"I will not allow any of my department heads or anyone associated with this city to cooperate in any way shape or form with these raids," Newsom declared. "We are a sanctuary city, make no mistake about it."

The media love to misclassify immigration enforcement as a far-right, conservative issue. However, polls consistently show that Americans across the political spectrum want immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced.

Update: Executive flip-flop from the sanctuary city mayor -- S.F. shift: Illegal immigrant offenders to be handed to feds.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today that the city will start turning over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation, and took the blame for what he admitted was a costly and misguided effort to shield the youths.
    Newsom said he hadn't known until recently that the city was keeping the juvenile offenders from deportation as part of its sanctuary-city policy, but that "ignorance is no defense." [...]
    He revealed that the cost to San Francisco taxpayers of shielding the offenders has been high. The city has spent $2.3 million just to house illegal immigrants in juvenile hall rather than turning them over to federal authorities since 2005, the year he appointed his current juvenile probation director, William Siffermann.
    San Francisco has also flown an undisclosed number of Honduran juvenile drug dealers back to their homeland, allowing them to avoid deportation proceedings that could have resulted in their being barred from ever returning to the United States. The city halted the practice in May after federal authorities pointed out that it was a crime to help illegal immigrants cross the border.
    With the flights grounded, the Juvenile Probation Department recommended that the city place the illegal immigrant youths in group homes rather than turn them over to federal authorities, at a cost to taxpayers of $7,000 per month per youth. The city halted those referrals after eight illegal immigrant crack dealers walked away from a youth center in San Bernardino County.

•   •   •  

Healthy San Francisco still working out kinks   [7/02/08]
In April, San Francisco's mayor spent $83,000 on advertising to encourage illegal aliens to use free city services, including healthcare that was supposed to be for everyone. But when a white guy citizen needs medical attention, suddenly the system is no longer "universal." Remember this is the city that paid $7000 per month on housing for convicted illegal alien crack dealers who claimed to be juveniles.

One year ago today, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to attempt to provide universal health care to its residents. Twelve months later, some city residents wonder why the program is billed as universal when they're still getting turned away.
    When the Healthy San Francisco program began at two Chinatown clinics July 2, 2007, public health officials said they would swing open the doors to all of the city's 73,000 uninsured residents on Jan. 1, 2008. They anticipated that people would enroll gradually at a pace of about 600 a week, and full coverage would be attained by the end of this year.
    But Healthy San Francisco remains open only to individuals earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or roughly $31,000 a year, while the city awaits the outcome of a case regarding the legality of making employers contribute to the plan. The city lost the first round of the case, which now is before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

•   •   •  

Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat   [7/01/08]
Muslims consider the canine species to be unclean, and will claim that they are offended at even a picture of a dog, like the cute pup featured in police PSA in Scotland. It's not like the Sons of Allah are being forced to lick Fido's bowl clean.

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.  
    Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.
    The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

Sadly, the police department responded with predictable political correctness to the attack on British values: Apology over 'offensive' puppy police advert after Muslim complaints. At least there was some defense heard for our furry friends.

Tayside Police have admitted they should have consulted their 'diversity' officers before issuing the cards, but critics argued their apology was unnecessary.
    Richard Cook, director of the Campaign Against Political Correctness in Scotland, said: "Britain is the greatest dog-loving country in the world."

In fact, the very first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was organized in England in 1824, primarly to protect carriage horses which were poorly treated at the time. So the English have historic credibility in animal welfare and certainly are fond of their dogs. They shouldn't put that tradition aside in order to appease hostile Muslims.
    The Tayside Pollice Department has numerous pages about its doggie contingent, including a puppy training diary of Rebel the black shepard with lots of cute pictures of him as he grows up.

•   •   •  

Brokaw needles Schwarzenegger on spending, economy   [7/01/08]
Whoa, looks like the new host of Meet the Press thinks he should ask tough questions for a change. But Brokaw does nail down the state of the state in a few brief sentences.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, usually a darling of the national media, found himself being told by the host of NBC's "Meet the Press" that if he ran a private company the way he has run the state, he might have been fired by now.
    Tom Brokaw, who will be moderating the program through the presidential election, put a series of confrontational questions to the governor in an interview taped in California and aired this morning.
    "When you ran for governor in 2003, you ran as a fiscal conservative who would change the system, who would bring business-like techniques," Brokaw said. "Now, you are facing a $15-billion deficit here in California. Unemployment is running at about 6.8%; you've got the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. If you were the CEO of a public company, the board would probably say, 'It is time to go.' " [...]
    "Before you came in, governor, you said the spending was out of control," [Brokaw] said. "Your rate of increase in spending is about the same as your predecessor, Gov. Gray Davis. It has grown at about, what, 34% since you took office."

•   •   •  

More Doctors Encouraged To Learn Spanish   [7/01/08]
I'm waiting for the headline "immigrants encouraged to learn English." But the idea of individual responsibiltiy among those who choose to come here violates the basic tenets of liberal fawning which requires that we citizens adapt to immigrants rather than the other way around. At the extremes, assimilation (which begins with learning English) has been called a "crime against humanity."
    The American public still believes in the traditional social contract regarding immigration, as shown by a June Rasmussen survey in which 77 percent of citizens polled said newcomers should adopt this country's culture. (That number represents a sizable increase from the 2005 Rasmussen survey where 67 percent polled said immigrants should "adopt America's culture, language, and heritage.")
    But in the deluxe suites, medical elites believe otherwise.

By encouraging residents to learn Spanish, the most commonly spoken language in New York City after English, hospitals are signaling the increasing importance of the skill in overall medical training. In some cases, hospitals are even encouraging residents to receive "medical" Spanish instruction that focuses on the terminology they will need to examine, diagnose, and treat patients.
    "If you can't elicit what the patient is feeling, you're going to lose a lot," the director of a medical Spanish program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Maria Marzan, said. "I don't need for my students to learn what to say in a Spanish restaurant. I need them to learn to ask questions of this patient in a culturally sensitive way."

Unfortunately, thoughtless laws designed to be humanitarian add to the message that immigrants no longer need to assimilate to American language and culture.

In New York City, the large immigrant population makes the need to speak Spanish to patients particularly acute. By law, the state's Department of Health requires hospitals to provide a certain level of language assistance to patients who do not speak English. Most hospitals have translators on-site, or special telephone hookups that provide translation services.

•   •   •  

Feds probe S.F.'s migrant-offender shield   [6/30/08]
Uber-sanctuary city San Francisco continues to outdo itself. The latest misadventure in using taxpayer funds to improve the lives of illegal alien criminals by providing them with free flights home to Honduras that are not deportations. The kind-hearted San Francisco authorities want the drug-dealing kiddies to be able to return.

