered as a corporation with the California Secretary of State's Office in July, while the former was created in 1993 to push a ballot measure that would have denied public services to illegal immigrants. The courts nullified most of Proposition 187 because parts of it conflicted with federal law.
The executive director of the Save Our State committee blasted the leader of the new organization for statements published on the group's Web site.
Joseph Turner, a former San Bernardino resident who is founder of Save Our State Inc., had made statements that appeared to promote violence in a news release announcing a rally against illegal immigration in Redondo Beach today .
The group is gathering at the Redondo Beach Civic Center to support the city's efforts to crack down on day laborers and collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving driver's licenses and other benefits.
"Bring your bats, fellas,' Turner had posted on his Web site. "If we are lucky, we are gonna need them. PING!'
Andy Ramirez, executive director of the Save Our State committee, contacted Turner and the statements were removed last week.
"When I saw this, I went ballistic,' Ramirez said. "When you say bring baseball bats ... that is not helpful to the cause. It's pathetic and ridiculous.'
Turner said it was inappropriate to discuss the issue in the media.
"This is something that should be resolved between the individual parties privately, especially since both organizations have the unified goal of enforcing immigration laws in the state of California,' said Turner, a 27-year-old Ventura resident.
Turner's group held a similar rally in December in front of the Home Depot in north San Bernardino, urging passing customers not to hire day laborers who the group claimed were illegal immigrants.
Protesters were outnumbered by pro-immigrant supporters who said day laborers had the right to gather to seek work in public places.
Ramirez said he is puzzled why Turner had to "copycat' the Save Our State name. He suggested a new name, "Stop The Invasion,' which is part of Turner's e-mail address.
Ramirez said Turner is doing a disservice to the work of Ron Prince, chairman of the Save Our State committee and co-author of Proposition 187.
While he was praised by opponents of illegal immigration, Prince's campaign in favor of Proposition 187 was widely seen as a mean-spirited attack on Latinos. Critics say the measure hurt the Republican Party's efforts to attract Latino voters in California for years.
Prince's group failed to collect enough signatures to put a new version of Proposition 187 on the ballot last year.
Turner said he was unaware of any conflicts when he researched a name for his organization.
"Over the past week, I have been working with their organization to come to a mutually beneficial compromise,' Turner said.
Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside, said the differences between the two groups are cosmetic.
Report: Illegal immigrants
cost feds $10 billion
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer (NCTimes.com - Aug. 26, 2004)
Illegal immigrants cost the federal government $10 billion more in services than they contribute in taxes, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative research organization in Washington, D.C.
Gleaning information from the U.S. Census and other sources, authors of the report, called the High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget, offers a complex fiscal picture of the illegal immigrant population.
The report drew criticism from some pro-immigrant groups, saying that the researchers did not paint a full picture of the contributions illegal immigrants make through their labor and purchasing power.
Despite popular notions that illegal immigrants abuse welfare services and don't pay taxes, the report concluded that this segment of the population receives relatively few resources and contributes $16 billion in federal taxes.
Nevertheless, the report's principal author, Steven Camarota, said that if presidential candidates fulfill their pledges to offer amnesty to the country's estimated 8.7 million illegal immigrants, the cost to provide services for them could triple to $29 billion.
"Ten billion isn't chicken feed," Camarota said. "It's not trivial."
Much of the cost of illegal immigration is attributed to relatively low educational levels among immigrants, Camarota said. Little education translates to low-paying jobs with few benefits. Fewer employment benefits lead to a greater need for government services, he said.
The federal government pays about $2.2 billion in medical treatment for uninsured immigrants, according to the report. It pays $1.9 billion in food assistance programs, such as food stamps and school lunches, for low-income families. And it pays $1.4 billion in aid to schools that educate illegal immigrant children.
Moreover, there are unavoidable costs, according to the report. Those costs include federal courts and prisons that punish illegal immigrants charged with crimes and costs associated with aid to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
The report does not include the costs of state and local governments, which share in the burden of paying for illegal immigration.
The report also does not address the broader contributions made by illegal immigrants, such as profits their employers generate or the sales taxes immigrants pay for goods they purchase, critics of the report said.
"It's a polemical debate that has no end," said Arturo Navarro, a professor of ethnic studies at UC Riverside and a Latino activist. "Our people are not driven to risk their lives crossing the border by the dream of becoming welfare recipients. They are driven by the American Dream."
Even some who support more strict immigration controls said they were suspicious about the report's findings. Freeman Sawyer, a local anti-illegal immigrant activist, said he questioned how the researchers arrived at their figures.
"If I go to Temecula (Valley) High School, even with a court order in my hand, and I said, 'I want to know how many illegal aliens are here; how many are receiving free lunches?'... They are not going to give them to me," Sawyer said.
He added: "I don't understand how they were able to get (data) from a population that doesn't want to be found."
