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NEW YORK, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles Mayor-Elect Antonio Villaraigosa accomplished what Democrats dream of doing nationwide: he energized Latino voters to turn out for him at historic levels and stitched together the sort of multiracial coalition that has often eluded less-gifted politicians, Newsweek reports. In the May 30 Newsweek cover "Latino Power" (on newsstands Monday, May 23), Miami Bureau Chief Arian Campo-Flores and Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman assess the impact of Villaraigosa's election on national politics and the Latino vote. Though they won the Hispanic vote last November, Democrats lost ground to Republicans for the second straight...

The latest attempt to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants in California cleared a Senate committee on Thursday but with provisions that restrict how the licenses can be used and what they would look like. The bill, by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, would bring California into compliance with federal law. The REAL ID Act, signed by President Bush last week, requires states to verify that people who apply for a driver's license are in the country legally. It also allows states to choose whether to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants as long as they have different markings —...

Illegal immigrant rights activists say the recent groundswell of anti-immigration measures in Arizona is making the lives of immigrants, and anyone who looks like one, miserable and must be countered in kind: by making the lives of Arizonans more difficult through lost business and tourism.

"I attended the Baldwin Park event as a news videographer for an independent program. The coverage we obtained was incredible, thanks to you folks. We were particularly impressed by the fellow screaming "Zarqawi! Yes! Yes!" and "Intifada!" and "Too bad Osama bin Laden did not have a nuclear bomb to drop on that dirty Jew shithole Manhattan!" That guy was a real charmer and it's all on tape. We got broad coverage of many of the obscenities, violence, cries of "Go back to Europe!" and "Our land!", good shots of the elderly lady who was struck in the head. We...

Hillary gets it. Hillary Clinton says she's against illegal immigration. And she would fine employers who hire illegal aliens. Pundits say the New York Democrat is using this hot-button issue to position herself for the 2008 presidential election. It's a way to hit Republicans from the right. Polls show huge majorities of both Republicans and Democrats oppose illegal immigration -- and are frustrated that President Bush won't do a thing to stop it. But this issue does not belong to the right. Or it shouldn't. Illegal immigration hurts most liberal causes. It depresses wages, crushes unions and kills all hope...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will send a diplomatic letter to the United States protesting the extension of a wall along the U.S.-California border, officials said Friday. Ruben Aguilar, a spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said the president would also continue to pressure the U.S. government to approve a migration accord that would allow more migrants to work legally north of the border. President Bush proposed a temporary work program last year, but it has stalled amid opposition in Congress. Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Thursday that Fox had instructed him to send the diplomatic letter with the message...

Out here in Southern California, a local Spanish-language TV station caused a stink recently by putting up several billboards reaching out to potential viewers in Los Angeles, Mexico. Predictably, as soon as outraged Americans complained, they were accused of being racists. How is it, I keep asking myself, that it's only the biggest racists in America who are given carte blanche to condemn others for being what they are themselves? Who but a racist would conclude that America's sovereignty is merely a minor inconvenience they are free to ignore for no other reason than that they are members of la...

Latino leaders seeing immigration downsideThe Minuteman Project may not have succeeded in closing the U.S.-Mexican border, but it did seem to help close what has been an ideological gap between Latinos and those who claim to represent them. The truth is that the vast majority of U.S-born Latinos oppose illegal immigration and support calls for increased border enforcement. But you would never know it from listening to professional advocacy groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. Or from the public comments and legislative priorities of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,...

Raul Garcia-Gomez, 19, is suspected of shooting two Denver police officers at about 1 a.m. Sunday after they refused to let him re-enter a baptismal party. Detective Donald Young, 44, died at the scene after being shot from behind three times in the back and head.

Sweeping measures face an uphill fightWASHINGTON – Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate will introduce legislation today that could grant legal status to an estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States. The bills, which would dwarf previous programs to provide legal status to foreign workers, would give illegal immigrants work permits and the opportunity to apply for permanent residence and eventually citizenship once they pay a fine and fees. The legislation is certain to raise the temperature of a national debate already simmering over the Minuteman Project's volunteer border patrols and just-passed...

Other patrols are being considered for New Mexico and California By Edward Hegstrom HOUSTON CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2005 HOUSTON -- After spending a month engaged in a citizens patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border, the Minutemen are finalizing plans to come to Texas. Chris Simcox, the leader of the controversial Arizona project to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, says he has tentatively set October as a date to begin patrols along the Rio Grande in South Texas. Other patrols are being considered for New Mexico and California. But Simcox said that there are serious logistical problems for patrols in...

