In this photo taken from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and other U.S. agencies inspect the entrance to a drainage tunnel allegedly used by smugglers which runs under the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the United States, Friday June 25, 2010. According to a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman, the tunnel was discovered after agents apprehended a teenager from Mexico with roughly 200 pounds of marijuana and noticed a hole in the cement drainage pipe at the border.

21 killed in shootout between drug, migrant trafficking gangs near Arizona border by FELIPE LARIOS GAXIOLA Associated Press Writer July 1, 2010 HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — A massive gun battle between rival drug and migrant trafficking gangs near the U.S. border Thursday left 21 people dead and at least six others wounded, prosecutors said. The fire fight occurred in a sparsely populated area about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Arizona border, near the city of Nogales, that is considered a prime corridor for immigrant and drug smuggling. The Sonora state Attorney General's Office said in a statement that nine people were captured by police at the scene of the shootings, six of whom had been wounded in the confrontation. Eight vehicles and seven weapons were also seized. All of the victims were believed to be members of the gangs. The shootings occurred near a dirt road between the hamlets of Tubutama and Saric, in an area often used by traffickers. Gangs often fight for control of trafficking routes and sometimes steal "shipments" of undocumented migrants from each other, but seldom have they staged such mass gun battles.

Gang violence near the Arizona border has led to calls from officials in the U.S. state for greater control of the border and is one reason given for a controversial law passed in April requiring Arizona police to ask people about their immigration status in certain situations.

In a city on another part of the U.S. border, gunmen killed an assistant attorney general for Chihuahua state and one of her bodyguards.

After being chased by armed assailants through the darkened streets of Ciudad Juarez, the vehicle carrying Sandra Salas Garcia and two bodyguards was riddled with bullets Wednesday night.

Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the second bodyguard was seriously wounded.

Salas was responsible for evaluating the work of prosecutors and special investigations units in Chihuahua.

Drug violence has killed more than 4,300 people in recent years in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas.

More than 23,000 people have been killed by drug violence since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon began deploying thousands of troops and federal police to drug hot spots.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-lt-drug-war-mexico,0,2455292,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two accused Russian spies are denied bail

A magistrate rules against the mystery couple known as the Murphys. He gives newspaper columnist Vicky Pelaez house arrest amid a show of support, as her husband and others await bail hearings.

By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times

July 1, 2010

Reporting from New York

One of 11 people charged with being part of a Russian spy ring told investigators that his loyalty to his handlers exceeded his commitment to his own son, prosecutors said Thursday as they argued against releasing the defendants on bond and warned that evidence unveiled so far was "the tip of an iceberg."

Three of the accused spies appeared in federal court in Manhattan before Magistrate Ronald L. Ellis, who denied bail for a couple who went by the names Richard and Cynthia Murphy. The Murphys had lived a seemingly serene life in suburban New Jersey.

Ellis approved the release of El Diario newspaper columnist Vicky Pelaez on $250,000 bond on the condition that she remain under house arrest and be electronically monitored. She was not expected to be freed until next week, however, and prosecutors may appeal.

Hearings for defendants in Boston and Virginia were postponed, as was a hearing for Juan Lazaro, Pelaez's husband. His statements to prosecutors since his arrest Sunday were among the new details U.S. Atty. Michael Farbiarz released in a nine-page argument against freeing any of the 11 who are accused of spying for Moscow for years.

"This is a case where the evidence is extraordinarily strong," Farbiarz said in court before outlining information that he said disproved defense claims that ties to family, jobs and homes in the U.S. would ensure the defendants did not flee.

"This offense … at its core is simply about one thing: It's about deception. It's about lies," he said, citing the defendants' ability to hide their alleged secret lives from their children. "Imagine what it takes to keep that kind of secret from the people who are closest to you."

As he spoke, the Murphys and Pelaez sat side by side in dark prison garb, unshackled, in a courtroom overflowing with relatives and spectators. On the sidewalk outside, scores of Pelaez supporters awaited word of the bail hearing's outcome and chanted for her to be freed.

According to prosecutors, Lazaro waived his Miranda rights after his arrest and admitted that he had worked for Russian intelligence and that both the name and the nationality he used — Uruguayan — were lies. He refused to give his true name, according to the new court papers.

"Although he [Lazaro] loved his son, he would not violate his loyalty to the 'Service,' even for his son," the document said. According to prosecutors, Lazaro also said Russian intelligence paid for the couple's house in Yonkers, N.Y.

Farbiarz said searches of property tied to the Murphys had turned up evidence underscoring what prosecutors alleged was a secret life aimed at convincing friends and neighbors that they were doting parents whose existence revolved around play dates, not surreptitious travel abroad and clandestine meetings with Russian agents.

The evidence included a safe-deposit box containing eight envelopes, each stuffed with $10,000 in new $100 bills, and a receipt for an Italian train ticket found in the Murphys' home under a fake name, which Farbiarz said was an alias Richard Murphy used when traveling with a forged Irish passport. The prosecutor described the evidence against the pair as "devastating."

"The case even in one week has gotten stronger," he said.

Farbiarz cited the disappearance of the 11th defendant, Christopher Metsos, as a reason to keep the others in custody. Metsos was arrested in Cyprus on Tuesday and freed on bail. He was discovered missing Wednesday.

Defense attorneys for the three said the government had not indicated what the defendants were accused of passing to their Russian handlers, and scoffed at allegations that their clients had relied on highly sophisticated technology to hide their alleged espionage. Letters purportedly written with "invisible ink" were actually just blank pieces of paper, and secretly coded messages were "dashes and dots," said Pelaez's lawyer, John Rodriguez.

Arguing that Pelaez would not flee, Rodriguez said: "She has a home. She has a family. But she has more than that. She has her reputation."

Ellis noted that Pelaez did not appear to be a trained agent, had not used aliases, and held American citizenship. However, he said she did not appear to be "an innocent." He set bond at $250,000 and ordered the electronic monitoring, which takes time to set up. Pelaez could not expect to be released until Tuesday, he said.

The magistrate said the Murphys were too much of a mystery to release. The court "just doesn't know who those persons are," he said.

Lazaro's bail hearing was postponed until July 16.

Each faces 25 years in prison if convicted on charges that include money-laundering and failing to register as foreign agents.

Another New York-based defendant, Anna Chapman, was denied bail Monday. She faces five years in prison on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.

Three defendants in Alexandria, Va. — Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko — were to appear in court Friday.

A judge in a federal court in Boston gave defendants Donald Heathfield and his wife, Tracey Lee Ann Foley, of Cambridge, Mass., until July 16 to prepare for a bail hearing.

Heathfield's lawyer, Peter Krupp, described the evidence as "extremely thin," the Associated Press said. "It essentially suggests that they successfully infiltrated neighborhoods, cocktail parties and the PTA."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ny-spies-20100702,0,5958233,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police guidelines underscore complexities of Arizona immigration law

A training video focuses on how officers can suspect someone of being in the country illegally without taking race into account. Some of the law's aspects defy explanation, even by state officials.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

July 2, 2010

Reporting from Phoenix

Police officers enforcing a controversial new Arizona immigration law cannot use race to form a suspicion that someone is in the country illegally, but can rely on people's ability to speak English, their dress and whether they are in an area where illegal immigrants congregate, according to state guidelines released Thursday.