San Francisco police doubt that many of the young Hondurans they arrest on drug charges are even juveniles.
    Police can report suspected adult illegal immigrants to federal authorities if they commit a crime, said Capt. Tim Hettrich, until recently the head of the narcotics unit.
    So immigrant drug dealers "pass themselves off as juveniles, with a three-day growth of beard and everything else. It's frustrating," he said.
    "Some of them have been arrested four or five times," Hettrich said. "That is one of the big problems with being a city of sanctuary."
    He scoffed at San Francisco's strategy of returning the offenders to their home country. "They probably get the round trip and the next day, they will be right back here," Hettrich said.

Here's an update from late today:

Shielded by S.F., illegal immigrant juvenile dealers escape
Honestly, how much worse can it get than the city shielding crack dealers!?

An effort by San Francisco to shield eight young Honduran crack dealers from federal immigration officials backfired when the youths escaped from Southern California group homes within days of their arrival, officials said Monday.
    The walkaways are the latest in a string of embarrassments for city officials who are protecting illegal-alien drug dealers from federal authorities and possible deportation because of San Francisco's 1989 declaration that the city is a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.
    Until recently, San Francisco flew juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of drug crimes to their home countries rather than cooperate with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a practice that drew national attention when The Chronicle reported it Sunday.
    When federal law enforcement authorities demanded that San Francisco halt the flights and began a criminal investigation, the city decided to house some of the dealers in long-term youth rehabilitation centers. Some of those centers are run by a not-for-profit outfit called Silverlake Youth Services in mountain towns southeast of San Bernardino.
    Eight Honduran juveniles who had been convicted of dealing drugs in San Francisco were sent within the past few weeks to the company's group homes, where one month's placement costs $7,000 per youth - an expense borne by San Francisco taxpayers.

This comes out just a few days after the shocking triple murder of a father and two sons by a MS-13 illegal alien gang-banger.
    In addition, San Francisco has had to return several million dollars in federal grants in the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative.

Below: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Chief of Police Heather Fong.

To top it off, the man who has done such a swell job of running San Francisco wants to do the same thing to the state: San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom launches exploratory bid for governor.

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who built a national reputation pushing cutting-edge -- and controversial -- policies on same-sex marriage, healthcare and other issues, today launched an exploratory bid for governor.

•   •   •  

Food safety inspectors struggle with swelling volume of imports   [6/30/08]
Another growing problem with globalization is unsafe food. Foreign imports are not inspected to any meaningful degree and they are not designated as foreign in the supermarket, so we shoppers are at the mercy of unregulated business in Mexico and beyond.

LAREDO – Day after day, Mexican trucks line up as far as the eye can see for entry to the U.S. at the World Trade Bridge, carrying everything from raw tomatoes, broccoli and fresh basil to frozen seafood. They also bring in salmonella, listeria, restricted pesticides and other food poisons.
    Customs and Border Protection officers take less than a minute per truck to determine which products enter the U.S. and find their way into grocery stores and restaurants across North Texas.
    Most trucks are waved through. The avalanche of imported goods – especially food from Mexico – is too much for the limited number of inspectors at the nation's 300 ports of entry to effectively screen, critics say. And the sheer volume makes it impossible for them to carry out their mission: protecting the U.S. food supply and American consumers.

•   •   •  

Joe Horn cleared by grand jury in Pasadena shootings   [6/30/08]
Joe Horn was the Texas guy who shot a couple of illegal aliens as they left his neighbor's house after robbing it. It's good to hear Texas gun rights are alive and well.

A Harris County grand jury decided today that Joe Horn should not be charged with a crime for shooting two suspected burglars he confronted outside his neighbor's home in Pasadena last fall. [...]
    Aside from the shooting itself, the national debate revolved around the fact that Ortiz and Torres were illegal immigrants from Colombia. Torres had been sent to prison for dealing cocaine and was deported in 1999.

Another report noted the two illegal aliens were unemployed -- did the journalist mean to suggest that jobless illegals were inclined to commit crimes to make money they weren't earning? If so, it may constitute a trend; see In DC, Last Week’s Hard-Working Day Laborer Is Today’s Burglar.

•   •   •  

The American Dream: Dr. Quinones Incredible Story   [6/30/08]
I wrote about this doctor in May: Brilliant Neurosurgeon Discovered in Tomato Fields!. Dr. Quinones was an illegal alien who managed to work the system to become a surgeon.
    Now he is a major character in a network reality tv series Hopkins; you can watch the opening episode start by following him around the hospital making his rounds and discussing his lawbreaking background ad nauseum; e.g. "The media portrays Mexican Americans in many cases as not being hard workers and if I don't make an effort to change that, who will?"
    The film clip here has Dr. Q driving by a group of day laborers and remarking, "Just down the street is a group of people doing what I was doing just about 20 years ago," with heart-tuggy music playing in the background. The not-so-subliminal message is America shouldn't close its borders because we might miss out on some Einstein. (The brilliant physicist came legally, in fact.)

"By the time I was 19, I decided I wanted to go to the U.S. and explore," Quiñones-Hinojosa said. "I was tired of the political oppression and the bifurcation of classes, the oppression of the poor that happens in my country."
    Desperate for money, and with his sights set on a brighter future, he scaled a barbed border fence across from Calexico, Calif.
    "It was a pretty scary experience," Quiñones-Hinojosa remembered. "It was filled with a real adrenaline rush excitement, but also fear, and, you know, fear gives you extra strength and courage. I got caught and sent back, but I did it again the same night."

To media elites, it's okay for foreigners to break a pile of immigration laws as long as there is a warm and wonderful story at the end, suitable for network programming.

•   •   •  

After Words: Andrew McCarthy author of "Willful Blindness"   [6/30/08]
After watching this interview on C-SPAN yesterday, I will definitely get this book and read it closely. Andrew McCarthy prosecuted the blind sheik Abdel Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and putting the case together was a crash course for McCarthy to learn about the deeply violent nature of Islam. He admitted to being very naive about Islam in the beginning, but that changed with contact.

Andrew McCarthy, the lead prosecutor against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahmen and the other men responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 recounts the case in "Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad." Mr. McCarthy presents his thoughts on the trial and the current state of the war on terror. Andrew McCarthy discusses his book with Hugh Hewitt, host of the nationally syndicated radio program,  The Hugh Hewitt Show and executive editor of Townhall.com.

