Mexicans GO Home

The political and legal fallout now plaguing Arizona after that state’s passage of one of the nation’s toughest new immigration laws could soon be headed for Utah.

Arizona’s SB1070, signed into law Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer, calls for, in part, all local law enforcement officers to ask for immigration status documents “whenever there is reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully present.”

Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, told the Deseret News Monday he’s started work on drafting a bill for the 2011 Utah legislative session that uses the Arizona statute as a model — a move he said is necessary to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants into the Beehive State.

“It is imperative that we pass similar legislation here in Utah,” Sandstrom said. “In the past, when we’ve seen tougher legislation in Arizona … a lot of illegal immigrants just move here.”

While critics of the bill say it will lead to racial profiling and likely makes inroads into rights protected under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Sandstrom said it’s no different from enforcement policy local police officers already use.
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“If you get pulled over for driving intoxicated, what’s the first thing the officer asks for?” Sandstrom said. “Your ID, right? This is the same thing, the same work police officers are already doing … asking for documentation that relates to probable cause.”

posted by USA Citizen

Reaction to Arizona’s tough new immigration law, which requires local and state police officers to ask individuals they stop about their immigration status, was swift and oh-so predictable.

The Rev. Al Sharpton compared it to South African apartheid and threatened to inundate the Southwestern state with “Freedom Walkers.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said it was “mean-spirited.” Both President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the two Washington, D.C., officials who are sworn to secure the border, called it “misguided.”

The only people who approve, it seems, are the American citizens who have to live with the consequences of the federal government’s long-standing failure to enforce its own immigration laws and protect the country’s border with Mexico. Seventy percent of Arizonans — and 60 percent of people surveyed nationwide — favor the law signed last week by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. The bill’s chief sponsor, Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, summed up local sentiment when he said that it will “take the handcuffs off the police and put them on violent criminals.”

This is not the first time the public has been at odds with policy makers in Washington, D.C., on immigration issues, and it won’t be the last. But it’s a clear warning that Obama will be on shaky political ground if he tries to ram an immigration bill through Congress without addressing border-security issues first.

An estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants reside in Arizona, which has become a main entry point for thousands of drug smugglers, human traffickers, potential terrorists and others who often commit violent crimes against innocent people and their property. To its credit, Arizona made several previous attempts to deal with the growing problem, with limited success. In 2005, human smuggling became a state crime. In 2007, employers were prohibited from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. But the invasion continued, and violent drug cartels have turned Phoenix into the kidnapping capital of the U.S.

Instead of finally cracking down on this clear threat to national security, Obama has ordered officials in the Justice Department — the same people who ignored Black Panther voter intimidation in Philadelphia — to assess the constitutionality of the new Arizona law. Previously, Napolitano stopped construction of the “virtual fence” that was supposed to make the border safe. And, Obama has refused requests from the states to send more National Guard troops to protect the border.

“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer said shortly after signing the new law, which takes effect this summer.

Predictably enough, she is being vilified in the same Washington, D.C., that can’t be bothered with fulfilling its most basic duty: protecting the nation’s international borders.

posted by USA Citizen

PHOENIX – Gov. Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Obama on Friday and signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation’s busiest gateway for human and drug smuggling from Mexico.

With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were “overreacting” and that she wouldn’t tolerate racial profiling.

]”We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer said after signing the law. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”

Earlier Friday, Obama called the Arizona bill “misguided” and instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if it’s legal. He also said the federal government must enact immigration reform at the national level – or leave the door open to “irresponsibility by others.”

“That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe,” Obama said.

The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.

The law sends “a clear message that Arizona is unfriendly to undocumented aliens,” said Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor and author of the book “Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization.”

posted by USA Citizen

Arizona lawmakers passed a controversial immigration bill on Monday requiring police in the state that borders Mexico to determine if people are in the United States illegally, a measure critics say is open to racial profiling.

U.S.

Lawmakers in the Arizona Senate voted 17 to 11 to approve the bill, widely regarded as the toughest measure yet taken by any U.S. state to curb illegal immigration.

The state’s House of Representatives approved the measure last week. Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, has five days to veto the bill or sign it into law.