The 90-minute training DVD and accompanying paperwork will be distributed to 15,000 law enforcement officers statewide charged with enforcing the sweeping new law, which is scheduled to take effect July 29.

The law requires police to determine the status of people they stop who they suspect are in the country illegally, and makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration documents in Arizona.

Most of the video focuses on the thorny question of how officers can form a suspicion that someone is an illegal immigrant without taking race into account. Critics have said there is no way to do that without engaging in racial profiling. The guidelines warn officers that activists may try to lure them into stopping people solely based on their race.

"Without a doubt, we're going to be accused of racial profiling on this, no matter what we do," Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor, a vocal opponent of the law, says in the video. "Even if you're on firm ground, there are people out there who are not going to believe this is not racially motivated."

Lyle Mann, head of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which produced the video, warns officers that "the entire country is waiting to see how Arizona, particularly Arizona law enforcement, responds."

The training materials, which do not have to be viewed by every officer, were required by Gov. Jan Brewer when she signed SB 1070 into law in April. She said the measure was needed to protect the state from drug violence spilling north from Mexico but that she would not let the law promote racial profiling.

Lydia Guzman, an immigrant rights activist who monitors potential racial profiling in Arizona, said the video is shorter than the training required to certify someone to apply acrylic nails.

"It teaches them how to avoid being accused of racial profiling," Guzman said in an interview. She contended that some of the factors that can raise suspicion would lead to Latinos being targeted.

"It's still profiling," she said.

The Obama administration, which has said the law appears to be unconstitutional, is expected to join several private lawsuits aimed at stopping it from taking effect. The measure has won support from broad majorities in local and national polls, and legislators in several states hope to replicate it over coming months.

The law's various requirements have baffled many lawyers, and the training materials show that even the state government is not certain what some provisions require.

For example, the law requires that all people arrested be held until the federal government verifies their immigration status. But the video says it's unclear whether this applies to arrests for any offense or just those involving possible illegal immigrants.

Additionally, the law allows any legal resident of Arizona to sue if a local agency has a "policy" against enforcing federal immigration laws, but the video warns that no one knows what that means.

The provision puts police in an awkward situation, Mann says in the video, because they will be accused of racial profiling for enforcing the law and risk a lawsuit if they don't.

Several times on the DVD, officials state unequivocally that racial profiling is illegal and counterproductive. "Racial profiling is police misconduct," Mann says.

Attorney Beverly Ginn warns officers not to use race "at all" in forming a suspicion about someone's immigration status. The first indication should be whether, when stopped for possibly violating another law, a person can provide proper identification.

Other possible factors include whether people flee from police, are traveling in an overcrowded vehicle, dress in a suspicious manner — such as in layers that may indicate they have traveled through the desert — or have difficulty communicating in English. The latter cannot be the sole reason for suspicion.

The training DVD also notes that officers have wide discretion on whether to check someone's status. The law only mandates officers make the inquiry if practical.

Ginn says officers may conclude that their heavy workloads and large number of outstanding calls for help make an inquiry impossible. They also should not ask witnesses or crime victims about their status.

Finally, the video stresses that the law does not require legal residents to carry papers in Arizona, even though it makes it a misdemeanor for illegal immigrants to lack those documents. Much of the criticism of the law has centered on the image of Arizona police demanding papers from people they encounter.

"No officer should ever say, 'Show me your papers,' " Mann says. "That's just rude."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration-dvd-20100702,0,7471224,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The state Assembly Thursday approved a $20-million settlement for Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped and held captive by Phillip Garrido for 18 years.

Assembly approves $20-million settlement with kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard July 1, 2010 State justice officials have recommended paying the settlement, which still must be approved by the state Senate. Phillip Garrido is accused of snatching Dugard when she was 11 from outside her South Lake Tahoe home. Since his arrest, officials have revealed he was being monitored by the state parole system for years and had at least five parole officers. Some have questioned why none of the parole officers discovered the backyard prison where Garrido allegedly kept Dugard at his home in Antioch, Calif. Garrido is charged with kidnapping Dugard outside her South Lake Tahoe, Calif., home in 1991. She resurfaced in August 2009, along with two daughters allegedly fathered by Garrido. Dugard and her two daughters had filed claims with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.

They accused the state of negligence, failure to discharge a mandatory duty and infliction of emotional distress, according to a legislative analysis. The $20-million settlement "would end any claims with the state," said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D- Sylmar), the author of the bill, AB 1714.

The payment was recommended by the state Department of Justice and approved by the governor's budget office. The bill analysis noted that while the state Corrections Department denies the allegations and typically has legal immunity from such claims, the Dugard case “had a unique and tragic character,” including “missed opportunities to identify Mrs. Dugard” during her captivity.

State attorneys had warned that damage awards by a jury could be “extremely high,” according to the analysis. “It is virtual certainty Mrs. Dugard and daughters will require counseling for rest of lives,” the analysis says. “Ms. Dugard's daughters have received no formal education and neither is equipped to handle the academic or social challenges that school – and society -- will pose, nor has Mrs. Dugard received any education since her abduction."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/20-million-settlement-with-jaycee-dugard-approved-by-california-assembly.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Schwarzenegger backs $20-million settlement for Jaycee Dugard

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was sign a $20-million settlement to kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard if it reaches his desk, the governor's spokesman said Thursday.

Phillip Garrido is accused of snatching Dugard when she was 11 from outside her South Lake Tahoe home. Since his arrest, officials have revealed he was being monitored by the state parole system for years and had at least five parole officers.

Some have questioned why none of the parole officers discovered the backyard prison where Garrido allegedly kept Dugard at his home in Antioch, Calif.

The payment was recommended by the state Department of Justice and approved by the governor's budget office. The bill analysis noted that while the state Corrections Department denies the allegations and typically has legal immunity from such claims, the Dugard case “had a unique and tragic character,” including “missed opportunities to identify Mrs. Dugard” during her captivity.

State attorneys had warned that damage awards by a jury could be “extremely high,” according to the analysis. “It is virtual certainty Mrs. Dugard and daughters will require counseling for the rest of their lives,” the analysis says. “Ms. Dugard's daughters have received no formal education and neither is equipped to handle the academic or social challenges that school – and society -- will pose, nor has Mrs. Dugard received any education since her abduction."

The state Assembly Thursday approved a $20-million settlement.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many encouraged by Obama's call for immigration reform but concerned about lack of specifics

About two dozen workers, students and advocates gathered Thursday at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles to watch President Obama's speech on immigration overhaul on a large screen.

Many said they were encouraged by Obama's call for creating a pathway to citizenship for the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. But they also said they were concerned that Obama did not give any specifics about when legislation would be introduced.

At the coalition's office near downtown, a low hum of translation could be heard beneath Obama's words while several in the crowd drank coffee and ate doughnuts.    

Olga Gonzalez, 42, said she was heartened by the talk about the importance of family unity. An illegal immigrant with four children who are U.S. citizens, Gonzalez said she worries every day about being arrested by immigration agents and separated from her family. About three months ago, she took in two American children of a friend who was deported.

“Every day, they ask, ‘When is my Mommy coming back?'” she said.

Gonzalez, who lives in Sun Valley and owns a small jewelry store, said she appreciated Obama's comments about the economic contributions of immigrants. If she knew she had a secure future here, Gonzalez said that she would invest even more money in the U.S. economy.

