Dallas-Fort Worth Immigration Lawyer

A disappointing and disturbing article has been published by the New York Times concerning corruption within the Border Patrol. Fortunately, the vast majority of those serving our country in the Border Patrol are honest, hard-working people. But as the Patrol expands rapidly, there seems to be an alarming increase in the number of "bad apples" in the agency. Here are brief excerpts from the artice:

Mr. Villarreal and a brother, Fidel, also a former Border Patrol agent, are suspected of helping to smuggle an untold number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Brazil across the border. The brothers quit the Border Patrol two years ago and are believed to have fled to Mexico.

The Villarreal investigation is among scores of corruption cases in recent years that have alarmed officials in the Homeland Security Department just as it is hiring thousands of border agents to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

The pattern has become familiar: Customs officers wave in vehicles filled with illegal immigrants, drugs or other contraband. A Border Patrol agent acts as a scout for smugglers. Trusted officers fall prey to temptation and begin taking bribes.

Increased corruption is linked, in part, to tougher enforcement, driving smugglers to recruit federal employees as accomplices. It has grown so worrisome that job applicants will soon be subject to lie detector tests to ensure that they are not already working for smuggling organizations. In addition, homeland security officials have reconstituted an internal affairs unit at Customs and Border Protection, one of the largest federal law enforcement agencies, overseeing both border agents and customs officers.

While the corruption investigations involve a small fraction of the overall security workforce on the border, the numbers are growing. In the 2007 fiscal year, the Homeland Security Department’s main anticorruption arm, the inspector general’s office, had 79 investigations under way in the four states bordering Mexico, compared with 31 in 2003. Officials at other federal law enforcement agencies investigating border corruption also said their caseloads had risen.

The federal government says it carefully screens applicants, but some internal affairs investigators say they have been unable to keep up with the increased workload.

The Border Patrol alone is expected to grow to more than 20,000 agents by the end of 2009, more than double from 2001, when the agency began to expand in response to concerns about national security. There has also been a large increase in the number of customs officers.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 01:09 PM | Permalink

As reported in the Dallas Morning News, a group of Texas cities and business groups has sued the Department of Homeland Security to stop the construction of a fence along the border with Mexico. Here are excerpts:

The Texas Border Coalition, which includes the mayors of Eagle Pass, Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo and Hidalgo, filed the suit in federal court in Washington on Friday, asking a judge to block construction of 70 miles of border fences and walls in the Rio Grande Valley.

The lawsuit seeks class-action certification and accuses Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Customs and Border Patrol officials of not telling landowners they had the right to negotiate the price for the federal use of their land, concealing how they decide what constitutes a reasonable price for land seized for the fence and showing favoritism to wealthy or well-connected landowners.

 "What we haven't done is we haven't given everybody a veto," Mr. Chertoff said. "If somebody says they prefer an open border, we don't necessarily give them the right to make that judgment because the consequences of an open border are smuggling of drugs and human beings into this country."

But Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass and chairman of the coalition, said that Homeland Security, under pressure to build a fence, is ignoring less-intrusive and more practical measures to secure the border with Mexico.

 

Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said the department had no intention to back down from its plans.

"We've nearly bent over backward to work with landowners," she said in a written statement. "Accusations to the contrary are either ill-informed or just plain wrong."

Posted by Bob Kraft at 05:31 AM | Permalink

I don't know if his plan is to keep other citizens of Texas out of Brownsville or to keep Brownsville residents out of the rest of Texas, but Congressman Tom Tancredo made a very strange statement in Brownsville yesterday. Here's the story from the Channel 5 TV station in Weslaco:

BROWNSVILLE - A Colorado Congressman is under fire this morning for making a controversial statement to some Brownsville landowners.

Republican Tom Tancredo supports the border wall. The U.S. representative attended the hearing in Brownsville yesterday.

During the hearing, he told the Brownsville landowners, "I suggest that you build this fence around the northern part of your city..." implying that all of Brownsville should be on the Mexican side of the wall.

Right now NEWSCHANNEL 5 is working to get clarification from Congressman Tancredo.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 02:56 PM | Permalink

The Dallas Morning News today reports that 28 separate federal laws or regulations were waived in order for Homeland Security to build the Texas-Mexico border fence. It looks like the waivers will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Here are exerpts:

The U.S. Supreme Court may get a chance to join the fractious debate over building fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.



