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A new opinion poll by Zogby International indicates Americans are hardly pleased with the Bush administration on the subject of illegal immigration. The poll, cited on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" program yesterday, noted a huge majority – 81 percent – believes local and state police should help federal authorities enforce laws against illegal immigration. Only 14 percent disagreed. Voters were also asked, "Do you support or oppose the Bush administration's proposal to give millions of illegal aliens guest worker status and the opportunity to become citizens?" Only 35 percent gave their support, and 56 percent said no. "A majority opposed...

SACRAMENTO – In an ironic twist, a move by Congress to make it tougher for illegal immigrants to get driver licenses nationwide has given new life to legislation allowing them to drive legally in California. In Washington, the House voted yesterday to establish national standards for driver licenses to make it harder for terrorists to get documents that would effectively prohibit illegal immigrants from getting licenses. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. But the congressional measure would allow a separate driving document that could not be used, as licenses are, for such things as boarding a plane,...

SACRAMENTO – Legal experts had mixed views yesterday about whether the courts would allow California to create a border patrol to control illegal immigration, if voters approved a proposed initiative next year. And a federal agency fact sheet on a 1996 law that allows state and local police to enforce immigration law says the officers do not become full-time immigration officers and do not conduct immigration sweeps. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he hasn't read the proposed initiative, but in a brief reply to a question at a news conference he said he would push for a comprehensive federal solution to...

Friday, May 06, 2005 - SACRAMENTO -- Stymied in his efforts to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, has found a backdoor way around the ban with a proposal that would exempt undocumented motorists from vehicle-impound laws. Under current law, for 30 days police can impound the vehicle of a motorist caught driving without a valid license. Cedillo's bill would exempt those who don't have a license simply because they are not legal U.S. residents. Cedillo said law enforcement resources should be dedicated to going after serious driving offenses such as drunk driving, not...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo ought to reconsider his membership in the Republican Party, a Utah congressman said Wednesday after the two GOP lawmakers put an intraparty rift over immigration policy on full public display. "I think he ought to consider his views and decide whether they're consistent with the Republican Party," Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said of the Colorado congressman after the two clashed repeatedly during a forum sponsored by the Latino Coalition, a Hispanic business group. Advertisement Cannon, a leading proponent of President Bush's proposed guest- worker program, has had a running feud with Tancredo, an opponent of...

Many Hispanic activists, Mexican citizens and perhaps even members of the Mexican government believe the American Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico. They refuse to accept the legality of the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War, which gave large parts of Mexico to the U.S., or the 1852 Gadsden Purchase of Mexican territory now in Arizona and New Mexico. Story Continues Below A Zogby poll found that 58 percent of Mexicans agreed with the statement, "The territory of the Southwest U.S. rightfully belongs to Mexico," and therefore they believe they don't...

An illegal alien, Hernandez will be deported from the country at the end of his prison term for murdering his boss at a Utah job site ....... Some form of closure came Tuesday for two families as a man convicted of murdering his boss at a Lehi job site was sentenced to five years to life at the Utah State Prison. Jesus Hernandez, 34, pleaded guilty in March to shooting and killing his employer, Joseph Crummy, 38, of Salt Lake City, on Jan. 9, 2004, over a labor dispute at the Traverse Mountain development in Lehi. Crummy's widow, Brenda, and...

The violent MS-13 -- or Mara Salvatrucha -- street gang is following the migratory routes of illegal aliens across the country, FBI officials say, calling the Salvadoran gang the new American mafia. MS-13, which has a significant presence in the Washington area, and other gangs are spreading into small towns and suburbs by following illegal aliens seeking work in places such as Providence, R.I., and the Carolinas, FBI task force director Robert Clifford said. "The migrant moves and the gang follows," said Mr. Clifford, director of the agency's MS-13 National Gang Task Force. "If you follow the construction trade, this...

In the predawn semidarkness of a small West Toledo apartment, Dae and Yung Jung stumbled toward the thumping at their front door. Seconds later, officers in dark jackets emblazoned with Homeland Security crammed into the couple's living room demanding passports and drivers' licenses. Mrs. Jung was escorted to jail. Upstairs, the couple's son, Andrew, hid, stunned and baffled. Now, five weeks later, immigration officials still press for Yung and Dae Jung's deportation to their native land, South Korea. But the couple - Dae Jung is a sushi chef; Yung Jung is a longtime school volunteer - are finding that their...

