1. Nat'l Guard to depart border
2. Critics oppose fingerprinting
3. McCain faces uphill battle
4. Immigration prosecutions increase
5. State level to stay as focus
6. L.A. County to expand checks

1.
As Guard wraps up, debate ramps up on border
By Michael Martinez
The Chicago Tribune, June 22, 2008

Tech. Sgt. Wayne Combs of the California Air National Guard is riding aboard "Mad Max," a military truck whose homemade platform evokes the apocalyptic film.

Ten feet above the ground, he and other guardsmen are cutting and straightening posts to make the last line of U.S. fencing taller -- to 16 feet -- and harder for illegal immigrants to breach.

For most of two years, he has been working on this domestic front near San Diego whose double fence resembles a demilitarized zone. Into this void, however, flows the illegal traffic.

Combs has seen it firsthand, and there hasn't been much he could do: The immigrants walked right by him.

But, the 49-year-old Combs said, "I didn't see one who didn't get caught" later by the U.S. Border Patrol.

The Guard's two-year mission is to end by mid-July, but there's controversy about its withdrawal as there was about its deployment, which some criticized as excessive militarization of the nation's southern boundary.

The soldiers and airmen were here in a supporting role for the Border Patrol: They built roads and fences, flew helicopters for surveillance or transport and manned observation posts along the border, but they never made the arrests.

While the federal government -- and the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas -- have lauded the military's work, the Bush administration is rejecting the states' requests to prolong the mission.
. . .
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-border-guard-web,0,48...

********
********

2.
Plan to Fingerprint Foreigners Exiting U.S. Is Opposed
By Spencer S. Hsu
The Washington Post, June 22, 2008

The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August 2009.

Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly.

Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the Department of Homeland Security estimated in unveiling the proposal in April. Representatives of the nations affected said it is the duty of the U.S. government, not private companies, to enforce immigration and border security laws, and they raised privacy concerns about companies collecting fingerprints.

"This proposal to outsource the core government function of border control at a time that airlines around the world are fighting for their economic survival is both unwarranted and counterproductive," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association.

The plan to track exiting foreign visitors is part of a program known as US-VISIT, an initiative that Congress first promoted in 1996 and launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to use fingerprints and digital photographs to automate the processing of visitors entering and exiting the country. For security reasons, U.S. officials have put a priority on identifying incoming visitors. Setting up systems to record exits is much more costly but still can help enforce immigration laws and track security risks.

This year, 24 foreign carriers and about eight U.S. carriers have halted operations, gone out of business or sought bankruptcy protection. The carriers stand to lose $6.1 billion this year if the price of oil remains at $135 a barrel, Bisignani said in a letter Thursday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The alliance, whose 230 members include 78 that fly to and from the United States, said airlines and passengers have spent $30 billion for often duplicative and bureaucratic security measures since 9/11.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/21/AR200806...

********
********

3.
Analysis: McCain's uphill battle on illegal immigration
By Bill Schneider
The CNN News, June 21, 2008

Washington, DC (CNN) -- In recent days, Sen. Barack Obama has backed off his harshest criticisms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and he's changed his stance on campaign financing, electing to decline the federal funds for the general election -- prompting charges of flip-flopping.

Obama's campaign says Sen. John McCain has contradictions of his own, namely on illegal immigration.

On Wednesday night, McCain held a private meeting with more than 150 Chicago, Illinois-area Hispanic leaders.

According to The Associated Press, several people who were at the meeting said McCain assured them that he would push for comprehensive immigration reform if he's elected president.

In 2007, McCain's sponsorship of comprehensive immigration reform angered conservatives and very nearly derailed his presidential campaign.

At a Republican debate at the Reagan Library in January, McCain was asked whether he would still vote for his original measure.

"No, I would not ... because we know what the situation is today ... that people want the borders secured first," he said.

