1. Sen. proposes closing crossing
2. Comedian Colbert to testify
3. FL Gov. proposes pathway
4. MA delays Sec. Comm. decision
5. 18 arrested for fraud

1.
Sen. Tester recommends closing little-used border post undergoing $8.5M upgrade
By Matt Gouras
The Associated Press, Septemebr 22, 2010

A U.S. senator with an influential voice in the dispute over a little-used border post between Montana and Canada said Wednesday that officials should scrap an $8.5 million stimulus-funded upgrade and shut down the underused crossing.

Sen. Jon Tester said Canada, which surprised U.S. officials by closing its side of the Whitetail port this summer, was not interested in sharing a new station or fully reopening its side of the border. He said a renovation to the port going into Saskatchewan no longer makes sense.

The port is one of a few that services a rural and long stretch of the border in northeastern Montana. Residents say it is largely used by farmers who live in the area for trade and convenience.

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Federal officials say they can't keep the border station open without modernizing security. Before terrorism became a chief concern, the station closed for the night by placing orange cones in the road.

"The border is only as strong as the weakest link. Quite honestly, we couldn't leave a sub-par station up there without the upgrade," the Democrat told The Associated Press. "What has happened since then is, Canada has said 'Well, we are not going to deal with it.'"

Tester said that Canada told U.S. officials it would remotely monitor its side of the port for just car traffic — if the Unites States paid for the technology at a cost of up to $1 million.

"What really kind of made the decision for me is that Canada was not going to be allowing trucks up from the U.S. It would just be car traffic only," Tester said. "I don't want to get into a position where we are paying for Canadian border protection services. I don't think that's a good precedent."

Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials suspended construction based in part on Tester's recommendation. The senator lined up Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to visit, then held his own meeting last week with residents of the small town of Scobey.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-border-cro...

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2.
Utah Republican questions Colbert's invitation to speak at immigration hearing
By Elise Viebeck
The Hill (Washington, D.C.), September 22, 2010

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) isn't happy that Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert has been asked to testify at an upcoming House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on immigration.

"Seriously, the Dems have called him [Colbert] as an expert witness," he tweeted. "What a joke. All the serious issues and we have Colbert as an 'expert.'"

"I am a fan of Colbert, but immigration expert???" he continued.
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http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/120343-utah-republican-...

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3.
Charlie Crist touts way to aid Social Security
By Beth Reinhard
Miami Herald, September 23, 2010

Campaigning amid walkers and canes at a Pembroke Pines retirement community, Gov. Charlie Crist pledged Wednesday to protect Social Security and suggested an unconventional solution to shoring up the trust fund: allowing illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.

Crist called Social Security ``one of the only federal programs that's working'' and criticized his U.S. Senate rivals for proposing reforms. Republican Marco Rubio has suggested raising the retirement age, while Democrat Kendrick Meek wants to ``punt it to a commission,'' said Crist, a former Republican running without party affiliation.

``I'm the only candidate in the race who is saying we need to preserve it as it is and protect it,'' Crist told about 400 Century Village residents.

He added: ``There are other ways we can help fund it, by creating a pathway to citizenship. Secure the border, make sure we have a pathway that is earned -- no amnesty -- and if we have those 11 to 14 million people productively participating in the American economy and paying the payroll taxes that would be attended to it, that would help Social Security.''

The Republican Party of Florida pilloried Crist's ``widely debunked policies that would directly hurt seniors and erode the rule of law.'' It pointed to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and the conservative Heritage Foundation that legalizing immigrants would dramatically increase Social Security costs.

Illegal immigrants already contribute an estimated $7 billion in payroll taxes to Social Security, but can't get benefits when they retire because of their undocumented status.

``What Crist is saying is baloney. Hokum,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates stricter immigration controls. ``Legalizing them will increase the burden on Social Security.''

Asked to back up Crist's position, his campaign pointed to a Christian Science Monitor column by Robert Reich, the former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton.

``One logical way to deal with the crisis of funding Social Security and Medicare is to have more workers per retiree, and the simplest way to do that is to allow more immigrants into the United States,'' Reich, a Democrat, wrote in April. ``Immigration reform and entitlement reform have a lot to do with one another.'' And it was Democrats, not Republicans, who Crist was going after Wednesday to support his unprecedented independent bid. He also sent out a mailing this week to Democrats that touts his opposition to expanding offshore oil drilling and his veto of legislation unpopular with public school teachers. ``Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate: A Leader who Stands up for Us,'' the mailer says.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/23/1837806/crist-touts-way-to-aid-soc...