She is frustrated that an overhaul bill hasn't happened yet and is skeptical that it will pass in 2010. “He said in his first year he would do it and he didn't,” she said. “Now the November elections are coming.”

In his first major speech on the issue, Obama called for legislation that would include a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already living here but said it could not happen without Republican support.

“We can create a pathway for legal status that is fair and reflective of our values and works,” Obama said in his speech at American University. “The question now is do we have the courage and political will to pass a bill through Congress and finally get it done.

“I'm ready to move forward. But the fact is without bipartisan support we cannot solve this problem. We cannot pass comprehensive reform without Republican votes. That is a political and mathematical reality.”

Ricardo Perez, 68, a Los Angeles construction worker and undocumented Mexican immigrant, said he believed that Obama was serious about immigration reform and that he could get the votes to make it happen soon. 

Perez said he was pleased with what Obama said about making sure employers don't exploit workers. “A lot of employers don't respect the law,” he said, adding that one former boss still owes him thousands of dollars from a job he did three years ago.

Perez said he doesn't think the border needs reinforcements. When he crossed the border more than 30 years ago, there was little to stop him. “Now even an ant can't cross,” he said.

Myrna Ortiz, an undocumented UCLA student, said she was glad to hear Obama's outline of what legislation would look like. But she said, “He could have given a more clear statement on when and how he's going to get it done.”

Ortiz, 19, said being undocumented has affected her education, her job prospects and her healthcare. Her parents are also undocumented and she has a younger sister who is a U.S. citizen. Ortiz said she was inspired by the speech and hopes that it will start the political process.

“We are going to keep pushing,” she said. “If we don't push for it, it's not going to happen.”

Antonio Bernabe, who educates and organizes day laborers in Los Angeles, said he didn't hear anything new in Obama's speech.

“It was more of the same,” he said. “We need to see action.”

Bernabe said that while the president talks about immigration reform, heightened enforcement continues. Undocumented immigrants continue to be arrested in their homes and at their work sites, threatening families every day. “Things have to change,” he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/about-two-dozen-workers-students-and-advocates-gathered-at-the-coalition-for-humane-immigrant-rights-of-los-angeles-to-watch.html#more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the New York Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obama Urges Fix to ‘Broken' Immigration System

WASHINGTON — President Obama pressed Congress on Thursday to adopt a sweeping plan to fix a “fundamentally broken” immigration system, taking on a volatile issue that has inflamed passions in a weak economy heading into the fall midterm campaign.

In his first speech devoted entirely to immigration policy since taking office, Mr. Obama tried to navigate between what he called the two extremes of the debate, defending his efforts to strengthen border security while promoting a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million people in the United States illegally.

The president's decision to elevate the issue reflected more of a political strategy than a legislative one since the White House has no plan to actually push a bill this year through a Congress already consumed by other issues. Instead, Mr. Obama's focus appeared intended to frame the debate for the approaching election to appeal to Hispanic voters who could be critical in several states as well as other middle-class voters turned off by anti-immigrant discourse while blaming Republicans for opposing a comprehensive overhaul.

“I'm ready to move forward, the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward, and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward,” he told an audience of lawmakers, advocates, business executives and labor leaders at American University here. “But the fact is, without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem.”

Republicans fired back, casting Mr. Obama's speech as cynical demagoguery and arguing that the real problem is an administration that does not do enough to enforce laws already on the books. Moreover, they said, with 15 million Americans now unemployed, this is the wrong time to loosen the rules on the estimated 8 million illegal immigrants currently in the workforce.

“We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve, rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”

The immigration debate has flared in recent weeks with the passage of a new law in Arizona requiring police to question the immigration status of anyone they stop for other reasons if they suspect they are in the country illegally. About 20 other states are considering similar laws while the Justice Department is preparing a lawsuit to challenge the Arizona measure.

The White House has been under pressure to tackle an overhaul of immigration policy this year on the assumption that it could face a more hostile Congress after the November election. The president met separately this week with immigration advocates and with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

His attention to the issue was also a favor to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, who promised to pursue legislation as he battles for re-election in a state with a rising Hispanic population. Mr. Obama invited Mr. Reid to meet at the White House after Thursday's speech.

The president drew praise from Mr. Reid and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops . “But a speech alone is not enough,” said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, “and it will not make a difference if the president does not follow through and push both parties in Congress to move a bill forward.”

Senator John Cornyn , Republican of Texas, questioned Mr. Obama's commitment. “I haven't seen anything to demonstrate that he's used any political capital or made this a priority,” he told reporters. A midday speech “without any specific proposals but just an exhortation that things are not good and need to be fixed I don't think is showing leadership.”

In his address, Mr. Obama repeated his support for an approach like that proposed by Senators Charles E. Schumer , Democrat of New York, and Lindsey Graham , Republican of South Carolina.

Under their plan, illegal immigrants who wish to remain in the country would be required to admit they broke the law and pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and prove that they can speak English before going to the back of the line of those seeking permanent legal residency. It would also strengthen border security and interior enforcement, create a process for temporary workers and require Social Security cards with biometric data like fingerprints or retinal patterns to help ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs.

The president rejected the most dramatic solutions to illegal migration. Mass deportations would be “logistically impossible and wildly expensive,” he said, but blanket amnesty was “unwise and unfair” to those who played by the rules.

“In sum, the system is broken and everybody knows it,” Mr. Obama said. “Unfortunately, reform has been held hostage to political posturing, special-interest wrangling and to the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics.”

He also used the opportunity to repeat his opposition to Arizona's new law. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican minority whip, said the state's law was a response to Washington's failure to deal with the problem. “All Americans would be better served,” he said, “if this administration focused on implementing proven border security solutions rather than engaging in demagoguery.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/us/politics/02obama.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terrorists' Magazine, Now in English

The English is crude and clunky, almost to the point of being laughable. The pictures look like bad Photoshop jobs.

But the contents of Inspire, a magazine bearing the signature of the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are no joke.

Headlines tease tutorials for would-be terrorists, including instructions to “make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom,” an article on “Mujahedeen 101” and a lesson in sending and receiving encrypted messages.

A PDF of the magazine — the first known English-language publication thought to be produced by the Yemen-based terrorist group — began circulating on the Internet on Wednesday. The magazine's goal is to recruit disaffected Muslims in the United States, Canada, Britain and other English-speaking countries.

“They're targeting a very small community and hoping that they will get the next Times Square bomber or the next Fort Hood murderer to come forward, be further radicalized and carry out an act of mass violence,” said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar who worked for the C.I.A. on counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East and South Asia.

The PDF widely distributed in the past 48 hours was only three pages long; a virus apparently corrupted the remaining 64 pages. Mr. Riedel said that could have been the work of hackers, possibly working for the United States government.

In many ways the magazine reads like a typical Western publication, using banner headlines to highlight exclusive interviews and encouraging readers to write in.

“Our intent is to give the most accurate presentation of Islam,” reads a letter from the editor. “Jihad has been deconstructed in our age and thus its revival in comprehension and endeavor is of utmost importance.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/world/02qaeda.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graduation Is the Goal, Staying Alive the Prize

CHICAGO — The bonding moment between Veronica Tinajero and the student she calls Big Sunshine came during one of their first meetings.

