1. DOJ presses border agent
2. Dems predict movement
3. Romney, Gingrich differ
4. AL Atty. Gen. questions
5. NC GOP begins push

1.
Justice presses jailed agent for $7,000 in fines
Lawmaker backs Border Patrol
By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times, December 7, 2011

Ignoring calls for leniency, the Justice Department has told a jailed former Border Patrol agent it will start docking his commissary account as a way to begin assessing nearly $7,000 in fines, even though a judge told him he wouldn’t have to start paying immediately.

Jesus E. Diaz Jr. was sentenced to prison for two years for using excessive force in arresting an illegal immigrant who was suspected of smuggling drugs. His case has become a cause for defenders of the Border Patrol, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, has sent two letters asking Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to intervene and delay the fines.

But the Justice Department has not responded to Mr. Hunter and instead told Diaz they will begin taking $25 a month from his account at the prison commissary, beginning next month, according to Diaz’s wife, Diana, who is also a Border Patrol agent.

“I don’t know if the government is that hard-pressed for money,” she said. “l don’t know what to tell him anymore.”

The commissary account is used to pay for necessities such as shoes while Diaz is in prison. Prisoners can earn money based on their work inside the prison, or from limited transfers from family or friends.

The Border Patrol terminated Diaz’s employment last month, and Mrs. Diaz said she didn’t know how they would make the fine payments while her husband was in prison.

The judgment in the case laid out a schedule of payments of “no less than $220.00 per month, due by the third day of each month beginning no earlier than 60 days from the date of release from imprisonment.” But it goes on to say that doesn’t “prevent statutorily authorized collection efforts.”

The local U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said last month it is following through on that.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/7/justice-presses-jailed-ag...

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2.
Democrats Forecast Moves Toward Immigration Reform in 2012
EFE, December 7, 2011

Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate predicted Wednesday that there will be advances, albeit small ones, toward immigration reform in 2012, at a time when both they as well as President Barack Obama are trying to attract the support of the Hispanic electorate.

During a round table with several Hispanic media outlets, including Efe, the senators said that despite what they described as Republican obstructionism, there are possibilities for achieving advances on some elements of an immigration bill.

"My prediction is that 2012 will be better than 2011," New York Sen. Charles Schumer said.

The Republicans, in their judgment, are beginning to take note that their stances against any type of legalization of undocumented foreigners "is hurting them more than it's helping."

Schumer said that in his conversations with Republicans he had seen "little glimmers of change and hope," which the Democrats will try to take advantage of.

He said he was optimistic because, despite the fact that in the primaries the Republican hopefuls "are turning against immigration even more," that party's eventual presidential candidate "will have to move to the center" and his colleagues in Congress usually follow his lead.

Of the Republican hopefuls, only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come out in favor of legalizing those undocumented immigrants who have spent many years in this country.

According to analysts, the road to the White House in 2012 will require the support of at least 40 percent of Latino voters.

Activists say that Hispanics, the country's fastest-growing minority, are frustrated with the political class in Washington.

Undocumented immigrants, in particular, have seen a great increase in the number of deportations and in police measures seeking to stifle them economically, especially in the southern states.
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/12/07/democrats-forecast-...

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3.
Gingrich, Romney Offer Stark Immigration Choice
By Mara Liasson
NPR, December 8, 2011

There are many flashpoints between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney as they battle for the Republican presidential nomination. Most of them are about character or leadership: Who can beat President Obama? Who's the real conservative?

But Gingrich and Romney do have one big policy difference — and that's on immigration.

For GOP candidates, there's always a tension when they have to talk about immigration. They want to win primaries — where many Republican voters are anti-immigration — and they want to be able to appeal to Hispanics in a general election, and that calls for the opposite approach.

Gingrich and Romney come at this problem in different ways.

At the latest CNN debate, Gingrich, the former House speaker, said: "I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter-century. And I'm prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality."

