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1. Congressional GOP prepares
2. Sen. McCain open to overhaul
3. Immigration-fueled population
4. Study: Border town unemployment
5. Buoys strung along CA canal

1.
US Republicans to push for immigration clampdown
By Jordi Zamora
Agence France Presse, January 5, 2011

The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives, which takes office on Wednesday, is preparing to introduce measures that would dramatically tighten US immigration policy.

The new legislative agenda comes after President Barack Obama's Democrats lost control of the lower chamber of the US Congress in November elections.

However the hard-line measures, which range from an increase in law enforcement personnel on the US-Mexico border to denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants, are likely to face opposition in the Senate, where Democrats maintain a slim majority.

One of the most powerful advocates for tougher immigration laws is Peter King, a Republican representative from New York and the incoming chairman of the influential House Committee on Homeland Security.

Obama "does not have the sense of urgency" when it comes to immigration, King told Fox News on Monday, "and he could have done a much better job."

Obama has pushed for a broad immigration overhaul since taking office two years ago but has prioritized other issues such as health care reform.

The administration has however deported record numbers of illegal immigrants -- more than 392,000 in the period between October 2009 and September 2010, according to government figures.

Some 11 million immigrants, mostly from Latin America, are believed to be living in the United States without proper documents.

King wants the government to continue funding the 1,200 National Guards that Obama ordered to the border with Mexico in July 2010 to help crack down on smuggling and drug trafficking.

The troops, which support federal agents, were deployed to provide a one-year bridge for the US Customs and Border Patrol to hire and train about 1,000 more agents, officials said at the time.

King also wants to revive an expensive border surveillance system, a "virtual fence" of radars and ground sensors that cost more than a billion dollars but was plagued by so many errors that it was scrapped in 2009.

King admitted that shutting the system down "was a legitimate call" by the Obama administration.

"But they have done nothing -- nothing in the year since then. This is a program which is absolutely essential. And yet, once there were problems with it, they put it aside and have done nothing whatsoever," King told Fox.

Separately, King's colleague Lamar Smith from Texas, the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that he wants to revive debate on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, a measure approved in 1868 that guarantees US citizenship to anyone born on US soil.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gVdHOcjeV0AHEX5t33Maz...

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2.
McCain willing to seek immigration overhaul bill
The Associated Press, January 5, 2011

Sen. John McCain says he would support congressional work toward an overhaul of the immigration system once "the borders have been secured."

The Arizona Republican who has been elected to a fifth term also tells NBC's "Today" show he will reintroduce legislation aimed at giving president's line-item veto authority in the budget-making process.

McCain says GOP lawmakers celebrating their newfound power on Capitol Hill should remember that last fall's elections were not so much an embrace of their policies as it was "a vote of disapproval with how we've been doing business."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-new-congre...

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3.
Immigration-Fueled U.S. Population Growth Comes at a Cost
By Kenric Ward
Sunshine State News (FL), January 5, 2011

Although news reports enthused that Florida will gain two congressional seats due to population gains over the past decade, the U.S. Census carried more sobering side effects.

Thanks to immigration, which accounted for three-quarters of the nation's population increase, the 27.3 million additional U.S. residents was exceeded by only two other decades in American history.

Going forward, the United States is on track to add 130 million more people in just the next 40 years -- nearly doubling the current population.

"Without a change in immigration policy, the nation is projected to add roughly 30 million new residents each decade for the foreseeable future," said the Center for Immigration Studies.

The Washington, D.C.-based research organization that advocates for strict immigration controls and border enforcement, projects that the ongoing influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) will mean:
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http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/blog/immigration-fueled-us-population-g...

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4.
Border towns of El Centro and Yuma lead the nation's metro areas in unemployment
Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2011

California's metro areas once again led the nation in unemployment in November. Of the 13 metro areas with unemployment rates of 15% or higher, 11 were located in California, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. In other words: Stay away from El Centro.

The Imperial Valley city near the U.S.-Mexico border had the highest unemployment rate of all metro areas in the nation in November at 29.1%. The second-highest is also a border town: Yuma, Ariz., which had an unemployment rate of 24.8%.

Does the bad condition of Western border towns make a statement about illegal immigration and the economy? No, economists say. It may be true that many people move back and forth across the border in these towns, working in one country and living in the other, but anyone who collects unemployment benefits or is counted in a payroll survey is likely to be a legal worker.

Something that is a little strange, though: In an area suffering in the economy, El Centro's labor force just keeps growing. The labor force -- the number of people looking for work -- grew to 77,100 in November from 76,500 in November 2009. The year before that it was 74,200, and before that it was 69,100.

Why does the labor force keep growing even as the unemployment rate remains high? Ruben Duran, the city manager, attributes it to people moving back home to El Centro after working throughout the state.

"We have more people here than before," he said, in a previous interview. "We're a little confused."

El Centro has gotten a lot of attention thanks to its plight, including an article in the Economist. But it's not the only California town with very high unemployment. Of the 29 metro areas with a population of 1 million or more, Riverside-San Bernardino was tied with Las Vegas for the highest unemployment rate at 14.3%.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/01/california-metro-unempl...

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5.
Buoys strung on border canal to prevent drownings
The Associated Press, January 4, 2011

A government agency on the front lines of the immigration debate has begun installing lifesaving buoys in a fast-moving canal along the U.S.-Mexico border where migrants drown each year as they sneak into the country illegally.

The debate over the lifelines has long presented authorities with a moral dilemma: Is it acceptable to do nothing when so many immigrants are dying in the water? Or do lifesaving devices lull immigrants into a false sense of security that they can conquer the channel while giving them extra motivation to enter the country illegally?

The agency that manages the canal had waffled on those questions as board members worried aloud that the buoys would encourage illegal immigration. But the Imperial Irrigation District reversed course in August and has been bolting 105 lines across the 82-mile desert canal at a cost of $1.1 million. Crews are also planting 1,414 bilingual signs on canal banks that read, "Warning: Dangerous Water."

There was scant discussion about the sudden change of heart, but the catalyst appears to be a CBS "60 Minutes" report that portrayed the agency as indifferent and callous on the buoy issue.

The canal can pose extreme danger to people trying to swim across. Currents moving at 25 mph to 30 mph can be no match for immigrants who can't swim. The decomposing corpses of immigrants rise to the surface bloated with gases after days underwater expanding like balloons.

More than 500 people have drowned in the All-American Canal since the waterway was built in 1942 to bring Colorado River water to farms in California's Imperial Valley. Twelve people died in 2009. The death toll peaked at 31 in 1998 after a Border Patrol crackdown in San Diego pushed migrants to cross in remote areas.

Imperial County supervising deputy coroner Charles Lucas said the bodies are found in "pretty horrendous" condition, so decomposed that they can't be recognized. Migrants who drown and are never claimed by their families are buried in the no-stoplight town of Holtville. There are about 400 graves at the back of the town's cemetery, made of single bricks and often engraved "John Doe."

Migrants interviewed at a shelter across the border in Mexicali, Mexico, said the buoy lines will have little impact on whether people cross the canal.

Juan Avalos swam across the canal in 2001 and 2004 and planned to do it again sometime this month with a few friends. They will use a ladder or rope to climb over a nearby border fence before plunging into the canal.

The canal is entirely in the United States but hugs the border, at one stretch only about 50 yards from the border fence.

"Anyone who knows how to swim really well is going to be fine," said Avalos, 40. "Anyone who doesn't swim that well may have problems. It's easy for me."
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfm4uRSsSIA4fECGmHLsol...