“Have you ever been shot?” the student, a high school senior, asked. When Ms. Tinajero replied no, he looked genuinely amazed and said, “Wow, almost everybody I know's been shot.” Later, he ticked off a list of his own bullet wounds: upper thigh, left hand, scalp.

“I should have been dead already,” he said.

With that, Ms. Tinajero, 24 and a public schools employee, gained a fuller understanding of what she was up against. A professional advocate, she is in Big Sunshine's life for two reasons: to help keep him alive and on track to graduation, and now college. She is part of an ambitious but untested project born of crisis, a project that may take on added significance after a Supreme Court ruling on Monday that appeared to doom Chicago's ban on handguns.

Last school year, 258 public school students were shot in Chicago, 32 fatally, on their way to or from school, traveling through gang-infested territory and narcotics wars on the South and West Sides. In an effort to get ahead of the next killings, the schools conducted an analysis to identify the 250 students most at risk of being shot (by studying profiles of 500 recent victims). Since December, each of those students has had an advocate like Ms. Tinajero on call to offer caretaking and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

National experts consider it to be perhaps the most intensive safety intervention tried in big-city schools; its results are being watched nationally.

“I don't know of anything like this either in scope or scale or intensity,” said Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a research and advocacy group in Washington. “It is strikingly well-planned at the strategic level, backed with really unique data and followed all the way down to the kid level with 24/7 coverage. I don't know anything in the country quite like it, that has the promise that this initiative does.”

Students in the high-risk category — mostly black and Hispanic boys, some homeless dropouts and some formerly gang-affiliated — are also given jobs. The array of interventions is financed by federal stimulus grants through 2012, part of an overarching $60 million safety plan developed by Ron Huberman, the schools chief who was appointed last year by Mayor Richard M. Daley with a mandate to improve students' safety. There are 409,000 students in 675 public schools here.

The 60 advocates hired so far function like a high-energy amalgam of parent, tutor, friend and life coach, sometimes tackling simple assignments like homework. But more often they delve into the heart-wrenching details of the students' lives. More than one has sat bedside in a hospital emergency room after bullets ricocheted through a charge's body.

Others have worked to help rival gang members get along in class, counseled bereaved students after a parent was killed and helped homeless students find safe places to live.

The plan acknowledges the harsh reality that troubled children are often on their own. So, trying to reach them through their families can be futile. Hence the need to hire advocates.

“Giving them a meaningful adult relationship, advocating for them and giving them incentive is the key to changing their behavior,” Mr. Huberman said, since some of the students most at risk of being shot are also most likely to perpetrate violence.

Here, Youth Advocates Programs Inc. , a nonprofit based in Philadelphia with a record of success helping at-risk youth, recruits and trains the advocates in the same communities where the students live.

Each advocate is assigned no more than four students and is paid $12 an hour for one-on-one time with the students. The program is not limited by school time or the school year; it functions year round. Some advocates hold other jobs or work on degrees on the side. Jonathan Moy, the school system's project manager for mentoring and interventions, said that more people had applied to be advocates than positions were available and that most who were accepted had social-service backgrounds.

Of the 210 young people reached so far, about half were not in school. Now all are enrolled. Although three students with advocates were shot in the school year that ended June 18, there were no deaths. (Systemwide, 218 students were shot this school year, 40 fewer than last year, and 27 of the shootings were fatal.)

Compared with a year ago, this is success. Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Public Schools, said that attendance was up and that suspensions and misconduct were down among students with advocates.

Officials were so encouraged by the results that last week the school district announced that the program would be expanded next year to include 1,500 students.

Other parts of Chicago's $60 million intervention plan include the creation of a high-tech security center at administration headquarters that facilitates communication between the police and school officials, and creation of an environment in the schools that officials call a “culture of calm.”

Because so many of the high-risk students are still targets of their rivals and former gang associates, school officials and the students' families asked that the students contacted for this article remain unidentified beyond their initials or nicknames. Big Sunshine, 20, the student being mentored by Ms. Tinajero, still fears retaliation.

He said he started carrying a gun at age 12, to fit in with the boys in his neighborhood. Since then, he has been in and out of school and in and out of trouble with the law.

Big Sunshine did graduate two weeks ago, and Ms. Tinajero will work with him through the summer to help him make the transition to college: he plans to study sociology at Harold Washington College here this fall.

The intervention in the students' lives has gone far beyond school.

For instance, Ms. Tinajero and Samuel Garcia, 26, another advocate, helped move Big Sunshine's family to a safer block, and they began working with his 17-year-old brother, also a gunshot victim, who was not gang-affiliated but heading in that direction. They found Big Sunshine a minimum-wage job and gave both brothers, who have young children, classes for parents. They also held group family therapy with the young men's parents, created rules and set long-term academic goals.

“I learned to stop caring about what other people think,” Big Sunshine's brother said in an interview about how the advocates had influenced his behavior. “You're a gangbanger and you want to drop that? That doesn't mean you're a punk.”

Ms. Tinajero made sure Big Sunshine had safe passage to school, even if that meant picking him up in her Toyota. She secured college applications and counseled his parents who are minimally educated immigrants from Mexico. For a treat, she took him to eat at a restaurant for the first time, an Applebee's .

Days before Big Sunshine became the first member of his family to finish high school, he bought a suit in the men's department of Carson Pirie Scott. Ms. Tinajero pointed him in the direction of a lavender shirt and tie, black jacket and pants and made sure they fit.

“A suit,” he said, looking admiringly at himself in a mirror. “Never thought I'd be standing here like this.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/us/02chicago.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stowaways That Are Disgusting, Even Deadly  By CHRISTINE NEGRONI What do mice, mosquitoes, scorpions and maggots have in common? They all breeze past airport security , and they do not seem to mind flying coach. Passengers on a US Airways flight were disgusted to find maggots falling on them from an overhead bin on Monday. Pilots declared an emergency and returned to the gate in Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The plane was emptied and cleaned before proceeding to Charlotte, N.C.

The extensive security process may leave passengers feeling that their bodies and possessions are thoroughly inspected before boarding, but there are no regulations prohibiting them from bringing rotting meat on a plane, which is apparently how the maggots got onto the jetliner, said Morgan Durrant, a spokesman for US Airways.

“We don't like to take a delay for any reason, but a delay for insect larvae is a new one for us,” Mr. Durrant said.

Vermin have bedeviled airline officials for years. Aviation databases hold dozens of reports of incidents and accidents in which insects and rodents played a role, often by blocking gauges or clogging mechanical parts. Dan Hall, a pilot from Torrington, Conn., crash-landed his Cessna 182 into a river in Rhode Island in 2007 after four mice were sucked into the plane's carburetor. “The bad news is, you crashed your plane,” Mr. Hall said investigators told him, “but the good news is the mice are dead.”

These problems occur most often on small private airplanes, but in 2002, an Icelandair Boeing 757 en route from Orlando, Fla., to Reykjavik, Iceland, lost altitude and had to make an emergency landing in Baltimore. Insects clogging the tube measuring airspeed were the suspected culprits. There was a similar episode on an American Airlines DC-10 in 1978.

Rodents are especially problematic because they gnaw and jump. In January 2008, eight mice were found on a United Airlines plane in China, and in July 2006, maintenance workers at American Airlines said a plane in Kansas City, Mo., was infested with mice, though the airline said that only 17 were alive.

