MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY RALLY FEATURES VOTER REGISTRATION

"The voter registration drive at the 16 de Septiembre Mexican Independence Day Festival was organized by young Democrats at Watsonville High School," the Register-Pajaronian writes. " It's very important that everyone's registered, especially with the election coming up. We want to make sure that the right person [Kerry] is elected," one student said. "While it may have seemed odd to discuss American politics on a day celebrating Mexican Independence, and incongruous to register Mexican-American voters on a day more about Mexico than the United States, students Sanchez and Lupita Chavez said it was not the case."

COUNTY SUPES AGAIN VOTE TO FUND WATER STATIONS

The Pima County, Arizona, Board of Supervisors voted this week to give $25,000 to a group that maintains water stations for illegal aliens crossing into Arizona. "Of the 340 migrant deaths along the Southwest border last year, more than 40 percent were in Arizona. Extreme weather conditions - ranging from triple-digit temperatures in the summer to subfreezing temperatures in the winter - were main causes. Motivated by humanitarian concerns, the county has helped pay for the water stations since 2001," says the Daily Star. Opponents of the stations say they lure migrants across the border and provide false hope.

AZ LEGISLATORS AND YES ON PROPOSTION 200 NEWS CONFERENCE TOMMOROW

"Tomorrow, twenty to twenty-five Arizona Republican legislators and candidates from across the state, and Libertarian Party 2004 Gubernatorial Candidate Barry Hess will hold a press conference to voice support for Proposition 200, the proposed immigration bill that will require secure identification to vote and receive various public benefits," the Yes on Proposition 200 committee said in a press release today. "These lawmakers contend that illegal immigration in Arizona is out of control and that passage of Proposition 200 is a crucial first step in addressing the problem. Further, passage of Proposition 200 will send a strong signal across the border that illegal immigration is not condoned in the state of Arizona."

MEXICAN OFFICIAL NAB 215 MIGRANTS BOUND FOR THE U.S.

As Time magazine reports in its current cover story, the leaky U.S.-Mexico border is attracting more and more illegal migrants from all over the globe seeking to gain entry to the U.S. This past weekend, Mexican authorities - who have often turned a blind eye to alien smuggling operations - apprehended 215 illegal migrants packed into trucks and railroad cars all bound for the U.S. border.

WHAT DOES HOMELAND SECURITY DO WITH FORGED TRAVEL DOCUMENTS . . .?

They sometimes give them back to the people who used them to try to enter the U.S. illegally, reports the Washington Times. Because the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of 27 nations to enter the U.S without obtaining a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate, counterfeit or altered VWP country passports are often used by citizens of other nations to enter the U.S. U.S. immigration authorities insist that such instances are rare, and that most people caught attempting to enter the U.S. with fraudulent travel documents are prosecuted. When the government declines to prosecute, the passports are entrusted to the airlines removing the illicit passengers from the U.S., who then return the documents to the passengers themselves.

IMMIGRATION LAWYERS POURING MONEY INTO CANNON’S CAMPAIGN CHEST

Utah Republican Congressman Chris Cannon is becoming the darling of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), reports the Salt Lake City Tribune. Immigration attorneys, who stand to reap a windfall if the amnesty bills Cannon is promoting are enacted, pumped nearly $21,000 into his campaign just before his primary election. At least five of the big contributors to Cannon’s campaign are members of AILA’s executive committee.

TANCREDO CALLS FOR REFORM AT HILL CONFERENCE, 9/11 COMMISSION REFORMS NEED PASSAGE

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) spoke at a news conference today on Capitol Hill. The conference featured the unveiling of FAIR's latest report, International Terrorism: Serious Solutions for Immigration Controls, which focuses on the Visa Waiver Program as an easy backdoor for terrorists and illegal aliens.

The Hill, writing yesterday, says that Rep. Tancredo was angered by the latest expression of a weak immigration policy by the Bush Administration and had considered calling for Hutchinson’s resignation at a joint press conference with FAIR president Dan Stein at a Capitol Hill news conference today. In its own statement last week, FAIR charged that Hutchinson is serving as the "Bush administration’s point man to sell a massive illegal alien amnesty and guest worker program."

(FAIR Comment: Congressman Tancredo clarified at today’s press conference that he had received a call from Mr. Hutchinson, but had been unable to speak with him yet.)

     

FAIR President Dan Stein at today's conference.

Rep. Tom Tancredo answers reporter's questions at the conference.

FAIR spokesman Jack Martin interviewed by Univision.

DAVID FRUM: TAMAR JACOBY WRONG ON PROP. 200

"My friend Tamar Jacoby has an uncharacteristically unconvincing oped in the Wall Street Journal this morning critiquing Arizona’s Proposition 200 – a ballot measure intended to prod state officials to comply with federal immigration laws," writes David Frum for National Review Online. "Opponents of Prop 200 in Arizona lay considerable stress on the alleged inconveniences of enforcing immigration law, including the need for holders of old licenses to get new ones. These inconveniences are of course real. Yet is also inconvenient to be taxed to pay welfare to people who do not qualify for it, or to be governed by a county commissioner who won his job in part thanks to illegal votes, or to have your car smashed in an accident with an uninsured illegal alien. It is not always convenient to fix major social problems. That doesn’t make the job less necessary."