You can watch the interview online by opening the link above and clicking the WATCH button. Or, you can download the audio as a podcast from Hugh Hewitt's radio archives on June 24: in mp3, Part 1 and Part 2. Highly recommended.

•   •   •  

Candidates court Hispanic voters   [6/30/08]
How truly remarkable that Sen McCain called comprehensive immigration "reform" (political speak for amnesty) his "top priority" in today's political climate.
    Think about it. Think about the severe economic crises facing the United States today. The Dow lost 500 points last week. The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has stated that the country is facing its worst housing crisis in 50 years. The national unemployment rate is 5.5 percent, while California has a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.8 percent and Michigan is suffering the worst with 8.5 percent. The price of gasoline just hit a record high (with oil at $143/barrel); seven in 10 Americans say the skyrocketing cost of gas has caused them "financial hardship." America has no plan to deal with declining availability of oil, despite the oil shocks of the early 1970s that were a clear warning that we needed new, preferably sustainable energy sources.
    But for Sen. John McCain, his Top Priority is rewarding tens of millions of lawbreaking illegal aliens with amnesty. It takes your breath away.

WASHINGTON -- With an estimated 9.2 million Hispanic voters poised to play a critical role in November, John McCain and Barack Obama each pledged Saturday to make immigration overhaul a priority as they courted influential Hispanic leaders whose votes could be pivotal in key swing states like Florida.
    McCain, the senator from border state Arizona who disappointed some Hispanic leaders by appearing to temper his support for comprehensive immigration changes during the Republican primaries, told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials that fixing U.S. immigration policy would be a priority -- even as he acknowledged it's not popular with some members of his own party.
    "It'll be my top priority yesterday, today and tomorrow," McCain said.

•   •   •  

Schwarzenegger now supports on McCain, environment   [6/29/08]
It's interesting to learn the things powerful people say to each other when the microphones are turned off. Here's a piece about the California governor and a little item about changing the Constitution comes out like it's no big deal...

Schwarzenegger said Tim Russert, the recently deceased host of "Meet the Press" whom Shriver had called her best friend, told him if he ever chose to run for president he would help. "When I ran for governor, he called me and said, 'If you make that, if you win, then I will take care of the rest,'" Schwarzenegger recalled. "I said what are you talking about? And he said, 'I will get you to run for president. I will make sure that we change the Constitution.' It never happened. But anyway, I miss him very much."

Meet the Press honcho Tim Russert thought that he was powerful enough to engineer a change in the United States Constitution in order to advantage a pal. Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria and is therefore not eligible to become President.
    When you are a Washington player, like Russert was, issues like American foundational law are just bumps along the road to be flattened by the mighty power of the MSM. It's an example of the everyday, accepted arrogance of the press.

•   •   •  

Dan Walters: Immigration, population and politics   [6/29/08]
The Sacramento columnist does an update on the population growth aspect of California's race off a cliff...

It's a simple demographic fact that as California's population grows by a half-million or more people each year, virtually all of that growth stems from immigration, legal and illegal. Were it not for immigration and babies born to immigrant mothers, California's births and deaths would be in balance and the state would have zero population growth.
    It's also obvious that population growth, whatever its source, creates the demand for more housing, more water, more schools, more highways – more of everything – and that filling that demand puts pressure on the environment.
    Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club have attempted to ignore this cause-and-effect relationship for political reasons, i.e., they depend on liberal politicians to advance their agenda, and tolerance of immigration, even illegal immigration, is a tenet of modern liberalism. The Sierra Club, et al., especially don't want to alienate Latino politicians and organizations, or the expanding ranks of Latino voters.

Unfortunately Walters goes on to spew the Ponzi-esque idea that we need increasing population in order to do the jobs and pay for Social Security. It's sad to see a smart guy like Walters spout thoughtless Washington boilerplate.

With the very large baby boom retiring out of the labor force, shortages of trained workers are already looming in California. Who would be there to do the work, pay the taxes and provide the services that a rapidly aging population would demand? Low-growth countries such as Japan are already feeling that pinch.

He should understand that the country needs fundamental changes in policy because we cannot continue to base our economy on population growth, in particular the importation of poorly educated foreigners. Americans will need to work longer before retirement because the average lifespan is increasing. We will need far more automation, from robots to Roombas and crop-pickers.

It's too bad Monty Python never wrote an economist song similar to the one composed about the philosophers...

Only the Money Song comes close:

•   •   •  

Suspect in triple killing ordered held without bail   [6/29/08]
For several days after this terrible multiple murder in San Francisco, the low-life attorney of the Salvadoran illegal alien gang-banger Edwin Ramos lied that his client was a legal immigrant. The truth is out now, however.

Police say Ramos is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang.
    Immigration authorities say they believe Ramos is in the country illegally and could try to deport him once the case is resolved.

The details of the triple killing are strikingly evil. The precipitating traffic incident was nothing that would cause most Americans to bat an eyelash, but the MS-13 creature went ballistic and shot a father and two sons (Alleged killer of S.F. father and 2 sons ordered held without bail ):

Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante is charged with three counts of murder and other crimes in the slayings Sunday in San Francisco of Tony Bologna, 48, and sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16.
    He appeared shackled at the waist in a jail jumpsuit, a large tattoo of the Salvadoran national crest visible on the back of his closely shaved head. Ramos is a native of El Salvador. [...]
    The killings happened when Tony Bologna blocked a car making a left turn in the Excelsior district Sunday afternoon while he was driving home from a family picnic. The killer opened fire after Bologna backed up to let the other car past, authorities say.

Anthony Bologna, left, and his two sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were shot and killed on Sunday, June 22, 2008, in San Francisco, Calif.

There are other disturbing aspects to this crime. For one, Danielle Bologna, the widow and mother of the murder victims, pleaded with the San Francisco District Attorney to pursue a death penalty, because Kamala Harris clearly stated before she was elected that she didn't believe in capital punishment. A couple years ago she didn't ask for a death sentence in a cop killing case, so it's unlikely she will budge on this.
    Worse, the SFPD had Edwin Ramos in custody earlier this year and let him go. That's how justice works in sanctuary cities -- foreign gang-bangers get cut loose and innocent citizens get murdered.

Below is a local news report. Included is Supervisor Geraldo Sandoval saying, "The gang problem right now in San Francisco in the Mission, in the outer Mission, is really out of control, they are shooting each other, they are armed to the teeth, they are ready at a split moment to start firing." Also, Gavin Newsom is shown blaming the NRA for the Bologna triple murder.