Insects are more often a health concern than a safety issue. Some scientists believe mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus were inadvertently transported to the United States on airliners.

“Certainly that's the biggest, but the same is so for a whole host of insects that can come aboard an airplane with the passengers,” said Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center. “What's in one country today,” he said of dangerous insects, “can be in another country tonight.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has no regulations for how airlines should combat insects or rodents, said a spokeswoman, Alison Duquette. US Airways opted to fumigate Monday's flight, No. 1537, when it arrived in Charlotte, a decision made “out of an abundance of safety and cleanliness” said Mr. Durrant, adding that the “gross-out” factor played a role as well.

“There are many reports over the years of insects that are routinely detected on passenger aircraft,” Dr. Tierno said. “It's one of the reasons why aircraft should be regularly treated with an insecticide, especially when they land in certain areas of the world.”

Douglas Herbstsommer was not traveling anywhere particularly exotic last summer when he had an uncomfortable encounter with a bed of scorpions. A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight, from Phoenix to Indianapolis, he was stung on his hand. Mr. Herbstsommer told reporters he saw several more in the overhead bin, so he used his flip-flop to kill them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/us/02maggots.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Obama's Immigration Promise

President Obama's first major speech on immigration had the eloquence and clarity we have come to expect when he engages a wrenching national debate. In declaring the welcome of strangers a core American value, in placing immigrants at the center of the nation's success and future, Mr. Obama's exhortation was worthy of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, whose memory he respectfully summoned on Thursday. “Anybody can help us write the next great chapter in our history,” he said, regardless of blood or birth.

Mr. Obama was just as clear on why the immigration system is failing and how to fix it. Our nation “has the right and obligation to control its borders,” he said, but sealing off that vast space with troops and fences alone is a fantasy. And no amount of security at the border does anything about the undocumented 11 million who have already crossed it. Mr. Obama called for enabling these potential Americans to “get right with the law,” and for fixing the system of legal immigration, which is too inefficient for the country's own good.

The president took particular notice of the extremism of Arizona, where a law, to take effect on July 29, compels its police to check the papers of anyone they suspect to be an illegal immigrant. It makes a crime out of being a foreigner in the state without papers — in most cases a civil violation of federal law. This is an invitation to racial profiling, an impediment to effective policing and a usurpation of federal authority, Mr. Obama said, evoking a future where “different rules for immigration will apply in different parts of the country.”

In promising to end the chaos into which immigration has collapsed (“this administration will not just kick the can down the road,” he said), Mr. Obama has laid out an ambitious goal . He urged Congress to help him pass a bill, particularly Republicans who supported bipartisan reform under President George W. Bush but who now have a united front against reform.

But Mr. Obama's call to action applies not just to Congress but to himself as well. He neatly defined the obstacles to a comprehensive bill: the Republican senators who have abandoned bipartisanship and taken the extreme position of opposing any immigration reform that is common-sense and practical.

But Mr. Obama has presidential powers, and he should use them. He has given the border more troops. Now he should seek to lift the burden of fear from peaceable immigrant communities. His administration is widely expected to bring a lawsuit soon challenging the deeply unjust Arizona law. Mr. Obama, a constitutional scholar, could have written the complaint himself, but his address did not mention a lawsuit.

Mr. Obama should not suspend all enforcement against illegal immigrants. But he can reset the administration's enforcement priorities to focus on dangerous and convicted criminals and rein in the operations that his Department of Homeland Security has promoted that enable local law enforcement to engage in the racial profiling he rightly denounces.

Mr. Obama appealed to middle of the debate, to Americans who crave lawfulness but reject the cruelty symbolized by Arizona's new law. We hope his words spur the beginning of Congressional action. But in the hot summer to come, when police officers in Arizona start pulling people over, and tension grows and other states follow its bad example, let's hope his administration also is ready to show the determination to protect the resented newcomers whose rights and dignity he so powerfully defended on Thursday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/opinion/02fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saving Taxpayer Money: 2010 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff

When President Obama came into office, he committed to providing the best value for the American people while spending less money.  That's why, on his first full day on the job, the President froze the salaries of senior White House staff, and then expanded that freeze to all senior Administration appointees this year.  And he is breaking with past administrations' practice by eliminating bonuses for Executive Branch political appointees.

Those steps are reflected in the second Obama Administration White House Office employment report to Congress , issued today.  Importantly, the report isn't just for Congress; it's also for the American people.  So we have published it online, for the second straight year, in a searchable, downloadable format.  (You can access last year's report , too.)

This report provides a snapshot in time – a look at employment and salaries at the White House Office at this moment.  Right now, there are 17 fewer employees than last year, and the overall salary total also is down from last year.

From coast to coast, businesses and families are tightening their belts as the impact of this Great Recession lingers.  At the White House and across the government, we are doing the same.  In ways large and small, we are being more responsible with the people's money, dedicating it to initiatives that work and ending those that don't.  We're cutting pork-barrel spending and putting the funds to cutting the deficit.  And we are providing better services to the American people through the programs that make a difference in their lives.

You can view the  searchable table  of the report to learn more.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/01/saving-taxpayer-money-2010-annual-report-congress-white-house-staff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remarks by the President on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

American University School of International Service, Washington, D.C.

July 1, 2010

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Everyone please have a seat.  Thank you very much.  Let me thank Pastor Hybels from near my hometown in Chicago, who took time off his vacation to be here today.  We are blessed to have him.

I want to thank President Neil Kerwin and our hosts here at American University; acknowledge my outstanding Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, and members of my administration; all the members of Congress -- Hilda deserves applause.  (Applause.)  To all the members of Congress, the elected officials, faith and law enforcement, labor, business leaders and immigration advocates who are here today -- thank you for your presence.

I want to thank American University for welcoming me to the campus once again.  Some may recall that the last time I was here I was joined by a dear friend, and a giant of American politics, Senator Edward Kennedy.  (Applause.)  Teddy's not here right now, but his legacy of civil rights and health care and worker protections is still with us.

I was a candidate for President that day, and some may recall I argued that our country had reached a tipping point; that after years in which we had deferred our most pressing problems, and too often yielded to the politics of the moment, we now faced a choice:  We could squarely confront our challenges with honesty and determination, or we could consign ourselves and our children to a future less prosperous and less secure. 

I believed that then and I believe it now.  And that's why, even as we've tackled the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, even as we've wound down the war in Iraq and refocused our efforts in Afghanistan, my administration has refused to ignore some of the fundamental challenges facing this generation.

We launched the most aggressive education reforms in decades, so that our children can gain the knowledge and skills they need to compete in a 21st century global economy.

We have finally delivered on the promise of health reform -– reform that will bring greater security to every American, and that will rein in the skyrocketing costs that threaten families, businesses and the prosperity of our nation.

We're on the verge of reforming an outdated and ineffective set of rules governing Wall Street -– to give greater power to consumers and prevent the reckless financial speculation that led to this severe recession.

And we're accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy by significantly raising the fuel-efficiency standards of cars and trucks, and by doubling our use of renewable energies like wind and solar power -- steps that have the potential to create whole new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America. 

So, despite the forces of the status quo, despite the polarization and the frequent pettiness of our politics, we are confronting the great challenges of our times.  And while this work isn't easy, and the changes we seek won't always happen overnight, what we've made clear is that this administration will not just kick the can down the road. 

