Please visit our YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages.

1. ICE offers relief to Libyans
2. Sen. Paul raises concerns
3. Drug cartels up efforts
4. AL adopts enforcement
5. Mexican President to speak

1.
ICE offers relief to Libyan students in U.S.
By Tara Bahrampour
The Washington Post, June 9, 2011

Libyan students in the United States who have suffered economic hardship because of the unrest in their home country will be allowed to work more hours and reduce their course load, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Thursday.

“Students whose primary means of financial support comes from the Libyan government or family members in Libya may now need to be exempt from the normal student employment requirements to be able to continue their studies in the United States and meet basic living expenses,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a notice announcing the relief. ICE is the main investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The suspension of all commercial air travel to Libya, violence and uncertainty at land borders, and an overall lack of security, have made it unfeasible for students to safely return to Libya for the foreseeable future,” she said.

To qualify, students must have been legally in the United States on Feb. 1 and enrolled in an institution certified by ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program. About 2,000 Libyan students are enrolled in U.S. schools.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ice-offers-relief-to-libyan-stude...

********
********

2.
To Rand Paul, Legal Immigration Is Also a Concern
By Emmarie Huetteman
The New York Times, June 9, 2011

It’s common to hear a senator express concerns about illegal immigration these days, but Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, is also concerned about legal immigration.

“We have 40,000 students coming to this country from all over the world,” he said. “Are they would-be attackers?”

Speaking at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on border patrol corruption, Mr. Paul on Thursday questioned whether the government was adequately screening and then keeping tabs on those who enter the country with student visas or as refugees.

He cited the recent arrest of two Iraqi refugees on terrorism charges in his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky.; the men are accused of trying to send weapons and money to Al Qaeda. Mr. Paul said the fingerprints of one of the men had been found on an unused improvised explosive device in Iraq.

But while Mr. Paul said he worried about legal immigrants, he was not concerned about the potential threat from American citizens.

“We’ve done so many things to think that we’re all terrorists, that universally we have to scrutinize everybody to the Nth degree instead of doing what I just think would be good police work,” Mr. Paul said, adding that it would be less expensive and less intrusive to privacy if the country looked at “the people who did attack us and who continue to attack us, and not really U.S. citizens.”
. . .
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/to-rand-paul-legal-immigra...

********
********

3.
Drug cartels step up corruption of U.S. border agents
By Marieke van der Vaart
The Washington Times, June 9, 2011

Corruption on the U.S. side of the Mexican border rose sharply in recent years as drug cartels targeted border agents as part of illicit drug and human trafficking, senior Obama administration officials told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commission Alan Bersin said the overwhelming majority of border patrol officers and agents are honest, “but the reality is that CBP employees have been and will continue to be targeted by criminal organizations or may otherwise seek to exploit their position of public trust for illicit gain. …”

Charles Edwards, Department of Homeland Security acting inspector general who appeared with Mr. Bersin, said corruption has come in the form of monetary bribes, sexual favors and other gratuities to border agents to ignore trafficking, provide information or assist traffickers.

“Gangs such as Los Zetas are becoming involved increasingly in systematic corruption to further alien and drug smuggling, including smuggling of aliens from designated special-interest countries likely to export terrorism,” Mr. Edwards said.

The two appeared at a hearing Thursday of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on disaster recovery and intergovernmental affairs.

Over the past six years, 127 CBP agents were arrested or indicted for corruption, the officials testified. Investigations of additional complaints rose to more than 4,500 cases last year.

Thursday’s hearing focused on the increase in these cases and the need for greater cooperation between the DHS inspector general and CPB, which in the past have not closely cooperated.

“As we continue to see successes in our efforts to secure our nation’s borders, our adversaries continue to grow more desperate in their attempts to smuggle humans and illegal contraband into this country,” Mr. Bersin said. “Our most valuable — as well as in some rare cases our most vulnerable — resources are our employees.”
. . .
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/9/drug-cartels-step-up-corr...

********
********

4.
Alabama's immigration crackdown
By Jennifer Epstein
Politico (DC), June 10, 2011

Alabama’s Republican governor has signed an anti-illegal-immigration bill into law that’s being heralded and derided as the toughest crackdown in the nation.

The legislation signed by Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday includes provisions similar to those of Arizona’s controversial laws – requiring police to ask for documentation from people they stop and penalizing businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants – but the Alabama measure also requires public schools to determine the citizenship status of its students.

“We have a real problem with illegal immigration in this country,” Bentley said at the bill signing. “I campaigned for the toughest immigration laws, and I’m proud of the legislature for working tirelessly to create the strongest immigration bill in the country.”

The law is set to take effect on Sept. 1, but opponents are already preparing to mount legal challenges. “It is clearly unconstitutional. It’s mean-spirited, racist, and we think a court will enjoin it,” said Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, The Associated Press reported.
. . .
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56685.html

********
********

5.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon to speak at Stanford University commencement on Sunday
The Associated Press, June 9, 2011

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is set to speak at Stanford University’s 120th commencement this weekend.

Stanford student leaders say they nominated Calderon to be the commencement speaker on Sunday to send a message about the need for leadership in international cooperation and social justice.

Stanford President John Hennessey praised Calderon for his work on issues such as immigration reform, arms control and fighting drug cartels.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/mexican-president-felipe-c...