Mexican ‘ice’ is drug enforcement nightmare

Across the United States, law enforcement officials are trying to stop the spread of "ice," the latest illegal drug to sweep the country. Ice is a powerful form of the stimulant methamphetamine and is very addictive.

Through arrests and enactment laws restricting the chemicals used to make methamphetamine, authorities in recent years dramatically reduced meth labs in the United States. But now, those efforts are being undercut by Mexican drug traffickers, who are mass-producing ‘ice’ in big labs south of the border, then smuggling it into and throughout the U.S.

Drug agents recently raided a "superlab" near Guadalajara and in Mexico City seizing $205 million allegedly used to buy ice raw materials from Chinese smugglers. But the Mexican drug traffickers are undeterred and are moving east, choosing Atlanta as a major U.S. distribution hub.

"We are a source city for as far north as New York, New Jersey, Boston," says Sherri Strange, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta. DEA says 80 percent of all meth consumed in the U.S. now comes from Mexico. The newest form, ice, is spreading fast

He's got the slogan down, but Newt is sloppy on immigration details

Yes, he’s good with words – remember the “Contract With America?” In an interview this week on immigration, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich repeated over and over “We need absolute control of the border for national security.”

But it was more than a slogan, it was several slogans. “It’s very disappointing that our leaders in Washington don’t take responsibility for national security and homeland security,” he said repeatedly, adding “If you don’t have absolute control of the border, how do you think you can stop a terrorist from crossing the border.”

Gingrich, however, showed his true feelings when he rambled on as to how the United States needs a temporary worker program. But his real interest in immigration issues became apparent when, asked his opinion about the plight of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean, Gingrich said that though he knew people had strong feelings “I’m not familiar enough with the issue to give you an opinion.”

U.S. Border Control Chairman Edward Nelson said he was reminded that in the mid-1990s “President Clinton would have been defeated and the NAFTA treaty would have died, but Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole stepped in to muscle the Republicans to back NAFTA, delivering a stunning victory for Bill Clinton; assuring his reelection; and leading American down the long dark path towards the North American Union we all despise.”

Columbia disciplinary action seen as inadequate

Columbia University has warned or censured eight students who disrupted speakers from the Minuteman Project last October in a melee that cut short the program. Protesters had stormed the stage during the presentation, and shut down the speeches.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had chastised Columbia at the time.

Warnings and censures will be noted on the students’ transcripts for varying lengths of time, but none will remain on the records after graduation. If students face other disciplinary proceedings, they will face harsher penalties.“

A spokesman for the Minuteman Project called Columbia’s disciplinary actions “a travesty of justice.”

Chris Kulawik, president of the Columbia University College Republicans, which sponsored the Minuteman program, said that he felt the discipline was too light. “I’m glad they took some action,” he said. “But personally, I don’t think it is strong enough to prevent people from doing it again.”

Immigrants are leading the pack in housing foreclosures

Immigrants are the first victims of a wave of home foreclosures underway nationally. Aracely Panameno, director of Latino affairs for the Center for Responsible Lending said that nationally 375,000 high-interest-rate loans were made to Hispanics in 2005, and nearly 73,000 of them are likely to go into foreclosure.

Over the next six years, about 1.1 million homes in the United States are expected to go into foreclosure. Immigrants are among the first facing foreclosure because their incomes tend to be lower and many have lost construction jobs.

Many people managed to buy homes early in this decade by turning to unusual new mortgages which are only now receiving scrutiny from regulators and legislators. Many start with attractive low 'teaser' rates but feature payments that can suddenly increase.

Some lenders allowed people to take out loans without verifying income, ability to repay, or whether the immigrants were in the U.S. legally. The lenders found alternate sources of financing for these loans by turning to investors who bought the loans as packaged securities. The loans were not supervised in the same ways as loans made by banks and held in their portfolios. Nevertheless, many immigrants initially welcomed the lending changes as the only way they could afford to buy.