A legal challenge by two environmental groups seeking to limit enhanced Department of Homeland Security powers to suspend more than 30 laws to build the fence is gathering support in Congress.



But at least one constitutional expert said that although the legal challenge underscores the broad array of powers Congress has delegated to Homeland Security, "environmentalists face an uphill battle."



"There is a legitimate legal gripe here, in that there are serious questions about how much power Congress can delegate to other branches of government," said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law authority at George Washington University Law School.



Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the waiver of about three dozen environmental laws to expedite construction of the border fence in Texas and Arizona on April 1.



"This blanket waiver of laws like the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act is a clear and disturbing abuse of the secretary's discretion," said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee. "Congress' efforts to seek justification for this waiver from DHS have been stonewalled, which leads me to believe none exists."



Congress also denied oversight by federal appeals courts to any challenges, except for a request to the Supreme Court to review.



In his announcement of the most recent waivers, Mr. Chertoff said that Homeland Security remains committed to environmental responsibility and that the agency "is neither compromising its commitment to responsible environmental stewardship nor its commitment to solicit and respond to the needs of state, local and tribal governments, other agencies of the federal government and local residents."



He stressed that his agency will continue to work closely with the Department of Interior and other federal and state resources management agencies to ensure that impact to the environment and cultural and historic artifacts is properly analyzed and minimized.



But the size and scope of the use of waivers to clear the path for construction of the border fence is virtually unprecedented, Dr. Turley said.



More troubling, he added, is the apparent dismissal of due process as "endless debate or protracted litigation."



Mr. Chertoff has said the waivers are necessary because "criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation."



But Dr. Turley said Congress has in recent years "become almost waiver happy."



"They see it as a form of no-cost legislating," he said. "But there is no evidence Congress considered the implications of giving Homeland Security such broad waiver power."



There are indications that Congress may be trying to regain some of the authority it gave away.





Hidalgo Couny: Laws in suspension:



Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived the following laws for construction of the border fence in Hidalgo County, Texas: 1. National Environmental Policy Act 2. Endangered Species Act 3. Federal Water Pollution Control Act 4. National Historic Preservation Act 5. Migratory Bird Treaty Act 6. Clean Air Act 7. Archaeological Resources Protection Act 8. Safe Drinking Water Act 9. Noise Control Act 10. Solid Waste Disposal Act 11. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 12. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 13. Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act 14. Antiquities Act 15. Historic Sites, Buildings and Antiquities Act 16. Farmland Protection Policy Act 17. Coastal Zone Management Act 18. Federal Land Policy and Management Act 19. National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act 20. Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 21. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 22. Administrative Procedure Act 23. Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 24. Eagle Protection Repatriation Act 25. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 26. American Indian Religious Freedom Act 27. Religious Freedom Restoration Act 28. Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 SOURCE: Federal Register Online

Posted by Bob Kraft at 10:31 AM | Permalink

Here's a troubling bit of news from today's Dallas Morning News: Violence against U.S. Border Patrol agents is up 47 percent for the first six months of the fiscal year, as surveillance toughens along the 2,000-mile stretch of U.S.-Mexico border, David Aguilar, the nation's top Border Patrol official, said Tuesday.

"As we continue to gain control of our borders, we fully expected the violence to go up," said Mr. Aguilar, in Dallas for a quarterly gathering of about 50 sector chiefs and other leaders.



In the past six months, there have been nearly 500 incidents against Border Patrol agents, as varied as rock-throwing, physical assaults and gunfire. Smugglers "frankly thought they owned" the border region, and could operate with impunity, Mr. Aguilar said.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 04:14 PM | Permalink

I posted recently about the Bush administration getting a waiver to bypass environmental regulations so work could proceed on the Texas-Mexico border fence. The Dallas Morning News published an article yesterday about two wildlife preserves that may disappear if the border fence is built. Here are excerpts:

Two nature preserves almost certainly will close after the announcement last week that the federal government would waive environmental protection laws for a fence along the border.

"We'll have to close," said Anne Brown, executive director and vice president of Audubon Texas. "Basically, you've moved the border."