Immigration is a bitterly fought issue in the United States, where some 10.8 million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadows, although it has been eclipsed in recent months by a healthcare overhaul and concern over the economy.

The law requires state and local police to determine the status of people if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they are illegal immigrants and to arrest people who are unable to provide documentation proving they are in the country legally.

It also makes it a crime to transport someone who is an illegal immigrant and to hire day laborers off the street.

“I believe handcuffs are a wonderful tool when they’re on the right people,” said Russell Pearce, the Republican state senator who wrote the bill.

We want to “get them off law enforcement and get them on the bad guys,” he told Reuters.

Opponents of the Arizona law, some of whom held a vigil outside Brewer’s home on Monday to urge her to veto the measure, say it is unconstitutional and would discriminate against Latinos.

“You cannot tell if a person walking on a sidewalk is undocumented or not … (so) this is a mandate for racial profiling,” said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Alvarado said his group would call on the federal government to intervene and was considering legal action to overturn the bill.

posted by USA Citizen

These days you drive down Staples Mill Road and there are all these Spanish stores. What the fuck is that about? This is America, not some sewer of a neighborhood in Tijuana. This is no country to be selling Goya products in. We don’t want that filthy shit here.

And we let these disgusting people work in our restaurants. That should be an automatic health violation. Have you ever seen a kitchen in Mexico? There’s no hand washing, no proper cleaning of dishes or food. Theirs is a culture that treats hygiene as a sin, and now we let them wash our dishes and cook our food? This is a people that would eat rotten meat off a dirt floor and you trust them to serve you clean, properly prepared food?

And what about letting them work construction? You think the wetbacks know the first thing about proper building codes? Go to Mexico and see the disgusting shacks those people are proud to call home. They sit their with the fucked-up teeth with the nasty gold caps and proudly beam in their cardboard box of a house. A white five year old could build something safer and sturdier with a staple gun and construction paper. But we let this low-life slime come here and build our homes? God only knows what they are using or how they are doing it.

And every one of them is a criminal. Almost none of them are here legally. They jump the fence down at the border like Pedro the Mexican Jumping Bean. How about following the rules, Chico? Apply for work papers like everyone else and wait your fucking turn. If they will break the law to come here, how hard is it to imagine that they will break the law while they stay here? These dirty beaners will steal your hubcaps in a heartbeat and sell your sister to some donkey show in Tijuana.

Used to be a time when the Mexicans came here, and we killed the sons of bitches at places like San Jacinto. Now they come here and the whining liberals say they are not criminals, and that they are “undocumented” or some such bullshit. Undocumented? What the fuck is that about? It’s not like they lost their papers or passport, you assholes. They don’t have documents because they refused to follow the procedure to get them. That makes them criminals, not undocumented. THEY BROKE THE FUCKING LAW YOU LEFTIST HIPPIE FUCKS! I don’t get to choose which laws I feel like following or not following. So why is it OK if for every spic in Juarez to decide to break our laws and then the liberals think we should applaud them for it?

And when they come here, they live worse than the niggers. 20 of them packed into a two-bedroom apartment like the cockroaches they attract. Low-riders up on blocks in the front yard. They live even worse than the trailer park trash whites. That bullshit mariachi music blaring at all hours of the night. That shit is worse than rap and just listening to it makes them even dumber than they were. Wild animals live more cleanly and more civilized than these low life beaners. In fact, who knows how many goats and chickens they have living in the house with them? Probably doesn’t matter since they are all animals just like the Mexicans.

The worst thing? These disgusting shitbags say WE don’t respect THEIR culture. You call that caveman-quality lifestyle a culture, you filthy pigs? You like your low-rent prehistoric culture? Fine. Have all of it you want in Guadalajara, you wetback scum. There is all kinds of that shambles of a culture on YOUR side of the fucking border. If your culture is so wonderful–where you eat what looks like dogshit wrapped in a tortilla and call it a burrito–then you should remain in Mexico, Paco. But no. You come here. Why? Because America is better than shithole Mexico, right Pancho? We have more money, better schools, clean water and modern food because of the superiority of the AMERICAN way and the AMERICAN culture. So take your La Raza loving ass and that joke you call a culture and shove it up your collective unwiped asses. If you want to be in MY country than act like you belong in MY country. And that starts with learning English, instead of speaking that Spanish “taco-burrito” bullshit language. You want to be in America, you speak English. Mexicans should be deported for the first “si, senor” that comes out of their low-life mouths when they come to this country.