Proposal would require medical exams for all food service workers

A proposal in Tarrant County, Texas would require that all food service workers and food handlers receive a thorough medical examination, before and during their employment in restaurants, fast food chains and cafeterias.

Supporters say that dozens of cases of highly contagious diseases, especiallly hepatitis, are being passed onto restaurant customers by employees. Waitstaff have passed hepatitis on to customers at Pappasito’s Cantina in Houston, Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant and the El Yaqui Restaurants in Arizona and San Diego, and during the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Awards dinner.

Diseases identified by the CDC as coming across the border include tuberculosis, hepatitis A,B,C,D,E, meningitis, chagas, shigella, dengue, eye worm and brain worm disease, and leprosy. There are also increasing reports of polio in some border towns.

Musicians who apply for jobs on cruise lines must receive a very thorough physical exam before employment. The cost - about $250. If musicians have to have a certified medical checkup with appropriate vaccinations, it only seem reasonable that food service workers and food handlers be required to get the same thing.

Tancredo slams renewed push for amnesty by Flake and Gutierrez

U.S. Representative and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, commented on amnesty legislation to be introduced this week by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

"The President and his new Democratic allies in Congress seem hell-bent on cramming this mass amnesty down the throats of the American people whether they want it or not," Tancredo said.

He added, "The core elements of the bill are intact from last year's version, so the main question is whether freshmen Democrats who campaigned on a platform of strong border security and no amnesty will keep their pledges. I hope their constituents will see to it that they do."

States seeking laws to penalize employers of illegals

Lawmakers in some states want to start cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. They are frustrated by what they see as a lack of aggressiveness on the federal government’s part in enforcing a federal law

Legislators in Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma ideas such as fining businesses and suspending their licenses, prohibiting violators from obtaining state contracts, and requiring employers to sign affidavits saying they do not knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

A few states passed laws in 2006 to confront the problem as well.

”The feds are so woefully behind,” said Republican state Sen. Chris Koster of Missouri, sponsor of one such proposal. ”To sit around and wait for federal action on this is like waiting for Santa Claus.”

Justice Department guidelines show most border crossers are ignored

In the midst of a media feeding frenzy over the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys, a Justice Department memo was released detailing how the department handles illegal border crossers. The memo specifically applies to two Texas border districts, San Antonio and Houseton, and one in California, San Diego.

The Justice Department guidelines for prosecuting people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are:

• TEXAS (Houston or San Antonio): Prosecutes for illegal entry after six to eight apprehensions by the Border Patrol. Exceptions are made for people with criminal convictions in the U.S.
• TEXAS (Houston or San Antonio): Prosecutes after seven failed attempts. Exceptions are made for anyone with criminal convictions in the U.S. and other circumstances, such as resisting arrest or behaving aggressively.
• CALIFORNIA (San Diego): Does not prosecute "purely economic migrants" as a general rule and does not use the number of apprehensions as a guide. Focuses on people with "substantial criminal histories."

Flake, Gutierrez introduce amnesty bill into the House

Two Representatives today opened the amnesty in Congress for this year. The bill offered by Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) offers citizenship to illegal immigrants.

The bill also would creates a new worker program, stiffens worker verification procedures and overhauls the visa system to reduce waiting times for legal immigrants. It requires that tough border security and work-site enforcement standards are met before the amnesty can go forward. Illegal aliens would be required to leave the country and return legally to be considered for citizenship..

Senate efforts to craft such a bill have stalled in recent weeks, but the Bush administration has worked intensely to build GOP support.

Illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before June 1, 2006 would be eligible for amnesty under the Flake/Gutierrez bill. They would have to pay a $2,000 fine and back taxes, pass background and security checks, learn English and civics, and keep a clean record. The head of household would also have to leave and reenter the U.S. legally before becoming a legal perm.

The bill would increase penalties for crimes committed by immigrants, including human smuggling, gang activity, and visa and document fraud, and folds in the AgJobs bill, which would create a dedicated-worker program for the agricultural industry.

The bill would allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state rates for college tuition and give those brought to the United States as youngsters a way to gain citizenship.

