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On 'State Secrets,' Meet Barack W. Obama April 10, 2009 9:20 AM In February, President Obama's Justice Department quietly argued in a San Francisco court that it was maintaining the same position as President Bush's Justice Department on a case involving detainees trying to sue a private company for its role in their (allegedly) extraordinary renditions. The Obama administration pushed the status quo administration argument by invoking the "state secrets" argument, also a Bush-era fave. "It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases," said DOJ spox...

A bizarre series of incidents during last year's Women's World Cup in China is raising questions about the security of visiting delegations in China at the upcoming Olympics. In the days before their World Cup opener against host China last September, members of the Danish women's soccer team say they faced ongoing harassment that culminated in the discovery of two men attempting to secretly videotape a team meeting at their hotel through a two-way mirror. Breaking an 11-month silence about the incidents, Danish coach Kenneth Heiner-Möller told SI.com that he discovered the two intruders behind the mirror as he prepared...

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - When the American Association for Justice — formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association — held its national convention in Chicago in July, members were treated to rousing speeches from five leading Democratic presidential candidates. Chicago was the perfect place for an AAJ convention because Cook County, Ill., ranks fourth on the American Tort Reform Association’s ranking of “Judicial Hellholes,” places where judges often apply the law and court procedures to favor liability lawyers at the expense — literally — of defendants.....

Texas sheriff also describes threats made against families Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer Sheriff's deputies in Texas' Hudspeth County have had bounties placed on their heads, and their families have been verbally threatened by men suspected of belonging to one of Mexico's most dangerous drug cartels. The deputies, some of whom testified last week before a House subcommittee in Washington, D.C., said they will not back down despite the threats by smugglers over enforcement actions along the border. "We've placed guards at the schools for the children of the deputies just for precaution," said Sheriff Arvin West, of Hudspeth County....

MEXICO CITY — Mexico insisted today that the United States reopen its consulate in Nuevo Laredo, saying that a wave of killings and violence gripping the border city never got bad enough to prompt its closing in the first place. Ruben Aguilar, a chief spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza planned to meet in Mexico City with Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal and Geronimo Gutierrez, assistant foreign secretary for North America. He said the closed-door discussions will access the situation in Nuevo Laredo, and that Mexican authorities would urge Garza to reconsider his decision to shut down...

Activists consider action to stop a crackdown in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. By Sandra Murillo, Times Staff Writer Latino community leaders and civil rights groups on Tuesday said they might take legal action to stop a U.S. Border Patrol crackdown on suspected illegal immigrants in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. "The only way to stop this is if the community comes together," said UC Riverside political science professor and local organizer Armando Navarro. "All of a sudden, the Border Patrol is hitting different parts of Southern California away from the border. Something is going on."

Comparison photos here I'm not sure if it's OK to post the pictures directly. More pictures here

From the Office of Congressman Tom Tancredo FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 28, 2004 Tancredo Slams immigration Bureaucrat In Texas For Refusing To Enforce The LawDemands Explanation, Action from President Bush WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Tom Tancredo (CO-06) today called for a White House investigation into public statements by high-ranking federal Homeland Security authorities in President Bush's home state of Texas after the officials publicly reassured illegal aliens and their backers that they have no plans to enforce federal immigration laws anytime soon. Tancredo, head of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, cited statements reported April 27 in the Houston Chronicle by...

<p>Residents along Cochise County-Mexico border want to run an armed citizen group out of the area and have filed complaints over a watchtower and sanitation.</p> <p>Residents are trying to use zoning laws to fight Cochise County's newest group of armed citizens who patrol the Mexican border.</p>

Joseph Perkins THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE November 28, 2003 The young couple and their 9-year-old son were detained by police on the evening of Oct. 7 after having crossed the U.S.-Mexico border earlier that day. Two officers walked the husband and the son to an ATM, relieving the husband of the cash they forced him to withdraw. Meanwhile, two other officers escorted the wife to a police station. She was ordered to take off her clothes – the better to strip search her. Then one officer allegedly raped her as the other kept watch. Had this crime occurred in San...

MARK STEVENSON Associated Press CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Migrants caught in the deserts of Arizona are being put on planes by the U.S. Border Patrol and deported hundreds of miles away along Texas' southern border, in many cases to cities in Mexico they've never seen. U.S. officials say deporting migrants from Texas - instead of at the border where they crossed - reduces repeat attempts and cuts migrants' links to the smuggling networks in Arizona, the most popular route for undocumented crossings. The pilot program has caused anger on the Mexican side, where town officials say they are ill-equipped for...