•   •   •  

Minuteman Takes Down Goon   [6/28/08]
Apparently a chubby Mexican was more sensitive about his waistline than his immigration status. One anti-borders individual became irate and bit a Minutemman when the former's weight was impugned at a rally of several dozen citizen patriots in Westminster, California. Fortunately there were police nearby to arrest the violent man. Link above has numerous photos of the event.

OC Vaughn organized a day laborer site rally - Home Depot Westminster, CA - 40 ralliers were assembled at 7:30 am 6/28/08 At approximately 8:30am a male Hispanic, driving, stopped his truck and yelled at assembled ralliers.
    He asked "You Minutemen?" No one answered at first, then Kingfish stepped forward and stated "I AM." "You are sick!" The man yelled. "And you, are a little overweight" Kingfish replied.
    The man became enraged quickly exited the truck ran around and ran at Kingfish cocking his arm back to punch him. As he did so, Kingfish blocked the punch with his left hand, and punched the goon with his right. He then knocked the goon to the ground in two moves and restrained him until the police arrived. In the struggle, the goon bit Kingfish on the thumb.

In other Minuteman news: OCEANSIDE: Judge orders Minutemen's Adopt-A-Highway permit reinstated.

A federal judge on Friday ordered the state Transportation Department to let a controversial group of anti-illegal immigration activists pick up litter near a Border Patrol checkpoint.
    In a 34-page order, Judge William Q. Hayes granted the San Diego Minutemen's request for a preliminary injunction that gives Caltrans 30 days to reinstate the group's Adopt-A-Highway permit for a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 5 near San Clemente.
    The state also must restore the courtesy sign bearing the Minutemen's name, the judge ruled.

•   •   •  

Korean-Americans still getting settled   [6/27/08]
Koreans are one of those immigrant groups that are supposed to be among the most successful. When you look more closely, however, the picture is not so rosey.

In the region for more than 40 years, Koreans "are still in the settlement stage," Song said. "People think it's time to figure out how we can be more actively engaged in this society."
    Doing that remains a challenge, given some obstacles presented in the survey.
    Although nearly 70 percent of all Koreans are college graduates, nearly half of workers surveyed confessed that they are more comfortable communicating in Korean than in English. About a third of the employers interviewed said they rely more on Korean.
    Nearly half of the workers surveyed had no health insurance and roughly 75 percent didn't know federal minimum wage laws require they earn at least $5.85 per hour.

•   •   •  

Surgeon Suspended For Removing Wrong Lung   [6/26/08]
Medical malpractice is always disturbing, but when the actions are as egregious as in this case, the punishment of a mere fine and two-year suspension are appalling. Is the minimal response because the perp is a foreigner?
    Not only did Indian physician Santusht Perera remove the patient's healthy lung, he lied about it and covered up his deadly malpractice.

Santusht Perera’s physician’s license was suspended after he removed of portions of the wrong lung during surgery and allegedly attempted to conceal the error.
    Perera was issued a two-year suspension on June 5 from the State Board of Medical Examiners. The Board’s appellate court upheld the suspension in Perera’s appeal case with a final decision on June 12.
    After the surgery, Perera told the patient, Richard Flagg, the right lung tissue, which was wrongfully removed, contained a life-threatening tumor even though he knew it did not.
    He altered his records to show he intended to operate on the right lung even though he was actually supposed to remove the tumor in the left lung.

That description leaves out details about the lengths to which Santusht Perera went to protect himself and misinform his patient. See New Jersey Moves to Strip License of Surgeon Who Removed Wrong Lung, Corporate Crime Reporter, June 8, 2005:

"I was pretty groggy when I woke up," Flagg told Corporate Crime Reporter in an extensive interview in March 2003. "It was the next day when most of the morphine wore off, that I felt a big bulk on my right side. And it hurt. The doctor came in that day, and I asked him – why did you operate on my right lung? And he said – while you were asleep, we did an x-ray and we found a much larger, a much more dangerous, tumor in your right lung, as well as severe hemorrhaging. By doing this operation, I probably saved your life, he said."

A total lie. A doctor interviewed earlier today on Fox News said removing the good lung condemned Richard Flagg to death because the tumor on the infected lung was so extensive.
    In addition, Indians continue to be obsessed by their expat countrymen, and this story was no exception. MSNBC has a special NRI edition -- NRI being "Non-Resident Indians." The Times of India keeps an Indians Abroad page -- such is the fascination Indians have for themselves. They expect NRIs to refrain from assimilation and bring honor to Mother India by snaring first-world accomplishment with lots of effusive press coverage.
    In addition, immigrant MDs are another bad public policy area, where foreign medical students and residents get advantages that citizens do not; see Immigrant Doctors Aren’t Necessary Either.

•   •   •  

Justices Rule for Individual Gun Rights   [6/25/08]
Good news on the Second Amendment front -- sort of. The idea that Americans have the right to armed self-defense has been upheld, but only by a vote of 5-4. Here is the text of the decision (in PDF).

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in the landmark 5-to-4 decision, said the Constitution does not allow “the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home.” In so declaring, the majority found that a gun-control law in the nation’s capital went too far by making it nearly impossible to own a handgun.

It's too bad Charlton Heston didn't live to see this day.

•   •   •  

The Fall of France and the Multicultural World War   [6/25/08]
Fjordman is one of the few critics of Islam who consistently emphasizes the central part that immigration has played, in particular that Europe's pending suicide stems from welcoming millions from a foreign, hostile culture. Many other pundits and bloggers (e.g. Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs) tapdance around that pertinent fact because the "I" word is too controversial for them.
    Fjordman is also imaginative enough to consider the dangerous future that unwise immigration is creating, and how the clash of civilizations might play out, since liberal immigration has permitted historic enemies to live among us. Did the architects of this policy believe a few choruses of kumbaya would end deep-seated tribal hatreds? That once Muslims got a taste of western values (such as they are in Europe these days), they would forget unpleasant ideas of jihad and have another capucino? It hasn't worked out that way, to say the least.

If Muslim immigration continues, the impending fall of France could mark the starting point of the Balkanization of much of Europe, perhaps later even North America. I fear this is a world war. Maybe future historians will dub it the Multicultural World War. Just as WW1 was caused by Imperialism, WW2 by Fascism and the Cold War by Communism, this one will be caused by Multiculturalism. The term “the Multicultural World War” has been coined by Fjordman. I find this to be more accurate than “The Islamic World War” because what will cause this world war is Western cultural weakness, through Multiculturalism and Muslim immigration, rather than Islamic strength. As poster DP111 says, this world war may very well be in the form of a global civil war, where you get a succession of civil wars instead of countries invading other countries. Multiculturalism and uncontrolled mass-immigration destroy the internal cohesion of the decadent West, which will slowly fall apart as it has lost the will to defend itself and the belief in its own culture. The wars in the Balkans in the 1990s will in hindsight be seen as a prelude to the Multicultural World War. Rather than a Westernization of the Balkans, we get a Balkanization of the West.

