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1. Court rules for incapacitated
2. 12 Chinese arrested with fakes
3. 2.3m re-entered without proper ID
4. 100K enter US under pilot program
5. AZ lawmakers ready to continue

1.
U.S. must provide incapacitated immigrants with lawyers, judge rules
Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2010

Two mentally disabled immigrants must be given lawyers as they fight deportation, a U.S. district court judge has ruled.

Jose Franco-Gonzalez, 29, of Costa Mesa, and Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez, 48, of San Bernardino, are at the center of a case that marks one of the first instances in which a judge ordered representation for an individual in immigration proceedings, according to a coalition of advocacy lawyers arguing the men's cases.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee came last week just before Christmas. Both men have been free pending a bail hearing also ordered by Gee.

In a March lawsuit, the ACLU of Southern California and other advocates argued that the men's diminished mental capacities made them unable to voice their own interests.

Franco, who is moderately retarded, was convicted and served a year in jail on an assault with a deadly weapon charge for throwing a rock during a fight between rival gangs, his attorneys have said. He doesn't know his birth date or how to tell time, and has an IQ no higher than 55, according to his attorney.

Gomez is a paranoid schizophrenic who served one year of a two-year sentence for a 2004 assault conviction stemming from a scuffle over tomatoes he picked without permission. He has previous convictions, including for battery against a police officer, which his attorneys have attributed to his mental illness.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/us-must-provide-disabled-i...

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2.
US, Thai officials arrest 12 Chinese ready to fly from Bangkok to Los Angeles on fake visas
The Associated Press, December 29, 2010

US and Thai officials have arrested a group of 12 Chinese nationals accused of obtaining fake visas to try to gain entry to the United States.

The Thai Immigration bureau says the arrests were made Tuesday after the group came to Thailand from China. The bureau says the three men and nine women were preparing for a flight to Los Angeles to look for work.

Officials said Wednesday the suspects confessed to each paying a Taiwanese man in Bangkok $24,000 for a forged visa and other expenses for the journey. An investigation found that the visas bore the same numbers as authentic ones issued by the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw to Polish citizens.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-thailand-ch...

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3.
2.3 million Americans reentered without proper documents
By Stephen Ceasar
Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2010

Despite new travel requirements, more than 2.3 million Americans reentering the country by land or sea from Mexico or Canada failed to produce a passport, birth certificate or other secure document to establish identity and nationality, a government review has found.

Most people, including about 500,000 in California, were allowed to pass through ports of entry without the approved documents or without being sent to a secondary inspection post for a more in-depth examination, according to the report by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security.

Many travelers were allowed to pass after undergoing extensive questioning and producing at least a driver's license, the report found. Overall, 96% of travelers arriving at the 39 busiest land ports were in compliance with the new law, which took effect in June 2009.

The procedure for processing those without the required documents needs to be more precise and implemented across the board, the report said.

Despite the findings, the audit concluded that if all those who skirted the rules were sent for a secondary inspection — which is not currently required — the agency would not have the necessary staffing and infrastructure to handle the resulting increase in workload.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agrees with the findings and plans to follow the inspector general's recommendations, said Stephanie Malin, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, approved by Congress last year, requires U.S. travelers reentering the country from Mexico or Canada to present documents, such as a passport or birth certificate, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

At the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, the busiest land border crossing in the country, a traveler without the proper documents is usually sent to a secondary inspection post for further scrutiny, said Jackie Dizdul, a San Diego spokeswoman for the agency.

But if an officer can determine the person's identity and citizenship in the initial contact, through questioning or other supporting documents, such as a driver's license, the person is allowed to pass without being referred for a secondary inspection, Dizdul said.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/28/local/la-me-customs-audit-20101228

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4.
100,000 travelers used pilot program to enter the U.S.
Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2010

A pilot program designed to speed international travelers through the immigration and customs process has been used by 100,000 people at U.S. airports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday.

The program, known as Global Entry, allows pre-approved travelers to use electronic kiosks at 20 U.S. airports -- including Los Angeles International Airport -- to bypass the long passport processing lines.

The program, launched in 2008, is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who must pass an intensive background check and pay a $100 fee for a five-year membership. (Under a special agreement, citizens of the Netherlands can also apply to the program.)
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2010/12/100000-travelers-visit-...

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5.
Arizona lawmaker set to ramp up fight against illegals
By Valerie Richardson
The Washington Times, December 28, 2010

Arizona took a public-relations punch to the gut after passing the nation's toughest anti-illegal-immigration law earlier this year, but anyone who thinks (or hopes) the state Legislature will lower its profile on the border-security issue in 2011 likely will be disappointed.

The state is positioned like never before to expand its efforts to combat illegal immigration. The November election saw Republican Jan Brewer elected to a second term as governor, largely on the strength of her decision to sign the headline-making law, while the Republican Party added to its already sizable majorities in the state House and Senate.

Most significantly of all, Russell Pearce was elected Arizona Senate president. For those who may not have heard of Mr. Pearce, let's just say that the 63-year-old Republican from Mesa wants to crack down on illegal immigration like desert javelinas want to eat prickly-pear cactus.

"I'm not stopping until the problem is solved, and clearly the problem is not solved," Mr. Pearce said in a telephone interview. "The cost is destroying this country, and it can no longer be ignored. I think America's had it. I think that's why we had the results we did in the election of 2010."

It won't come without a political price. Arizona was subjected to a public tongue-lashing from President Obama and all manner of boycott threats after the April passage of Senate Bill 1070, which requires police to check individuals for their immigration status after traffic stops and other detentions.

Mr. Pearce is himself routinely described by the left as a nativist, a bigot and worse. His ascension to the top Senate post was greeted by the liberal Phoenix New Times with a story that described him as "Arizona's Pope of Prejudice."

Even so, Mr. Pearce says he has no intention of backing down. He noted that Senate Bill 1070 has received consistently strong support in nationwide polls, to the point where other states are considering similar legislation.

"America's on our side, so why would we retreat from doing what's right?" he said. "We have a direct moral obligation to enforce the laws of our nation."

First on his list is a bill to end birthright citizenship. Mr. Pearce and other lawmakers plan to unveil the measure at a Jan. 5 press conference at the National Press Club, five days before the start of the Arizona legislative session.

The idea is to make a big enough splash to catch the attention of other states that may be considering similar legislation. At least a dozen states are already expected to join Arizona in introducing legislation changing how they recognize the U.S.-born children of noncitizens.

Such legislation would present a direct challenge to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Critics counter that the amendment, one of three passed after the Civil War dealing with the status of newly freed slaves, has been erroneously expanded to include the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. That amendment overturned the prewar Dred Scott decision that neither blacks imported as slaves nor their descendants could be U.S. citizens.

"The 14th Amendment was never intended to be applied to illegal aliens," Mr. Pearce said. "They [the sponsors] specifically said it didn't apply to foreigners or aliens. That amendment belongs to the African-Americans of this country. It's their amendment."

He's already getting pushback from the Arizona Republic, which argued in a Monday editorial that such a "wrongheaded quest" would distract from the more pressing matter of Arizona's budget deficit.

If passed, the bill would almost certainly be subject to a legal challenge.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/28/no-retreat-arizona-pearc...