The Sabal Palm Audubon Center and most of the Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve would end up in the no-man's land between the fence and Mexico.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Tuesday that he would bypass more than 30 environmental laws and regulations to build the section of the fence, designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 06:31 AM | Permalink

Well, this is one way to do it. I've written a lot on this blog about the resistance Texas landowners are showing toward the building of a new fence along the Texas-Mexico border. Now comes word today that the Bush administration will plow ahead with the fence regardless of any opposition by landowners, by laws, or by regulations. Here are excerpts from a story today in the Dallas Morning News:

The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.



Invoking the two legal waivers -- which Congress authorized -- will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.



As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year to meet the department's goal. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations, the officials said.



One waiver will address the construction of a 22-mile levee barrier in Hidalgo County, Texas. The other waiver will cover 30 miles of fencing and technology deployment on environmentally sensitive ground in San Diego, southern Arizona and the Rio Grande; and 215 miles in California, Arizona and Texas that face other legal impediments due to administrative processes. For instance, building in some areas requires assessments and studies that -- if conducted -- could not be completed in time to finish the fence by the end of the year.



Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained about the construction of fencing. In South Texas, where opposition has been widespread, land owners refused to give the government access to property along the fence route. The government has since sued more than 50 property owners in South Texas to gain access to the land.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 07:41 PM | Permalink

Here's the latest update on the "border war" between Texas landowners and the federal government. The government is trying to get access to the private land in order to do surveying in advance of building a border fence or wall that would cut off many landowners from their primary water source - the Rio Grande. From the Dallas Morning News:

A federal judge has ordered Cameron County property owners to open their land to the government for border fence surveying, but not before he denied the government the right to take the land without a hearing.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville ordered 10 landowners to comply with the government's request for access to their land for 180 days. Two others were near settlements with the government.

But Judge Hanen's order revealed he had denied a request from the federal government for a swift and private order like the one it received in a similar case in Eagle Pass. In filing its suit, the Justice Department asked Judge Hanen to rule immediately without participation from the landowners, a legal maneuver that is allowed in eminent domain cases.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 05:49 AM | Permalink

An article in the Houston Chronicle and a press release by the Department of Homeland Security both warn of border crossing delays to be caused by the new rules regarding identification requirements, effective January 31, 2008. Congress is wanting to delay the effective date of requiring passports, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is warning against that. Here are excerpts from the Chronicle article and from the DHS press release:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Thursday said the Bush administration would press forward with plans to require passports for anyone crossing into the U.S. from Mexico or Canada -- despite a move by Congress that delays the mandate until June 2009.

"I want to get as close as possible to getting this implemented as I can during this president's term in office," Chertoff said, during a meeting with Hearst Corp. executives at the Hearst Tower in New York City.

At issue is the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative's requirement that travelers entering the U.S. by land or sea show passports or other approved documents to border officials.

The passport requirement became law in 2004 and was originally set to take effect this Jan. 1. But Congress has delayed the rule several times at the behest of border-state lawmakers who say the requirements are too cumbersome and would mean major changes for people accustomed to easily crossing the U.S.-Canada border to shop and work.

As part of a massive spending bill approved Wednesday -- and expected to be signed into law by President Bush -- members of Congress delayed the passport requirement until June 1, 2009, at the earliest.

Chertoff on Thursday lashed out at the lawmakers who pushed for the postponement and said they were more concerned about the bottom line of businesses than in keeping the nation's borders secure.

Critics in Congress, including Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., have complained that the passport requirement will cause major headaches for residents who live along the U.S.-Canada border and are accustomed to easily traveling between the two countries.

The Department of Homeland Security also is moving ahead with plans, effective next Jan. 31, that require U.S. travelers to show proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, and government-issued ID to enter the country, rather than relying on travelers' own statements that they are U.S. citizens.

Chertoff defended the passport requirement, saying it would streamline the assortment of documents that are now presented to border inspectors.

"It is impossible to expect our border inspectors to be able to verify that all of these different kinds of ID are genuine," Chertoff said. "The way to correct it is to reduce the number of documents (that can be used as identification at the border) and ultimately require that they have certain security features."

"Delaying this documentation requirement is keeping the door to illegal immigrants open," Chertoff said. "It is a little silly to spend a lot of money building a fence when you're kicking the door wide open and saying anybody can come in if they can wave a piece of paper that they can (easily counterfeit)."