Go to the polls on Election Day? So 20th century. A bill in the state Legislature would allow seven counties to forego that tradition and conduct elections by mail only for five years, beginning in 2006. Santa Cruz County could be one of them. County Clerk Gail Pellerin said she is interested in the county participating in such a pilot program if the bill does pass. "Mail-ballot elections tend to cost less and increase turnout," Pellerin said. "It is definitely a concept worth exploring." The bill would need to be signed into law and the county Board of Supervisors would...

The United States is about to make it more difficult for people to get a driver's license. The Real I.D. act would standardize license requirements nationwide - forcing all 50 states to verify that each applicant is in the country legally. Some say the bill, passed by Congress this week, is the first step toward establishing a U.S. national ID card. For almost a century, each U.S. state has been responsible for issuing its own driver's licenses. There has been no national standard. Eleven states currently grant licenses to non-citizens. A license can be used to do many things in...

PROVIDENCE -- About 30 opponents of legislation that would link getting a driver's license to a motorist's immigration status, marched into Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee's downtown office yesterday, exercising one example of democracy while learning about another: The game of politics, Washington style. The office visitors, members of the American Friends Service Committee and a group called ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), had hoped to meet with Chafee and persuade him to vote against the legislation. The senator, however, wasn't in the office; he was in Washington, D.C. So his office staff politely connected them via...

Posted: May 11, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Out here in Southern California, a local Spanish-language TV station caused a stink recently by putting up several billboards reaching out to potential viewers in Los Angeles, Mexico. Predictably, as soon as outraged gringos complained, they were accused of being racists. How is it, I keep asking myself, that it's only the biggest racists in America who are given carte blanche to condemn others for being what they are themselves? Who but a racist would conclude that America's sovereignty is merely a minor inconvenience they are free to ignore for...

Minuteman Project organizer Chris Simcox is expected to testify before Congress next week, but he's not good enough to attend a Homeland Security Department press conference in Arizona. On Thursday, Mr. Simcox, who also edits and writes for the Tombstone Tumbleweed, tried to gain entry to the press conference, where Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was speaking, as a member of the press. As Jerry Seper of The Washington Times reported on Monday, Mr. Simcox was turned away for "security reasons," according to a spokesman for the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol, which was acting as security detail for...

Michael Graham 9 to noon host on WMAL in DC tried to attend an illegal immigrant rally in Montgomery County MD on Saturday and was roughed up by attendees. He was detained by police who demanded ID. His ABC correspondent ID was not good enough! He was wearing a homemade INS shirt (picture on WMAL web site), which he says stood for "I Need border Security!". Story continues to develop. Listen to his show on now at the WMAL web site.

Michael Graham wants to start a war in Washington. And Maryland. And Virginia. Why? It's good for ratings, which is good for business, which is good for Graham - and his corporate patron, ABC Radio. At the moment he's getting assistance from an unlikely ally - the Montgomery County police. Graham is the new right-wing talk radio jock in the D.C. area. You can hear him on WMAL in the midmorning. He's the setup guy for Rush Limbaugh. WMAL is to WTOP what Fox News is to CNN. Rush does national issues. Graham sticks to enraging locals on local topics....

Michael Graham wants to start a war in Washington. And Maryland. And Virginia. Why? It's good for ratings, which is good for business, which is good for Graham - and his corporate patron, ABC Radio. At the moment he's getting assistance from an unlikely ally - the Montgomery County police. Graham is the new right-wing talk radio jock in the D.C. area. You can hear him on WMAL in the midmorning. He's the setup guy for Rush Limbaugh. WMAL is to WTOP what Fox News is to CNN. Rush does national issues. Graham sticks to enraging locals on local topics....

Behind the counter at the busy Hart Lane driver testing center here, Rosa King looked over the man's fistful of documents, including a Mexican birth certificate and a separate, typewritten English translation. The translation, Ms. King explained in Spanish, was not exact enough. It would have to be redone. When the man returned, he would be eligible for a card bearing his photograph, date of birth, height, eye color and the words "Not Valid for Identification." Tennessee is one of only two states that issue two different driver's permits: a license, for citizens and permanent residents; and a certificate for...