Romney, on the other hand, has taken a harder line shared by many in the GOP grass roots.

"We've got to stop illegal immigration," Romney said. "That means turning off the magnets of amnesty: in-state tuition for illegal aliens, employers that knowingly hire people that have come here illegally."

And the former Massachusetts governor went even further in an interview with Fox's Bret Baier, saying, "They should not be allowed to stay in this country and be given permanent residency or citizenship merely because they've come here illegally."

Romney was trying to answer the sticky question of what to do with the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. It sounded like he wants them to leave first and then apply for visas to return. "It makes more sense for them to go home," he said.

So, which candidate has better navigated the tricky currents of Republican immigration politics? GOP strategist Karl Rove, who has not endorsed any candidate yet, thinks on this issue it could be Gingrich.

"From a tonal perspective, I'm personally more in line with the opening thrust of what the speaker was saying. Newt was saying, we can't throw these people out," Rove says. "I will readily admit, though, that he and I are in the minority thinking that that's what we need to do inside the Republican Party."
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http://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/143302652/gingrich-romney-offer-stark-immi...

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4.
Alabama's tough immigration law questioned
Alabama Atty. Gen. Luther Strange proposes throwing out parts of the immigration law to make it easier to defend and to 'remove burdens on law-abiding citizens.'
The Associated Press, December 8, 2011

The top legal official in the state with the country's toughest immigration law has suggested throwing out parts of the law after challenges by the federal government and strong protests by rights and business groups.

In his first public concerns about the law, expressed in a letter to legislative leaders obtained by the Associated Press, Alabama Atty. Gen. Luther Strange said the proposed changes would make the law "easier to defend in court" and "remove burdens on law-abiding citizens."

The letter, sent last week, comes as the attorney general defends the law against a federal court challenge filed by about 30 organizations and individuals. The law is considered by both opponents and supporters as the toughest in the U.S. against illegal immigrants.

Legislative leaders disclosed Tuesday that they were working with concerned business leaders on possible changes.

"Lawmakers are right now working with industry leaders to see what updates might be necessary to maintaining what is arguably the most business-friendly environment anywhere in America," said Todd Stacy, a spokesmen for House Speaker Mike Hubbard.

The Alabama Legislature passed the law to scare off illegal immigrants and open up jobs in a state suffering from an unemployment rate of more than 9%. The law took effect in late September, except for provisions put on hold temporarily by federal courts.

Some immigrants fled the state, and some employers found they couldn't find people to fill the jobs left behind.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alabama-immigration...

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5.
N.C. Republicans begin push on illegal immigration
By Lynn Bonner
The Raleigh News & Observer, December 8, 2011

Republicans now in charge of the state legislature are using their clout to push for new laws identifying illegal immigrants and limiting their use of public services.

That effort got its start Wednesday in the House Committee on the State's Role in Immigration Policy, which drew a crowd representing both sides of the controversial issue. The committee can recommend legislation to be considered next year.

For years, a legislative contingent has focused on more laws limiting illegal immigrants' access to public services - seeking to bar their admission to community colleges, for example - but they have had limited success.

Republicans won control of the legislature last year, giving their efforts new life. The wave of tough laws in other states such as Arizona and Alabama has given them another reason to act.

With other states tightening their laws, North Carolina could become a magnet for illegal immigrants, said Rep. Bert Jones, a Rockingham County Republican.

Arizona passed a law last year that made being an illegal immigrant and failure to carry immigration documents state crimes.

Alabama this year approved a sweeping law banning illegal immigrants from attending public colleges, prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants, and voiding all contracts with illegal immigrants, among other provisions. Parts of the law are under court review.

No specific laws were mentioned at the committee meeting Wednesday, but the legislature has bills pending that would prohibit use of consular or other embassy documents as official identification, specify documents that must be shown to receive public benefits, and a put an identifying mark on the driver's licenses of people living in the country temporarily.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/08/2536880/nc-republicans-begin-push-...