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4.
Mass. delays signing up for immigration program
By Mike Beaudet
MyFoxBoston, September 23, 2010

Gov. Deval Patrick's public safety administration has sat for a year on a request by federal immigration authorities to sign up for a controversial new program aimed at finding and deporting immigrants with serious criminal backgrounds, preventing local police outside of Boston from taking part in it, a FOX Undercover investigation has found.

The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Immigration asked state officials in September 2009 to sign a memorandum of agreement they say is needed to activate the program, known as Secure Communities, across Massachusetts. But that agreement remains unsigned, meaning no police department in Massachusetts except Boston can access the program, federal officials say. Boston police joined the program as part of a pilot initiative.

Bruce Chadbourne, head of the New England field office of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention and removal division, said he didn't know why the agreement remains unsigned.

"I couldn't speak on behalf of the governor or the state of Massachusetts. I think there's interest and maybe they're just moving slowly at their own pace, but I'm hopeful that in the end we'll be able to work together because I think this is a good program," he told FOX Undercover.

Chadbourne said Secure Communities is succesful because it helps US immigration authorities identify and deport illegal immigrants with serious criminal records, so-called Level 1 offenders.

"Our goal is to pick up those who are priorities, which are Level 1, who are convicted for serious, heinous crimes -- murder, rape, armed robbery. Things like that," Chadbourne said. "We've picked up some very bad people and not just gotten them off the streets. We've removed them from the country."

Secure Communities works by expanding how fingerprints taken by police are used. Now, when police in Masschusetts arrest and fingerprint somebody, the fingerprints are checked against Massachusettts and FBI databases.

With Secure Communities, those fingerprints would also automatically be transmitted to additional immigration-related databases. If a match is made, ICE could detain and possibly deport them.

Boston was one of the first police departments in the country to begin these checks four years ago. Federal officials credit Secure Communities for finding people like the suspect arrested by Boston police for domestic assault and battery in 2009 but who actually was actually an illegal immigrant with gang affiliations who had been previously deported.

"It's one-stop shopping. They run the check, they get the criminal history and they get immigration history while running the fingerprints," Chadbourne said.

But it's no one-stop shopping for any other police department in Massachusetts. ICE says they need the state to sign the memorandum of agreement to expand in Massachusetts beyond Boston.

So what does Massachusetts say? At first, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety denied holding up Secure Communities, telling FOX Undercover in August, "We have the infrastructure in place and that is a program that is a choice for cities and towns."

This week the spokesman admitted in a statement, "We are engaged in ongoing conversations about Secure Communities."

We asked whether Gov. Patrick supports the program, but the spokesman would not expand upon his statement, which says, "The administration supports the deportation of those aliens/illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes."

"They're certainly missing an opportunity to identify criminal aliens and have them removed from the country," said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports stronger immigration law enforcement, including Secure Communities.

"The end result of this program is that people who are committing crimes here who are foreign nationals get removed. There are fewer criminals plaguing Massachusetts communities. There's no cost to the state. ICE is able to do its job more efficiently. It's a no-brainer," she said.

No-brainer to some, but not everyone is keen about immigration enforcement. Under Governor Patrick, state police are forbidden from asking about a suspect's immigration status unless it pertains to an investigation.
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http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/undercover/mass-delays-signing-up-fo...

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5.
18 accused of arranging fake marriages for green cards, drug trafficking in Calif. gang probe
The Associated Press, September 22, 2010

Authorities on Wednesday arrested 18 people accused of possessing firearms, drug trafficking and arranging fake marriages to obtain green cards for immigrants.

According to federal authorities, members of the Red Door gang, based in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles, arranged for foreigners to pay tens of thousands of dollars to marry American women to gain permanent U.S. resident status.

Gangs frequently try to get money through white-collar crimes, but it was unusual to see a sham marriage scheme, U.S. attorney spokesmen Thom Mrozek said.

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A federal indictment cited three such cases but Mrozek said prosecutors believe there could be hundreds of others.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-marriage-s...