Other findings of the report include:
On average, the costs that illegal households impose on federal coffers are less than half of other households, but their payments are less than a third of other households.
The vast majority of illegal immigrants hold jobs. Thus, the fiscal deficit they create for the federal government is not the result of an unwillingness to work, according to the report.
Although legalization would increase average tax payments by 77 percent, average costs would rise by 118 percent.
Read the full report at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalrelease.html
Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
Border Patrol union says new rules
'muzzle' critics of the agency
By: BEN FOX - Associated Press Writer (NCTimes.com)
TEMECULA, Calif. (AP) -- New labor rules proposed by the Department of Homeland Security would muzzle internal critics of the Border Patrol by making it easier to punish and fire agents, who have often been vocal critics of management policies, union officials said.
The new regulations would take effect upon their release, expected in late summer or early fall. As proposed, they would make significant changes to rules covering some 50,000 Homeland Security employees, including immigration, agricultural and customs inspectors on the border.
Homeland Security officials say the regulations would give the agency the flexibility necessary to fight terrorism, but unions representing federal employees say the proposals rules are unfair to workers and would stifle whistleblowers.
"People aren't going to be willing to talk. It's going to have a very chilling effect," T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said Wednesday.
A Border Patrol spokesman, Mario Villarreal, said the agency has a good working relationship with the union, which represents about 10,000 agents. But Bonner, who is also an agent, and others with the council have also been outspoken critics of enforcement efforts.
Since the mid-1990s, the union has aggressively campaigned for agents to be allowed more freedom to roam along the border to apprehend illegal immigrants instead of staying at what it believes are ineffective fixed positions that are intended as visible deterrents to border crossers.
More recently, the union urged Homeland Security officials to allow a mobile patrol unit to resume apprehensions of illegal immigrants in inland cities. The 12-agent group, based out of the Temecula station, made more than 400 arrests in June before the operations were halted amid an outcry by activists and politicians.
Union leaders defended the mobile patrol at a town hall meeting in Temecula on Friday, but Bonner and others said agents would be afraid to be so vocal under the new proposals.
"It would be career suicide, and if you get fired from a law enforcement job it's a stain," he said. "It's the kiss of death for getting another law enforcement job or even menial work."
The proposed regulations allow the government to fire people for national security reasons under an expedited process; create new mandatory firing offenses and eliminate arbitration for removal, said Mark Roth, general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees.
The new rules would also allow Homeland Security to control pay raises and make it easier to transfer workers to different regions of the country. "They are literally (making them) second class government employees," Roth said.
Homeland Security defends the new regulations, saying the changes to disciplinary proceedings "are intended to create a faster, streamlined process that better supports the DHS mission, while ensuring fairness to employees," according to a statement provided by spokesman Larry Orluskie.
Homeland Security released the proposals earlier this year and took comments from unions and others for several months. Roth is hopeful that some changes would be adopted, but Bonner said he is not so optimistic. "This really tilts the balance of power in such a lopsided manner," he said.
Temecula Town Meeting
Asa Hutchinson's Staged Farce!
On Friday, August 13, 2004, Asa Hutchinson, Undersecretary of the Dept of Homeland Security, and area Congressman Darrell Issa held a town meeting in Temecula, CA, to discuss the Border Patrol's recent sweeps. The event, which was attended by over 1000 people, was a pure farce.
The town meeting was well attended by the public and media, including KFI's afternoon drive hosts John and Ken. The fact is, the event was scheduled to be well staged with Asa Hutchinson droning on with endless double talk, and not really responding to the very pointed questions the audience members had.
After about two hours of dribble, and largely due to the audience screaming for Issa to let John speak, KFI's John Kobylt was finally able to get to the mic and demanded that Hutchinson discuss the Border Patrol sweeps.
"What was the criteria for those sweeps? What was the intelligence?" Kobylt said. At which point the audience erupted in cheers.
Unknown to most people, the patrol unit that conducted the sweeps is still operational, Hutchinson said.
"Any time we have reasonable suspicion, we can act on that," he said. "What we are not going to do is cause people who are legally here in this country to live in fear because of racial profiling. We do not indiscriminately round up people."
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Hutchinson during the meeting that many agents are stuck watching a line on the border when they should be out patrolling and doing interior enforcement.
"Why don't you let us do our jobs?" Bonner asked Hutchinson.
Hutchinson replied that arresting undocumented immigrants in areas away from the border is now the job of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he said has apprehended 42,000 undocumented immigrants since the agency formed in March 2003.
During the meeting, Congressman Darrell Issa in as arrogant and contemptable a display as one can imagine, told audience members that if they didn't agree with him, they could vote against him. Issa's behavior was disrespectful to his constituents and his district should take his advice and do just that.
Later that same day, after the town meeting, it was announced that the special 12 man unit based in Temecula was relocated to San Diego for what was termed anti-terrorist border activities.
