O. Ricardo Pimentel, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, says that after it was learned that “John Lee Malvo, Muhammad's companion, apparently is an undocumented migrant from Jamaica,” the message became “All undocumented migrants are threats. Close the border, tighten immigration laws, seek and deport any we catch, fire the Immigration and Naturalization Service.”

“A judge in Kissimmee, Fla., has thrown out lawsuits against five Micronesian residents who were sued by a recruiting firm that accused them of failing to live up to their one-year contracts when they left their jobs in area amusement parks early,” the Baltimore Sun reports. The Sun has run a series of articles about how recruiting firms target Micronesians as virtual indentured laborers for U.S. firms. “Under an international agreement between the two Pacific island countries and the United States, Micronesians and Marshallese are allowed to come to the United States to work without obtaining a visa,” the paper notes.

“A Palestinian man and his uncle have pleaded guilty in a marriage hoax that involved a mentally impaired woman,” the AP reports. “Prosecutors say the pair tricked the woman into marrying Ibrahim Mustafa I. Abu Baker, 29, so he could remain in the United States. . . . Investigators say Debra Free, 37, went with Abu Baker before a judge because she thought they needed to sign papers to become roommates.”

According to the Arab News, “Tufain Ahmad, a trustee of the US-Pakistan Association of the Washington metropolitan area, said the Muslim American community has been active, as never before, in this year’s elections.” Ahmed said that “It appears there will be a shift in the voting pattern of Muslims, and a substantial number of Muslim votes will be cast for the Democratic candidates, as opposed to the Republicans.” He cited the unpopularity of post-9/11 security measures in the Muslim community as a reason for the shift.

“Just days after persuading Washington to dilute rules requiring the fingerprinting of some Canadians traveling to the United States, Ottawa said on Monday it would try to head off U.S. plans to insist on visas for some British Commonwealth citizens living in Canada,” Reuters reports. Canada’s stance has risks, points out American Enterprise Institute analyst David Frum. Frum says the end result of Canada’s tantrum about visa rules is that “the Americans have dropped the obnoxious procedures that reveal their mistrust of Canada's immigration and security procedures. But they have not ceased to feel mistrust. And no wonder. On the very same day Graham announced his big diplomatic win, he informed the House foreign affairs committee that Canada would continue to permit the so-called political arm of Hezbollah to operate freely in Canada.”

“A Tarzana criminal defense attorney was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison as part of a criminal investigation into the illegal smuggling of Ukrainian nationals into the United States,” the LA Times reports. “Alex Van Kovn pleaded guilty to witness tampering, harboring an undocumented alien and making false statements.” According to an earlier press release by the U.S. Atttorney, Kovn was one of “Eighteen defendants [who] have been charged in a 22-count federal grand jury indictment stemming from an international smuggling ring that imported illegal aliens from Ukraine into the United States and sold several of the female aliens into prostitution.”

“The Supreme Court said Monday that a lower court was wrong to allow an immigrant who feared mistreatment in his home country to stay in the United States,” the AP reports.” Without hearing arguments, the Supreme Court said the Bush administration -- not courts -- has the right to make those types of [asylum] decisions.” According to the AP account of the decision, “The appeals court ‘seriously disregarded the agency's legally-mandated role. Instead, it independently created potentially far-reaching legal precedent about the significance of political change in Guatemala, a highly complex and sensitive matter.’”