News You Missed!! Immigration this Week

Immigrant groups prepare big push for amnesty, visas

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- With the Democrats set to take control of Congress next year, pro-immigrant groups are meeting around the nation to devise a new strategy to win amnesty for illegal immigrants, repeal of the Secure Fence Act and more visas for foreigners.

Activists say they have a better chance of gaining reforms under the Democrats than under the Republicans, but believe it will still require intense political pressure and efforts to mold public opinion.

"We are not taking it like the Democrats are a panacea for immigration reform," said Armando Navarro, coordinator of the National Alliance for Human Rights, an umbrella organization for Hispanic groups in Southern California. "But if they hope to capture the White House in 2008, they better listen to us."[snip]

We SURE get a lot of threats from these groups, don't we?? It's getting old.
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"So Long, Texas -- Hello, Mexico!"

"I think this is a very humorous and certainly revealing look at the illegal immigration and border security crisis in this country through the music of Johnny Tex and the Texicans." Lou Dobbs • Listen: "So Long, Texas -- Hello, Mexico!"

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Police: Suspect in killing of 1-year-old Phoenix girl in Mexico

Nov 17, 2006
Phoenix police say they've confirmed that a 17-year-old suspect sought in the death of his girlfriend's one-year-old daughter in Phoenix is now in Mexico, that he had crossed the border before the crime was reported.

Police say Abraham Penaloza-Serrano's girlfriend left for work Wednesday morning, leaving him to care for her four children, the oldest of whom is eight years old.

When the girlfriend, Anna Vasquez, returned to their north Phoenix apartment Wednesday night, she found her four children had been left alone and that her one-year-old daughter, Kathy, was dead.

Vasquez says one of other children told her that the suspect had kicked the baby because she was whining and wanted a bottle.

Police detectives believe the baby died of blunt force trauma, and that she was killed shortly after Vasquez left for work.
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Neighbors seek answers in children's deaths

ELKHART, Ind. -- A day after authorities arrested an Indiana woman in connection with the deaths of her four children, residents in this town were still searching for answers about the case.

Angelica Alvarez, 27, and the mother of the two girls and two boys, was "arrested based on probable cause," said Bill Wargo, chief criminal investigator with the Elkhart County prosecutor's office. "About all I can say is there have been numerous police calls out to her house during the last year, and they focused on domestic and custody issues. We will know more very soon."

Neighbors and friends said Alvarez, who spoke only Spanish, had been in the U.S. for about five years. A priest at the parish where Alvarez attended mass and had her two youngest children baptized, said she was struggling with depression. Others described her as lonely.

The victims have been as Jennifer Lopez, 8; Gonzalo Lopez, 6; Daniel Valdez, 4, and Jessica Valdez, 2. Neighbors said that Gonzalo Lopez, the father of the two older children, would often come by to see them, and that in one case about a month ago, police had to be called to end a disturbance between Lopez and Alvarez.

Alvarez is now married to Fernando Valdez, father of the two youngest children. They lived in a single story wood-frame house a in low-income section of Elkhart for about five years.

A neighbor, "When I opened the door, she was just standing there smiling with her two smallest children—one of them was in her arms. She just stood there and started wiping the chocolate off of her baby's face. I thought it was strange. Then she went to the next house."[snip]

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US to unveil new citizenship test

Starting this winter, questions will center on American ideals rather than historical facts.
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BOSTON – To gain American citizenship, immigrants must be able to answer such questions as: What was the 49th state added to our Union? What color are the stars on our flag? And who wrote the Star Spangled Banner?

Sound trivial? The US government thinks so, and plans to roll out a new pilot test this winter.

The changes raise the bar - critics say too high - for immigrants to show not only that they care enough to study for a test, but also that they understand and share American values. Behind the shift is rising anxiety among Americans about high levels of immigration and European troubles with large, unassimilated communities, say observers.[snip]

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Message from Mike Cutler

I just noticed that the CBS News Show, "60 Minutes" will air a segment about the Mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania tomorrow, and his efforts to create an inhospitable environment for illegal aliens. I have provided insight to Steve Kroft's producers on other occasions, quite some time ago, and he is generally on the money with his reports. (I was not contacted for this story), I am concerned that the 'blurb' on the 60 Minutes website talks about Spanish-speaking residents. I hope that he makes it clear that the issue is about the immigration laws that the Mayor of Hazelton appears to be concerned about.
Have a great weekend! -mike-
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Bill Clinton: Economic Adviser for Mexico (You can't make up this stuff!)

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said he sees great potential for economic growth under Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon.

"Mexico has a great opportunity," Clinton said Thursday at a business conference in the northern city of Monterrey, during a question-and-answer session broadcast on Mexican TV network Televisa.

"I would love to be working with the new president of Mexico. I would love to be his economic adviser," said Clinton.[snip]