Obama's illegal alien aunt seeks asylum in U.S.

President Barack Obama's illegal alien aunt is seeking asylum to stay in the United States. Zeituni Onyango, the 56-year-old Kenyan half-sister of Obama's deceased father, has hired an attorney to represent her at an immigration hearing in Boston on April 1.

Onyango lives in a South Boston slum, and refused to leave the U.S. for her Kenyan homeland after a judge rejected her request for asylum in 2004.

A Boston Housing Authority spokesman told the Boston Herald that Onyango receives a small stipend for working six hours a week as a volunteer resident health advocate in her complex.

Obama’s aunt made a $260 campaign contribution to her nephew's presidential bid from a work address in the city.

House's SCHIP expansion will benefit illegals

The Senate is considering a House-approved bill that will make it easier for illegal immigrants to take advantage of a program established to provide healthcare to low-income children. A California-based population stabilization organization has called on the Senate to amend the bill and close the loophole.

The expanded version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, weakens verification requirements. Anyone wanting to enroll only needs to show a Social Security card, a card which specifically discourages its use as identification, has no identifying image, and can very easily be forged.

Speaking for Californians for Population Stabilization, Rick Oltman said that while providing healthcare to low-income children is a laudable goal, extending benefits to illegal aliens will mean fewer funds available for poor Americans. He noted that the US already guarantees emergency healthcare for everyone in the country.

He added “Opening up these public programs to allow anybody in the world to have access to them if they can simply get here is wrong. What we do not need to be doing is heaping more patients on top of the taxpayer to pay for healthcare.'

He called on the Senate to amend the legislation to prevent SCHIP benefits from going to individuals who are in the country illegally.

Travel in Mexico prohibited for US military

The outbreak of violence in Mexico has prompted Southern Arizona's largest military installation to restrict troop travel and warn military families and civilian staffers to stay out of Mexico. The troops stationed at Fort Huachuca must get prior approval from the Army post's top brass to cross the border. Violators are subject to military discipline.

The 44,000 U.S. Marines in Southern California are also now prohibited from Mexico’s Tijuana. Citing a wave of violence and murder in Mexico, the commanding officer of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton has made the popular military "R&R" destination and its nearby beaches effectively off-limits for Marines.

Said Mike Alvarez, civilian public information officer for the unit at Camp Pendleton, "The situation in Mexico is now more dangerous than usual. The intent is just to look out for the Marines' safety and well-being."

What is going on here? If it is unsafe for tough, well-trained American soldiers to visit Mexico, why hasn't our State Department issued a warning to students, families, indeed, all Americans to stay out of Mexico? It becomes obvious that the people running our government are withholding the truth so they can continue to advance their plans for open borders, possibly even a North American Union where the U.S., Mexico and Canada are united into a borderless, European-style, economic union.

If there was ever a time to close our borders with Mexico and Canada, this is it. Mexico is on the verge of a possible bloody revolution and Canada has become a staging area for Islamic terrorists. Anybody who thinks dissolving the borders with these two nations makes sense is either completely out of his or her mind or are in the employ of the multinational conglomerates who care nothing at all about the nations they are destroying.

Can't afford to visit Beirut? Try Mexico - it's almost as dangerous

The big lie continues that Mexico is a civilized nation that we should embrace with open arms and open borders. The truth is that Mexico is one of the most corrupt nations in our hemisphere and, right now, is very close to a state of total anarchy.

The drug cartels (see map at right), who, for years have controlled many of Mexico's politicians and more than a few American politicians are now in open warfare with the government for total control of the country.

Most recently, a Mexico police chief's head, stuffed into an ice box, was delivered to his colleagues in the country's latest drug-related violence. The incident came as 16 other people were also killed in Mexico's northern state of Chihuahua in attacks the authorities believe are linked to the country's drug wars.

"Hitmen cut off commander Martin Castro's head and left it in an ice cooler in front of the local police station," said a statement issued by the state justice authorities. Along with the head was a warning from the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

The police commander, only five days after starting his job, was abducted along with five other police officers and a civilian, . Six bodies in police uniforms bearing signs of torture and gunshot wounds were found in a street in the state capital, Chihuahua.

Along the northern areas bordering the US, more than 5,300 people were killed last year. Nevertheless, the U.S. State Department has, thus far, refused to issue a warning asking Americans to avoid this very dangerous and often deadly part of the world.

