Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin sharply criticizes Senator Edward Kennedy for his effort to cut off funding for the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which requires the INS to keep track of who enters the country and when (or if) they leave. Thus far, the system has prevented 330 criminals and three suspected terrorists from entering through ports of entry. “Naturally, Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D-Afghanistan) wants to stop the Bush Administration from using NSEERS to catch any more criminal aliens who pose a law enforcement threat to America,” she notes sarcastically.

Under an administrative policy instituted by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety driver’s licenses issued to temporary legal residents have included a “status check” designation indicating that the licensee is a temporary visa holder. The state legislature is expected to make the “status check” designation a permanent feature of the Minnesota driver’s license in a vote on Thursday. The legislation, introduced by State Rep. Doug Fuller (R-Bemidji), called the measure a matter of common sense. “A driver’s license is really access to so many other things,” Fuller said.

The Virginia House of Delegates is scheduled to debate legislation that would bar illegal aliens from receiving subsidized in-state tuition rates at publicly run universities and colleges. Virginia’s Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore has been a vocal advocate of a policy that would deny tuition breaks to illegal aliens. “Virginia residents should be subsidizing illegal activity,” he stated in support of a bill introduced by Delegate Thelma Drake (R-Norfolk). Delegate Karen Darner (D-Arlington), who opposes the bill, compared violations of immigration law to traffic infractions. “You would not say to [a native-born American] we are going to make you pay more if your parents were convicted of speeding or got a parking ticket,” said Darner.

“A regional planning agency kicked off a two-year effort Tuesday to coordinate how Southern California accommodates a projected population increase of 6 million people by 2030,” the LA Times reported. “The six-county region -- covering more than 38,000 square miles -- is home to nearly 17 million people. Planners expect the region to grow to 23 million by 2030. That is the equivalent of adding the population of Los Angeles -- twice.” Planners concede that the increase can be "averted only with a dramatic drop in birthrates or immigration, neither of which is likely."

“The Immigration and Naturalization Service is developing an electronic library for handling Freedom of Information Act requests,” Federal Computer Week reports. “The intended result is a Web site where the public can view electronically formatted documents. The system also will help INS comply with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act.”

“In a slap at the Bush administration, the Seattle City Council has passed a "don't ask" policy that bars police and other city workers from inquiring about the immigration status of people with whom they have contact,” Worldnetdaily reported. “[W]hen police officers and other authority figures are barred from investigating immigration status … that poses a threat to our security,” said Carl Gipson of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

Related FAIR Press Release

“Immigration opponents charged at a news conference that the card was a backhanded way for Mexico to secure quasi-legal status for the 3 million to 5 million immigrants illegally residing in the United States,” says Reuters of yesterday’s CIS conference on the cards. "Not only does it subvert U.S. immigration law, it is not even a secure identity document," said Marti Dinnerstein of Immigration Matters. “"This does have homeland security implications in that it compromises our identification system and contracts it out to foreign governments," added CIS executive director Mark Krikorian.

In a related development, the Washington Times reports that other countries are eager to get in on the act of issuing consular cards. “Guatemala, Honduras, Poland, Peru and El Salvador, aware of Mexico's success in getting identification cards to its citizens in the United States, including those here illegally, have begun or are considering issuing cards of their own, federal officials said yesterday.”