1. Tighter security creates long queues
2. McCain aid divides candidate's base
3. San Fran. PD attempt to explain fiasco
4. Regulations bar some illegal spouses
5. Cuban newcomers receive violent welcome
6. Mexican charged for smuggling deaths

1.
Worse may come for epic lines at Tijuana crossing
By Dan Keane
The Associated Press, July 21, 2008

Tijauna, Mexico (AP) -- It looks like any Southern California traffic jam — except you can buy a cappuccino and a 4-foot statue of Jesus from your car while watching dogs sniff vehicles for drugs.

This is the U.S.-Mexico border's most congested crossing, where local residents say already epic lines into San Diego have grown even longer since January, when the U.S. began phasing out a long-standing practice of allowing people they believed to be American citizens to enter by simply stating their citizenship.

Border guards now require most crossers to present a U.S. passport or other proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate — though they are still permitted to exercise their own judgment in order to keep lines moving. As always, Mexican citizens and other foreign nationals must show valid immigration documents to enter.

Still longer waits may be coming for people trying to get to jobs, homes, in-laws and weekend hangouts are scattered across both halves of the border's largest metropolis.

As of next June, all U.S. citizens will have to present a passport or security-enhanced card, much like an electronic toll tag, to cross — or risk being waved out of line for a rigorous security check.

More than half the 21 million cars crossing from Tijuana each year wait 90 minutes or more, with a fourth stuck for more than two hours, according to survey data collected before the January rule change and published this month by Tijuana's College of the Northern Frontier.
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqnRmYvc3yMoVRMHBZ01cQkneXdgD922DUA00

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2.
Why Won’t Juan Come to the Phone?
McCain's Hispanic outreach chief is both loved and loathed.
By Jessica Ramirez and Holly Bailey
Newsweek, July 19, 2008

The job of Juan Hernandez is to win support for John McCain, particularly Latino votes. So it may seem odd that the campaign doesn't want its national director of Hispanic outreach to get any press. Repeated NEWSWEEK requests to interview Hernandez have been rebuffed or ignored. When a reporter suggested talking to Hernandez at a convention of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, where Hernandez was slated to appear June 28, his name was suddenly removed from the list of scheduled speakers. A NALEO spokesman, Eric Wagner, says someone from the McCain campaign called and asked to replace him, but didn't offer an explanation. (A McCain aide, who refused to be quoted discussing internal campaign strategy, later told NEWSWEEK that the campaign had never signed off on Hernandez as a speaker.)

Here's one possible reason: Hernandez is toxic to many conservatives. "He represents the opposite of everything conservative Republicans stand for," says a GOP strategist who didn't want to be quoted by name on a sensitive topic. The blond Mexican-American (with dual citizenship) was a senior official in the government of Mexican President Vicente Fox from 2000 to 2002. His main responsibility at that time was to advocate for undocumented Mexican immigrants in America—to help them get access to education and health services, and then citizenship. In 2006, Hernandez authored "The New American Pioneers: Why Are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants?" Some conservatives have wanted McCain to deny Hernandez any role in the campaign. "Imagine a tree and people shaking it, trying to get him out," says the strategist. "Well, that tree went through a hurricane."

But one group's villain is another's hero. Hernandez has good ties to the Latino community, particularly church groups. McCain needs those votes, especially in swing states like Florida, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. "If the campaign shoves [Hernandez] to the side … it would cause an enormous amount of trepidation," says the Rev. Sam Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. "He's the only real bridge the campaign has with us."
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/147770

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3.
Officials try to explain suspect's release
Man charged with killing man, 2 sons was jailed in March
By Jaxon Van Derbeken
The San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2008

San Francisco -- Authorities couldn't fully explain Monday how an alleged gang member and suspected illegal immigrant was able walk out of jail in San Francisco - three months before police say he shot and killed a father and two sons.

Edwin Ramos, 21, appeared in court Monday on charges stemming from the June 22 slayings of Anthony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew. Police say the three were shot near their home in the Excelsior district when Anthony Bologna, driving home from a family picnic, briefly blocked the gunman's car from completing a left turn down a narrow street.

Ramos is scheduled to enter a plea in the case on Wednesday.

The Chronicle reported on Sunday how Ramos, a native of El Salvador, was repeatedly shielded as a juvenile from deportation by city officials who failed to notify federal authorities of separate assault and attempted robberies he committed when he was 17.

Things took an unexplained turn earlier this year when Ramos, now a 21-year-old adult, was jailed on gun and gang allegations in San Francisco. Federal and local officials struggled Monday to explain the circumstances surrounding his release - given that his status as an illegal immigrant was known to federal authorities - when local prosecutors didn't file charges.

He was arrested on March 30 when police stopped his car in the Tenderloin and a passenger in the car tried to dispose of a handgun. After three days in jail, Ramos was released. Police learned that the weapon tied to his passenger had been used in a double murder the day before. But at the time, prosecutors could not tie the weapon to Ramos, instead seeking charges against his passenger.