Immigration reform is no exception.  In recent days, the issue of immigration has become once more a source of fresh contention in our country, with the passage of a controversial law in Arizona and the heated reactions we've seen across America.  Some have rallied behind this new policy.  Others have protested and launched boycotts of the state.  And everywhere, people have expressed frustration with a system that seems fundamentally broken. 

Of course, the tensions around immigration are not new.  On the one hand, we've always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants -- a nation that welcomes those willing to embrace America's precepts.  Indeed, it is this constant flow of immigrants that helped to make America what it is.  The scientific breakthroughs of Albert Einstein, the inventions of Nikola Tesla, the great ventures of Andrew Carnegie's U.S. Steel and Sergey Brin's Google, Inc. -– all this was possible because of immigrants.

And then there are the countless names and the quiet acts that never made the history books but were no less consequential in building this country -- the generations who braved hardship and great risk to reach our shores in search of a better life for themselves and their families; the millions of people, ancestors to most of us, who believed that there was a place where they could be, at long last, free to work and worship and live their lives in peace. 

So this steady stream of hardworking and talented people has made America the engine of the global economy and a beacon of hope around the world.  And it's allowed us to adapt and thrive in the face of technological and societal change.  To this day, America reaps incredible economic rewards because we remain a magnet for the best and brightest from across the globe.  Folks travel here in the hopes of being a part of a culture of entrepreneurship and ingenuity, and by doing so they strengthen and enrich that culture.  Immigration also means we have a younger workforce -– and a faster-growing economy -- than many of our competitors.  And in an increasingly interconnected world, the diversity of our country is a powerful advantage in global competition. 

Just a few weeks ago, we had an event of small business owners at the White House.  And one business owner was a woman named Prachee Devadas who came to this country, became a citizen, and opened up a successful technology services company.  When she started, she had just one employee.  Today, she employs more than a hundred people.  This past April, we held a naturalization ceremony at the White House for members of our armed forces.  Even though they were not yet citizens, they had enlisted.  One of them was a woman named Perla Ramos -- born and raised in Mexico, came to the United States shortly after 9/11, and she eventually joined the Navy.  And she said, “I take pride in our flag and the history that forged this great nation and the history we write day by day.”

These women, and men and women across this country like them, remind us that immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country -– and that being an American is not a matter of blood or birth.  It's a matter of faith.  It's a matter of fidelity to the shared values that we all hold so dear.  That's what makes us unique.  That's what makes us strong.  Anybody can help us write the next great chapter in our history. 

Now, we can't forget that this process of immigration and eventual inclusion has often been painful.  Each new wave of immigrants has generated fear and resentments towards newcomers, particularly in times of economic upheaval.  Our founding was rooted in the notion that America was unique as a place of refuge and freedom for, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “oppressed humanity.”  But the ink on our Constitution was barely dry when, amidst conflict, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which placed harsh restrictions of those suspected of having foreign allegiances.  A century ago, immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, other European countries were routinely subjected to rank discrimination and ugly stereotypes.  Chinese immigrants were held in detention and deported from Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay.  They didn't even get to come in.

So the politics of who is and who is not allowed to enter this country, and on what terms, has always been contentious.  And that remains true today.  And it's made worse by a failure of those of us in Washington to fix a broken immigration system. 

To begin with, our borders have been porous for decades.  Obviously, the problem is greatest along our Southern border, but it's not restricted to that part of the country.  In fact, because we don't do a very good job of tracking who comes in and out of the country as visitors, large numbers avoid immigration laws simply by overstaying their visas.

The result is an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.  The overwhelming majority of these men and women are simply seeking a better life for themselves and their children.  Many settle in low-wage sectors of the economy; they work hard, they save, they stay out of trouble.  But because they live in the shadows, they're vulnerable to unscrupulous businesses who pay them less than the minimum wage or violate worker safety rules -– thereby putting companies who follow those rules, and Americans who rightly demand the minimum wage or overtime, at an unfair [dis]advantage.  Crimes go unreported as victims and witnesses fear coming forward.  And this makes it harder for the police to catch violent criminals and keep neighborhoods safe.  And billions in tax revenue are lost each year because many undocumented workers are paid under the table.

More fundamentally, the presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are going through the process of immigrating legally.  Indeed, after years of patchwork fixes and ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders.  Backlogs and bureaucracy means the process can take years.  While an applicant waits for approval, he or she is often forbidden from visiting the United States –- which means even husbands and wives may be forced to spend many years apart.  High fees and the need for lawyers may exclude worthy applicants.  And while we provide students from around the world visas to get engineering and computer science degrees at our top universities, our laws discourage them from using those skills to start a business or power a new industry right here in the United States.  Instead of training entrepreneurs to create jobs on our shores, we train our competition.

In sum, the system is broken.  And everybody knows it.  Unfortunately, reform has been held hostage to political posturing and special-interest wrangling -– and to the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics. 

Just a few years ago, when I was a senator, we forged a bipartisan coalition in favor of comprehensive reform.  Under the leadership of Senator Kennedy, who had been a longtime champion of immigration reform, and Senator John McCain, we worked across the aisle to help pass a bipartisan bill through the Senate.  But that effort eventually came apart.  And now, under the pressures of partisanship and election-year politics, many of the 11 Republican senators who voted for reform in the past have now backed away from their previous support. 

Into this breach, states like Arizona have decided to take matters into their own hands.  Given the levels of frustration across the country, this is understandable.  But it is also ill conceived.  And it's not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive -– although it has fanned the flames of an already contentious debate.  Laws like Arizona's put huge pressures on local law enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable.  It puts pressure on already hard-strapped state and local budgets.  It makes it difficult for people here illegally to report crimes -– driving a wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets more dangerous and the jobs of our police officers more difficult. 

And you don't have to take my word for this.  You can speak to the police chiefs and others from law enforcement here today who will tell you the same thing. 

These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.  And as other states and localities go their own ways, we face the prospect that different rules for immigration will apply in different parts of the country -– a patchwork of local immigration rules where we all know one clear national standard is needed. 

Our task then is to make our national laws actually work -– to shape a system that reflects our values as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.  And that means being honest about the problem, and getting past the false debates that divide the country rather than bring it together.

For example, there are those in the immigrants' rights community who have argued passionately that we should simply provide those who are [here] illegally with legal status, or at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better laws.  And often this argument is framed in moral terms:  Why should we punish people who are just trying to earn a living? 

I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair.  It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision.  And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration.  And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally. 

Ultimately, our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders and set laws for residency and citizenship.  And no matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable.

Now, if the majority of Americans are skeptical of a blanket amnesty, they are also skeptical that it is possible to round up and deport 11 million people.  They know it's not possible.  Such an effort would be logistically impossible and wildly expensive.  Moreover, it would tear at the very fabric of this nation -– because immigrants who are here illegally are now intricately woven into that fabric.  Many have children who are American citizens.  Some are children themselves, brought here by their parents at a very young age, growing up as American kids, only to discover their illegal status when they apply for college or a job.  Migrant workers -– mostly here illegally -– have been the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers for generations.  So even if it was possible, a program of mass deportations would disrupt our economy and communities in ways that most Americans would find intolerable. 

