1. TX CBP has one bust per hour
2. Mexico dismissive on extradition
3. CT sanctuary ID case to be appealed
4. Enforcement may hurt OR economy
5. CA naturalization increases
6. Enforcement pushes illegals to sea
7. TX activists blast consulate
8. 19 plead guilty to ID theft

1.
CBP: inspections average one immigration bust per hour last week
The KVIA News (El Paso), July 10, 2008

El Paso -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were kept busy this week with dozens of immigration violations, drug seizures and agriculture violations.

The last seven days, officers recorded 161 immigration violations at area ports of entry, an average of 23 per day.

Officials said 87 of the busts were intended immigration cases. In these cases, individuals will use a legally issued border-crossing card, such as a laser visa, to live or work in the U.S.
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http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=8655660

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2.
Mexico says U.S. sought extradition - after man freed
By Arthur H Rotstein
The Associated Press, July 11, 2008

Tucson, AZ (AP) -- The United States did not ask Mexico to arrange for a suspect's extradition in the death of a Border Patrol agent until the man had been freed, a Mexican government spokesman said Thursday.

Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said U.S. officials presented Mexican authorities "with a provisional arrest request for extradition purposes" for Jesus Navarro Montes in late June.

Alday said that request came more than a week after a Mexican judge cleared Navarro of an unrelated migrant smuggling charge and released him from a prison in Mexicali, Mexico.

Alday's announcement came hours after 39 U.S. congressmen wrote President Bush and Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking if the government had asked Mexico to extradite Navarro.

It also occurred shortly after Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the department would review the congressmen's letter and that it remains committed to investigating agent Luis Aguilar's death.

"As with all ongoing criminal investigations, we cannot provide details with respect to the nature or timing of possible charges or other actions against any possible defendant or defendants," a statement from Carr said.

After-hours calls to Carr and another Justice Department representative were not returned immediately.

Alday said Navarro's June 18 release came five months after his initial arrest on human smuggling charges in Mexico.

Last month, Alday said Navarro was released after the U.S. government failed to issue an arrest warrant, provide evidence or contact Mexican authorities to seek extradition.

U.S. authorities allege Navarro's Hummer struck and killed Aguilar on Jan. 19 as the agent tried to stop suspected drug smugglers by setting spike strips on a road.
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http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/07/10/ap/regional/us/d91rb9o80.txt

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3.
FOI upholds ruling on resident card secrecy
By Mary E. O'Leary
New Haven Register, July 10, 2008

Hartford -- The Freedom of Information Commission Wednesday upheld a preliminary decision allowing New Haven to withhold the identities of participants in the Elm City Resident Card program, but not before a spirited discussion that left the outcome uncertain.

After two hours, the commission voted 3-1 in agreement with its hearing officer that the names, addresses and photos of the estimated 6,000 cardholders should remain secret because disclosing them could potentially subject them to harm.

New Haven initiated the ID card a year ago as a way to access city services and to pay for parking, but its most controversial aspect was that it was available to all residents, including illegal immigrants.

It was a way to integrate the estimated 15,000 illegal immigrants in New Haven into city life, while helping them with identification to open bank accounts and feel more comfortable dealing with city police.

Christopher Powell, acting as an individual, and Dustin Gold, head of the Community Watchdog Project, an anti-illegal immigrant group, wanted the names disclosed, and appealed the city’s refusal to hand them over to the FOI commission.

“The commission’s decision today is a vindication for the city,” said Kica Matos, Community Services administrator, in a prepared statement.

“As we prepare to celebrate the one-year anniversary of this successful program, it’s important that New Haven residents feel safe and comfortable applying for an Elm City Resident Card with the peace of mind that their information will be kept private,” she said.

But Gold promised to appeal the decision to Superior Court within a month and his argument, as well as Powell’s, that the statute exempting records from disclosure was specific to threats against certain government and public utility facilities and their occupants, was backed by FOI commission Chairman Andrew O’Keefe.
. . .
Stephen Steinlight of the Center for Immigration Studies, who helped advise Gold, said the ruling means that the state’s homeland security chief “is now the Caesar of Connecticut who can intervene in any matter he desires to.”

Gold said he will continue to be assisted in his appeal by the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the Center for Immigration Studies.
. . .
http://nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19842106&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dep...