If I have the misfortune of ever going to Mexico, I will act like I am in YOUR country. I will shit in the streets so it flows into the water supply and eat crap that Americans would not feed to farm animals. But do not give me any shit about you need to preserve your inconsequential failure of a culture. If your culture was so fucking successful you wouldn’t be here and I would not be typing this. But its not. It is the lowest form of culture. Niggers with plates in their mouths and bones in their noses in Africa have a more advanced culture than than you filthy Mexicans. Mexico barely qualifies as a functioning civilization. Mexicans may well be the evolutionary missing link. I’m not even sure they qualify as human.

You people have a big country down there, Frito Bandito. Do us all a favor. Stay there. You can continue to fuck it up and shit in the streets for the next 500 years for all I care. But do not come here and ruin my country with your animal behavior, Cholo. This is one gringo who will not stand for it. It is time for this country to defend its borders and keep every Juan, Jose, Julio, and Ramon where they belong. In that swill pit shithole of a zoo called Mexico. And keep them away from civilized, white, Christian, God-fearing Americans.

Fucking mud people. You all make me sick. God bless the United States of America and keep the filthy Mexicans out.

posted by USA Citizen

PHOENIX (CN) – An Arizona bill that gives local police departments the power to enforce immigration laws and conduct warrantless searches of vehicles if an officer has a “reasonable suspicion” that the occupants have no papers will return to the state Senate on Monday for reconciliation after both houses approved it. Among the bill’s provisions: Workers may be fined if they seek work with a “gesture or a nod.”

Civil libertarians denounce the bill as unconstitutional. Republicans – who accounted for all the “Yes” votes in the party-line, 35-21 vote in the Arizona House – say the bill is needed because the federal government is not doing its job.

Immigration is a federal concern and Draconian state and local laws attempting to regulate such – such as Farmers Branch, Texas’ three attempts to make it illegal to rent apartments to undocumented people – have repeatedly been thrown out as unconstitutional. But that hasn’t stopped Arizona from trying.

The bill, written by state Rep. Russell Pearce, requires police officers to determine the immigration status of a person if they have “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the country illegally, and to check their status with the federal government.

It gives officers the right to conduct warrantless arrests of such people and to stop any car if they suspect that the driver committed a civil traffic violation and is smuggling humans.

It creates a new misdemeanor: failure to complete or carry an alien registration document, punishable by up to 6 months in jail time and a $500 fine for a first offense. A second offense is a felony with a $1,000 fine.

The bill also makes hiring day laborers a misdemeanor if the driver or worker block the “normal movement of traffic.”

Workers may be fined if they solicit work verbally, or with a “gesture or a nod.”

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that his office has been planning to enforce of the new law by providing almost 900 deputies with training on how to detect and arrest illegal aliens.

That alarms some civil libertarians.

“Our biggest concern is that we are giving local police, untrained in the complexity of immigration law, the green light to arrest someone that looks and sounds foreign,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. The bill “specifically singles out the failure to carry ID as proof you are undocumented. Citizens will have to carry their papers at all times.”

The ACLU released a 5-page analysis detailing its problems with the bill.

The bill is called the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”

“There are already laws on the books that address obstructing traffic, so adding this is unnecessary” said Soler Meetze. “The bill is targeting someone just for soliciting employment, which violates the day laborers’ right to free speech.”

Citizens who encourage “illegal aliens” to enter the country will be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine. Vehicles used to transport or hide undocumented immigrants will be impounded.

The bill gives any person the power to sue a city, town or county for failing to enforce it.

Police officers will be indemnified for costs and attorneys’ fees connected with any lawsuits brought by citizens who were wrongfully questioned or arrested, unless the officer acted in bad faith.

