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NEW YORK - A construction worker who admitted strangling an actress and then hanging her body to make it look like a suicide was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday. Diego Pillco, a 20-year-old illegal immigrant from Ecuador, had pleaded guilty in February to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for the sentence. He had faced 25 years to life in prison if he had been convicted at trial. Pillco, who was doing interior renovations in the Manhattan building where Adrienne Shelly had an apartment she used as an office, admitted he killed the "Factotum" actress after she found him...

March 14, 2008, 7:00 a.m. SAVE-ing Immigration ReformA freshman Democrat exposes a party litmus test. By Mark Hemingway Something unorthodox occurred on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The House Republican leadership began pushing a “discharge petition” — a procedural maneuver designed to force a floor vote — on a piece of Democratic legislation. The bill in question is the SAVE Act, authored by freshmen Congressman Heath Shuler (D., N.C.). As written, the SAVE Act’s most notable provisions would add 8,000 border-patrol agents, and within four years mandate that businesses use a government program to verify the legal citizenship of all...

Measures include strategies on employment, legalization, policing. By Eunice MoscosoWASHINGTON BUREAUSaturday, March 08, 2008 WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing bills that crack down on illegal immigration, keeping the issue alive in Congress during a volatile election year.In the House, conservative Democrats are asking their party leaders to support an enforcement bill sponsored by freshman Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C.The legislation, dubbed the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act, would increase the Border Patrol by 8,000 people; train more state and local police officers to enforce immigration law; and require that within four years, all...

Hispanic immigrant workers who toil on red-clay construction sites and cut flesh from bone on poultry plant lines in northwest Arkansas, helping to fuel the region's economic growth, say they've become targets for local police who are conducting raids once left to a few federal agents stationed here. After changes in state and federal law, local police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers throughout Arkansas can help enforce federal immigration laws. Recent raids in northwestern Arkansas rounded up a handful of illegal immigrants but even those with a legal right to be in the United States face questions. "It feels like...

WASHINGTON - House Republicans are trying to force action on a Democratic-written immigration enforcement measure, the latest GOP attempt to elevate the volatile issue into an election-year wedge. Republican leaders hope that by pushing the bill — endorsed by 48 centrist Democrats and 94 Republicans — they can drive Democrats into a politically painful choice: Backing a tough immigration measure that could alienate their base, including Hispanic voters, or being painted as soft on border security in conservative-leaning districts. The plan is fraught with political risks for both parties. A full-blown immigration debate could call attention to Republicans' divisions at...

The solution to security issues on the United States' border with Mexico will need to include some sort of swinging door so that workers can come and go as they want, according to a spokeswoman for the White House. The response came from spokeswoman Dana Perino, who answered a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White Hosue. He asked: "Reuters reports that our Customs and Border Protection Commissioner admits that the U.S. may not meet the goal of essentially stopping illegal immigration from Mexico by 2011. And my question: What does the president believe would help most in...

House Republican leaders will introduce a petition drive today to force Democrats to debate immigration this year, using a Democrat-sponsored bill to box them into taking a stand on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Republican leaders reached the decision yesterday evening to initiate a "discharge petition," a parliamentary move minority parties can use to force issues onto the House floor over objections of the majority. The last successful use was on campaign finance in 2002. But Republicans' move also puts Sen. John McCain, their party's presumed presidential nominee, in a tough spot. He has consistently opposed enhanced security efforts that...

More than 600 suspected illegal immigrants were rounded up in the Valley within the past week. That means the people with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have their work cut out for them. Vincent Picard with ICE says it is primetime for human smuggling. "January and February were fairly quiet months. The last week, however, we're seeing those numbers go right through the roof whether it's 80 people in a house in Avondale or 50 people in a house in Phoenix." "We're seeing more houses, higher number in the houses, more smuggling on the roads." The latest drop house bust happened...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state should consider suing the federal government for reimbursement for state-funded services provided to illegal immigrants, a Republican gubernatorial candidate said Tuesday. Candidate Bob Orr said that if he's elected, he would pursue such a lawsuit if the federal government doesn't meet future requests from the state. "If we don't do something like this, there is very little incentive on the part of the federal government to actually take constructive steps to solve this problem," Orr said at a news conference Tuesday.

When Northern Virginia's Latino soccer leagues kick off the 2008 season early next month, fans of Honduras de Manassas will have to travel outside their base in Prince William County to see their team score goals. So will supporters used to watching Juventus Sure¿o crush the competition in Woodbridge. Devotees of longtime Manassas powerhouse Fiorentina will need to switch allegiance. Their team is sitting out this season. As Prince William proceeds with its crackdown on illegal immigrants, one result is a shake-up and shrinking of the area's entrenched Hispanic soccer leagues. The reason is simple, organizers say: Players and fans,...

Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing to launch a task force to target companies that are using illegal workers to pad their profits and deprive the state of tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues, officials said. Administration sources said the task force will focus on tightening enforcement of employment laws that are routinely being ignored by firms in multiple sectors of the economy. An untold number of Bay State companies employ illegal immigrant workers as part of a practice that has become an increasing drain on state tax revenues. Illegal workers are prevalent in restaurants, the homebuilding industry, hospitality...

"Yo Tengo Fe," they sang from the steps of the City-County Building. At their feet were cardboard silhouettes representing 24 undocumented immigrants seized in the Madison area last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE."I Have Faith," translated Hector Rubalcava, who led the handful of activists in song Monday. "We sing of the people's faith that the equality they long for will come," he said.The cardboard silhouettes bore no names, but were hand-lettered in Spanish in such terms as "daughter," "worker," "father," "spouse," "fiancee." The rally in the chilly late afternoon was called by the Immigrant Workers' Union...

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Eight persons are charged with conspiring to obtain bogus Ohio identification cards for illegal immigrants in Virginia and elsewhere, a federal prosecutor said yesterday. U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee said the fraudulent IDs apparently were intended to help the illegal immigrants obtain employment and avoid deportation. "There is no terrorism at all," Mr. Brownlee said. "This is an immigration case." Four defendants are from Ohio: two employees of a state Bureau of Motor Vehicles office in Columbus and two interpreters who served as brokers for the conspiracy, according to an indictment handed up by a federal...

Missouri House members vote to bar illegal immigrants from public colleges. The legislation would require higher education institutions to verify to lawmakers that they have not knowingly enrolled illegal immigrants before they receive state money. House members gave first-round approval to the bill Wednesday by a voice vote. That came after they defeated an amendment to exempt community colleges from the bill. A 1996 federal law already prohibits states from offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants unless they offer the same tuition break to all U.S. citizens. But at least 10 states have enacted laws providing in-state tuition to illegal...

A 16-year-old Mexican girl told authorities she was being held against her will in Jacinto City and used as a sex slave since being smuggled into the country two months ago, authorities said today. The teen was found in a Jacinto City home after she cleverly used her captor's cell phone and called 911. The only problem was she could not tell authorities where she was. The first calls came into the Jacinto City 911 system on Feb. 25. "We've been receiving calls on 911 from a young lady stating that she was being held against her will and that...

Most plans to gain control of the porous U.S.-Mexico border focus on some combination of fence. But this city in far west Arizona is looking to build a moat.Faced with high-levels of crime and illegal immigration, authorities in Yuma are reaching back to a technique as old as a medieval castle to dig out a "security channel" on a crime-ridden stretch of the border and fill it with water. "The moats that I've seen circled the castle and allowed you to protect yourself, and that's kind of what we're looking at here," said Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden, who is...

Politics, ain’t it great? House Republicans are trying to force action on a Democratic-written immigration enforcement measure, the latest GOP attempt to elevate the volatile issue into an election-year wedge.Republican leaders hope that by pushing the bill - endorsed by 48 centrist Democrats and 94 Republicans - they can drive Democrats into a politically painful choice: Backing a tough immigration measure that could alienate their base, including Hispanic voters, or being painted as soft on border security in conservative-leaning districts. Which bill is this? It’s a bill that emphasizing the principles of attrition through enforcement. The SAVE Act addresses border...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are attempting a procedural move to force a vote on an immigration bill that could divide Democrats in an election year.U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., is among several House Republicans who have signed a discharge petition to bring the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act up for a vote. The petition would bypass the usual process of getting bills through congressional committees.The bill, which many liberal Democrats oppose but moderates in the party support, would add 8,000 border patrol agents and increase deportations. It also would revamp a federally run electronic legal-verification program that...

Pro-immigrant groups across the country are preparing to stage a series of marches May 1, pressing the White House and the Homeland Security Department to halt immigration raids and move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. “Change is in the air,” Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA, promises. This year marks the third grass-roots-organized May Day event with two unique factors: — The marches are being guided by a national coordinating committee — The First Parliament of Mexican Migrant Leaders Living in the U.S.A. — This is the first time that the marches will be held...

GEORGETOWN, Texas — A Mexican police officer accused of raping and impregnating a 12-year-old has been sentenced to life in prison plus 75 years. Salvador Hernandez, 35, would not be eligible for parole until he is 95 years old. A judge ordered Hernandez to serve the sentences consecutively. Hernandez pleaded guilty last week to two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The girl was raped in October and November of 2006. Hernandez threatened to kill her and her mother if she said anything, according to his arrest affidavit. The girl came forward with the rape allegations after her...