Free Republic

Background article: Former Gov. Roy Barnes battles voter ID legislation(Georgia) ATLANTA -- With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a judge Friday issued a restraining order blocking Georgia's voter ID law, saying that requiring photos as proof of identity is an unconstitutional burden. Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland said in a sharply worded written ruling that the Legislature doesn't have the authority to enforce the law and an amendment to the state Constitution would be required instead. The law, he said, "unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it." The law requires...

In L.A. and O.C., illegal immigrant Catholics can volunteer with children without background checks because they lack the required ID.Not wanting to lose illegal immigrant volunteers, the Los Angeles and Orange Roman Catholic dioceses have quietly backed away from a pledge to root out pedophiles by running fingerprint background checks on anyone who works with children. The revamped policy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles allows church volunteer candidates without government-issue identification to give instead a sworn affidavit stating that they have not been convicted of any crime. In Orange, potential volunteers without photo IDs can submit a sworn affidavit...

Organizers say they hope to have 1 million new citizens and voters by November elections. In Los Angeles on that day [May 17th], churches, union offices and community centers will be transformed into "immigrant justice action centers" to pass out citizenship applications, register voters and offer phones for voters to call their elected representatives. Voter registration stations would also be set up on the streets, organizers said.snip Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the alliance would launch an "Immigrant Democracy Summer" on July 1 to produce a million new voters and...

His speech started about 8 minutes ago. You can listen live at http://760kfmb.com/listen_live/

The U.S. Justice Department gave its approval Friday to a Georgia law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Groups challenging the law said they will seek an injunction to block it, making it unclear whether it would be in effect for elections this year. Supporters - including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the measure earlier this year - say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud. Opponents say it unfairly discriminates against minorities, the poor and the elderly, who are less likely to have a driver's license. Under the law, voters who do...

Lake Havasu City [AZ] recently denied a request by the Mexican government to set up an office in the Aquatic Center to process Mexican Consulate identity cards.City Manager Richard Kaffenberger stated in his report before the Lake Havasu City Council Tuesday that the country of Mexico had contacted the city about opening an office here to process matricula consular ID cards. That request was turned down. Matricula consulars are issued by Mexican Consulate offices to Mexican citizens living in the United States. The card was created in 1870 to help consulates keep in contact with Mexican nationals living in the...

In his most forceful comments to date, Mahony said he would instruct his priests to defy legislation — if approved by Congress — that would require churches and other social organizations to ask immigrants for legal documentation before providing assistance and penalize them if they refuse to do so. That provision was included in the immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives; a similar proposal is in the version that the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin debating this week.[snip] He [Mahony] said he also planned to step up his personal political advocacy, starting with a letter to...

Common areas such as parking garages, elevators and restrooms would be added to the law under legislation to be introduced today. SACRAMENTO -- California's landmark workplace smoking ban would be extended to parking garages and some other common areas not covered by the law under a measure expected to be introduced today by South Bay Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza. The legislation would outlaw smoking in public and private parking structures, elevators, lobbies, lounges, restrooms, stairwells and waiting areas, according to an Oropeza aide. Some of those areas were left out of the original legislation at the request of the state's lodging...

Postal Service Now Major Delivery Agent for Contraband FedEx Express and FedEx Ground (FedEx) have agreed to undertake changes to their business practices that will strengthen their policies prohibiting the delivery of cigarettes to consumers throughout the United States, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced. "I commend FedEx for joining in this important effort," said Spitzer. "This is another example of private industry joining with law enforcement to address important social problems. When private companies like FedEx take the initiative to protect their services from being used by those engaged in criminal conduct, we all win." FedEx's current policy...

Nearly two years after the stabbing death of a young mother in front of her two girls, Houston police's prime suspect, Elber Ruben Vazquez has been captured in Mexico City. Vazquez was 19 when police say he killed 26-year-old Mireya Hernandez in her southwest Houston apartment then fled the city in a red Ford Mustang. Hernandez had 68 stab wounds when her sister found her two hours after the slaying on the morning of May 4, 2004. Hernandez's 2-year-old, Jasmine, was lying on top of her mother, kissing her slashed cheek and telling her to wake up. Ten-month-old Monica lay...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will suspend its plan to distribute maps to migrants wanting to cross the U.S. border illegally, but an official said Thursday the decision was not made because of American pressure. Miguel Angel Paredes, spokesman for the federal Human Rights Commission, said the decision was made because human rights officials in border states expressed concern that the maps would show anti-immigrant groups where migrants likely would gather. On Wednesday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the United States opposed the plan "in the strongest terms."