Dan Stern, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes immigration, called the bill “a no-nonsense, common-sense example of a state acting where the federal government is failing, a reaction to the inaction in Washington.”

“Making it tough for illegal aliens to live and work in Arizona means that those illegal aliens already living in the state are more likely to self-deport, and it certainly reduces the incentive to come,” Stern said in a statement.

Employers will be required to keep records of verification of eligibility for the duration of an employee’s employment, or for at least three years, whichever is longer.

“Arizona is on the verge of enacting the most anti-immigrant legislation the country has seen in a generation,” said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

“We are hopeful Governor [Jan] Brewer will consult with her legal counsel, issue a veto, and spare Arizona the expense of defending an unconstitutional, unwise, and odious bill in federal courts.”

Brewer, a Republican, is not likely to do that.

Soler Meetze said it is “quite likely” that the bill will be challenged if passed since “it is a direct attempt to regulate immigration law.”

The bill directs that any “noncitizens” arrested be transferred to federal custody after discharged from prison or fined for failing to carry identification.

The state Senate approved a different version of the bill in February. If signed into law by Gov. Brewer, it will not go into effect until August at the earliest.

posted by USA Citizen

LONGS – In an effort to help cut back on hiring illegal immigrants, Coastal Steel and Acoustics (CSA), an Horry County construction company, signed the state’s first agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Monday. The agreement is to strengthen its hiring practices and combat the hiring of illegal aliens.

Jack Doyle, the company’s co-owner, said this was a voluntary move. He said he wants to set an example and make sure that those who are legally in the country get a fair chance at making a living, and do not find themselves competing against those who are unlawfully here and are working for lower wages.
The agreement is part of a voluntary employer program known as IMAGE, or ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, which is a joint initiative between government and the business community to restore integrity to the U.S immigration system. By voluntarily participating in the IMAGE program, companies can reduce unauthorized employment and the use of fraudulent identity documents.

“Quite honestly we were getting pretty fed up with the illegal aliens that were working for other companies taking away our business and that is very rampant in our business,“ said Doyle, “For example say that company ‘X’ hires 90 percent of illegal aliens and pays them in cash on Fridays and here we are a fully-insured company paying all of the benefits that come along with a legal employee, therefore we cant come close to competing with that.”

“Our first priority in work site cases is criminal cases, “said Kenneth Smith, special agent with ICE, “We work to enforce criminal laws for violations of employment authorizations—-companies that knowingly employ individuals illegally, we will target criminally.“

Smith said the reason the agency wants to especially partner with construction businesses is because that industry draws a lot of people who are unauthorized to work in the U.S. It’s something Doyle said his company would not tolerate.

“We always speak English on our jobs, so that’s also a safety factor,“ Doyle said, “We know that we can sleep at night knowing that we are not going to have anybody coming policing us and fining us or putting us in jail for getting illegal hires.“

If any business or local company signs an agreement with ICE, it also encourages them to use the Department of Homeland Security’s E-verify program. The program is a free, Internet-based system that checks to see if newly-hired employees are eligible to work in the United States.

For more information on this agreement, log on to http://www.ice.gov.

posted by USA Citizen

LAREDO, Tx.- A local woman resident was arrested by Border Patrol officials accused of transporting an undocumented Mexican, declaring to be an American citizen.

Jennifer Aguirre was sent to the County Jail on federal charges of human smuggling. Border Patrol officials assigned to the inspection booth on mile 29 and interstate highway 35 in north Laredo made this arrest.

The woman drove a Ford Mustang and was accompanied by Karina Saucedo. When federal agents asked questions about their trip both subjects declared being American citizens.

However, Karina seemed nervous when she declared being born in San Antonio. The driver told officials that Karina was her friend and was her cousins girlfriend, but agents decided to send them to secondary.