Now, once we get past the two poles of this debate, it becomes possible to shape a practical, common-sense approach that reflects our heritage and our values.  Such an approach demands accountability from everybody -– from government, from businesses and from individuals. 

Government has a threshold responsibility to secure our borders.  That's why I directed my Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano -- a former border governor -- to improve our enforcement policy without having to wait for a new law. 

Today, we have more boots on the ground near the Southwest border than at any time in our history.  Let me repeat that:  We have more boots on the ground on the Southwest border than at any time in our history.  We doubled the personnel assigned to Border Enforcement Security Task Forces.  We tripled the number of intelligence analysts along the border.  For the first time, we've begun screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments.  And as a result, we're seizing more illegal guns, cash and drugs than in years past.  Contrary to some of the reports that you see, crime along the border is down.  And statistics collected by Customs and Border Protection reflect a significant reduction in the number of people trying to cross the border illegally. 

So the bottom line is this:  The southern border is more secure today than at any time in the past 20 years.  That doesn't mean we don't have more work to do.  We have to do that work, but it's important that we acknowledge the facts.  Even as we are committed to doing what's necessary to secure our borders, even without passage of the new law, there are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders.  But our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols.  It won't work.  Our borders will not be secure as long as our limited resources are devoted to not only stopping gangs and potential terrorists, but also the hundreds of thousands who attempt to cross each year simply to find work. 

That's why businesses must be held accountable if they break the law by deliberately hiring and exploiting undocumented workers.  We've already begun to step up enforcement against the worst workplace offenders.  And we're implementing and improving a system to give employers a reliable way to verify that their employees are here legally.  But we need to do more.  We cannot continue just to look the other way as a significant portion of our economy operates outside the law.  It breeds abuse and bad practices.  It punishes employers who act responsibly and undercuts American workers.  And ultimately, if the demand for undocumented workers falls, the incentive for people to come here illegally will decline as well.   

Finally, we have to demand responsibility from people living here illegally.  They must be required to admit that they broke the law.  They should be required to register, pay their taxes, pay a fine, and learn English.  They must get right with the law before they can get in line and earn their citizenship -- not just because it is fair, not just because it will make clear to those who might wish to come to America they must do so inside the bounds of the law, but because this is how we demonstrate that being -- what being an American means.  Being a citizen of this country comes not only with rights but also with certain fundamental responsibilities.  We can create a pathway for legal status that is fair, reflective of our values, and works.

Now, stopping illegal immigration must go hand in hand with reforming our creaky system of legal immigration.  We've begun to do that, by eliminating a backlog in background checks that at one point stretched back almost a year.  That's just for the background check.  People can now track the status of their immigration applications by email or text message.  We've improved accountability and safety in the detention system.  And we've stemmed the increases in naturalization fees.  But here, too, we need to do more.  We should make it easier for the best and the brightest to come to start businesses and develop products and create jobs. 

Our laws should respect families following the rules -– instead of splitting them apart.  We need to provide farms a legal way to hire the workers they rely on, and a path for those workers to earn legal status.  And we should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education and contribute their talents to build the country where they've grown up.  The DREAM Act would do this, and that's why I supported this bill as a state legislator and as a U.S. senator -- and why I continue to support it as president.

So these are the essential elements of comprehensive immigration reform.  The question now is whether we will have the courage and the political will to pass a bill through Congress, to finally get it done.  Last summer, I held a meeting with leaders of both parties, including many of the Republicans who had supported reform in the past -- and some who hadn't.  I was pleased to see a bipartisan framework proposed in the Senate by Senators Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer, with whom I met to discuss this issue.  I've spoken with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to plot the way forward and meet -- and then I met with them earlier this week. 

And I've spoken with representatives from a growing coalition of labor unions and business groups, immigrant advocates and community organizations, law enforcement, local government -– all who recognize the importance of immigration reform.  And I've met with leaders from America's religious communities, like Pastor Hybels -- people of different faiths and beliefs, some liberal, some conservative, who nonetheless share a sense of urgency; who understand that fixing our broken immigration system is not only a political issue, not just an economic issue, but a moral imperative as well. 

So we've made progress.  I'm ready to move forward; the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward; and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward.  But the fact is, without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem.  Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes.  That is the political and mathematical reality.  The only way to reduce the risk that this effort will again falter because of politics is if members of both parties are willing to take responsibility for solving this problem once and for all. 

And, yes, this is an emotional question, and one that lends itself to demagoguery.  Time and again, this issue has been used to divide and inflame -– and to demonize people.  And so the understandable, the natural impulse among those who run for office is to turn away and defer this question for another day, or another year, or another administration.  Despite the courageous leadership in the past shown by many Democrats and some Republicans -- including, by the way, my predecessor, President Bush -– this has been the custom.  That is why a broken and dangerous system that offends our most basic American values is still in place.

But I believe we can put politics aside and finally have an immigration system that's accountable.  I believe we can appeal not to people's fears but to their hopes, to their highest ideals, because that's who we are as Americans.  It's been inscribed on our nation's seal since we declared our independence.  “E pluribus unum.”  Out of many, one.  That is what has drawn the persecuted and impoverished to our shores.  That's what led the innovators and risk-takers from around the world to take a chance here in the land of opportunity.  That's what has led people to endure untold hardships to reach this place called America. 

One of the largest waves of immigration in our history took place little more than a century ago.  At the time, Jewish people were being driven out of Eastern Europe, often escaping to the sounds of gunfire and the light from their villages burning to the ground.  The journey could take months, as families crossed rivers in the dead of night, traveled miles by foot, endured a rough and dangerous passage over the North Atlantic.  Once here, many made their homes in a teeming and bustling Lower Manhattan. 

It was at this time that a young woman named Emma Lazarus, whose own family fled persecution from Europe generations earlier, took up the cause of these new immigrants.  Although she was a poet, she spent much of her time advocating for better health care and housing for the newcomers.  And inspired by what she saw and heard, she wrote down her thoughts and donated a piece of work to help pay for the construction of a new statue -- the Statue of Liberty -- which actually was funded in part by small donations from people across America. 

Years before the statue was built -- years before it would be seen by throngs of immigrants craning their necks skyward at the end of long and brutal voyage, years before it would come to symbolize everything that we cherish -- she imagined what it could mean.  She imagined the sight of a giant statue at the entry point of a great nation -– but unlike the great monuments of the past, this would not signal an empire.  Instead, it would signal one's arrival to a place of opportunity and refuge and freedom. 

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,” she wrote,

Let us remember these words.  For it falls on each generation to ensure that that lamp -– that beacon -– continues to shine as a source of hope around the world, and a source of our prosperity here at home. 

Thank you.  God bless you.  And may God bless the United States of America.  Thank you.  (Applause.) 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-comprehensive-immigration-reform

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Homeland Security

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secretary Napolitano Announces Rail Security Enhancements, Launches Expansion of “See Something, Say Something” Campaign

Release Date: July 1, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Washington—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today launched the first phase of DHS' nationwide "See Something, Say Something" campaign and announced a new national information-sharing partnership with Amtrak as part of the Department's nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) initiative during a whistlestop train tour—highlighting the public's role in keeping our country safe and the Obama administration's commitment to bolstering surface transportation security.