To sum it up, the town meeting was another disingenuous farce put on by Issa and Asa Hutchinson to placate Republican voters. Clearly, the audience saw through it and did not buy the bs the politicians tried to sell the voters. The voters spoke, and the politicians did not listen as later evidenced by the redeployment of the special unit. The FBI and military can handle and address terrorism, while the Border Patrol should be allowed to do their job and enforce the law.
The message of the audience was loud and clear, and that message is: "LET THEM ENFORCE!"
John and Ken have placed it in two parts on their website, to listen click below. Please use Windows Media Player to listen.
Issa & Asa's Town Meeting Part 1 08/13/04 32:08
Issa & Asa's Town Meeting Part 2 08/13/04 33:25
A flawed approach on immigration
The Washington Times/www.washingtontimes.com
Published August 12, 2004
When it comes to immigration, the administration is laboring to come up with a coherent formula to protect the nation's borders. Judging from recent actions and statements by Department of Homeland Security's Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, the administration hopes to solve the problem by putting out the welcome mat for millions of illegal immigrants. They ought to go back to the drawing board because this proposal is not in our national interest and will never be passed by a Republican Congress.
According to Mr. Hutchinson, President Bush plans to put forward a plan to give aliens access to travel, so they know they can "go and return freely" to their country of origin "without fear of being denied re-entry" to the United States. Mr. Hutchinson adds that the United States needs to give illegal immigrants access to bilateral agreements allowing them to receive Social Security benefits in their home countries and to allow illegals to create tax-deferred savings accounts that could be withdrawn upon their return to those countries.
Current law says that an alien who has lived illegally in the United States for longer than 180 days must return home and wait three years before applying for legal visitor or immigrant status; if he has been here illegally for more than one year, he needs to wait a decade before re-applying. Since many of the illegal aliens who would participate in the Bush plan would have exceeded the three- and 10-year bars, Mr. Hutchinson wants legislation that would weaken these restrictions. His statements came in response to questions from Sen. Edward Kennedy, who suggested that the Mr. Bush's plan was not generous enough in permitting illegal immigrants to stay in the country.
Compounding the situation is the administration's cave-in to political pressure from open-borders advocates in California, who object to the fact that the Border Patrol enforcers have been too vigorous.
In June, a new 12-officer Mobile Patrol Group under the auspices of the Border Patrol arrested more than 450 illegals in a series of raids in Southern California. Latino advocates and 25 California Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Joe Baca and including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, complained to Mr. Hutchinson. Fifty-three House members, including Majority Leader Tom DeLay, signed a letter to Mr. Hutchinson supporting the stepped-up enforcement. So, what did Mr. Hutchinson do? He sided with Mrs. Pelosi and the open-borders crowd. Mr. Hutchinson declared that future operations conducted away from the border must be approved by department higher-up. The National Border Patrol Council representatives in the San Diego area said last month that the the Mobile Patrol Group had been disbanded.
To be certain, John Kerry's approach would be even worse. But that doesn't get the Bush administration off the hook for tilting toward the Kennedy-Pelosi crowd on a critical issue like safeguarding our borders. The administration is courting a platform fight -- and further political trouble down the road with the Republican Party's conservative base -- with its ill-considered approach on immigration.
LET THEM ENFORCE!
On Sat. July 24, 2004, over 400 people braved sweltering heat to participate in a rally to support the Border Patrol at the Temecula, CA station, sponsored by S-O-S and a number of groups including host-sponsors the Temecula-Murrieta Republican Assembly, and Rep. Womens Federated organizations.
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Border Patrol
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Speakers at the rally included, S-O-S Chairman Ron Prince, State Assemblyman Ray Haynes, State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, representative staffers from US Reps Darrell Issa, and Mary Bono, Ed Lanning, Candidate for Congress (against Joe Baca), and Activist Lupe Moreno.
Towards the end of the rally, Andy Ramirez, Executive Director of Save Our State blasting the Congress and President Bush for not supporting the Border Patrol, and obstructing justice, and called for the support of Federal legislation banning the Matricula Consular Card, as well as driver's licenses for illegal aliens. In addition, Ramirez led the American flag waving audience in a rousing cheer of "Let them enforce" for several minutes, referring to continued sweeps by the Border Patrol.
Read Andy's complete rally text Here
Read a great article from the North County Times/Californian Here
Support the Border Patrol!
Contact Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security and tell him that you want the Border Partol to do their job! Call 202-282-8077 or e-mail him at asa.hutchinson@dhs.gov
Contact the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
E-Mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Al-Qaeda Using Matricula Card
Congressman John Culberson announced on the LA's John and Ken TalkRadio Show that Al-Qaeda militants are crossing into the US from Mexico and using the matricula consular card, as well as using Hispanic surnames.
Click here to read more....
