1. Mexico blames U.S. for fiasco
2. New book advocates for restrictions
3. PA mayor lobbies for pledge
4. MD county passes regulations
5. Applicants sue in order to vote

1.
Mexico faults U.S. in border suspect's release;
Officials never asked for extradition, embassy says
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times, July 15, 2008

Mexican law-enforcement authorities released from jail a man suspected of running over and killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an aborted drug-smuggling attempt because U.S. officials never asked that he be held or sought his extradition during the five months he was in custody, the Mexican Embassy in Washington said Monday.

Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, was detained Jan. 22 by Mexican state and federal authorities in the town of El Yaqui in the northern state of Sonora in connection with the killing three days earlier of Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar Jr. He was released from custody on June 18, a week before the U.S. government presented Mexico with a "provisional arrest request" for his extradition.

Mexican Embassy spokesman Ricardo Alday said Mr. Navarro's release was ordered by Mexicali Federal Judge Laura Serrano Alderete after she ruled against pending and unrelated smuggling charges against Mr. Navarro, saying Mexican authorities who brought the case lacked jurisdiction. At the time, no U.S. request was on file to hold Mr. Navarro on any other charges, Mr. Alday said.

"Although we had asked the U.S. government a couple of times before his release to help us deal with the matter so we could hold Mr. Navarro, we got nothing whatsoever. The U.S. response never came," Mr. Alday said.

"No arrest warrant was presented, no evidence was offered and no one from the U.S. government contacted Mexican authorities concerning his extradition," he said. "We couldn't hold him with no evidence of a crime. We needed help, but we never got it."

Mr. Alday said federal officials in Mexico City were not aware of the release until after it occurred, and the Mexican attorney general's office has since issued an order that Mr. Navarro be located and detained. He also said Mexican federal officials appealed the ruling in Mr. Navarro's immigration case.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr on Monday declined to discuss the case.

"We appreciate and understand the intense public interest this matter has generated. Since the day Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar was killed, the Justice Department has remained fully committed to the investigation of his death," said Mr. Carr. "As with all ongoing criminal investigations, however, we cannot provide details with respect to the nature and timing of possible charges against any possible defendant or defendants.

"With respect to the separate issue of extradition proceedings, the Justice Department does not comment publicly upon the underlying charges or the evidence supporting a possible extradition of a citizen from another nation," he said.
. . .
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/15/mexico-faults-us-in-bord...

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

2.
U.S. too quick to house Islamic refugees
By Chad Groening
One News Now, July 15, 2008
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Security/Default.aspx?id=177000

The head of an immigration reform organization says the United States should be the place of last resort for Islamic refugees fleeing horrible conditions in their homelands.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), has written a new book called The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. He contends that, too often, the U.S. State Department grants visas to foreign nationals who create huge problems in the communities where they settle.

"There's no question that refugee admissions can cause problems – not even just Muslim refugees, but any others. But yes, if you look at Muslims specifically, we've taken people from Somalia, for instance, whose integration is a real problem in places like Minneapolis and elsewhere," Krikorian explains. "That's why I set the bar very high for refugee admissions."

Krikorian believes the U.S. should insist that other countries take on some of the burden for refugee resettlement. "We should not be taking anybody who can find somewhere else to go. And...if there are Islamic refugees...it seems to me [we] have every right to tell, say, Saudi Arabia – which is empty and rich – that they need to take some of these people and twist their arms a little bit. And we don't do that," he laments.

Krikorian says, unfortunately, the United States actually makes refugee resettlement into the country a first resort instead of the last resort for some groups.

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

3.
Pa. mayor fighting to keep immigration issue alive
By Michael Rubinkam
The Associated Press, July 16, 2008

Hazleton, PA (AP) -- Mayor Lou Barletta, whose bid to unseat a 12-term congressman is based largely on his reputation as an anti-illegal immigration crusader, is trying to keep his signature issue alive even as voters turn their attention to the troubled economy and sky-high gas prices.