Another Texas lawman jailed, fined after incident with illegal aliens

A third former Texas law enforcement officer has been railroaded into jail by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton after an incident involving illegal aliens. Guillermo Hernandez, a former deputy sheriff, fired shots at a sport utility vehicle after the driver refused to stop and tried to run him down.

Hernandez was sentenced March 19 to one year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $5,347 in damages to an illegal alien whose teeth were injured in the incident. He had been charged with violating 'under the color of law' the civil rights of a Mexican woman who was being smuggled into the United States in an April 2005 incident. Hernandez told investigators that the driver of the vehicle tried to run him down after he stopped it for running a red light, and said he spotted at least eight persons lying down inside the vehicle.

The deputy sheriff’s boss, Sheriff Letsinger, has questioned why Sutton ever brought charges. The sheriff said Hernandez 'followed the letter of the law' in defending himself in the incident.

Rep. Sam Johnson, a Texas Republican, said that although an initial investigation cleared the deputy, the Justice Department began its own investigation a year later based on the testimony of illegal aliens in the van. Sutton also prosecuted Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean following an illegal alien incident. They are currently serving lengthy sentences in jail.

Illegal used stolen ID to get a driver’s license, a job, checking accounts and mortgages

An illegal alien bought a stolen Social Security number 20 years ago in California, moved to Illinois. He used the card to get a job and a driver’s license, to open checking accounts, to take out two mortgages and even to file bankruptcy.

But his string of luck ran out, and Francisco G. Maldonado, 39, was charged with financial identity theft and possession of a fictitious identification card. Maldonado even gave the stolen Social Security number to police booking officers several times while he was being arrested.

The woman whose Social Security number was stolen had filed several police reports, and had talked to credit and collection agencies, eventually learning the address Maldonado was using in Illinois.
When he was arrested, Maldonado had an Illinois driver’s license, a department store credit card, a bank statement, checks with his name imprinted on them and a Blue Cross insurance card. But he told police he was unable to post a $15,000 bond, and was taken to jail.

Churches in some U.S. cities plan to flaunt U.S. law, provide sanctuary for illegals

Churches in some U.S. cities are preparing to launch a “sanctuary” movement to hide illegal aliens and prevent their deportation. The churches will serve as their living quarters, and will hide them from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The group lists Los Angeles, Chicago and New York as central cities. Religious leaders from a dozen faiths – including Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian – have been meeting and planning for a few months. They say they have been inspired by Elvira Arellano, an illegal alien from Mexico who has been hidden at a Methodist church in Chicago since mid-August to avoid deportation.

The new sanctuary plans come as immigration reform legislation has been stalled since last summer, and also as hundreds of illegal immigrants have been detained and deported in immigration raids in recent months.

Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the conference would not support harboring illegal immigrants because it would be breaking the law. But he said individual dioceses have much local autonomy. “Local bishops have authority over their diocese and can instruct parishes to comply with the law or not,” he said.

Statistics on Crime in America 2007

95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles, Calif. are for illegal aliens. 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix, Ariz. are for illegal aliens. 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque, N.M., are for illegal aliens.

75% of people on the "Most Wanted" list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.

25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals in the U.S. illegally. 40% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals in the U.S. illegally. 48% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals in the U.S. illegally.

630,000 convicted illegal alien felons occupy our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually.

More than 53% of burglaries in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.

More than 50% of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.

More than 70 % of all cars stolen in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California are stolen by illegals.

More than 43% of all drivers stopped by police in California are illegal aliens who have no license, insurance, or registration. More than 61% of all drivers stopped in Arizona are illegal aliens who have no license, insurance, or registration for the vehicle. More than 64% of drivers stopped in New Mexico are illegal aliens who have no license, insurance, or registration.

Now do you support amnesty for illegal aliens?

