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By The Associated Press(3/09/05 - HOUSTON) — A woman whose arrest at a South Texas airport with a mutilated passport raised terrorism concerns was deported Tuesday to South Africa, never having faced terrorism charges. Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, 49, was convicted of criminal charges of illegal entry into the United States, making false statements to federal authorities and misuse of an altered South African passport. She was sentenced Dec. 7 to the time she was held on the charges and was ordered deported Dec. 22. Ahmed waived her right to appeal the judge's decision. She was turned over to...

At Beijing +5, former first lady Hillary Clinton told the delegates and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that the Beijing documents were “promises agreed to” and that those promises were both “a road map” and a “rallying cry.” Beijing +10 was to be the radical feminists’ finest hour –– the culmination of Mrs. Clinton’s prediction that “women’s rights” would become “human rights.”  She made it clear that “women’s rights” included abortion, “gender mainstreaming,” preferences and quotas. Yet, the timing of Beijing +10 couldn’t be worse for radical feminists.  They were counting on this conference to be the capstone of...

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico – Police in five cities across southernmost Chiapas state apprehended 441 undocumented Central American migrants over the weekend, nearby all of whom hoped to pass through Mexico en route to the U.S. border, authorities said. The largest group was discovered Saturday in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, where police officers stopping a cargo truck whose driver ran a red light discovered 168 Central Americans who had sneaked illegally into the country, said Moises Grajales, a local transit police captain. The truck's driver and a passenger are wanted on suspicions of people smuggling, but flashed pistols at...

Judge Confirms $600,000 Libel Award and Finds Fault with Environmentalists (Tucson) Judge Richard Fields entered formal judgment on March 2, 2005 against the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental activist corporation, and found that they must pay $600,000 in actual and punitive damages to Arizona rancher Jim Chilton and the Chilton Ranch and Cattle Company. The formal judgment confirmed a Tucson jury’s verdict, delivered on January 21, 2005, finding the Center for Biological Diversity guilty of making “false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements” against Jim Chilton, a fifth generation Arizona rancher whose pioneering ancestors drove cattle into Arizona in the...

Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez"If we don't wake up to this, we could lose it all," that's Harvey Kushner's message to Americans — and American intelligence officials. Harvey Kushner is a familiar face to many Fox viewers. The terrorism expert is a frequent TV commentator. In his full-time work in terrorism prevention, he has been a consultant to major government agencies including the FBI, INS, and U.S. Customs. Kushner's most recent book is Holy War on the Home Front: The Secret Islamic Terror Network in the United States, written with Bart Davis.Kushner recently answered some of NRO editor Kathryn...

Not so many years ago, immigration - especially illegal immigration - was one of those topics best discussed in lowered tones and in small settings. Time passed and suddenly there are signs all over the place that immigration has become one of the nation's most fashionable topics. For example, last Sunday's Denver Post contained an article detailing Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's plans to keep the issue front and center even if it means he will have to mount a quixotic campaign for president. Tancredo's determination to go on the offensive is best understood as part of a larger political...

Crime-Friendly Neighborhoods How “New Urbanist” planners sacrifice safety in the name of  “openness” and “accessibility” Burras Road was a pleasant cul-de-sac of 21 new homes in Bradford, England. Its residents were blissfully unaware that, just east of the site, approval for a proposed new shopping center required the breaching of their cul-de-sac by a bicycle-pedestrian path.Planners favored this requirement because, they say, cul-de-sacs do not encourage movement and therefore are “auto-dependent” and “anti-urban.” Opening up the site would connect residents to local services, and the path would promote walking and cycling.The path connecting the shopping center to the cul-de-sac...

Muslims in the United States should "behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines." Not the admonition of a crank or a freak from the lunatic fringe, but Saudi-funded religious pamphlets distributed to mosques throughout America. Says who? Says Freedom House, one of the oldest human rights groups in the U.S. and headed by James Woolsey, CIA director in the first Clinton administration. The organization did a one-year study of the kind of "hate propaganda" the Saudi government has paid to print and distribute to U.S. mosques. The 89-page report, based on 200 Saudi documents, released by Freedom...

The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the voting portion of Prop. 200, which now puts the burden on counties to set up means to verify that new voters are indeed citizens of the United States. “The counties are now working very hard to make sure they have systems in place,” Secretary of State Jan Brewer said the week of Jan. 24. The Justice Department reviews any changes to Arizona’s elections under authority of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which found several states, including Arizona, had a history of denying voting rights to members of minority groups. Prop....

Lou Dobbs current column in US News.No more border games President Bush has again vowed to spend his political capital to grant legal status to the millions of illegal aliens who live and work in this country. The president rationalizes his guest-worker program by constantly referring to the nation's need to match willing workers with willing employers. The president's "proposed reform" has already met stiff resistance from the 109th Congress, which is apparently ready to finally take on the critically important issue of illegal immigration. Many from the president's own party say they'll fight his guest-worker proposal, and many...