Saucedo later admitted to authorities that she was from Mexico.

posted by USA Citizen

Sheriff Arpaio Continues Crackdown on Immigration Enforcement

24 Illegal Aliens Arrested on Felony Smuggling Charges

Maricopa County, AZ. – Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies arrested 24 more illegal aliens for felony state human smuggling charges last night during two separate traffic stops. The arrests are a result of the unique policy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio who requires his deputies to arrest and process both smugglers and those being smuggled into the country illegally on felony charges.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is the only law enforcement agency in the state of Arizona enforcing the co-conspirator aspect of the sate human smuggling laws. To date, the sheriff’s office has arrested almost 2,000 illegal aliens under the human smuggling law.

Sheriff Arpaio stated that human smuggling operations have proven to be very dangerous, especially to deputies who are charged with confronting smugglers in desolate remote locations outside of city limits often with little backup. The escalation of violence at the U.S.-Mexico border has also become a cause of concern for sheriff’s deputies.

“My deputies have a very difficult job to do in dealing with these smugglers and I will continue as their Sheriff to arm them with the ability and training to take action when necessary. Unfortunately their safety is at risk and they do not have the luxury to wait around for Washington to initiate policy changes. The threat is here and now” stated Sheriff Arpaio.

Many human smuggling traffic stops have resulted in multiple subjects fleeing vehicles into the desert putting deputies and motorists at risk.

The Sheriff has initiated a special program aimed at training nearly all 900 sworn deputies in his office to detect and arrest illegal aliens when they encounter them. The program was launched after the federal government made the decision to remove 100 deputies’ ability to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

posted by USA Citizen

A House panel approved legislation designed to give police more power to detain illegal immigrants.

SB 1070 would overrule any policy or procedure of a city council or police department that keeps officers from enforcing federal immigration laws. It also says that, when practicable, police must inquire about the immigration status of those they encounter as part of their regular activities.

The legislation which cleared the House Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety on a 5-2 vote, also would make criminals out of those who not only harbor or transport those they know are illegal immigrants, or at least recklessly disregard that likelihood, but also outlaw encouraging an illegal immigrant to come to Arizona.

And it would make it a crime to fail to carry a resident legal alien document.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, questioned whether that requirement to produce identification could end up being used to detain people who are in fact in this country legally but don’t happen to be carrying their identification.

But Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Phoenix, said that concern is overblown.

He said police would need a “lawful reason” to stop and question someone in the first place. And even if they have a reason, Pearce said a simple call to the state Motor Vehicle Division would confirm if the name and social security number someone gives an officer matches state records.

“I don’t believe in a police state,” he said. But Pearce said officers already manage to stop and question people all the time now without running afoul of their rights.

Pearce also said many of the groups who sent representatives to testify against the bill are “anarchists,” not interested in enforcing the existing immigration laws.

He did not name names. But those speaking against the bill included Jennifer Allen, executive director of the Border Action Alliance, and Ron Johnson who lobbies on behalf of the state’s three Catholic bishops.

SB 1070, which now goes to the full House, also would bar motorists from stopping on the street to pick up someone for a day labor job. And it would make criminals out of those who not only transport or harbor those they know are illegal immigrants, or at least recklessly disregard that likelihood, but also those who “encourage or induce an alien to come to or reside in this state.”

The measure has divided the law enforcement community, with police chiefs on one side and rank-and-file officers on the other.

Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said officers want and need the ability to question people about their legal status. He said his own city’s policies remain a roadblock even after they were loosened in response to officer complaints.

Spencer said it also is wrong to see the legislation as aimed at minorities. He said Hispanics are just as likely to be victims of crimes by illegal immigrants, if not more so.

But John Thomas, lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, said his members fear fallout from the language requiring officers to question people about their immigration status.

“Victims and witnesses (who are illegal immigrants) are not going to come forward voluntarily,” he said. Thomas said the language added to the measure to give some discretion to police officers won’t provide sufficient comfort to them.

Of greater concern, he said, is language that allows anyone to file suit against a city, contending it has “sanctuary policies” that “limit or restrict the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.” Thomas said that will put some communities at risk of having to spend time and money defending their policies.

Pearce defended the lawsuit provision.

“What it says is you have a right to hold your government accountable,” he said.

The measure already has been approved by the Senate, but with somewhat different provisions. That means whatever is finally approved by the full House will have to go back to that chamber for approval or rejection.

posted by USA Citizen