•   •   •  

Utah Rep. Cannon ousted in Republican primary   [6/25/08]
Excellent news -- we are doing the Happy Dance here! Open borders creep Chris Cannon has been defeated in a primary election. Previous attempts by challengers Matt Throckmorton in 2004 and John Jacob in 2006 attacking his immigration record failed, so this victory is particularly sweet. In addition, the deciding issue was clearly immigration because Cannon was conservative on other issues, and this win will likely be noticed by pundits looking for indicators of which way the political winds are blowing.

U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, one of the nation's most conservative congressmen, lost his bid for a seventh term Tuesday in a Republican primary that focused on whether he was conservative enough for Utah's 3rd District.
    Cannon was defeated by first-time candidate Jason Chaffetz, a former Brigham Young University football player who served as chief of staff for popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman.
    The lobbying group American Conservative Union said Cannon was nearly perfect on its issues in 2007, scoring 96 percent. But Chaffetz repeatedly pounded the incumbent, especially on immigration, and pledged to be even more conservative. [...]
    In the congressional race, Chaffetz, 41, claimed Cannon was soft on immigration, saying his votes amounted to offering amnesty to people in the country illegally.
    In 2003, Cannon sponsored a bill that would have allowed states to charge in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants.
    Rather than deporting all illegal immigrants, Cannon has called for a guest-worker program that doesn't punish businesses and allows immigrants to travel freely across the border.
    Chaffetz said he wants the U.S. to deport all illegal immigrants and stop granting automatic citizenship to children born here if their parents aren't legal residents.

Cannon was particularly two-faced about the immigration issue, as even the LA Times pointed out in 2006 (From Welcome to Wary in Utah):

Four years ago, U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon told the audience at a Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund dinner: "We love immigrants in Utah. We don’t make distinctions between legal and illegal."
    Two weeks ago, the Utah Republican sent a video to party activists saying that he was tough on illegal immigration and that the nation had to secure its borders.

What a lying scum. Hopefully a lot more incumbents like him will get the boot this year.

•   •   •  

The Great Wall of America   [6/24/08]
Time magazine paid a visit to the border to check the progress of the interminable border fence project. As we approach the seven-year mark of 9/11, our southern border remains largely open. DHS aims to have 650 miles completed by the end of the year, but that's only about one-third of the Mexican border.
    If we didn't have to worry about terrorists as well as job thieves, workplace policing would suffice, but we don't so we need comprehensive enforcement.

Critics complain that the fence is funneling migrants into a life-threatening desert, and they may be right, because while the area is difficult to reach from the north, on the Mexican side, Highway 2 parallels the border within sight of the U.S. It's tempting to catch a ride out here and start walking. Indeed, so many people have died or approached death in the Sonoran Desert that the CBP has installed radio beacons with flashing lights on them for walkers in distress to summon help. A more primitive sos is also common: a creosote bush set on fire at night.
    Still, a case could be made that Yuma Sector's fence is part of an overall strategy that is actually reducing the number of unprepared humans wandering in the Sonoran Desert. As agent Ben Vik explained, by eliminating banzai runs in Yuma and reducing vehicle traffic in the desert, the fence has cut illegal crossings to a level at which the judicial system in western Arizona can actually handle the number of illegal immigrants apprehended by border agents. Instead of loading people onto buses and sending them back to Mexico--after which many immediately try crossing again--authorities are taking them to court. "Two weeks in jail with no income is a real deterrent," said Vik. This combination of forces--the fence, plus more agents, plus the desert, plus a real penalty--has allowed Yuma Sector to cut traffic 80%, the CBP estimates.

Below: A few strands of barb wire is supposed to keep out 100 million Mexicans, according to el Presidente Bush.

•   •   •  

More Grief for McCain on Secret Meeting with Hispanics   [6/24/08]
Good for Tom Tancredo to take McCain to task for his pandering to La Raza.

Tancredo asks if promises made by McCain earlier in the presidential campaign to hold off on giving longtime illegal immigrants a "pathway to citizenship" until after the borders were secured were any more than lip service, and wonders whether the presumptive Republican nominee's candidacy is a Trojan horse for amnesty.
    "Senator, given your past sponsorship of amnesty legislation, such statements raise troubling questions. Are you planning to break a promise you made in February to postpone all other immigration reform legislation until we have first secured our borders?" writes Tancredo, who goes on to ask McCain to use an upcoming speech to the pro-pathway to citizenship National Council of La Raza in San Diego to embrace a "security first" immigration approach.
    "I challenge you to deliver a message to that assembly which does not pander to their amnesty agenda. You should speak to the La Raza convention and to all Hispanic audiences about America's need for secure borders as a priority above all other immigration reforms," Tancredo said.
    McCain was a vocal proponent of the failed Senate attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform when Republicans controlled the body in 2006. He was a less visible proponent in 2007, when Democrats were in charge, though he voted again for a bipartisan, comprehensive approach to immigration in both years.

•   •   •  

The New Pariahs?   [6/23/08]
Is there another institution more Energizer Bunny-like in its slavish adoration of multiculturalism than the New York Times? Put away those ideas of national identity, the Times preaches: patriotism is redneck stuff and inappropriate for the new improved global economy.
    The photo below (complete with a pink balloon and cutesy kiddies!) is an example of the paper's continuing propaganda that open-borders diversity is the best thing going: the only thing missing is a an adorable puppy! Oh wait, Muslims hate dogs because Sons of Allah believe they are "unclean." Never mind.

This recent Times opinion piece criticizes Europe because of a few bleats for cultural survival.

No country is wholly free of anti-immigrant prejudice, whether it is the United States, where illegal immigration was a hot-button issue in the Republican primaries, or post-apartheid South Africa, where economic migrants were recently burned to death. But in many Western European countries today, something new and insidious seems to be happening. The familiar old arguments against immigrants — that they are criminals, that their culture makes them a bad fit, that they take jobs from natives — are mutating into an anti-Islamic bias that is becoming institutionalized in the continent’s otherwise ordinary politics.
    Examples abound. The Swiss People’s Party sponsors ads in which three white sheep push one black sheep off the Swiss flag — and wins 29 percent of the vote. In Belgium, the Vlaams Belang deploys a clever variation, publicly praising Jews and seeking their support against Muslims, whom it tellingly describes as “the main enemy of the moment.” Meanwhile, the Dutch politician Geert Wilders calls Islam “the ideology of a retarded culture.”