Hazelton Mayor testifies crackdown on illegals was prompted by violent crime

It was a crime surge in an old Pennsylvania coal town that prompted a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Hazelton’s mayor testified, defending the ordinance against claims that it is unconstitutional. Lou Barletta said violent crime spiked 60 percent between 2003 and 2006, driving businesses away and making residents afraid to come out of their homes. In just weeks last spring illegal immigrants were arrested for fatally shooting a man, shooting a playground with a BB gun, and dealing drugs.

"People were demanding that something be done," Barletta said on the fourth day of a trial to determine the constitutionality of Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act. Passed last summer, the ordinance imposes fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denies business permits to companies that employ them. Another measure requires tenants to register with City Hall.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued to overturn the measures. Enforcement of the laws was barred pending trial, the first to examine local efforts to curb illegal immigration.

Bush welcomes Kennedy as leader moving Congress toward immigration amnesty

President Bush said his most important ally in getting Congress to approve amnesty may be Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., a longtime nemesis of Republicans. Once Republicans settle on a course, Bush said, Kennedy could be the one to lead the charge in the now-Democratic Congress.

Bush pledged Wednesday to intensify his push for immigration amnesty, standing alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico. "My mood is optimistic because the mood in Congress seems like it's changed," Bush said. Bush and Calderon also pledged to step up the fight against illegal drugs.

Calderon said he supports efforts by Bush to ease immigration laws. Bush wants to establish a guest-worker program and amnesty for many of the millions of illegal aliens in the United States.

Bush's s long-languishing immigration proposal is closer to those favored by Kennedy and many other Democrats than to those of his own party. Bush called Kennedy "one of the best legislative senators there is" and noted he had worked with Kennedy in 2001 in winning bipartisan support for the No Child Left Behind education bill, one of the hallmarks of Bush's first term.

Mexican Matricula Card - not accepted everywhere

Do Mexican banks accept the Mexican Matricula Card? Three Mexican banks were asked, in Spanish, if they accept the cards. Here is a translation of their responses.

1st bank - This is the situation. I am living in the United States, but I don’t have documents. I am not living legally there. I would like to go live in Tijuana and all I have is the Mexican Matricula Consular card that is given at the Mexican Consulate in the United States. I would like to know if I can open an account with this form of identification.

No. In order to open an account you would have to have a Mexican Passport or a Federal Credential ID, only.

The matricula card is not considered….

Official by itself, NO.

2nd bank - I am a Mexican citizen residing in the United States. All of my other ID’s have expired. All I have is the Matricula Card which is given at the Mexican Consulate. Can I use that to open a checking account and a credit card?

No. Only with the Mexican electoral card, driver’s license or a non-expired passport.

So, the matricula card is NOT accepted.

No, it is not accepted.

3rd bank - I would like to open an account but all I have is the Mexican Matricula card, I don’t have a social security number. I am living in the United States, but I am planning on going…

No sir, you need to have an American passport, the matricula, social security number, and proof of residence in the United States.

So, who does accept the Mexican matricula card in order to open a checking account and/or a credit card? Bank of America, Wells Fargo and many other American banks. It's not secure enough to meet Mexican bank standards, but it's perfectly fine for U.S. banks.

Tancredo brings anti-illegal immigration message to New Hampshire primary race

Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo focused on illegal immigration in a visit to New Hampshire on March 10. A Republican Congressman from Colorado, Tancredo addressed a crowd of more than 50 Republicans at the Strafford County Republican Committee's monthly meeting.

'Enforce the law; secure the border,' he said. 'We need more than a virtual fence, we need a real fence.' He added that employers also need to do their part and not hire immigrants. If the U.S. takes away what illegal immigrants come to the country for, a job and money, they'll return home, Tancredo said.

Tancredo also gave a brief news conference. A small group of protestors gathered before his arrival to oppose a Bank of America pilot program in California that lets people without social security numbers get credit cards and to support him.

Tancredo urged those who had Bank of America accounts to close them to show the bank their disapproval.

Noncitizen voting eroding confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections

“There is a very real possibility that noncitizens have already affected the outcomes of elections, and they will in the future.” Congressman Brian P. Bilbray, (CA-GOP). Bilbray was addressing a House Judiciary Committee hearing on voting irregularities and election deception.