DHS Ends Oral Declarations at Borders, Reminds Travelers of New Procedures on January 31

Continue reading "Backups Expected At Canadian Border With New Passport Rule" »

Posted by Bob Kraft at 10:46 AM | Permalink

CNN has written about the continuing saga of the Texas-Mexico border fence and the property owners denying the government access to their lands. This article discuss land owned by Eloisa Tamez. Here are excerpts:

Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of Homeland Security, said the fence will not be stopped by opponents like Tamez.

"Can we simply abandon an enterprise because it is a problem for a particular individual?" Chertoff told CNN. "I don't think I can accept that."

Chertoff believes a fence would curb the steady stream of illegal immigrants making their way across the border and lessen the flow of drugs. He also argues it will increase the safety of Border Patrol agents who have faced increasing violence.

The government wants to build 700 miles of fence along the Mexican border, including 370 miles of it by the end of this year. About 70 miles of fence is to be built in the Rio Grande Valley by year's end, if the government gets its way.

The Border Patrol has stepped up its efforts in the Rio Grande Valley with more lights, and sensors to pick up movement. A levee built along the river has a muddy road on top used by Border Patrol vehicles to patrol the area.

Richard Cortez, the mayor of the border town of McAllen, Texas, believes hiring more Border Patrol agents, deepening the Rio Grande River, and clearing its banks of tall vegetation would provide better border protection than the fence.

Cortez calls the fence "a multibillion dollar speed bump," which will slow, but not stop, illegal immigration.

"It is a false sense of security," he says. "America will not be safe. America will continue to waste resources on something that is not going to work."

Posted by Bob Kraft at 08:24 PM | Permalink

Today's New York Times has an interesting article about the proposed fence along the Texas-Mexico border, and the disruption it may cause in the lives of Texas residents along the border.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 05:41 AM | Permalink

The Dallas Morning News has an article today stating that in 2008 construction will begin on approximately 150 miles of fencing along the Texas-Mexico border. This fence project has been the subject of heated debate in the border communities. The fear is that a fence, which will of course have to be built on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and not in the river itself, will have both environmental and economic adverse effects on Texas and Texans.

Many landowners will see their property bisected by the fence, and many more will lose access to needed water from the river. Small businesses along the border are concerned that they will lose customers if border crossings become less convenient for Mexicans authorized to come to Texas.

Here are excerpts from the article:

More than 150 miles of fencing is to be constructed along the Rio Grande in Texas. Fourteen miles of fence was built in El Paso several years ago.

"We're going to see steel barriers erected on the borders where U.S. and Mexican cities adjoin. These will slow down illegal crossers by minutes, but that will be long enough for agents to turn them back," Chief Hill said.

"In the open areas outside the cities, we'll build a virtual fence that uses radar to detect entry and then key a camera to that point."

Opposition to the fence by politicians, business leaders and border residents has been loud.

"It's one of the few issues around which virtually every group along the border is organized and united," Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said earlier this year. "No one on the border likes the wall. But Washington isn't listening."

Posted by Bob Kraft at 03:31 PM | Permalink

The Teamsters' union and truckers in general have been protesting the recent change in U.S. policy that now (as of last Thursday) allows Mexican trucking companies to drive anywhere into the United States. Previously, the law required Mexican trucks to drive no farther than about 25 miles into Texas, and somewhat farther into Arizona. The change is a part of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

While there very well may be economic self-interests at play in these protests, the Teamsters say their primary concern is the safety aspect of allowing Mexican trucks onto U.S. highways.

The U.S. plans to grant permission to approximately 100 Mexican trucking companies by the end of 2007. This is part of a one-year pilot program intended to discover whether it would be safe to eventually allow all Mexican trucking companies into the United States.

Despite assurances from the U.S. government that all Mexican trucks will be inspected for drugs and for illegal immigrants, that the trucks will meet safety regulations, and that the drivers will be well-trained, there is considerable uncertainty among many Americans.

Because the main highway from Mexico into the U.S. runs through the Texas cities of Laredo, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Dallas, and Fort Worth, we may find out fairly soon whether Texas drivers will be exposed to unusual dangers from the Mexican trucks.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 08:09 PM | Permalink

I agree with Governor Rick Perry! Now that is a statement you will not see very many times. But in an article in today's Dallas Morning News Perry is quoted as taking a reasonable approach to border enforcement and a guest worker program. Here are excerpts from the article:

Lawmakers in Washington have failed to see the economic benefits of legal immigration and how a temporary worker program can coexist with greater border security, Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday as he concluded a three-day energy trade mission to Mexico.