The opinion writer omits inconvenient details of how Muslim immigrants are busy blowing Europe up and working to force women to live under Islamic oppression in the West, including a "Muslim Rape Wave."
    For a disturbing example of the latter, see Brussels: Less and less women on the street.

Update: See Bruce Bawer's take on this article, The Times It Ain't A-Changin'." He is the author of the book, While Europe Slept.

•   •   •  

An immigration end run around the next president   [6/23/08]
It's good to hear that plans are being made to deal with the next President, who will seek an amnesty that will include at least 10 million, perhaps double or trible that number. Both candidates are hopeless globalists who talk up strengthening American borders and national security but have no intention of doing the job.

NumbersUSA concentrates on elections but soon will expand its work to legislation, [NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy] Beck said. For now, the group tracks the immigration positions of every candidate in every race and assigns them a grade that is distributed monthly to the organization's 640,000 members. Beck boasted that NumbersUSA had an average of 1,300 members per congressional district. But he added: "We need more participation on the ground."
    To that end, Beck is looking for fundraisers and local leaders in preparation for November's congressional races. He argued that a Democratic Congress "doesn't necessarily mean bad things for us."
    Some freshman Democrats who won seats from Republicans are tough on illegal immigration because "they need a way to show people that they're different from the party leadership," he said.
    Beck once saw the same split among Republicans. Though the Bush administration and much of the party leadership backed changes that would legalize illegal immigrants, other Republicans shifted to a stricter stance.
    "We've spent the last seven years separating the Republican back bench from the party leadership with tremendous success," said Beck, who said his sights are now on the Democrats. "We'll continue to push that line hard."

•   •   •  

Oaxacan townspeople have high lead levels   [6/23/08]
This item is a particularly egregious example of the San Francisco Chronicle emphasing upbeat aspects of diversity while leaving out important facts entirely.
    The topic is lead poisoning among Oaxacan immigrants in California who are eating snacks sent from home, like fried grasshoppers and pumpkin seeds. At no point does the story mention the symptoms of even low levels of lead in the blood. The emphasis is how much the immigrants love culturally connecting food items.
    A far more informative Chronicle report in 2006 noted, "Just 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood can permanently lower a child's IQ by four to five points." Today's article states that some Oaxacan immigrant children have lead levels "reaching 20 micrograms per deciliter."
    Since half of Hispanic children don't graduate from high school, you might think cultural proclivities that decrease intelligence would be taken seriously as a public health concern. But no, not at the Chron.

In an open-air market in this rural town, indigenous Zapotec women scoop fried, rust-colored grasshoppers and pumpkin seeds from large baskets into plastic bags. Customers, from elderly men to school children, pluck down a few pesos to munch on Oaxaca state's most popular snacks.
    Scenes like these make Oaxaca immigrants to the United States - many of whom live in the Bay Area - homesick. And one of the best ways to assuage their nostalgia: lovingly prepared care packages sent by relatives filled with homemade goodies.
    "It's comfort food," said Teresa Mendez, a 54-year-old market cook who regularly sends local treats to her grandchildren in Northern California. "Food keeps us connected." [...]
    Aragon says respected community leaders must step forward to issue warnings on radio stations in Zimatlan and Seaside.
    Back at the Zimatlan market, Maria Luisa Quevedo has sold glazed pots near the market for generations.
    "We've cooked this way for years, and we're all fine," said Quevedo. She then pointed to her 92-year-old grandmother, who stirred a large glazed pot of beans. "Look at her. She's fine."

•   •   •  

'Model minority myth' can hinder Asian-American students   [6/22/08]
Add to the list of ways that immigrants suffer is the idea that Asians are top quality when it comes to scholarly success. While UC Berkeley is up to its eyeballs in Chinese, Hmong and others are not so swift with book learning. So the less gifted feel unduly pressured.
    And naturally, college social engineers are wringing their hands because they haven't yet achieved perfect skin-tone diversity in their campus petrie dishes.

The generalizations place unnecessary academic pressures on Asian students and can prevent universities from reaching out to subgroups of Cambodian, Laotian and Hmong high schoolers, who have dramatically lower college enrollment rates, according to the report. [...]
    The new report says there is a broad range of educational and income ranges among the two-dozen Asian-American ethnic groups reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
    About 44 percent of Asian Americans — excluding Pacific Islanders — have earned a bachelor’s degree, which compares with the national average of 24 percent. But just 7.5 percent of Hmong immigrants, 9.2 percent of Cambodians and 7.7 percent of Laotians had earned a bachelor’s degree in 2000, according to the national figures.

Oops, apparently culture matters quite a bit in educational achievement.
    Even so, perfect diverse wonderfulness is prevented by the presence of all those annoying white people, at least according to a local Asian student:

"We want to make Hmong students feel more welcomed,” [senior psychology major Victoria] Vue said. “CU-Boulder tries really hard to be more diverse, but it is a Caucasian hole. I feel like a lot of students get intimidated by that.”

"Caucasian hole"? If someone called UC Berkeley a "Chinese hole" they would be smacked around as a racist, but insulting white Americans brings no disapproval.

•   •   •  

Why driver in fatal crash was unlicensed   [6/22/08]
Another child has been killed by an illegal alien. Sixth-grade student Breanna Slaughter-Eck was run down and killed in San Jose as she rode her bike home from school on June 12.

Not only was the driver of a Ford Bronco that fatally struck a 12-year-old girl unlicensed, but San Jose police say she is also an illegal immigrant, renewing the debate over whether undocumented people should be allowed to apply for driver's licenses.
    The revelation that Adriana Fierro De Marin, 31, is in the country illegally struck yet another chord with the family of Breanna Slaughter-Eck, still reeling from the loss of the Hoover Middle School sixth-grader.
    "I'm worried that she just might flee now and walk away from all this," said Joe Castro, the man who raised Breanna for the last four years. For her part, Breanna's mother simply wants justice.
    Breanna was biking home from Hoover on June 12, her last day of school, when a Ford Bronco making a left turn slammed into her. The crash is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.

Naturally rathole one-bill Gil Cedillo is on the case, misrepresenting drivers' licenses for illegal aliens as the solution to tragedies like this.

"We have, every day, 2 1/2 million people ..taking the roads who, if given the opportunity, would apply for driver's licenses," said Cedillo, whose latest proposal passed the Senate and is back before the Assembly this summer. "We're endangering the lives of pedestrians and motorists in California every single day."

