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1. Budget sets $2b for enforcement
2. Budget cuts Criminal Alien Program
3. Northwestern police alter policy
4. 30 arrested picketing MN ICE office
5. ICE targets TX smuggling routes

1.
Obama seeking $2 billion more for border security
By Dave Michaels
The Dallas Morning News, May 7, 2009

Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama wants to boost funding for law-enforcement investigations of Mexican drug cartels through next year's federal budget, including an additional $2 billion for new technology and manpower.

The administration says its 2010 budget targets specific threats posed by cartels, weapons smugglers and criminal aliens who wind up in U.S. jails. The proposal, part of a budget the president will submit to Congress today, would represent an 8 percent increase for border and transportation security funding over this year's total, officials said.

The largest increase is proposed for the Department of Justice's Southwest Border Initiative, which supports sophisticated investigations of drug traffickers and funds programs to interrupt the flow of black-market guns into Mexico.

Obama's proposal may be viewed as an attempt to satisfy critics who would otherwise oppose a sweeping immigration overhaul, including a path to citizenship for illegal residents. Obama has said he intends to address immigration this year, with the goal of discussing legislation by the fall.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/DN...

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2.
Budget Proposes Cuts in 121 Programs
By Jonathan Weisman
The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009

Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama's detailed 2010 budget plan, due out Thursday, will propose to eliminate or consolidate 121 domestic and defense programs to save $17 billion, administration officials said Wednesday.
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Other programs slated for elimination are the Education Department's Jacob K. Javitz fellowship program and Christopher Columbus grants, the latter of which has a $1 million-a-year budget, 80% of which is overhead. Also gone would be an option to have the Earned Income Credit included in weekly or monthly paychecks, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's Criminal Alien Program, which identified jailed criminal foreigners to ensure they are not released into the community. A White House aide also cited the Long Range Radio Navigation System, a $35 million Coast Guard system made obsolete by global positioning systems.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124162900144792405.html

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3.
Changes made in UP's immigrant policy
By Ben Geier and Brian Rosenthal
The Daily Northwestern (Northwestern University, Chicago), May 7, 2009

Northwestern University Police has decided to change its policy on dealing with illegal immigrants, it announced Wednesday evening.

The new policy was changed due to an Evanston City Council resolution passed last year, but was spurred by a Tuesday meeting with NU student leaders, according to a UP statement. UP "will initiate notification to (the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) only in cases involving arrests for a felony and/or human trafficking," wrote UP Chief of Police Bruce Lewis.

A student rally about the issue scheduled for Thursday will still be held, organizers said.

UP drew criticism after arresting illegal immigrant Ramiro Sanchez-Zepeda on April 26 and transferring him to federal immigration authorities. The leaders of groups like Alianza met with UP about the arrest on Tuesday, and a rally was planned for Thursday afternoon.

Lewis requested the meeting, said attendee Adam Yalowitz, the co-chair of the Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty, and Inequality. The chief gave details surrounding Sanchez-Zepeda's arrest, acknowledged a lack of UP policy on the issue and promised to enact the new policy, Yalowitz said.

"It was a really incredible meeting," the Weinberg sophomore said. "We had anticipated there would be more resistance from UP. We were all really shocked about how fast this happened."

Meeting attendee Arianna Hermosillo, president of Alianza, said Lewis was "very" cooperative. Neither Lewis nor UP Asst. Chief Dan McAleer could be reached for comment Wednesday night.

UP officers were following their current policy when they referred Sanchez-Zepeda, according to the UP statement.

The Evanston Police Department's policy is similar to UP's new language and it has not referred an illegal immigrant to federal authorities in recent memory, city officials said.

Last April, the city council unanimously passed a symbolic resolution that called for immigrants to be treated "on a humane and just basis." The resolution stopped short of mandating that police cannot consider someone's citizen status, which was proposed, but did indicate Evanston should be a safe haven for immigrants.

"We wanted to have ourselves counted as standing up for immigrant rights," Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said of the resolution last week.

After reviewing UP's old policy, Lewis found it was "inconsistent with the spirit of the Evanston City Council resolution," he said in the statement.
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http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2009/...

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4.
30 protesters arrested at federal immigration office in Bloomington
By Abby Simons
The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), May 6, 2009

Bloomington police on Wednesday arrested 30 people who tried to block access to a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office to protest raids and deportations.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action coalition (MIRAc), which says deportations tear families apart. Their action was part of a nationwide effort to shut down ICE offices through civil disobedience.

Bloomington police Cmdr. Jim Ryan said protesters gathered about 7 a.m. at the ICE headquarters at 7850 Metro Parkway and obeyed the law until a few began blocking driveways and entrances.
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http://www.startribune.com/local/west/44503912.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_...

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5.
Immigrant smuggling rings in North Texas targeted
The Associated Press, May 6, 2009

Dallas -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have started an operation aimed at rounding up suspects in immigrant smuggling rings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

ICE says its agents and officials from other federal, state and local agencies began making arrests and executing search warrants Wednesday morning. The agency says the operation is ongoing.
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http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10314778&nav=Bsmh