San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey, who oversees the jails, said his agency sent a fax to federal immigration authorities about both Ramos and the passenger shortly after their arrests.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office issued a immigration hold for the passenger but not for Ramos, Hennessey said, adding that his deputies then released Ramos when no local charges were filed.

"We gave them that document, we faxed it to the local office," Hennessey said. "They didn't respond to our fax for a hold, it was faxed four hours after of the arrest."

Hennessey said that about an hour after Ramos' release, deputies made a formal request of a federal computer database about Ramos' status for "billing purposes," so as to possibly recoup the cost of housing him on behalf of immigration.

Tim Counts, a spokesman for the immigration agency, said his agency's records reflect that sheriff's deputies didn't ask about Ramos' status until more than an hour after Ramos was freed from custody.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/22/BA5C11SK2S.DTL

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4.
Life in the Shadows;A family's borderline existence;Though married to a U.S. citizen, Evaristo Suarez can't leave Mexico till 2016. In Tijuana, they wait.
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2008

Stuck in Tijuana traffic, Heather Suarez fixes her strawberry blond hair, applies her makeup and listens to country music on the car radio. This morning, she sings along.

Life ain't always beautiful You think you're on your way And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day. But the struggles make you stronger And the changes make you wise And happiness has its own way of takin' its sweet time.

For Heather, 29, every day is a struggle. The native of rural Kentucky didn't know how drastically her life would change after she fell in love and married Evaristo Suarez, an illegal immigrant.

The couple assumed that Evaristo, 30, would be eligible for a green card once they got married and that they would raise their family near her hometown. But because he had crossed into the United States illegally more than once, he was denied a visa and must wait 10 years before reapplying to return legally.

So six months ago, Heather and their three young children moved from Kentucky to Tijuana to reunite with Evaristo, who had been living in Mexico since being denied his visa in 2006.

"Even though everybody said all these bad things about Tijuana, Tijuana was my dream to have my family back together again," she said.

But now, Heather said, 2016 seems a long time away.

During her two-hour commute across the border to work in San Diego, she passes women selling pan dulce and tamales. She smells the exhaust seeping through the windows. She checks the radio traffic report. But her thoughts always return to the family's decision to live south of the border. Was it the best choice for her children?

She fears the escalating drug wars and violence in Tijuana -- the kidnappings, slayings and shootouts. She wonders about the quality of education her children will receive in Mexican schools. She thinks about whether her family will have enough money to pay for rent, food and gas.

"Our lives have been completely flipped upside down," Heather said. "I am still torn, kind of living in limbo, not really knowing what is the right thing to do for my kids. I want them to be with their father, of course, but I want them to have a good education too."

It is "painfully common" for illegal immigrants to think they are going back to Mexico for a quick trip to get a visa but then realize they are stuck there for 10 years, said San Diego immigration attorney Kathrin Mautino. Sometimes, she said, they will cross illegally again and risk being caught and facing even harsher penalties.

But if immigrants want to follow the law, families -- often including U.S. spouses and children -- are left with two difficult choices: Live apart or move to Mexico. Mautino said she knows of a few U.S. citizen spouses who have made the same decision as Heather Suarez, but more choose not to move because of concerns about safety, education, medical care or finances.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-greencard22-2008jul22,0,7458475....

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5.
Armed robbers terrorize immigrant partygoers;
One man was killed and a group of recent Cuban immigrants terrorized by a band of armed robbers in Miami Gardens.
By David Ovalle
The Miami Herald (FL), July 22, 2008

For a group of recently arrived Cuban immigrants, Sunday night's party felt like home. They drank beer, danced salsa on the small concrete driveway and barbecued chicken, pork and sausage.

Their bond: roots in Bahia Honda in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

The night winded down quite happily -- until gun-wielding masked men burst through the driveway gate in Miami Gardens, beat a pregnant woman until her eye swelled shut, robbed the crowd of their money and jewelry and shot a 29-year-old father to death.

Ready to Leave

''I don't want to stay here anymore,'' cried partygoer Lieter Morales, 19, nine months removed from the island. She slumped next to the side of a red car parked in the driveway Monday afternoon, hugging her knees. ``He was a good person.''

MaikelCorrer-Crespo, 29, was shot twice, friends said. Paramedics rushed him to Jackson Memorial Hospital, but doctors could not save him.

Correr-Crespo died just after the sun rose Monday.

The handyman had arrived in Miami by boat less than two years ago. He left behind two young girls in Cuba. He has a wife, Yuli, whom he lived with in Hialeah.

''These people were at a celebration when they were attacked. We really need the community's help,'' said Miami-Dade Detective Nelda Fonticiella, a spokeswoman.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/612975.html

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6.
Driver arrested in crash that killed 6 immigrants
The Associated Press, July 21, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5izd-hgS2iFp6ZskJNpWn2E1OXDwQD922J7C00

Brawley, CA (AP) -- A Mexican citizen accused of driving more than 20 illegal immigrants in a vehicle that plunged into a canal, killing six of them, has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling, federal authorities said Monday.
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5izd-hgS2iFp6ZskJNpWn2E1OXDwQD922J7C00