The three-term Republican mayor on Tuesday announced the "Lou Barletta I-9 Challenge" _ his latest effort to rid Hazleton of illegal immigrants. Even so, he conceded that immigration may have been eclipsed as an issue in his campaign to oust Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski in a blue-collar, heavily Democratic district in northeastern Pennsylvania.

"Mainly gas and energy and the economy has been what's on the minds of most people," Barletta said.

Nevertheless, Barletta is still trying to keep voters focused on illegal immigration. And Democrats indicated how seriously they are taking Barletta's challenge Tuesday by airing the first television commercial by either party in the general election battle for Congress.

Barletta has campaigned with Joey Vento, the owner of Philadelphia's famed Geno's Steaks who posted a sign in the window asking customers to speak English. He also invited presidential candidates Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton to Hazleton to talk about illegal immigration. (All declined.)

On Tuesday, Barletta asked city businesses to work with a Florida company, Legal Employer Inc., to ensure that their employees are in the country legally. Legal Employer will use a federal database called E-Verify to check the employees' immigration status.

"We will continue to make sure Hazleton remains one of the toughest places in the United States for illegal aliens," Barletta said at the news conference.
. . .
http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=606839

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

4.
Domestic Workers Bill Passes in Montgomery;
Employers Would Have to Offer Contracts
By Ann E. Marimow
The Washington Post, July 16, 2008

Montgomery County residents who employ nannies, housekeepers or cooks for at least 20 hours a week would be required to offer workers a written contract that spells out job conditions such as wages and benefits, under legislation passed yesterday that county officials said might be the first of its kind in the nation.

In most cases, residents would have to provide live-in help with a separate room, with a lock, for sleeping and "reasonable access" to a bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. The bill, approved unanimously by the County Council, would cover in-home domestic workers whose employment lasts at least 30 days.

The measure does not cover the hiring of nurses, child-care workers from overseas who are classified as au pairs or self-employed companions to elderly and disabled individuals.

Montgomery's Office of Consumer Protection would enforce the measure and could fine violators as much as $1,000.

The "nanny bill," as it became known on the council, is meant to clarify expectations between employers and employees and to protect from exploitation some of the county's most vulnerable workers, many of whom are immigrant women.

"I find it incredible that some people will trust others with their most precious possessions -- their families and their homes -- but then not fairly treat the employees who perform these domestic services," said council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large), one of the sponsors.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who plans to sign the measure, said in a statement that it is "only right that the county reach out to let them know that they too have rights that deserve to be respected."

Before the vote yesterday, the outcome was uncertain as some council members worried that the measure would make it more difficult to hire such workers and that it would be open to misinterpretation by the public.
. . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/16/ST20080716...

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

5.
Immigrants Eager to Vote Sue to Hasten Citizenship
By Kirk Semple
The New York Times, July 16, 2008

Lawyers representing a Latino advocacy group told a federal judge on Tuesday that tens of thousands of people in and around New York City, most of them Latino, were at risk of being disenfranchised in the November elections because the federal government was taking so long to process their citizenship applications.

The lawyers asked the judge to compel federal immigration authorities to speed up the process to ensure that eligible applicants receive their citizenship before Oct. 10, the deadline in New York for registering to vote in November's general election.

At stake are the applications of at least 55,000 people in the New York City area who have been waiting at least six months -- and as long as four years -- for their documents to be processed, the lawyers said.

''It is time for their wait to come to an end,'' said Malick Ghachem, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in early March by the nonprofit advocacy group, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

But a lawyer for the federal government argued that the agencies responsible for processing the citizenship applications were operating within the law and had speeded up the review process across the United States.

''Congress is well aware that current processing times are lengthy,'' said Robert Yalen, an assistant United States attorney.

Judge Lawrence M. McKenna of Federal District Court said that he was mindful of the time-sensitivity of the lawsuit and intended to rule on the matter within the next several days.
. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/nyregion/16vote.html