Nogales International After seven years, a Santa Cruz County rancher has won a judgment of $600,000 for alleged libelous and false statements posted on the internet by an environmental activism group. On Friday, Jan. 21, a Tucson jury found the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group based in Tucson, guilty of making "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" against Jim Chilton, a Southern Arizona Rancher. Chilton owns the Montana Allotment, which extends west of Nogales from the U.S./Mexico border, along the Buenos Aires Refuge around the hamlet of Oro Blanco and ghost town of Ruby and into Pima...

  Washington, D.C. (Jan. 26, 2005) – A Pima County jury has awarded Arizona rancher Jim Chilton $600,000 in a libel suit against the Tucson-based environmental group, Center for Biological Diversity.  On Jan. 21, jurors in Pima County Superior Court voted 9-1 that the Center made “false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements” regarding Chilton's management of his Forest Service grazing allotment.   Chilton, a fifth generation producer and member of the Public Lands Council (PLC) and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), claimed the Center made false statements about him in a news advisory, and that the Center posted defaming photographs of his operation on its web site.  The photos of Chilton’s...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Thursday blasting soon to be former Homeland Security Sec. Tom Ridge after reports that funding for 2,000 additional border patrol agents mandated by the recently passed intelligence reform bill would likely not be included in the DHS budget proposal. "I'm disappointed but not surprised as Mr. Ridge has never taken border security too seriously," said Tancredo, head of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. "It's equivalent to denying a crime ridden city more officers for protection, it simply makes no sense." Tancredo also expressed concern that three years after...

THE ISSUE | Revelations that the Bush administration used taxpayer money to promote its agenda on news shows. OUR OPINION | These tactics are reprehensible and threaten the freedom of the press guaranteed in the Constitution. The term "state-run media" is normally associated with nations that control and censor its media outlets such as China and North Korea. Hopefully that term will not apply to outlets in the United States, but recent actions by the Bush administration should make all of us stand up and take notice Last week, it was revealed that the Education Department paid commentator Armstrong...

The Transportation Security Administration issued an advisory on Friday that a Piper PA 25 Pawnee crop-dusting aircraft was stolen from Ejido Queretaro, near Mexicali, Mexico, on Nov. 1. "Although there is currently no indication that this has any connection to terrorist activity," the TSA said, "the theft is cause for concern. Past information indicates that members of al-Qa'ida may have planned -- or may still be planning -- to disperse biological or chemical agents from cropdusting aircraft." The stolen aircraft is registered in Mexico and bears the tail number XBCYP. If you see the aircraft, the TSA says you...

Interior Secretary Creel meets with U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to coordinate security measures. Wire services El UniversalMiércoles 10 de noviembre de 2004 Top U.S. and Mexican authorities said Tuesday they had taken significant steps to increase security along their shared border, but acknowledged it is a "very attractive" possible route for terrorists wanting to harm the United States. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Mexican Interior Secretary Santiago Creel said officials on both sides of the border have redoubled their security efforts without interrupting the steady flow of commerce that is so important to the strong...

Powell Outlines Progress, Challenges in U.S.-Mexico RelationsCites progress on security issues and challenge of immigration reform The United States and Mexico have enjoyed particularly productive relations during the past four years, but there is considerable work ahead, including comprehensive immigration reform and efforts to make North America more globally competitive and secure, according to Secretary of State Colin Powell.At the November 9 inaugural of the 21st U.S.-Mexico Binational Commission (BNC) in Mexico City, Mexico, Powell said that the United States and Mexico have deepened and broadened law enforcement cooperation -- particularly counter-narcotics cooperation -- as well as intensified and expanded...

Congress has reacted angrily to revelations of abuses by a wide variety of charities, including scandals at well-established organizations such as United Way and the Nature Conservancy, and the disclosure that some tax-exempt groups have been acting as "accommodation parties" in abusive tax shelters. In the wake of a long-running series of scandals and controversies involving charities and nonprofits, Congress's tax-writing committees are launching an effort this week to crack down on fraudulent activities and tighten laws governing tax exemptions for those groups. The Senate Finance Committee will look at a broad range of possible revisions, including changes that would...

Dear Sierra friends, I am seeking your thoughts. As you know, I am carrying AB 1788, which would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy. A state conservancy is an agency that delivers state funds to areas of special value, such as Lake Tahoe or the California Coast. It makes grants and undertakes projects for a wide range of efforts, from acquisition of habitat to fire prevention and economic development. Unlike entities such as the "Coastal Commission" or the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a conservancy does not have any power to regulate lands. As a staunch defender of private property rights...

OPINION -- The Mighty Mississippi River is truly unique - it is the main artery dividing the East from the West. This magnificent river is multi-purpose. The river supports habitat for all kinds of plant and animal species on its many islands and along the extensive shoreline. There are hundreds of little fingers and coves where recreation abounds, while co-existing with many species that call the river area their home. Long overdue legislation has been introduced authorizing 1200 foot locks to be built on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to replace the outdated 600 foot locks. The shipping industry, commercial...