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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at the time [Note] CQ [/NOTE] he delivered a speech this summer in Berlin and declared himself a citizen of both the U.S. and the world. Billed as a highlight of Mr. Obama's July trip to Europe, the speech [-] delivered before hundreds of thousands of people in front of the historic Victory Column in Tiergarten [-] was organized by the Berlin-based company Mediapool, opening much like a rock concert, with warm-up performances from the band Reamonn and reggae singer Patrice. The...

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Barack Obama will portray himself Thursday night as an agent of change for mainstream America, but his eight-year voting record in the Illinois Senate shows the Democrat was on occasion an agent of isolation who took stands - particularly on anti-crime legislation - that put him to the left of his own party. Mr. Obama was the only member of the state Senate to vote against a bill to prohibit the early release of convicted criminal sexual abusers; was among only four who voted against bills to toughen criminal sentences and to increase penalties for "gangbangers" and dealers...

The U.S. Border Patrol's largest union local has asked President Bush to put an end to the scores of Mexican military incursions into the United States that have put Border Patrol agents at risk of being injured or killed. "It is disgraceful that Border Patrol agents are put in harm's way and our government doesn't do everything reasonably within its power to protect us from marauding Mexican soldiers and others," said Edward "Bud" Tuffly II, head of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) in Tucson. "Without a forceful response to these illegal incursions, an agent will eventually...

The U.S. Border Patrol's largest union local has asked President Bush to put an end to the scores of Mexican military incursions into the United States that have put Border Patrol agents at risk of being injured or killed. "It is disgraceful that Border Patrol agents are put in harm's way and our government doesn't do everything reasonably within its power to protect us from marauding Mexican soldiers and others," said Edward "Bud" Tuffly II, head of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) in Tucson. "Without a forceful response to these illegal incursions, an agent will eventually...

Thirty-one members of Congress on Wednesday asked President Bush for an "immediate review" of the convictions of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were sentenced in 2006 to lengthy prison terms for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he fled back to Mexico. "Should you be unwilling to pardon Agents Ramos and Compean, as some of us have advocated, we ask that you then consider commuting their sentences to time served," the Republican lawmakers said in a letter. "Your intervention in this matter will not only serve to correct this injustice, but also help...

Clinton's records vanished after warning May 12, 2008 By Jerry Seper - Hillary Rodham Clinton's Rose Law Firm billing records, found in the White House residence in January 1996 two years after they had been subpoenaed by government regulators, disappeared shortly after the first lady was warned that the firm's billing problems were "very serious" and the then-ongoing Whitewater investigation could result in criminal charges, newly obtained records show. More than 1,100 pages of grand jury testimony, investigative reports, memos, charging documents, chronologies, narratives and draft indictments, previously undisclosed but now being "processed" at the Library of Congress, say Mrs....

** EXCERPT ** With a large charitable donation in hand, Indonesian businessman Mochtar Riady flew to Little Rock to dine with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at a 1993 gala honoring her as an "Arkansan of the Year" at a time his company, a multibillion dollar banking conglomerate, was seeking an end to a 30-year trade embargo with Vietnam. Five days after the March 4, 1993, dinner at the Excelsior Hotel, Mr. Riady took the embargo question directly to President Clinton, saying in a four-page letter that its demise would bring political reforms in that communist country. By that time,...

Minuteman co-founder James Gilchrist's endorsement of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has spurred a backlash among illegal-immigration opponents who say the former Arkansas governor is soft on immigration enforcement. "Mike Huckabee is pro-amnesty and favors a path to citizenship for illegal aliens currently in the U.S. that would require a lifting of current penalties," said William Gheen, whose 25,000-member Americans for Legal Immigration sent mass mailings yesterday to more than 300 pro-enforcement groups.

The head of a Mexican forgery ring was convinced he could make phony documents that illegal aliens could use to indicate fraudulently that they were eligible for a new amnesty, says a government affidavit recounting wiretapped phone calls the man made. Julio Leija-Sanchez, who ran a $3 million-a-year forgery operation before he was arrested in April, was expecting Congress to pass a legalization program, which he called "amnesty," and said he could forge documents to fool the U.S. government into thinking illegal aliens were in the country in time to qualify for amnesty, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)...