With more than 20 million foreign-born residents in the United States who are not U.S. citizens, including at least 12 million illegal aliens, the potential for noncitizen voting is a growing concern, he said.

Rep. Steve King, (IA-GOP) noted that illegal aliens in some states can easily acquire driver's licenses, making it easy for them to register to vote, especially in states with 'motor-voter' laws. King said that in states where driver’s licenses are available to legal noncitizens and illegal aliens, there is little doubt that the voter rolls also contain large numbers of noncitizens and illegals aliens.

Bilbray said the new REAL ID law, which will require states to verify proof of citizenship before issuing driver's licenses and voter identification cards, will greatly help combat fraudulent voting. “People tend to think that the photo ID requirement will suppress voting, but to the contrary -- evidence shows that anti-fraud provisions actually increase voter turnout” Bilbray said, noting that more than 100 democracies worldwide require voters to show photo IDs, including Mexico.

Latinos get more than one-third of all U.S. jobs, two-thirds of construction jobs

They represent just 13.6 percent of the U.S. employment population, but Latinos accounted for 36.7 percent of the 2006 U.S. employment growth, a Pew Hispanic Center study study shows.

Most of the jobs Hispanic workers got were in the construction industry. In fact, 66 percent of new U.S. constriction jobs in 2006 went to Hispanic workers. Hispanic employment increased by almost 1 million from 2005 to 2006, with foreign-born Latinos who arrived since 2000 responsible for 24 percent of the total U.S. employment increase.

Illegal aliens accounted for about two-thirds of those recently arrived Hispanic workers, likely making up 16 percent of total U.S. employment growth in 2006.

Raided Massachusetts factory got city tax break to hire local workers

Michael Bianco Inc., the New Bedford, MA factory raided by immigration agents this week, had received a special tax break from the city that saved the company $57,000 in property taxes over the past two years. In return, the company was to add more than 85 jobs, and “give preference to qualified New Bedford residents."

The tax break would save the company $80,000 over five years. In its last report to the city in July 2005, the company stated that it created 291 jobs, 270 of which went to New Bedford residents. But the company had hired illegal immigrants who lived in New Bedford.

City Councilor-at-large David Alves said the company's misrepresentations are "insulting. It's insulting if the city and state don't seek to take this money back, and it's insulting to legitimate companies trying to stay afloat," he said.

Mayor Scott W. Lang said he is certain that the city will get back its $57,000 in taxes. "If they have received any benefits for running an illegal sweatshop with illegal aliens, I'm going to go after every dime," he said. More importantly, Lang said, he will go after the 520 jobs that the defense contract created in New Bedford.

Hundreds of immigration officers and police descended on the New Bedford leather goods factory, charged top officials with employing illegal immigrants, and rounded up 350 workers who could not prove they were in the country legally.

Immigration DWI bill reintroduced into Congress

Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC) has re-introduced the Scott Gardner Act in Congress, which requires automatic deportation of illegal aliens convicted of DWI. Gardner was a North Carolina teacher and father who was killed two years ago by a drunk driver - an illegal immigrant with five prior drunk driving arrests.

“In the United States 13 people are killed every day by illegal immigrants driving drunk. It is time for it to stop,” said Emily Moose, Gardner’s mother.

Myrick’s bill calls for the automatic deportation and for the name of the illegal convicted of DWI to be entered into a database. The bill passed the House of Representatives last year, but never made it to the Senate.

In February, a North Carolina woman was killed by a man police said was driving drunk and in the country illegally. The driver also had a prior DWI conviction. The victim’s cousin, Jennifer Raper, said she is praying for the Scott Gardner Act to pass. “I cannot help but wonder if this piece of legislation had gone through a year ago, my little cousin and her unborn child might still be her today.”

Conservatives blast feds on failure to enforce immigration

'Powerful business interest want cheap labor and they found a loophole -- not in the law, but in the federal government's lack of enforcement,' Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference forum on immigration..