McCain's critics were reassured.
. . .
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/21/mccain.hispanics/

********
********

4.
Immigration crackdown may boost US job prospects
More than 9,000 illegal immigrants were prosecuted in March, a big hike from a year ago.
By David R. Francis
The Christian Science Monitor, June 23, 2008

What's needed to discourage illegal immigration into the United States has been known for years: Enforce existing law.

Amazingly, that is happening now – to some degree. This trend may already be shrinking the flood across the Mexican border and have a modest positive impact on job prospects for "native born" Americans during the present economic slump.

Immigration prosecutions reached an all-time high in March, reports the Trans­actional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research and distribution group at Syracuse University in New York. Using data from the Justice Department, it calculates that prosecutions were up 49 percent from February and 72.7 percent from March of last year. This highly unusual surge is filling up US detention centers and jails.

March prosecutions numbered 9,360. That's small compared to the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US. Nonetheless, "It's working," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that would like immigration levels reduced considerably.

The hike in prosecutions stems from an expansion of "Operation Streamline" last year by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Under the effort, undocumented aliens caught by border guards are no longer simply steered into "air-conditioned buses," as Mr. Krikorian puts it, and driven back across the border to try crossing again. Instead, they are charged with crimes and detained.
. . .
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0623/p16s01-wmgn.html

********
********

5.
An immigration end run around the next president
With neither Obama nor McCain sharing their stance on the issue, advocates of stricter policies are working at the city, state and congressional levels to change the political landscape.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles, June 23, 2008

Washington, DC -- Just last year, an increasingly powerful grass-roots movement celebrated its success in killing an effort to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants. Its influence spread as a procession of presidential candidates proclaimed their support.

But now there are just two candidates for the nation's top office, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). And both have taken immigration stands that restrictionist groups find appalling.

Although heavily supported and highly organized, those who oppose illegal immigration suddenly find themselves without a champion.

"That's the reality we're dealing with: a choice we don't consider a choice," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which advocates stricter controls on legal and illegal immigration. "These two guys were pretty much at the bottom of all the candidates. They're the worst, the bottom of the barrel, that ended up winning."

But a loose coalition of activist groups has rejected the prospect of sitting out the presidential campaign, or waiting until next time.

Instead, groups have begun working to hem in the future president. They have pushed for new city and state laws, helping spur hundreds of bills around the country in the last three months. They've held conferences to educate members nationwide and lobby local officials. And they're promoting the election of congressional candidates who take a hard line on immigration.
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig23-2008jun23,0...

********
********

6.
L.A. County jails to expand immigration screening
20,000 inmates have been interviewed. County has allotted $500,000 to expand the program.
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles, June 22, 2008

The inmates sit on a metal bench in a converted cell at a Los Angeles County jail. Many have served their time and are ready for release. But not before a quick interview.

Where were you born? Have you ever been deported? Did you know that a judge had ordered you to leave the country?

Sheriff's officials, who have been trained by federal authorities to screen for illegal immigrants at the jail, have interviewed nearly 20,000 inmates since the controversial program began more than two years ago. They have referred 10,840 people to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation.

Last week, the Sheriff's Department received $500,000 in county funding to expand the jail screening and to increase the number of interviewers from eight to 13.

Sheriff's officials said the screenings free up jail beds and ensure that illegal immigrants who commit crimes are deported, not released back into the community. Immigration authorities said the program allows them to focus limited resources on other enforcement efforts.

"We obviously have a tremendous amount of work to do in the United States to combat the issue of illegal immigration," said Brian DeMore, Los Angeles field office director of the immigration agency. "We use these programs as a way to bolster our immigration authority."

But there are still holes in the system. The process largely relies on inmates' honesty about where they were born. The vast majority of interviews are conducted with inmates who have previously said they were born in another country. And even with more custody assistants, department officials say they won't be able to interview 100% of foreign-born inmates.

"We do not talk to everybody," said Sheriff's Lt. Kevin Kuykendall. "We just don't have the manpower."
. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immigjail22-2008jun22,0,830147.s...