That's right, dismantle America's system of laws in order to suit foreign criminals! It's typical thinking from one of Mexifornia's hispanic leaders. Handing out state Identification to anyone who wants it is a welcome mat for terrorists and criminals alike.

•   •   •  

Fuel costs sending immigrants back to Mexico   [6/21/08]
There are so many reasons for aliens to leave -- the occasional but well publicized workplace crackdown, the crash in house building following the subprime debacle -- now it's gasoline prices. Buh-bye foreigners! Happy trails!

But high gas prices are forcing contractors and day laborers to change how they do business, which is causing a ripple effect in other areas.
    Construction projects and landscaping jobs are being delayed because contractors can’t afford to pick up workers. And workers faced with additional costs for gasoline or the purchase of a car are giving up on day-labor jobs and going back to their home countries.
    "Your car is your job; nothing is more true these days," said Warren Harris, human services coordinator for the center, which assists between 60 and 70 day laborers a day.

Speaking of unwelcoming America, see Why Former Mexican Migrants Are Staying Home. The CSM reports that Mexicans who have done jail time for illegal entry are motivated not to return -- imagine that!

EL GUSANO, MEXICO - José Balderama spent half a decade in the United States working roofing jobs in Texas. The money he sent home each month went to his wife and four children – a source of income the family expected to count on for many years to come.
    But after serving six months at the Eden Detention Center in Texas for getting caught without the proper paperwork, he says he is never going back. "This was six months, next time it could be six years," he says on a recent day in this tiny town tucked in the foothills of the Sierra de Guanajuato mountains.

•   •   •  

Latinos Hard-Hit by Mortgage Crisis   [6/20/08]
Here's a text and sound report from National Public Radio about the subprime fallout. Apparently increased crime is one of the various unfortunate symptoms when immigrants experience hard times: for another example, see In DC, Last Week’s Hard-Working Day Laborer Is Today’s Burglar.

All Things Considered, June 20, 2008 - The wave of foreclosures spreading around the country is hitting Latino communities especially hard.
    Many Hispanic homeowners could only qualify for subprime loans, and those mortgages were marketed to them aggressively.
    Now as the forelcosures mount, some neighborhoods are deteriorating.
    Crime is up, businesses are struggling and the construction jobs that were so plentiful are vanishing.

•   •   •  

American Girls   [6/20/08]
This piece is a flawed feature story about the two Texas high school girls, Amina and Sarah Said, who were murdered by their Egyptian father for disobeying his demands that they live as oppressed Islamic women in America. (See Honor Killing in Texas.)
    The girls' mother was a 15-year-old high school dropout working as a cashier when she met Yaser Said in 1987. The Egyptian immigrant needed an America wife quick because his visa was about to end. She was warned by relatives not to marry a man from such an alien culture, but she didn't listen and as a result, the family got the whole nine yards of Islam.

From the time they were little, Yaser told his daughters they were to have no American boyfriends, ever. Yaser and Islam kept strict watch over the girls to ensure they didn't disobey the command.
    Yaser had big plans for both girls. Everything would begin in May, when Amina received her high school diploma. She would get engaged to a man he had chosen for her in Egypt, his birthplace. From the groom, Amina would receive a sizable mahr, the traditional dowry. Yaser had scrimped for years to provide his own contribution to the marriage: a small vacation "chalet" on the seaside in the Sinai.
    When Amina, who dreamed of becoming a doctor, asked her father when she would go to college, Yaser had a simple answer: when—if—your husband allows. The same was expected for Sarah.

This article is disappointingly flawed because it attempts to cling to political correctness by rounding off the edges of murderous cultural rage against two girls, saying about the honor killing charge, "The truth is more complex."
    But how "complexity" can absolve this terrible crime is not explained.

•   •   •  

English language legislation gathers steam across the USA   [6/19/08]
I have mixed feelings about stories like this: while defense of English should get much more energy than it does, according to the state Constitution, "English as the Official Language of California." (See Article 3, Section 6.)
    And it hasn't done Californians much good to have English as our official language. We still have expensive multilingual ballots up the kazoo, Press One for English and "bilingual" (Spanish) capability being required for the lowest sorts of jobs.

English as an official language has gained momentum as proponents keep going to the ballot box with measures that discourage bilingual ballots, notices and documents.
    Thirty states now have laws specifying that official government communications be in English, says U.S. English, a group that promotes the laws. This year such bills are under consideration in 19 legislatures.
    "It's multiplying tremendously," says Mauro Mujica, a Chilean immigrant and chairman and CEO of U.S. English. "We've made huge progress."
    Critics do not see progress. Some say the increase in the measures nationwide sends a hostile message to newcomers.

How is it "hostile" to require that immigrants learn this nation's language in return for all the benefits they receive from living here? A 2005 poll found that 79 percent of Americans believe immigrants should know English before allowed to become citizens -- a requirement that is officially in place now, but is rarely followed.
    Furthermore, the people who say official English is hostile are the ones insisting we Americans learn Spanish.

Below, Philadelphia restaurant owner Joey Vento got in trouble with the Raza types for politely requesting that people order their cheese steaks in English.

•   •   •  

ACLU seeks to clear 2 charities in Holy Land case   [6/19/08]
How evil is the ACLU? Very evil. Defending America's head-choppy enemies is job #1. The ACLU no longer makes much of a pretense about the free speech stuff: now it is full speed ahead for the borderless socialist paradise.
    In today's episode, the commie lawyers are defending the well known terrorist-support organization, the Holy Land Foundation.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court Wednesday seeking to clear two groups named as unindicted co-conspirators in a terrorism-financing case.
    The Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust were among about 250 Muslim individuals and groups named by the government in its case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
    The case against five former Holy Land officials accused of helping finance Hamas, which the U.S. government designated as a terrorist group, ended in a mistrial last year. Another trial is set for September.

Last year's Holy Land terrorism-financing trial ended in a mistrial.

•   •   •  

Mexico Revises Its Justice System   [6/18/08]
A person could almost get to like Calderon for his efforts at reforming Moochico if he weren't such a total pest about immigration and destroying America.

President Felipe Calderón on Tuesday signed legislation designed to fundamentally change Mexico's much-criticized justice system by allowing U.S.-style oral trials and establishing a presumption of innocence for criminal defendants.
    The sweeping measures also require local and state police departments to "purify" their ranks of corrupt officers, and they grant those agencies power to investigate organized crime, an authority that had previously been the exclusive domain of federal authorities. Calderón has said the changes are crucial to his battle against the drug cartels blamed for thousands of deaths each year.
    "What is at stake is not the liberty, security or integrity of the government, but above all the security and integrity of the governed," Calderón said in a ceremony at the presidential palace, Los Pinos, in Mexico City.