A national pro-immigrant organization composed of religious, labor and union groups, to be unveiled today in San Antonio, is to call on leading Texas politicians to quit debating and enact laws giving legal work and residency to undocumented immigrants. The Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will start in Texas and is to expand to other border states and the rest of the nation, said Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the San Antonio office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. It was formed now because changing the country's current immigration system is expected to be a top issue...

SACRAMENTO – A new state police agency to patrol the border and crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants would be created by an initiative filed yesterday, adding to the debate over the emotional issue. The proposal from a conservative group comes after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the controversial Minuteman Project and as Congress considers new restrictions sparked by terrorism concerns. The "California Border Police Act" is being pushed by Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, and Rescue California, a group advocating tougher border enforcement. But neither could estimate the cost of creating a police force and special prison facilities. But...

LAREDO — The threat of another September 11-style attack and spreading gang violence have united Texas sheriffs along the Mexican border to seek more federal money for security. Members of the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition formed Wednesday said rural counties need more resources to fight national problems.

Saying, "We cannot wait any longer for the feds to get the job done," state Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, called Wednesday for the formation of a state police force to patrol California's border with Mexico. The announcement came as Haynes sent the initial draft of the "California Border Police Initiative" to the state attorney general's office Wednesday, a first step toward getting the measure on the ballot in June 2006.

SACRAMENTO — California would create its own border patrol of more than 1,000 officers and volunteers under a possible 2006 ballot initiative introduced Wednesday by conservative activists and a state assemblyman. The California Border Police Act was submitted to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for legal review Wednesday, the first step in getting it qualified for next year's June ballot. Its main sponsor is Assemblyman Ray Haynes, a Republican from Murrieta, who must collect 600,000 valid signatures for the initiative to qualify. "The federal government has proven itself incapable of securing our borders, so it is time for Californians to step...

Just heard on the John and Ken show that state Sen. Gil Cedillo (D, Guadalajara) is pushing through Senate Bill 591, a measure that would effectively make it impossible for police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers. Known as "one bill" for his habit of, in every legislative session, introducing a bill to grant driver's licenses to illegals, Cedillo is pushing this stealth measure through the legislature. Under current law, unlicensed drivers have their cars impounded for 30 days, which can be very costly with the towing and storage fees. Cedillo's bill would end that practice. What this means...

SACRAMENTO, CA: California State Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Riverside County) will submit language to the Attorney General tomorrow for a landmark statewide initiative that would establish a separate state police force to patrol California’s international border. Known as the “California Border Police Initiative”, the measure is the first of its kind in the nation. “The federal government has proven itself incapable of securing our borders, so it is time for Californians to step up and take matters into our own hands,” said Assemblyman Haynes. “This initiative establishes a separate and distinct state police force, much like the Highway Patrol, charged with...

<p>Rescue California, the campaign committee funded by Rep. Darrell Issa to gather signatures for last year’s recall campaign, has morphed into “Rescue California… from budget deficits” and will sponsor a spending limit initiative that it hopes to place on the November ballot. The measure is largely patterned after a limit authored by Assemblyman John Campbell and Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and offered as the most conservative alternative during December’s debate over spending limits and reserve requirements. It would cap spending growth at the rate of population growth and inflation, with half of any revenue above that amount going toward an accelerated repayment of Schwarzenegger’s $15 billion bond, if that passes in March. The other half would go to a new budget reserve that could reach 10 percent of the general fund. Excess monies after that would be split between school construction and sales tax reductions.</p>

<p>Rescue California gathers signatures to repeal permits for illegal immigrants.</p> <p>Rescue California, which provided paid signature gatherers in the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis, will begin circulating petitions today to repeal a law that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.</p>

<p>One million form letters are making their way to Republican-voting households across California, seeking money and signatures in support of a recall campaign against Gov. Gray Davis.</p> <p>While Republicans want to project a unified front against the second-term Democrat, however, the politics behind this letter-writing campaign is eroding their sense of unity.</p>

Aides to House Rep. Darrell Issa (R-49) who himself aspires to be Governor, plan to file papers as early as today to creating yet another campaign to recall Governor Grey Davis.Aides said that Issa plans to provide six figure donations as seed monies for the new recall effort called Rescue California. Sacramento political consultant Dave Gilliard who will manage the new effort and represents Issa as well as half a dozen GOP'ers said: 'This funding is substantial and more than enough to do the job that needs to be done.'Gilliard said the committee will have sufficient money to hire professional...