By David Molina Speaking with the steel international fence as a backdrop, Isabel Garcia called for immigration reform as scores of protesters rallied in Nogales Wednesday on their way to Washington, D.C. The protesters came from Tucson after having taken off from Los Angeles as part of what has been titled the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. The aim of the ride, by bus, is to caravan to Washington where thousands will amass to protest the immigration laws and will ask U.S. legislators to "make meaningful reform." Garcia, a leader of the group Derechos Humanos (Human Rights), called on those assembled...

U.S. Says Effort Has Halted Desert Deaths By Kevin Sullivan Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, September 22, 2003; Page A20 MEXICO CITY, Sept. 21 -- Mexican officials are strongly protesting a new U.S. program that flies illegal immigrants caught in the Arizona desert hundreds of miles to Texas, where they are returned to Mexico. U.S. officials say the program, begun Sept. 8, is a humanitarian measure aimed at preventing returned migrants from simply attempting to cross again into Arizona, where many have died of exposure. Instead, U.S. officials are flying them as far east as Laredo, Tex., into more populated...

Residents Fear For Lives POSTED: 5:31 p.m. PDT September 18, 2003 UPDATED: 5:47 p.m. PDT September 18, 2003 SAN DIEGO -- Wrong-way drivers are causing more and more collisions on a San Diego freeway, and residents are concerned a lot of innocent people are in jeopardy, 10News reported. Smugglers have discovered that if they drive the wrong way on Interstate 8 near Buckman Springs for a couple of miles, they can avoid a border patrol check point. When the check point is open, smugglers exit off the Interstate 8 westbound lanes, drive down an embankment and then enter the eastbound...

By Angeles Negrete Lares The Brownsville Herald MATAMOROS — Mexican government officials in Washington announced opposition to the U.S. lateral repatriation program that has flooded Matamoros with almost 200 undocumented immigrants who were detained in Arizona. The Mexican officials said the measure won’t resolve the immigration flow in the area. Under the program, the United States reintroduces immigrants from northwestern Mexico to points along the Texas-Mexico border. Officials say the strategy should prevent further deaths in Arizona’s Sonora Desert and give the immigrants incentive to return home, rather than try to re-enter the U.S. illegally. “Our government is strongly opposed...

...At the news conference, a former PartyLite employee said she was called in to the company's human resources office in May and told her Social Security number did not match agency records. The 35-year-old machinist was fired, along with about 25 others, she said. "I have been working with this [Social Security number] for PartyLite for more than seven years," said the Mexican immigrant, who asked to remain anonymous. "Why did they suddenly become interested in my records?"

By Leonel Sanchez UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 5, 2003 The line of Mexicans waiting for services at the Mexican consulate in San Diego was short yesterday, the first day of business since U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a family near the building for being in the country illegally. Only about 120 people – roughly half the usual number – visited the consulate, spokesman Alberto Lozano said. The low turnout prompted Mexican officials to issue a rare public call to their countrymen not to be afraid to go to the consulate. "We've been told this was an isolated incident," Lozano said....

Louie Gilot El Paso Times In the pitch dark, FBI agent Samantha Mikeska came face to face with a man who had crawled through a hole in the chain-link fence between Mexico and the United States to rob a train. The man turned on his heels and ran back to the fence. He was tall -- 6 feet- and heavy -- 200 pounds. Mikeska is 5-foot-4 and weighs 130 pounds. But she needed to stop him. It was her job. So, she jumped on his back and held on tight. She was dragged to the other side of the fence,...

<p>A Phoenix businessman and a local activist will pursue a 2004 ballot measure aimed at banning Arizona from spending state or local tax money on undocumented immigrants.</p> <p>The main architects, Rusty Childress, owner of Childress Automall in Phoenix, and West Valley activist Kathy McKee, filed the ballot initiative application Monday with the secretary of state.</p>

Day laborers in Albany Park remained in their temporary work site past a Tuesday deadline, setting up a likely run-in with city officials who plan to evict them and use the space for park projects. Workers now vow to fight for the patch of land in the 5100 block of North Pulaski Road that has become an alternative to soliciting work on street corners. Organizers say they are considering civil disobedience. Read full article here