1. Obama will not address issue
2. Federal agents frustrated
3. New suit challenges AZ
4. DHS to begin UAV flights
5. Nat'l Guard arrives in AZ

1.
Immigration, border violence unlikely topics during Obama visit
By Ramon Bracamontes
The El Paso Times, August 31, 2010

This city should be honored that President Barack Obama has chosen Fort Bliss to talk about the end of the war in Iraq, several political experts said on Monday.

And no one in El Paso should feel slighted if the president does not talk about immigration, border security or the ongoing violence in Mexico, said Jose Villalobos, a University of Texas at El Paso political science professor.

Obama will spend this morning at Fort Bliss where he will talk to the soldiers and thank them for their service in Iraq. He will leave Fort Bliss at 12:15 p.m. and go back to the White House to prepare for a nationally televised speech that will focus on the war and the military.

White House officials said he is not scheduled to talk about any other issues while in El Paso.

UTEP's Villalobos said that is understandable.

"His visit here does beg the question of whether he will talk about border security and immigration," Villalobos said. "But I think that given the main reason for his trip here, the troop withdrawal deadline, it is understandable that he wants to focus on that and not talk about anything else."
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http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_15944767

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2.
Fed agents frustrated by judges’ immigration decisions
By Sara A. Carter
The Washington Examiner (DC), August 31, 2010

In March, Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Sandoval — who had committed serious crimes in the United States since 1998 — stood before Florence, Ariz., Immigration Judge Bruce Taylor on a deportation hearing. That day the judge canceled his removal proceedings, allowing him to stay in the United States.

Four months later, Sandoval was arrested again on an outstanding warrant but was released. Three days after that release he led police on a 100 mph car chase. Then in August, in response to a 911 call from his family, he shot at Arizona deputies who came to his home. That night, he escaped. He later turned himself into authorities after they began a public manhunt for him.

Sandoval, who had resident status, is only one example of a legal system that lacks working mechanisms for deporting criminal aliens, said Rep. Ted Poe, a Texas Republican and former judge.

"The federal government has the responsibility, the moral duty to send these criminal aliens back where they came from after they do their prison time and before they commit more crimes," said Poe, who is co-chair of the Victims’ Rights Caucus. He said both the Obama and Bush administrations handled the issue ineffectively, hiding facts from the American people and "sugar-coating" the truth regarding the deportation of criminal aliens.

This month, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced that the Obama administration is planning to dismiss thousands of illegal alien deportation cases, possibly 17,000, if the immigrants have a potential path to legal residency or overstayed their visas.

But critics say many illegal aliens with long criminal records composed of what some courts consider to be lesser charges will see their deportation cases dismissed as well. They cite Sandoval as an example.

"The system is skewed to release these criminals," said Poe, a former judge. He recalled many times he saw repeat criminal offenders back in his courtroom after issuing detainers, which required the federal government to deport them after they served their U.S. sentences.

"The detainers don’t work, because we either don’t have enough federal agents, the administration doesn’t make it a priority and there isn’t any accountability when alien criminals are released back into society," Poe said.

ICE, Border Patrol and local law enforcement officers told The Washington Examiner that law enforcement agencies are frustrated by the judicial system’s approach to handling immigrants charged with crimes.

"In the case of Sandoval, ICE did the right thing," said a federal official who spoke on the condition that he not be named. "They checked his long criminal history, he had two or more crimes involving morale turpitude and should have been deported and had his residency taken away. What does the administration have to say about this? He’s only one of thousands of bad guys that get away with this."
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/world/Fed-agents-frustrated-by-judges-...

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3.
U.S. files new suit on Ariz. immigration issue
By Jerry Markon
The Washington Post, August 31, 2010

The Justice Department filed another lawsuit against immigration practices by Arizona authorities, saying Monday that a network of community colleges acted illegally in requiring noncitizens to provide their green cards before they could be hired for jobs.

The suit against the Phoenix area Maricopa Community Colleges was filed less than two months after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer (R) over the state's new immigration law. It also comes as the department is investigating Joe Arpaio, the sheriff in Maricopa County, who is known for tough immigration enforcement.

In Monday's lawsuit, Justice officials said the colleges discriminated against nearly 250 noncitizen job applicants by mandating that they fill out more documents than required by law to prove their eligibility to work. That violated the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, the department said.

The law's anti-discrimination provision "makes it unlawful to treat authorized workers differently during the hiring process based on their citizenship status," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for Justice's Civil Rights Division. He said the government "is acting now to remedy this pattern or practice of discrimination."

Tom Gariepy, a spokesman for Maricopa Community Colleges - which operates 10 colleges and two vocational training centers in and around Phoenix - declined to comment.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/30/AR201008...

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4.
Napolitano: Drone flights to begin in south Texas
The Associated Press, August 30, 2010

Phoenix (AP) -- Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says unmanned aircraft flights patrolling the Mexican border in south Texas will begin Wednesday in a bid to seek out smuggling activities and improve border security.

Napolitano says in a conference call Monday that the start of the flights out of Corpus Christi means that unmanned aircraft will be providing intelligence to border agents on the ground from the Gulf of Mexico to around El Centro, Calif.

Previously, unmanned aircraft had been used from El Centro through West Texas.
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/breaking/napolitano-drone-flights-to-b...

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5.
AZ border gets 1st 33 of its 532 guardsmen
By Howard Fischer
The Capitol Media Services, August 31, 2010

Phoenix -- Arizona National Guard troops have arrived at the border.

The first 33 are being assigned surveillance work, Lt. Valentine Castillo said Monday. Plans are to continue training a new batch and deploying its members every week until 532 soldiers are stationed in the area, a goal that the Guard hopes to achieve by Oct. 1.

The troops will be doing more than simply looking for people who are trying to enter the country illegally, said Mario Escalante of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"They're there in positions that not only work to help us see better, to see what's going on, but they're also in positions that act as a deterrent," Escalante said. "They're at a high point where it's visible for maybe folks who are attempting to cross to see them and say: 'You know what? I'm not going to cross through here.' "

The deployment is part of a force of 1,200 guardsmen being sent to the border by the president for up to a year. It comes as the Obama administration is under criticism, mostly by Republicans, for not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the country. The issue of border security has become a prime political issue, especially in Arizona.

But Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that things are far better now than they were when she was Arizona's governor.

"There's a clear focus by this administration on the Southwest border," she said in a telephone press conference. Napolitano said that is proved by an increase in contraband seizures and a decrease in illegal immigration.

That didn't impress Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

He said that even at reduced levels, about 250,000 illegal immigrants are still being caught entering Arizona each year. And Babeu, a Republican, said based on Border Patrol statistics about the numbers that do get through, it means about 400,000 per year don't get caught.

"They don't know who they are, where they're from or where they're going," he said.

Babeu also said that about 17 percent of those who are caught have some type of criminal record. Extrapolating that to those who get through, he said, it translates to more than 60,000 per year who have committed crimes in addition to illegal entry.
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http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_23feeb28-fc67-5281-99e9-6...