Mr. Perry spoke passionately about the two pressing issues between the nations: an immigration overhaul and securing the border without building fences between neighbors.

"We know how to deal with border security, and you don't do it by building a fence," Mr. Perry said at a news conference before meeting with President Felipe Calderón.

Border crime can only be reduced with "boots on the ground" and perhaps some limited fencing in urban areas, Mr. Perry said. Last year, he said, half a dozen police surges at key points along the border reduced crime up to 60 percent.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 12:49 PM | Permalink

That was the lead sentence of a recent article in the Biloxi Sun Herald. It has to do with an odd quote from Mississippi Senator Trent Lott. Here are excerpts from the article:

Sen. Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., was talking to reporters Wednesday about the immigration bill, when he said, "If the answer is 'build a fence' I've got two goats on my place in Mississippi. There ain't no fence big enough, high enough, strong enough, that you can keep those goats in that fence."

"Now people are at least as smart as goats," Lott continued. "Maybe not as agile. Build a fence. We should have a virtual fence. Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it."

"I'm not proposing an electrified goat fence," Lott added quickly, "I'm just trying, there's an analogy there."

Asked for clarification as to what exactly the analogy was, Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood said that the senator supported a variety of measures in the immigration bill, including unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles, radar and more border patrol agents, as well as a fence to reduce the flow of illegal immigration.

"A fence in and of itself is not enough," said Youngblood. "You can have technology to support the fence and to supplement the fence."

Acknowledging the flak he's taken, Lott said Wednesday, "I keep trying to tell everybody 'calm down, calm down, let me be the one that offends the left, the middle and the right.' I'm doing great, aren't I? But it gives you a level of utopia that is just so blissful."

"I don't worry about offending anybody anymore, " said Lott, "because I've already offended everybody."

Posted by Bob Kraft at 09:38 AM | Permalink

Various wire service reports say the  Bush administration will delay for at least six months a rule that U.S. citizens must show passports when crossing the border by land or sea.

The announcement marks the second time in a month that officials have scaled back security plans in response to complaints.

Beginning in January, land and sea travelers returning from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be allowed to present a birth certificate and driver's license in lieu of a passport.

Starting next year, travelers also will no longer be able to make an oral declaration of U.S citizenship to re-enter the country.

The modification is expected to last at least until the summer of 2008, when officials hope to require passports or similar documentation at all land and sea crossings.

The problem is caused by the government's inability to produce passports sufficient to meet the demand, an indication to some people of extremely poor planning on the part of the Administration. Surely they have know for many months that there would be a flood of passport applications right before the new restrictions took effect.

Now we have to face the question of whether our border security is being made more vulnerable because of this bureaucratic bungling. This delay could cause our borders to be more porous, as terrorists will be able to use false documents to sneak across the border.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 11:28 AM | Permalink

CNN columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. has another provocative column online. I may have to just put all his columns here since he's had so many good ones recently. This one is titled "Anti-Immigrant Mob Creates False Heroes" and is about the two border patrol agents imprisoned for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler.

Navarrette talks about what many of the "anti-immigrant" people don't mention when they show their outrage about these agents being imprisoned just for "doing their jobs." The agents tried to cover up the incident. They picked up their shell casings and filed a report that made no mention of the shooting. Here are excerpts from the article.

The world is upside down. A posse of Republican lawmakers who, when opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants, like to talk about how rules must be followed and how we shouldn't reward lawbreakers. They're now demanding that a pair of convicted felons be rewarded with a presidential pardon.

Ex-Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were sentenced to 11 years and 12 years in prison, respectively, after a jury convicted them of shooting an unarmed suspect and then covering it up.

Compean fired at least 14 rounds and Ramos fired once, hitting Aldrete-Davila. The agents then collected the shell casings, failed to report the shooting, and filed reports that made no mention of the incident.

None of this is heroic, except to the anti-immigrant mob, which has been making excuses for Compean and Ramos while accusing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office prosecuted the case, of being an agent of the Mexican government.

As his name gets dragged through the mud, you'd think that Sutton might hold a grudge. Not so.

"I have a lot of sympathy for some of the folks who are worked up because the narrative that they read is so different from the reality of what the jury heard," Sutton told me.