LAPD can nab deportees who re-enter U.S. A long-standing order designed to restrict Los Angeles police from enforcing immigration laws does not bar officers from pursuing deported felons who have re-entered the country, Assistant Police Chief George Gascon told the Police Commission on Tuesday. The interpretation of Special Order 40 - the 27-year-old policy that prohibits officers from arresting people for illegally entering the country and from investigating a person's immigration status - comes as Los Angeles Police Department leaders get ready to finalize a department directive on how officers should interpret the order's restrictions. "We deal with violent felons...

Volunteers with a civilian border-watch organization spotted dozens of suspected illegal immigrants near the U.S.-Mexico divide this weekend and reported them to the Border Patrol, according to members of the group. Two chapters of the nationwide organization, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, parked themselves along the border in Arizona and New Mexico, eventually reporting nearly 50 border-crossers to authorities. "They didn't try to run away. I got the impression they were kinda glad," said Bob Wright, head of the New Mexico chapter, describing the 18 suspected illegal immigrants he and other volunteers spotted in that state Saturday night. "It was about...

St. Helena, CA -- Immigration specialist Rosa Segura has been elected by a Mexican government agency to a key advisory body looking at Mexican-U.S. relations and issues important to the two nations. Among the topics on the agenda are politics, economics, health and border issues. Segura was elected to a four-year term on the advisory council of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad. It is overseen by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her name was put into nomination by the Mexican Consulate, and she was elected by the general membership. The institute is a 120-member council, 100 of whose members...

The former owner of a chain of shoreline Dunkin Donuts has been arrested by federal authorities on illegal immigration charges. The arrests comes after a Team 8 Investigation into whether Guilford resident Jose Calhelha was deliberately brining [sic] illegal aliens into the U.S. to work at his Dunkin Donuts stores. Both Calhelha and his daughter Diana have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to bring illegal aliens into the country. They were arraigned at US District Court in New Haven Friday afternoon and pleaded not guilty. A judge set bond for Jose Calhelha at three...

MEXICO CITY, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Mexico demanded a U.S. investigation on Monday into the death of an undocumented Mexican shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent as he tried to cross into California last week. Raul Martinez, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego, confirmed that an agent had fired on a man on Friday as he tried to cross the border near San Diego, after the would-be immigrant had thrown rocks at him. The unidentified man crossed back into Mexico, where he later died of his injuries in a hospital. "The Mexican government is demanding...

William Zirkle has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit accusing him and two other executives at the Selah-based fruit company of conspiring to hire thousands of illegal immigrants in order to keep wages low.The executives admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. The corporation, Zirkle Fruit, was not a defendant."Mr. Zirkle knows no one did anything wrong," Ryan Edgley, his lawyer, said Thursday. "Mr. Zirkle primarily wanted to put an end to the uncertainty."The case was set for trial Jan. 9 before U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle.Edgley said the defendants were concerned that even if they...

Earlier this month, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow paid a friendly visit to Mexico. He met with his Mexican counterpart, Secretary of Hacienda Francisco Gil Díaz, and the two issued a communiqué of mutual cooperation at the end of their talks. They talked about generating private financing for Mexican development, mainly by way of a proposal that would have the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) increase its lending to private investors for projects that had previously been considered — and in Snow's country still are considered — the responsibility of the public sector, projects like roads, ports and bridges. The privatization...

[A long article that pretty much says we are not only going to get more illegals from Mexico, but also from the rest of the world through "transmigration". Plus, more trade treaties will most likely exacerbate this problem] President Bush's "comprehensive strategy" on border security aimed at preventing "people from coming here in the first place," announced last month, does nothing to address the growing phenomenon of global migration. What's more, it leaves Mexico to clean up a mess it didn't make. According to the UN's Global Commission on International Migration, the number of people worldwide living outside their country...

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — Puppy smugglers continue flooding the market with animals from Mexico, many of which die or pose health hazards to unsuspecting buyers, according to a recent survey. Animal welfare agency inspectors found 517 puppies, many concealed in vehicles and destined for swap meets across Southern California, during the two-week survey earlier this month at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry. [snip] To get them across the border, smugglers often stuff the dogs in packing crates or hide them in spare-tire wheel wells. The puppies are heard whimpering inside trunks or underneath seats. When bringing...