Tancredo, Cornym, Rorabacher thrilled with commutation of border agents’ sentences

Tom Tancredo, who until this month was a Colorado congressman, says he's ecstatic over President Bush's decision to commute the sentences of two former Border Patrol Agents on his last day in office.

By the end of March, Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos will finally get to be home with their families. More than 80 members of Congress had signed a petition asking for their release and urged the president to free the men. 
Tancredo was one of the lawmakers who spearheaded the release effort, and has since formed the Rocky Mountain Foundation to continue to pursue a border enforcement agenda.

"I am ecstatic. I'm just glad as I can possibly be -- and I thank God,"
Tancredo said. He will continue to work to get the two men a full pardon so they can return to their jobs, “but it is more important that they are finally getting out of jail.”

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said “I am extremely pleased the president answered my plea, and that of like-minded colleagues and millions of Texans and Americans, in commuting the sentences of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean. This case cried out for a commutation and the president has now acted to right the wrongs of their excessive and unjust sentences.”

Said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California: “Our prayers have been answered! This is not just a day of celebration for the families but it is a victory for all Americans. The hearts of all patriotic Americans are filled with joy at the announcement that our brave border defenders, Ramos and Compean, will be freed from unjust captivity. “

Bush finally commutes sentences of Ramos and Compean

With less than 24 hours left in his presidency, George W. Bush at last granted clemency to two former Border Patrol agents, Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. The two had received lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of shooting a fleeing Mexican drug dealer.

Clemency for the two former agents was a major goal of USBC and attracted considerable support among all advocates of tougher border security, who had repeatedly argued that the agents were just doing their jobs.

A large number of senators and representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, had supported clemency for the two men. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2007 emphasized that the drug dealer had crossed the United States-Mexican border illegally and drove a van containing 743 pounds of marijuana worth almost $1 million.

The commutation granted by President Bush means the prison sentences of Ramos and Compean, both from El Paso, Texas, will expire on March 20, but leaves intact the three years of post-imprisonment probation and fines of $2,000 each. Both had been in prison since early 2007. Much of that time was spent in solitary confinement, which was said necessary to protect the former law enforcement agents from other inmates.

Bush commuted the sentences before he received a recommendation from the Justice Department's pardon attorney. "The Office of the Pardon Attorney was still in the process of reviewing the clemency requests from Compean and Ramos at the time these commutations were granted," a Justice official says.

In fact, the Justice Department was still reviewing the applications and had not made a recommendation to the White House.

Time is quickly running out for Bush to pardon Border Patrol agents

With just over 48 hours remaining in office, President Bush is being urged by lawmakers to commute the sentences of two former Border Patrol agents serving time in federal prison.

Agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting a Mexican drug runner. They were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against a criminal illegal crossing the US border.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has taken up the cause in the House, held a press conference last week urging U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, the prosecutor in the case, to support commutation.

Rohrabacher said: “We are asking Sutton to look into his heart as a prosecutor and advise the President to commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean so they will not spend the next ten years in solitary confinement.”

Republican Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California sent a letter to President Bush in 2008 asking for a commutation of the sentence. The letter followed a Senate hearing examining the case.

Former NFL player finds dream fulfilled as US border agent

Many young men dream of playing football for the Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears or the Washington Redskins. But Jamaal Green, a defensive end for each of those teams in the past five years, dreamed of working in law enforcement. That dream came true last February when he became a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the El Paso area.

Born and raised in Camden, N.J., Green said it was never his boyhood dream to play football. After being urged to play by a coach, he was named to the New Jersey All-State first team, earned a full scholarship to the University of Miami, and was picked during the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. Later he played for the Bears and the Redskins.

Many of Green's coworkers have asked him why he gave up the glamorous life of an NFL player to become an agent. While at the Border Patrol academy, Green said he received calls from the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Texans with offers to join their respective practice squads. He declined.

'Agent Green is representative of our expanded recruitment efforts that continue to be conducted throughout the nation,' said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Victor M. Manjarrez Jr. 'His background speaks highly of the quality of our employees and the varied work experiences that support our national strategy of protecting our nation's borders.'

Border Chief wins $61,000 bonus despite delays in building fence, failure to support agents

The Bush administration has awarded a $61,200 bonus to Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar, despite agency criticism by Congress for delays in the border fence project and for accelerating a hiring program that auditors say threatens to reduce the quality of field supervision.