As supporters of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, we were disheartened to read Jerry Seper's front-page article Thursday about questions and criticisms of President Chris Simcox's management of the organization. According to the article, the volunteer group has not made any financial statements or fundraising records public since April 2005 -- circumstances that have strained relations between Mr. Simcox and several of his top employees, some of whom have resigned in protest. Mr. Simcox must resolve these problems quickly. Failure to do so would only encourage the organization's critics -- who have made no secret of their desire to see...

The U.S. government has sent more than $376 million to Mexico in the past decade for that country's military and police to help stop alien and drug smugglers, guard against terrorists and protect America's southern border, including $50 million due this year. The money, quietly authorized through State and Defense department programs, has been used to train and equip the Mexican military and police, drawing disagreement on whether those institutions are part of the solution for U.S. border security, or are part of the problem.

The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed. It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to...

The House voted last night to build nearly 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as it began the first major floor debate in years on enforcing immigration laws. The vote, 260-159, came on an amendment to a border-security and employer-verification bill that is scheduled for a final vote today. Republican leaders appeared to have cleared a remaining hurdle last night by promising to remove language that said there should be a legal means for foreign workers to come and go. Some Republicans had argued that the provision, which was nonbinding, was a place-holder to attach a guest-worker plan...

A Saudi national who served as director of the Virginia office of the Muslim World League (MWL) has been deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on immigration charges. ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said Abdullah Alnoshan, 44, of Falls Church, was returned to Saudi Arabia over the weekend. He was arrested in July by ICE and FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. A criminal complaint charged Alnoshan with conspiring to commit immigration fraud by using fake employment documents to enter, exit and live in the United States. Alnoshan also was accused of seeking to deter...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday said illegal immigration is a "severe and growing threat" and while it will take time to correct, the government has begun a campaign to secure America's borders. "Illegal migration ... undercuts the rule of law, it undermines our national security, and it imposes public safety and economic strains on our borders, states and communities," Mr. Chertoff said in a speech during the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) policy summit in Washington.

<p>Three illegal aliens were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this week when they reported for work as outside contractors at a secure area of a Nebraska nuclear power station.</p> <p>The arrests were the latest in a series of ICE apprehensions of illegal aliens performing contract work at nuclear plants and other nuclear-related facilities.</p>

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Report shows how terrorists exploited immigration lawsBy Jerry SeperTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished August 31, 2005 Of the 94 known foreign-born terrorists who operated in the United States between 1993 and 2004, two-thirds of them committed immigration fraud prior to or as part of their terrorist activities, a report said yesterday.     At least 21 became naturalized U.S. citizens before being charged or convicted as terrorists, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) said in a 46-page report.     CIS Executive Director Mark Krikorian said the report "highlights the danger of our lax immigration system, not just in terms of who...

A U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of being an illegal alien and smuggling other illegals into the United States faces a bail hearing today in federal court in San Diego. Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, a Mexican citizen born in Tijuana, is charged with using a fraudulent birth certificate to obtain a job with the agency in 2001 and alien smuggling. The numbered certificate claimed he was born in Chicago, although authorities have since discovered it belonged to a man born a month earlier. Mr. Ortiz, who was assigned at the agency's El Cajon field station 35 miles east of San...

By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES A coalition of civilian volunteers in the United States and Canada yesterday said it has begun the first stages in developing internationally supported citizen patrols along the U.S.-Canada border patterned after the Minuteman Project in April in Arizona. The American-Canadian Conservative Coalition, in concert with Minuteman Project organizer Chris Simcox, said it is preparing for its first vigil along the border in Michigan, south of Ontario, and is actively working to expand the watch to every state and province along the northern U.S. border. This first project will be called the Michigan-Ontario Minuteman Border...

A coalition of civilian volunteers in the United States and Canada yesterday said it has begun the first stages in developing internationally supported citizen patrols along the U.S.-Canada border patterned after the Minuteman Project in April in Arizona. The American-Canadian Conservative Coalition, in concert with Minuteman Project organizer Chris Simcox, said it is preparing for its first vigil along the border in Michigan, south of Ontario, and is actively working to expand the watch to every state and province along the northern U.S. border. -snip-