"Implementing a national suspicious activity reporting partnership with Amtrak and expanding the 'See Something, Say Something' campaign strengthens our ability to guard against terrorism and crime," said Secretary Napolitano. "These initiatives enable us to provide frontline security personnel with the latest information and intelligence to recognize behaviors and indicators associated with new and evolving threats."

Today's announcements came during a multi-stop train tour through New York City, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and Washington. Secretary Napolitano was joined by Amtrak Police Chief John O'Connor as well as law enforcement leaders and elected officials. Secretary Napolitano also swore in John Pistole, former Deputy Director of the FBI, as TSA Administrator in a ceremony at New York City's Penn Station. He then joined for the remainder of the tour.

The "See Something, Say Something" campaign—originally implemented by New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from DHS' Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective program to raise public awareness of indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats and emphasize the importance of reporting suspicious activity to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.

In the coming months, DHS will expand the "See Something, Say Something" campaign nationally with public education materials, advertisements and other outreach tools to continue engaging travelers, businesses, community organizations, and public and private sector employees to remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping our country safe.

The "See Something, Say Something" campaign complements the national SAR initiative—a partnership among federal, state, and local law enforcement to establish a standard process for law enforcement to identify and report suspicious incidents or activity and share that information nationally so it can be analyzed to identify broader trends.

The SAR initiative announced today is a new national information-sharing partnership with Amtrak in which DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) work with Amtrak to utilize the latest intelligence in law enforcement trainings on how to identify suspicious behaviors associated with new and evolving threats. Amtrak officers will also utilize an upgraded reporting system—made available by the Transportation Security Administration—to refer suspicious activity reports to DHS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for analysis and follow-up.

"The Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative establishes a unified approach at all levels of government to gather, document, process, analyze, and most importantly share information about terrorism-related suspicious activities," said Amtrak Police Chief John O'Connor. "The Amtrak Police Department is pleased to become a part of this network of law enforcement agencies and we look forward to working closely with federal, state and local authorities."

DHS will continue to work with Amtrak and DOJ to expand the Amtrak SAR effort to regional railways, freight rail carriers and other mass transit agencies.

The SAR initiative and "See Something, Say Something" campaign are designed to generate thorough and responsible reports of suspicious activities and behaviors. The reporting system does not and will not focus on the gender or ethnicity of individuals. The law enforcement personnel who receive and respond to these reports under the DOJ National SAR Initiative (NSI) are trained officers and analysts. The NSI program has rigorous privacy and civil liberties safeguards, including a requirement that privacy protections are met before access to information is granted, as well as multiple levels of independent review. Training for Amtrak personnel on how to report suspicious activity is consistent with NSI guidelines.

For more information, visit www.tsa.gov or www.dhs.gov .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1278023105905.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From ICE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'BEST' investigating first-ever man-made cross-border tunnel in El Paso

ICE agents arrest 17-year-old illegal alien on drug, border tunnels and passages charges

EL PASO, Texas - The first-ever man-made cross-border tunnel in El Paso was discovered June 25 near the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry. The crude and cramped tunnel, which runs under the Rio Grande River between Mexico and the United States, was uncovered by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), which is led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is investigating.

About 1:30 a.m. Border Patrol agents thwarted a narcotics smuggling attempt after becoming aware of suspicious activity in the city storm drain system. Further investigation led the agents to a 17-year-old illegal alien with more than 200 pounds of marijuana. ICE special agents arrested the teen-age boy, and Border Patrol turned over to BEST the investigation of the first-ever cross-border tunnel in El Paso.

BEST is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ICE-led initiative that operates along the U.S.-Mexico border. BEST is charged with enforcing a wide array of immigration and customs laws, including those related to securing the border and combating criminal smuggling.

A closer look of the city storm drainage system revealed that the illicit man-made tunnel that runs underneath the concrete-lined Rio Grande River is only about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide. The dark unventilated passageway opens up inside a storm drain on the river levee in El Paso.

Federal Mexican authorities responded to the scene and assisted with identifying the tunnel's Mexican entry point. Plans are underway to seal the tunnel on both sides of the border.

"The discovery of this underground passageway bears witness to the solid collaboration between ICE, its law enforcement partners and the government of Mexico," said Manuel Oyola-Torres, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso. "The ongoing investigation will focus on effectively countering transnational criminal organizations that pose a threat to the Southwest Border."

El Paso Sector Chief Randy R. Hill said this tunneling attempt illustrates the desperation narcotic and alien smuggling organizations are resorting to in an attempt to continue their criminal enterprises. "This is another example of smuggling organizations actively recruiting juveniles to smuggle narcotics and humans," he said. "These organizations are exploiting the youth of Mexico and putting their lives in danger."

The juvenile suspect remains in federal custody. His detention hearing is set for June 30 in El Paso.

These seizures demonstrate the dedication and effectiveness of DHS's commitment to keeping drugs and criminal activity out of our communities in the ongoing effort to secure our nation's borders.

El Paso's BEST members include: ICE Homeland Security Investigations and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Office of Border Patrol, and Office of Field Operations; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the U.S. Department of State; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); the El Paso County Sheriff's Office; the El Paso Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100625elpaso.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mexican predator arrested by ICE

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A Mexican national previously convicted of sexual assault in the second degree against a minor child was arrested here yesterday by officers assigned to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Fernando Pinon Monjaras, 31, was arrested by ICE on June 30 through the Criminal Alien Program, which screens and identifies criminal aliens for removal from the United States based on their criminal convictions.

On June 5, 2009, Pinon was arrested for sexual assault in the second degree, in Springdale, Ark. The victim was 11 years old. On Aug. 19, 2009, Pinon pleaded guilty to the charges in the Circuit Court of Washington County, Ark., and was sentenced to a term of 72 months incarceration.

Pinon is currently being held in ICE custody and is being processed for removal from the United States to his home country.

"ICE will continue using its unique immigration authorities to identify and arrest those who present a threat to our community," said Philip Miller, ICE field office director for ERO in New Orleans. "Criminals in Arkansas should be on notice because we will find you and bring you to justice."

This operation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 12,000 individuals.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1007/100701littlerock.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlotte ICE officers nab murder suspect who had been on the run for 10 years

Man allegedly shot three Houston residents in 2000, killing one and injuring two

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Mexican national who had been on the run for more than a decade after allegedly shooting three Houston residents in 2000, killing one and injuring two, was nabbed June 29th by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers and law enforcement officials from the Asheboro Police Department and the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.

Fidel Mora Yanez, 37, was living and working in the Asheboro, N.C., area under the alias Bernardo Castanon Villanueva. He was encountered after ICE ERO officers launched an investigation into a law enforcement tip that a murder suspect was living and hiding in North Carolina.

"Those who think that they can escape the reach of the law are sorely mistaken," said Felicia Skinner, ERO Atlanta field office director. "Whether it takes 10 days, or 10 years, law enforcement will catch up with those who are committing heinous crimes."

Houston Police Assistant Chief Michael A. Dirden said, "We are grateful for the assistance we received from ICE on the arrest of this suspect. Their effort is indicative of the outstanding cooperation local law enforcement receives from our federal partners on a daily basis."

In addition to the criminal charges for murder and aggravated assault, Yanez will face administrative charges for being in the country illegally. He is currently in the custody of the Mecklenburg Sheriff's Office awaiting extradition to Houston.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1007/100701charlotte.htm

.