Aguilar has also been criticized by border agents for not supporting former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. His non-support was greeted with a unanimous "no confidence" vote by the union representing non-supervisory border agents.

The presidential merit bonus, equal to 35 percent of Aguilar's $172,000 annual pay, is almost double the size of the $36,658 base starting salary for a Border Patrol agent.

The bonus angered many field agents, some of whom told the chief in an unsigned letter that the agency has been damaged and field agents jeopardized by his "politically expedient decisions."

The agents' four-page letter focuses on two major topics: a virtual fence project along the Arizona-Mexico border that it called "ineffective and too costly," and changes at the Border Patrol Academy to meet a presidential mandate of hiring 6,000 more agents by the end of 2008. The letter accuses Chief Aguilar of ignoring top Border Patrol executives who unanimously opposed the academy changes.

Hispanics preferred in Dallas transit hiring

The Dallas, Texas transit agency, DART, has been accused of hiring discrimination, with at least one woman claiming she was fired after complaining about being ordered to hire under-qualified Hispanics for jobs.

African-American community leaders have asked Dallas City council members to investigate.

Former DART employee Rebecca Williams is among at least five people who have filed federal discrimination complaints against their old bosses, with Williams claiming she was fired after complaining about being ordered to hire Hispanics.

Community leaders have met with DART officials looking for answers and found nothing but frustration.

They took their complaint to City Hall hoping that city council members would take an interest, but only council member Dwaine Carroway appeared to reach out. Carroway and other council members' powers are limited to appointing eight of DART's 15 board members.

The issue appears to be headed to court.

Possible ICE leader urges pardon for Ramos and Compean

A candidate for Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has urged President Bush to pardon ex-Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Miguel Contreras, a retired federal investigative official, said he wrote the letter hoping that Bush will grant the two El Pasoans a pardon or reduce their sentences.

"I reviewed everything I could find related to their cases, and based on my extensive experience, Compean and Ramos should be released and reinstated to their former jobs," said Contreras, who lives in Yuma, Arizona.

Contreras, a security consultant, has worked for 30 years for various law enforcement agencies and departments, including ICE, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"I don't know Miguel Contreras, but I am thankful, because every little bit helps," said Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law. "We understand more pardons and commutations are coming down January 15, and we are praying Compean and Ramos are included.

If Bush's term expires without his acting on the case, then it's possible the Obama administration might consider it. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, was among more than 100 U.S. lawmakers who signed House Resolution 563 in support of a congressional pardon for the two men; the entire House has not voted on the proposal.

Bush's 'midnight regulation' will hurt citizens and hurt farm workers

Opponents of illegal immigration and advocates for farm workers are blasting a 'midnight regulation' by President George W. Bush which would change the Labor Department’s H-2A Temporary Agriculture Worker Program, making it easier for agricultural employers to hire foreign workers.

The change would both undermine worker protections and set wage levels so low that U.S. workers could not compete with foreigners for jobs. The regulation allows agricultural employers to hire temporary foreign workers if not enough domestic workers are 'able or willing' to fill farm jobs.

Bush’s regulation is expected to take effect January 17, three days before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. ‘Midnight regulations’ are rules pushed by the executive branch in the waning days of a lame-duck president's term, but the incoming president is free to revise or revoke such last-minute changes.

The number of workers covered by the H-2A visas is only a small segment of the larger farm worker contingent that's close to 1.6 million, more than 80 percent of whom are foreign-born, said Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Association. Of those who are foreign-born workers, he said, nearly 75 percent are in the U.S. illegally.

Tancredo’s biggest regret - the continuing imprisonment of Ramos and Compean

By repeatedly making provocative statements during his 10 years in Congress, Tom Tancredo believes he spurred activism and helped block legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to eventually gain legal status.

"I have a sense of accomplishment. It makes me feel good," said the Colorado Congressman.

Tancredo leaves office this month. He plans to consult and to continue work on immigration issues and to spend time with his grandchildren.

Tancredo said he regrets not succeeding in his effort to help win release of U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving time in prison for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler.

"I think about those guys in prison, and I'm just sick at heart," Tancredo said. "I've done everything I can."

When he left Capitol Hill for the last time in late November, Tancredo gathered with his staff. As they exchanged goodbyes, Tancredo offered his version of high praise.

"We really started something," Tancredo said.

Business organizations sue Homeland Security to abolish E-Verify requirement

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Associated Builders and Contractors, the Society for Human Resource Management, the American Council on International Personnel and the HR Policy Association have sued the Department of Homeland Security to block a new E-Verify requirement.