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4.
Nursery and restaurant lobby say immigration rule could cost Oregon thousands of jobs
Study says 170,000 jobs, $17.7 billion in productivity could be lost if new federal rule goes into effect
By Stover E. Harger Iii
The Forest Grove News Times (OR), Jul 10, 2008

Over 170,000 Oregon jobs and $17.7 billion in annual state production could be lost if a proposed federal immigration rule were enacted, says a study released today by a coalition of 20 Oregon employer associations.

The study was commissioned by the Coalition for a Working Oregon, an organization whose members include Oregon’s Farm Bureau, Restaurant Association and Association of Nurseries, and represents over 300,000 state workers.

The proposed “No Match” rules are designed to locate and remove undocumented workers from the country, but research done by William Jaeger, an Oregon State University agriculture and resource economics professor, argues the rules could significantly reduce the number of jobs in the state.

By driving out the estimated 100,000 undocumented workers in Oregon without having a comprehensive way to replace them, the impact on state businesses will be devastating, said Jeff Stone, government relations director for the Oregon Association of Nurseries.

“The time is here and now for us to stand up and be the voice of reason in this debate,” he said.

The coalition was formed after years of individual government lobbying by Oregon’s employer associations. It comes of the heels of many other similar coalitions around the country.
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http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=121572948749...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The economic report is available online at: http://www.oregoncanwork.org/

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5.
Citizenship numbers surge in state
Mexican Immigrants LEad Way in Taking Oath
By Mike Swift
The San Jose Mercury News, July 11, 2008

Long a port of entry for immigrants, California has bolstered its position as a portal to citizenship, and as the center of a national surge in citizenship among Mexican immigrants.

According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the number of new citizens in California rose by 19 percent, with 181,684 residents taking the oath of citizenship last year - the most since 2001 and more than twice as many as any other state.

Nationally, the number of Mexican immigrants who became citizens jumped by 46 percent, to 122,258 people from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007. Mexicans made up one-third to one-half of new citizens in California, Texas and Illinois, and in metro areas such as Houston and San Diego.

The Bay Area ranked behind behind only metropolitan New York and Los Angeles in the total number of new citizens. Metro San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ranked fifth and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara came in 11th among individual U.S. metropolitan statistical areas.

Immigration experts said the wave of newly minted Mexican-born U.S. citizens is likely the result of many factors, including the immigration-reform protest marches of 2006. Other cited reasons: local and national citizenship drives, a rush to avoid citizenship application fee increases, fear about an anti-immigrant backlash and the desire to vote in the 2008 elections. Demographers also note that California's immigrants have lived longer in the United States.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_9848715

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6.
Immigrant smugglers take to the seas after being blocked at the border
By Jesus Sanchez
The Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2008

Coastguard_2The most recent evidence that smugglers of undocumented immigrants have changed their ways washed up on shore near Torrey Pines earlier this week. The empty, 26-foot fishing boat found on the coast of north San Diego County was most likely abandoned after carrying illegal immigrants who might have paid more than $4,000 each to make the relatively short but risky nighttime voyage from Baja California, officials said.

The number of such illegal ocean crossings is still relatively small, with 11 boats having been seized so far this year. But immigrant smuggling by boat has grown in recent years as more stringent enforcement has made it much more difficult to cross the border on land, reports the North County Times.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/07/immigrant-smugg.html

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7.
Immigration activists demand answers from Mexican Consulate
The KHOU News (Houston), July 10, 2008

Houston -- Some immigration activists are demanding answers after they said the Mexican Consulate failed to provide any assistance to nationals during a massive immigration raid at a Houston company.

It all has to do with 160 workers who were detained during a raid on Action Rags.

Most of the people taken into custody were Mexican nationals.
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http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080710_jj_houstonraid.418b2c8...

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8.
19 admit misusing IDs to work at poultry plant
The Associated Press, July 11, 2008

Tyler, TX (AP) -- Nineteen people arrested in immigration raids at Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants pleaded guilty Thursday to misusing Social Security identification to obtain work.

They were all sentenced to time served since their arrests in April and have been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

The 19 illegal immigrants had gotten jobs at the plant in Mount Pleasant by presenting Social Security cards that weren't theirs.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-10-misuse-social-security_N.htm