'Cheap labor is a commodity. If you flood the market with any commodity, it will drive wages down. For unskilled American workers, their purchasing power is down.'

But the problem extends far beyond economics, said Georgia Republican State Sen. Nancy Schaeffer, who said that the Georgia Legislature has passed laws denying government benefits to illegal immigrants over the age of 18, cracking down on employers that hire them, and clamping down on human trafficking.

'When there is no enforcement federally, the states are left with the crisis,' she said.

In Arizona, drug dealers cross from Mexico into the United States with little problem, said Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a border-watch organization that is pressing for federal curbs on illegal immigration.

Simcox also said the recent conviction of ex-border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean -- sentenced to more than a decade each in prison for shooting a Mexican suspected drug smuggler -- sends the wrong message to agents in the field. 'Agents feel paralyzed after their jailing,' Simcox told the forum. 'They fear doing their own jobs.'

Non-citizens in New York want the right to vote; some in U.S. already do

Non-citizens are asking for the right to vote in New York City local elections. The proposal would affect about 1.3 million legal adult residents in the city, and would be restricted to legal residents of more than six months.

More than 60 community groups support the proposal, which is now before a City Council committee. Non-citizen immigrants say they pay the same taxes, use the same services and want the same say in how the city is run.

"Has this city gone nuts?" one resident wrote to the New York Post, echoing similar letters. "If you don't like it here, go home or become a citizen."

Some non-citizens in the United States are already voting. Six communities in Maryland allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. In Chicago, non-citizens can vote in school board races. And in Massachusetts, three cities have approved non-citizen voting at the local level, including the city of Newton, which approved it last week. That move still needs the Massachusetts Legislature's approval.

Large majority of Americans support local crackdowns on illegal aliens

By a margin of 68 to 25, Americans support crackdowns on illegal immigrants, and 1,000 of them told a nationwide telephone poll conducted February 22 to 26. The poll was conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, a Pennsylvania firm.

Respondents were asked whether they support local ordinances recently passed in Hazleton, Pennsylvania that would suspend business licenses of employers who hire illegal aliens, penalize landlords who rent to illegal aliens with fines and make English the official language. “This poll shows we need to turn to our elected officials at the local level to take action on this issue, and not rely solely on the federal government to solve this problem,” said Hazelton Mayor Barletta.

The poll confirms that by a 67-26 margin, Americans would support an ordinance similar to Hazleton’s in their own communities. According to the survey, 61 percent don’t believe beefed-up border patrols, federal raids on businesses or other efforts that have been publicized recently are helping stem the flow of illegal immigrants, while only 6 percent believe they are helping “a lot” and 23 percent believe they are helping “a little.”

Results show broad-based majority support among many types of voters including those who identify themselves as Republicans (80 percent), Democrats (56 percent), Independents 68 percent), both males and females (68 percent), voters in all age groups and in all geographic regions of the country.

Mexican wives want the U.S. to send their husbands home

The women of Tecalpulco, Mexico have asked the U.S. government to enforce its immigration laws and force, even deport their husbands so they will come back home from working illegally in the United States.

They have created an English-language web page where they talk about their children who feel abandoned, and worry that the men have forsaken their families for other women and for the American lifestyle. The women run an artists' cooperative to sell traditional-style jewelry, including through the Internet, and make their personal pleas at www.artcamp.com.mx/venga/ a part of the coop's Web site.

'You said you were only going to Arizona to get money for our house, but now you have been away and did not come back when your sister got married,' one woman writes,’Don't you love me? You told me you love me.'

More than 10 million Mexican-born people, or nearly one out of every 10, was living in the United States as of 2005. Villages devoid of men between 20 and 50 are common in many parts of the country. The stories of single mothers struggling to raise their children are just as frequent.

Businesses and government officials on both sides of the border acknowledge a sort of grand bargain -- with illegal immigration the U.S. gets cheap labor, while Mexico has an outlet for its unemployed, who in turn send cash back home.