Beginning January 15, federal contractors will be required to check the immigration status of their employees using the department’s E-Verify system. On December 23, the group filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, asking the court to halt the implementation of the rule and to declare the rule invalid.

They claim the requirement is contrary to the statute authorizing E-Verify and that the law states that Homeland Security “may not require any person or other entity to participate” in the program, according to court documents.

They claim the rule is vague and will force companies to verify all employees on E-Verify to avoid potential suspension and debarment. In addition to facing financial and time burdens, companies could be vulnerable to lawsuits by employees who feel they’ve been discriminated against, the plaintiffs say.

The department has 60 days to respond to the suit’s arguments.

Mexican already deported 10 times arrested on multiple sexual assault charges

A Mexican national who has been deported from the country 10 times has been arrested for several alleged sexual assaults in San Diego dating back to 2004.

Carlos Ceron Salazar was booked into San Diego Central Jail for a December 2006 attack on a woman jogger in San Diego's Miramar Lake Recreation area.

The victim told officers that she was grabbed by the neck and forced to the ground. The woman bit the attacker so hard on the hand that when he jerked it away two of her teeth were pulled out. She got away and called for help.

DNA linked Salazar to the Miramar Lake assault and to a September 2004 assault in nearby Poway, California. Salazar also is a suspect in a December 2005 sexual assault attempt.

Majority of Border Patrol agents are now Hispanic

A goal the Bush administration will meet is hiring 6,000 new agents to boost the force to 18,000. While there were about 6,400 Hispanic agents in 2006, there were 9,300 in November 2008. Hispanics now comprise 52 percent of the agents.

Because southwest border communities are largely Latino, recruits there have an advantage in the required Spanish fluency as well as familiarity with the job. Applicants who can pass a Spanish proficiency test can skip 40 days of required language instruction at the academy.

''We have a large Hispanic population on the southwest border, and they are familiar with the Border Patrol, so the opportunity is more appealing if they're closer to home,' said Joe Abbott, director of recruitment for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

There are concerns about thousands of new agents enforcing laws in the same communities where they have strong family ties, some that extend across the border. ''The problem is with people who are born and raised there, and have associates on both sides of the border. I don't think that's especially good from an integrity standpoint,' said James Dorcy, a director of the National Association of Retired Border Patrol Officers.

His organization and the National Border Patrol Council worry that the rapid buildup of the Border Patrol, along with an outsourcing of background investigations of applicants to private contractors, has allowed unsuitable candidates to become federal agents.

Pennsylvania congressman joins those calling for pardon for Ramos, Compean

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania, has added his voice to those calling on President Bush to pardon two former border agents convicted of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler who was trying to escape. 

Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are serving more than 10 years each for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while he was fleeing from an abandoned van loaded with 750 pounds of marijuana.



The men argued that they thought Davila, a Mexican, was armed. They were convicted two years ago in federal court in Texas of assault, civil rights violations and other charges. Davila later pleaded guilty to smuggling following another incident and also was sentenced to 10 years in prison.



Dent asked Bush to review their cases and ''seriously consider'' a pardon.

''These agents were acting in fulfillment of their duty and responsibility to protect our borders and enforce the law and they have been unjustly punished for their actions.

''This case has not only undermined the trust and confidence of our Border Patrol, but it has also raised questions about the discretion and decisions of federal prosecutors.''



You can help build pressure for pardoning the two by sending an email alert demanding a pardon. Visit www.usbc.org and go to the Legislation Action Center or send an email directly to the President at president@whitehouse.gov.

Mexico consulate in El Paso gives free health care to illegals

At least 600 Mexicans, most of them in the U.S. illegally, have received vaccinations this year at the Mexican Consulate in El Paso, Texas. Mexico's consul in the border city, Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, said that 250 AIDS tests have also been performed.

'The immigrant community, especially those who are undocumented in El Paso, come to us so that we will provide them with free health care because they're afraid of being reported if they show up at clinics or hospitals,' Hernandez said.

Vaccines have also been sent to remote rural and poor areas like Lovington and Hobbs in neighboring New Mexico, where illegal-alien workers from the El Paso consulate go as well.

'The intention is to improve the quality of life of Mexicans in South Texas and New Mexico by giving them ways to take care of their health and avoid worse problems later on that could require emergency service,' Hernandez said.