But what about those unsympathetic Republican hacks, Minutemen vigilantes and conservative bloggers who are using this case to further their own agendas? For Sutton, it's a reminder that there is no substitute for the American justice system. While not perfect, that system is designed to dole out justice based on facts and law, not politics.

"It's why we litigate these things in a courtroom and not on cable television or the Internet," he said.

Be glad that's so.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 02:48 PM | Permalink

CNN columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. has yet another provocative column online. This one concludes that Americans will never be able to find a solution to immigration concerns because Americans are the problem.

His basic premise is that as long as Americans are addicted to illegal immigrant labor, we shouldn't complain about illegal aliens coming to America. Here are excerpts from the article:

I'm a Mexican-American. In fact, I never feel more American than when I am in Mexico -- a country with rich and poor and little in between, with too much corruption and too little opportunity.

Tijuana is an exception. It's buzzing. According to Baja Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther, the unemployment rate is a measly 0.8 percent. Moreover, he said, the city retains as much as 70 percent of the people who migrate here from other parts of Mexico with the intent of crossing the border.

Did you catch that? To curb illegal immigration into the United States, root for the economies of Mexican border cities. If more people stayed there, fewer would come here.

Don't expect the dim bulbs in Congress to figure this out. The only thing members could agree to do last year was approve a fraction of the funding to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Border state governors were disgusted. Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas called the fence "ridiculous" and provocative toward Mexico. And yet, there are Americans who love the idea of a fence along the border. For them, such a barrier must seem impassable and impenetrable.

Recently, after a speech in San Diego, a woman presented me with her own solution: A high-speed rail connecting Tijuana with Southern California. That way, she said, people could work in the United States during the day and be home in Mexico before sunset.

I love the idea. Not because it's any good but because it illustrates better than 1,000 columns the schizophrenic way in which many Americans complain about illegal immigrants even as we feed our addiction to illegal immigrant labor.

It also shows why Americans will never be able to find the solution -- because we're the problem.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 03:42 PM | Permalink

According to the Dallas Morning News, a Web site that allows people to monitor the border between the United States and Mexico by live video, has resulted in the capture of only ten illegal immigrants. The Web site underwent a month long test to determine if the idea of monitoring illegal immigration through video was feasible.

The site, www.texasborderwatch.com, allows a person to view the Texas/Mexico border from eight different cameras. The Web site also allows viewers to e-mail reports of any suspicious activity. Previously, the images from the cameras were only available to law enforcement and the owners of the land where the cameras were located.

Governor Rick Perry's plan is to put $5 million worth of cameras on the border so people in the U.S. can monitor illegal immigration. The cost of this initial test was $200,000. Critics of the Web site, however, stated that the cameras led to the arrests of only ten of the more than 12,000 undocumented illegal immigrants caught each month.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 06:29 AM | Permalink

The Douglas Dispatch has a story about local rancher Roger Barnett, who was sued for threatening a hunting party of Latinos with a rifle in 2004. Here are excerpts from the newspaper article:

The jury assessed a total of $210,000 in damages, but found Barnett only partially to blame for the incident. As a result, he will have to pay approximately $98,000 to principal plaintiff Ronald Morales, his father, and three girls.

Speaking after the verdict, Morales said he felt justice had been served.

"We came to court and spoke the truth, and the jury heard that truth," he said. "Hopefully this sends a message that you can't point a gun at little kids - or anybody for that matter - and then threaten to shoot them."

Morales sued Barnett after the rancher confronted Morales' hunting party on Oct. 30, 2004, and accused the group of trespassing on his property outside Douglas.

During the incident, Barnett took out an AR-15 assault rifle from his pickup and pointed it toward the group, which included Morales' father, Arturo Morales; his daughters, Angelique and Venese Morales; and the girls' friend, Emma English.

The hunters, all of whom are Americans of Mexican decent, said Barnett insulted them with racial slurs and threatened to shoot them - charges Barnett denied. Ronald Morales said he tried to get the county attorney to press criminal charges against Barnett, but was told no jury would convict him.

Morales' attorney, Jesus Romo Vejar, said he hoped the local prosecutor would now reconsider filing criminal charges against Barnett, and he hoped others who had had problems with the rancher also would be encouraged to file civil claims.

Barnett estimates he has detained and turned over to the Border Patrol between 10,000 and 12,000 illegal immigrants during the past decade.