•   •   •  

What led Turlock man to fatally beat toddler son?   [6/18/08]
On local news in northern California, the case of a man beating a child to death on a country road has gotten a lot of coverage. He was shot and killed by police when he refused to stop thrashing the little boy.
    No mention of immigration status, of course.

Sergio Casian Aguiar, who worked at a supermarket in Turlock, was fatally shot by police Saturday night after he refused to stop attacking his 2-year-old son, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department.
    Aguiar's wife, Frances Liliana Casian, a kindergarten teacher, told detectives that she didn't know why Aguiar would brutally beat their child and said he didn't have any mental illness that she knew about, according to sheriff's spokesman, Royjindar Singh. Casian and Aguiar had been separated. [...]
    Aguiar had immigrated from Mexico, and family members will be traveling from abroad to make funeral arrangements and meet with Stanislaus County investigators, Singh said.

An earlier report: Killer dad said he had to 'get the demons' out.

A 27-year-old grocery store worker who police say punched and kicked his 2-year-old son to death on a country road calmly told motorists who stopped at the scene that he had to "get the demons" out of the boy, two witnesses said Monday.

Was the killer a superstitious peasant from the Mexican boonies? Sounds like it.

•   •   •  

Human cost of unlicensed drivers   [6/17/08]
It's rare to see an article like this, because it actually mentions the victims (like 21-year-old Steven Rand Rouvet) of unlicensed drivers, who are often drunk-driving illegal aliens.

COLUMBIA—Recent accidents, some involving illegal immigrants, have captured the attention of the community and have lawmakers talking about what to do about unlicensed drivers.
    From 2001 to 2005, 807 fatal accidents in South Carolina are believed to have involved unlicensed drivers, according to AAA Carolinas. It's unclear how many of those accidents were caused by illegal immigrants.
    Regardless of the reasons they don't have licenses, unlicensed drivers are among the greatest safety threats on the highways, said Carol Gifford, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas, which released the "Unlicensed to Kill" study in March. [...]
    Earlier this month, Smokey Bones bartender Steven Rand Rouvet, 21, was killed in an early-morning hit-and-run crash near North Charleston. Four days later, Highway Patrol troopers charged Jesus Magana, an illegal immigrant with no driver's license, with leaving the scene of an accident involving a death.

One of the crime victims remembered was Joyce Dargan, killed near her home.

Myrtle Beach, Oct. 13, 2005:
Joyce Dargan, 57, was hit and killed when she walked to her mailbox in Restaurant Row, The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. Authorities said two teen boys were racing their cars when one swerved off the road and struck Dargan. The boys, 14 and 15 at the time, were sentenced to up to six years in juvenile prison. Both were illegal immigrants who later could be deported. The boy whose car struck Dargan had been stopped for traffic violations twice in the six weeks before her death.

I included her in a poster I created a couple years ago, partially because I thought it was outrageous that border anarchy has made going the the mailbox a dangerous activity in America.

•   •   •  

Washington-area police report wave of burglaries, cite illegal immigrants   [6/17/08]
This story should be a warning about permitting too many immigrants, particularly illegal ones. When the economy goes into the tank, crime increases.
    But hey, they're only doing it to feed their families, so it's okay!

A wave of burglaries is spreading across the Washington area, and police say illegal immigrants, hit by police crackdowns and the drop in new construction, are likely playing a key role.
    “The immigrant community is at a tipping point,” said Montgomery County police community liaison Officer Luis Hurtado. “The poor economy is pushing more immigrants to turn to crime.”
    In the first five months of this year, burglaries climbed 10 to 20 percent in many jurisdictions.
    The District of Columbia had the greatest increase, jumping 20 percent from 1,370 in the first five months of 2007 to 1,638 for the same period this year. Montgomery County police said they’ve averaged 288 burglaries a month for the first five months of this year, up 23 per month, or nearly 10 percent, from last year. [...]
    Crime experts have mixed opinions on the role illegal immigrants play when it comes to breaking the law. Criminologists either believe illegals are more prone to criminal behavior because they’ve already broken one law upon entering the country, or they will more likely keep their hands clean, fearing deportation.

I spoke with a former prosecuter last week who is not involved with this issue, and he said in his experience in North Carolina, once the psychological line of commiting a crime had been crossed, more wrongdoing followed. In for a dime, in for a dollar.
    See the vDARE.com version In DC, Last Week’s Hard-Working Day Laborer Is Today’s Burglar.

•   •   •  

The Bubble: How homeowners, speculators and Wall Street dealmakers rode a wave of easy money with crippling consequences.   [6/16/08]
The Washington Post is in the middle of a three-day series about the history of the subprime loan scam. Surprisingly, the writers mention the immigrant component.

The black-tie party at Washington's swank Mayflower Hotel seemed a fitting celebration of the biggest American housing boom since the 1950s: filet mignon and lobster, a champagne room and hundreds of mortgage brokers, real estate agents and their customers gyrating to a Latin band.
    On that winter night in 2005, the company hosting the gala honored itself with an ice sculpture of its logo. Pinnacle Financial had grown from a single office to a national behemoth generating $6.5 billion in mortgages that year. The $100,000-plus party celebrated the booming division that made loans largely to Hispanic immigrants with little savings. The company even booked rooms for those who imbibed too much. [...]
    Seen in the best possible light, the housing bubble that began inflating in the mid-1990s was "a great national experiment," as one prominent economist put it -- a way to harness the inventiveness of the capitalist system to give low-income families, minorities and immigrants a chance to own their homes. But it also is a classic story of boom, excess and bust, of homeowners, speculators and Wall Street dealmakers happy to ride the wave of easy money even though many knew a crash was inevitable.

Of course, considering this massive rip-off "in the best possible light" would be highly naive.
    Those of us following the immigration issue have been warning for years that banks couldn't get any more stupid than giving home loans to illegal foreigners. See Joe Guzzardi's 2005 article Mortgages For Illegal Aliens: Are Banks The Treason Industry? and Tom Allen's 2004 piece, The Mortgage Monsters Meet The Immigration Invasion for important background.
    Even the MSM noted the trend toward mortgages being given to illegals. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote in 2005 Selling illegal immigrants the American dream.

Marisol and Ramiro got their mortgage through the Citibank/ACORN Housing program, which offers interest rates a full percentage point below the published rate and $3,000 toward closing costs or down payment. In addition, their Realtor, Rebecc