The consulate has also established support centers in American jails like La Tuna Federal Prison in New Mexico. More than 150 inmates have received high-school instruction and upon graduation receive a diploma from Mexican educational authorities.

Ramos-Compean treatment has border agents hesitating to fire

On December 1 south of Tucson, Arizona, drug smugglers unloaded $1 million in drugs across the U.S. border and sprayed bullets at U.S. Border Patrol agents with automatic weapons. The agents did not return fire. They fear losing their jobs or ending up behind bars like agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Former decorated border agents, Ramos and Compean are serving lengthy prison sentences for shooting an illegal alien drug dealer while he smuggled 750 pounds of marijuana across the border. They were convicted of assault, discharge of a weapon in the commission of a crime of violence and deprivation of civil rights after the drug dealer was given immunity from prosecution.

On December 22 President Bush issued 19 pardons and commuted one sentence, but has issued none as yet for Ramos and Compean. Lawmakers and many others have asked Bush to commute their prison sentences. Bush will leave office January 20.

'Any kind of shooting toward Mexican territory is rejected by the Mexican government,' Mexican Consul General Remedios Gómez Arnau warned Border Patrol agents.

After this month's incident, an anonymous officer said that agents often fear defending themselves because shooting back could mean prison time – just as it did for Ramos and Compean.

'These men are still in prison for doing what many of us think was just doing their jobs as Border Patrol agents,' he said.

Just over the border – six police officers killed in one week

Let’s imagine six police officers were killed in one week in Winsor, Canada, across a bridge from Detroit, Michigan. Would the U.S. be concerned? You bet.

Six police officers were killed last week and 40 so far this year, in Juarez, Mexico, across a bridge from El Paso, Texas. A hit list naming 26 officers was found days earlier
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Roberto Ramirez, who headed a precinct, was the sixth Juarez officer killed in a week. He was abducted, and his body was found hours later, near a dog racetrack where the bodies of four civilians were found earlier in the week. Ramirez was named precinct chief in May after several police commanders asked for early retirement because of the violence.

More than 40 Juarez police have been killed this year, many in attacks blamed on drug gangs battling over territory. Some officers have quit, fearing for their lives after their names appeared on hit lists.

Juarez has been hit the hardest in a surge of drug-gang homicides sweeping Mexico. More than 1,300 people have been killed in the city of 1.3 million this year.

Across Mexico, more than 5,300 people have died in gangland-style killings in 2008 - more than double the number last year.

Economy is not driving Hispanics from Oklahoma

The headlines say “Economy may force immigrants back to Mexico.” But that’s not happening in Oklahoma.

Rogers is one of six counties in the state where the Hispanic population has nearly doubled since 2000. The county is booming. In the past seven years, its population increased by 17 percent to 83,105.

Hispanics account for 1,290 new residents, doubling the previous number, and now account for 3 percent of the county population. Hispanics account for more than half of the overall population growth in the U.S. since 2000.

Since 2000, Oklahoma County's population has increased by 6 percent to 701,807 from 660,448. The Hispanic population in Oklahoma County grew by 50 percent to 86,033 last year. That means roughly one in eight county residents is Hispanic.

Areas in northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Oklahoma and the Panhandle have seen the most growth. Combined, Rogers, Wagoner and Tulsa counties have seen their Hispanic population increase by 23,798.

Motorist helps police arrest illegal impersonating police officer

Police in Grapevine, Texas have credited a motorist for alerting them to an illegal alien who now faces a charge of trying to impersonate a cop.

They arrested 22-year-old Adan Ramirez in a white pickup with flashing lights allegedly followed a car on a Texas highway, and are holding him in the Grapevine jail. A "hold" was placed on Ramirez by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, indicating he is believed to be an illegal alien, and making him ineligible for bond.

Police lauded the motorists who brought Ramirez to their attention, immediately calling 911 when he suspected the flashing lights on the truck didn't belong to a real cop. He also stayed on the line as he drove, helping dispatchers send police to his location.

"He did everything exactly right," said Sgt. Kim Smith, police spokeswoman. "If we could write it in a textbook and give it to the public, this would be it."

The white pickup truck had special police-style flashing lights on the front and back, similar to the ones used on unmarked police cars. Ramirez carried a fake identification that was actually a gift card from a restaurant that had been painted black and had the word "police" on it.

Impersonating a public servant is a third-degree felony in Texas, and is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.