1. Raid nabs over 500 illegals
2. Sen. addresses strategy
3. GOP clashs over platform
4. Afghan allies hope for visas

1.
Immigrant community in fear after nearly 600 detained in southern Miss. ICE raid
By Holbrook Mohr
The Associated Press, August 27, 2008

Laurel, MS (AP) -- A day after the largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history, Elizabeth Alegria was too scared to send her son to school and worried about when she'd see her husband again.

Nearly 600 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally were detained, creating panic among dozens of families in this small southern Mississippi town.

Alegria, 26, a Mexican immigrant, was working at the Howard Industries transformer plant Monday when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stormed in. When they found out she has two sons, ages 4 and 9, she was fitted with a bracelet and told to appear in federal court next month. But her husband, Andres, wasn't so lucky.

"I'm very traumatized because I don't know if they are going to let my husband go and when I will see him," Alegria said through a translator Tuesday as she returned to the Howard Industries parking lot to retrieve her sport utility vehicle.

The superintendent of the county school district said about half of approximately 160 Hispanic students were absent Tuesday.

Roberto Velez, pastor at Iglesia Cristiana Peniel, where an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the 200 parishioners were caught up in the raid, said parents were afraid immigration officials would take them.

"They didn't send their kids to school today," he said. "How scared is that?"

One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/ats-ap-immigration-raid...

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2.
Sessions speaks to crowd at Albertville immigration forum
By Kerry Yencer
The Gadsen Times (AL), August 27, 2008

Albertville, AL -- An immigration forum inside the City Hall chambers here Tuesday drew an overflow crowd to hear two-term U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Sessions, R-Ala., a leading advocate for improving border security and restoring lawfulness to the immigration system, shared his thoughts on steps the United States should take to secure its borders, reduce illegal immigration and create an immigration system that serves the long-term national interest.

Most of the 125 to 150 in attendance were white senior citizens, including some who vented their frustrations at the growing immigration problem in Marshall County.

Sessions addressed the “frustration because of us in Washington. We haven’t made the system work,” he said.

He pointed to a piece of legislation that wouldn’t work because it was “written by special interest,” a compromise put together with political interests at the forefront.

Passage would reduce illegal immigration by 15 percent, Sessions said.

“We (the federal government) haven’t given clear enough authority to (local) law enforcement,” Sessions said, referring to arrests of illegal immigrants by local officers, who then turn them over to federal authorities.

According to Sessions, 1.1 million arrests of illegal immigrants were reported in 2006.

Legislation that has been enacted, Sessions said, has resulted in a 20 percent drop in arrests in the last calendar year.

“People (illegal immigrants) are beginning to get the message,” he said.

He also cited figures from the Center for Immigration Studies that show the number of illegal immigrants living in the country has dropped 11 percent.
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http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080827/NEWS/808260268/1016/NEWS&ti...

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3.
Party Platform, McCain Differ on Immigration, Climate (Update1)
By Matthew Benjamin
Bloomberg News, August 26, 2008

The Republican Party released a draft of its 2008 platform that differs from candidate John McCain on issues including immigration, stem-cell research and climate change, while endorsing his ideas for economic growth and free trade.

The document, still untitled, is being debated over the next two days and may be altered before being passed at next week's Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Even with the differences, McCain aides have said they won't engage in a fight over platform positions.

Members of the party's conservative wing have been wary of McCain, in part because of his stances on immigration and global warming. Donald Devine of the American Conservative Union said he was satisfied with the draft.

``It's certainly a vast improvement over the 2004 document,'' Devine, vice chairman of the advocacy group based in Alexandria, Virginia, said.

The platform can be a harbinger of new directions the party is likely to go, and clashes over the document during the conventions can accentuate divisions and distract presidential candidates from projecting an image of unity.

Addressing Immigration

On immigration, the draft states opposition to any plan that would provide amnesty for people in the country illegally. ``The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity,'' it says.

That's a tougher line than the 2004 text, which called for a ``humane'' immigration system with a temporary-worker program and a path for illegal immigrants ``to come out of the shadows'' and apply for citizenship. The language four years ago mirrored President George W. Bush's goals for revamping immigration laws.

The 2004 platform also reflected the position of Arizona Senator McCain, who co-sponsored legislation last year that would have overhauled the immigration system and offered an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship while tightening the border with Mexico and creating a guest- worker program. He has since said the U.S. must secure its borders before changing the system.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=avmVTejizjBw&refer=home

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4.
Afghans risk lives for U.S. visas
By Sara A. Carter
The Washington Times, August 26, 2008

Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan -- The children scattered across the rocky desert as they chased a partially deflated soccer ball.

"Madam, his name is Michael Jackson," said Ahmed, the eldest in the group. He pointed to a little boy behind him who was pretending to moonwalk on the hardened soil beneath his tattered sandals.

"Madam, cookies," said another boy, referring to the small bags of Famous Amos cookies that U.S. soldiers had thrown over a barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence.

Many of the children's parents work at U.S. Forward Operating Base Salerno. It is the largest U.S. base in the Khost, an eastern province along the treacherous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and an area plagued by lack of food and a growing Taliban insurgency.

Afghan workers wait for an escort to leave Forward Operating Base Salerno at the end of a day's work. Hundreds of villagers near the base work there daily despite the danger of cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition. (Mary F. Calvert/The Washington Times)

Despite the danger of cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition, hundreds of local villagers enter the base daily to work in light construction, ditch digging and cleaning. Those with higher education often are contracted by the U.S. military to work as translators.

Many of these Afghans are motivated not only by money, but by the hope of emigrating to the United States.

For most, however, these expectations are likely to be dashed, creating additional frustrations and disappointment within a population already wavering in its support for the Kabul government and vulnerable to the blandishments of the Taliban, assorted warlords and drug dealers.

In 2005, only 50 visas were issued to Iraqi and Afghan translators and interpreters combined, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that oversees the process.

The number increased to 500 visas per fiscal year for 2006 through 2008. Applicants had to work with the Defense Department or State Department to qualify.

However, after Oct. 1, those numbers will be drastically reduced for Afghans. Legislation will cap visas for translators at 50 annually.
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http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/aug/26/afghans-risk-lives-for-us-to-e...