Free Republic

Border is a blurring lineThere is no sign announcing Annunciation House. Unless a person knows differently, the old brick building in El Paso, Texas, almost looks abandoned. The windows are covered. All the doors have been blocked except for one, which remains locked. But knock on the door and it will open wide to the smells of Mexican cooking and laughing voices of people speaking dialects of Spanish ranging from Northern Mexico to the remote corners of Central America. In a residential neighborhood that is a 10-minute walk from the U.S. border, Annunciation House acts as a waystation for people...

Take a moment to consider all of the pressing issues facing America today. There is a war we are waging, and rightfully so, to rid the threat of Islamo-Fascist terror. That might rightfully, be placed right at the very top of our national concerns. After all tax-cuts, spending, education, and Social Security reform will take a back seat very quickly if terrorists were to strike here in America. So let us agree, for the purpose of this column, to assume the war on terror is the pre-eminent issue facing America. Now let us examine how the Bush administration has handled...

The flow of migrants to the United States has become prey to organised criminal gangs. That is a problem for Mexico as well as for its neighbour EDDY was shambling along the side of a highway a few miles inside the American border south of Tucson, Arizona, when he was picked up by the United States Border Patrol just before Christmas. Aged 20, and from Guerrero in southern Mexico, he was exhausted after wandering for two nights alone through the desert. With just $2 on him, he had become separated from friends during their illegal crossing of Mexico's northern border....

Good evening. In August, The Investigators on Eyewitness News 4 first reported the possible threat of terrorists using the Arizona/Mexico border to cross into the U.S. While local government officials and immigration advocates questioned the validity of such a threat, our report, "Terrorist Alley," gained national attention. Just a few weeks ago, high-level sources told a Washington newspaper that Chechen terrorists have entered the U.S. through our state. Now, we've uncovered even more evidence that the threat along our border is real. "The story you did was 100% accurate. It showed what's happening on the border on a daily basis....

Ridge: No sign of terrorists trying to cross border Associated Press NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) -Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday that he's seen no sign of terrorist efforts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, and that the United States is not going to start militarizing it. ``We have a long tradition with our friends to the north and south. We're very fortunate that we've never had to assign military to our borders, and we're not going to start that now,'' Ridge said. ``We don't militarize our borders with friends.'' Ridge said that he had seen nothing from any intelligence sources...

Anderson Examines Devastating Impact of Invasion, Life on the Border By Dennis Durband, Editor In the interior of Mexico, there is a labor shortage. There are no Americans available to do the jobs that Mexicans won't do. However, the travel industry is thriving. And these are great days for “coyotes” – human smugglers – and those in drug trafficking. Travelers from South and Central America, Mexico and other nations are traveling in great numbers up through Hermosillo, Mexico and to northern staging locations near the U.S. border. These people can go to a Catholic church in one of the Mexican...

AJC print edition headline for this story: Mexican ID cards await Treasury nod T. Levette Bagwell / AJC Benjamin Osorio-Santiago, who is from Ejutla, Oaxaca, in Mexico, shows his ID card. He is at El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, one of several banks in Georgia that accept it. A U.S. Treasury Department decision to review government rules regarding an identification card issued by Mexico to its nationals overseas is threatening to exacerbate tensions between Washington and Mexico City.The Mexican government says it stands firmly behind its matricula consular, a small plastic card that has been increasingly accepted by banks and...

More than 100 police officers, some in full riot gear, fought, used pepper spray and arrested several students who had gathered in a crowd of about 1,000 outside Montwood High School on Wednesday morning to protest a class scheduling proposal. At least 20 students, four officers and four school security officials suffered minor injuries in what El Paso police described as a riot. "Things just got out of control. The police started hitting everybody, boys and girls." said Laura Manriquez, 15, a freshman. "The students were throwing paper at them, but the police were spraying and chasing kids down in...

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) _ Since the Sept. 11 anniversary, more than 14,000 foreign visitors have been fingerprinted at U.S. border crossings and 179 have been arrested, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursd`y* Standing a few feet away from the roaring American Falls, Ashcroft called the entry-exit program now in place at ports of entry around the country ``a vital national security shield'' to winnow out potential terrorists. ``We are confronted now with a new adversary, one who enters our country quietly,'' Ashcroft said. ``They enter disguised in the form of business persons or tourists or students. ``The challenge we...

Last week a U.S. Border Patrol agent was fired upon by what appeared to be a Mexican army humvee with three soldiers in it. The agent escaped harm but his vehicle was hit and the rear window shattered. The Mexican government claims that it was probably smugglers disguised as soldiers because the Mexican army had no record of military operations in the area. Well, duh! Of course they can say that because none of the people who committed this act of aggression were caught! On wonders what the story would have been like if, after the shooting, a couple of...

By Diana Lynne © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com Foreign-born Islamic terrorists have used almost every conceivable means of entering the United States, according to a study released today, which concludes every aspect of the immigration system has been penetrated and, therefore, needs reform. Contrary to the recent uproar over INS slip-ups with temporary visas, which was prompted by the fact that the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the country on temporary visas, more militant Islamic terrorists in the U.S. since 1993 have been naturalized citizens and legal permanent residents, reports The Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit, non-partisan research organization. The CIS study...