The five members of Morales party sued Barnett for assault, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury found in favor of all five of the plaintiffs on the claims, but split responsibility between Roger Barnett, Ronald Morales and Arturo Morales.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 06:43 AM | Permalink

Lou Dobbs, the CNN commentator who is very much opposed to loosening restrictions on immigration, has written an interesting article about the proposed border fence. Here are some selected quotes from the article:

President Bush will sign the Secure Fence Act into law Thursday at a public ceremony in the White House Roosevelt Room, reversing his earlier decision to withhold the pomp and circumstance.

House Republicans demanded the formal proceedings for public relations purposes, claiming this fence is a major accomplishment for Congress ahead of our November midterm elections.

I've said from the beginning that we can't reform immigration laws until we control immigration, and we can't control immigration unless we control our borders and our ports. Constructing the border fence certainly is a good beginning to our efforts to control our borders, but let's be honest about the legislation: It isn't nearly enough, and far more must be done. A congressional victory lap isn't in order for funding only half of a 700-mile fence along a nearly 2,000-mile border.

Continue reading "Border Fence Will Leave A Texas-Size Hole" »

Posted by Bob Kraft at 02:26 PM | Permalink

Yesterday's Dallas Morning News includes three opinion columns regarding the 700 mile fence legislation recently passed by Congress. None of the three are complimentary to Congress.

Syndicated talk show host Lynn Woolley discusses the hypocrisy and cynicism of the Congressmen and Senators in passing border fence legislation as a "symbolic gesture," without funding legislation or any real expectation the fence will actually be built. Woolley says:

By dismissing recent border fence legislation as a "symbolic gesture," Sen. John Cornyn has accomplished one thing with conservatives: He made us wonder if we can ever trust him again.

The House, Senate and finally President Bush got on board for actually doing something to enforce our leaky, dangerous borders. A bill to build 700 miles of border fence passed by landslide numbers. Even John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for it, as did Mr. Cornyn.

But now Mr. Cornyn tells us it was all for show, that the fence will never be built. He says it's too expensive and that Congress simply won't appropriate the money. He says this as if we should have known all along and were playing some little game.

And what will this lengthy barrier accomplish if and when it is finished? It will certainly prevent transient Mexicans and Central Americans from crossing the border in the places where it stands. But it won't prevent them from crossing elsewhere, as they did when fences were erected in the San Diego and El Paso areas. Since the government began cracking down in those places, total illegal immigration has actually risen.

Instead of making their way through urban areas, undocumented foreigners have eluded capture by trekking across remote deserts and mountains, paying human smugglers to shepherd them into the United States. Instead of snaring more illegal entrants, we're now arresting fewer.

A longer, more formidable fence can once again divert illegal immigrants to more dangerous routes and increase the fees charged by smugglers to arrange passage. As long as higher-paying employment beckons to impoverished people on the other side of the border, though, the cost and risk will still look modest next to the potential payoff. The fence can make illegal entry harder, but it won't make it any less popular.

Most walls in the history of civilization were walls of necessity to keep enemies or freedom away. This time, it's a wall of choice. The choice to be seen to be doing something that everyone knows will never work - and may perhaps never actually be completed because, by the time they figure out how to erect the fence across the rugged bluffs and ravines of southern Arizona, Mexico could become a first-world nation and gringos could be flocking to the south!

Posted by Bob Kraft at 09:09 AM | Permalink

U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed this week to spend $1.2 billion to install fences and vehicle barriers along hundreds of miles of the Mexican border. This provision was slipped into a spending plan for the Department of Homeland Security.

The House and Senate are still arguing and negotiating over other bills relating to immigration matters, but no one expects real immigration reform to pass before the Congress adjourns September 30, 2006, to begin full-time campaigning for the November elections.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 06:57 AM | Permalink

As detailed in a Dallas Morning News article, vehicle crashes are becoming a "steady source" of migrant deaths.

According to the article, stricter border enforcement is causing smugglers to take greater risks. One tactic is cramming many immigrants into a van or SUV, and driving over rougher terrain to cross the border. This puts the vehicle in danger of overturning, with resulting death or injury to the occupants. This week, an SUV overturned in Arizona, killing nine people and injuring a dozen more. There were 21 people in the vehicle.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 11:56 AM | Permalink