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1. Panel hears testimony on 287(g)
2. Schools tell of demographic shift
3. BP deploys rescue beacons in TX
4. UT comm. approves 'strike force'

1.
House panel scrutinizes immigration program
The Associated Press, March 5, 2009

Washington, DC (AP) -- The federal government will rewrite its agreements with local and state law agencies that enforce immigration laws to provide greater guidance and control.

That's the word from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official. William Riley says a draft document is circulating within the agency to more clearly explain the purpose of a controversial program known as 287(g).

ICE currently has 67 agreements with local and state police agencies to enforce federal immigration laws. As more police agencies have signed on to the program, allegations of racial profiling and civil rights violations have risen.
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http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=9950818

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2.
Hispanic growth in school enrollment points to rapid US diversification, surge in population
By Hope Yen
The Associated Press, March 4, 2009

Washington, DC (AP) -- Roughly one-fourth of the nation's kindergartners are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.

Census data released Thursday also showed that Hispanics make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students. Hispanics' growth and changes in the youth population are certain to influence political debate, from jobs and immigration to the No Child Left Behind education, for years.

The ethnic shifts in school enrollment are most evident in the West. States such as Arizona, California and Nevada are seeing an influx of Hispanics due to immigration and higher birth rates.

Minority students in that region exceed non-Hispanic whites at the pre-college grade levels, with about 37 percent of the students Hispanic. Hispanics make up 54 percent of the students in New Mexico, 47 percent in California, 44 percent in Texas and 40 percent in Arizona.

In 2007, more than 40 percent of all students in K-12 were minorities — Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That's double the percentage of three decades ago.

In colleges, Hispanics made up 12 percent of full-time undergraduate and graduate students, 2 percent more than in 2006. Still, that is short of Hispanics' 15 percent representation in the total U.S. population.

"The future of our education system depends on how we can advance Hispanics through the ranks," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "In many cases it's going to be a challenge, because they are the children of immigrants, and their English is not as strong. Many have parents without a high school or college education."

Minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042. For minority kids, that shift is seen coming in 2023, seven years earlier than the previous estimate, from 2004. The accelerated timetable is due to immigration among Hispanics and Asians, and declining birth rates among non-Hispanic whites.

Hispanics account for more than 23 percent of kindergartners in private and public schools, according to 2007 data. That is more than triple Hispanics' percentage in the 1970s, the height of white baby boom enrollment in elementary and high school.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-schools-chang...

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3.
Border Patrol: Rescue beacons to offer help to immigrants in distress
By Jared Taylor
The Monitor (McAllen, TX), March 4, 2009

Falfurrias, TX -- Federal authorities have deployed two new rescue beacons along one of the most common routes followed by illegal immigrants and drug smugglers as they head north.

The U.S. Border Patrol placed the beacons along power lines on Brooks County ranchland east of U.S. Highway 281, said John Lopez, spokesman for the agency's Rio Grande Valley Sector.

"These beacons will be a way of (immigrants) gaining immediate medical attention or assistance," he said. "They will utilize them if they are in a dire need."

Each beacon is a red steel post that stands about two stories tall and is equipped with a red button that can be pressed to summon assistance. The towers are solar-powered and are lighted at night. Mirrors around the tops of them enhance their visibility during the day, Lopez said.

Instructions to push the button for help and wait at the beacon are conveyed in English, Spanish and Mandarin - a group of closely related Chinese dialects that are spoken in about four-fifths of that country. A cartoon image of a person in distress pressing the button and activating the beacon also conveys the message.

"A lot of people wouldn't think so, but we catch a lot of Chinese nationals," said Agent Dan Doty, a local Border Patrol spokesman.

The beacons have been responsible for a "countless number" of rescues along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Arizona desert, where they were first installed in 2002, Lopez said.
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http://www.themonitor.com/articles/help_23877___article.html/beacons_imm...

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4.
Dee's strike force bill out of committee
By Jeff DeMoss
The Standard Examiner (Ogden, UT), March 5, 2009

Salt Lake City -- The Utah Senate is set to give final legislative consideration to a measure creating a collaborative effort between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to battle violent and other felony crimes associated with illegal immigration.

A Senate committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve House Bill 64, sponsored by Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace.

The bill would allocate an additional $891,000 to the Utah Office of the Attorney General, which would set up a strike force to combat drug and human trafficking, creation of fraudulent documents and other crimes.

It would allow state and local police agencies to voluntarily partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

A sweeping immigration reform bill that passed a year ago, Senate Bill 81, included a provision allowing local law enforcement to become cross-deputized as ICE agents, but it did not specifically target felonies and violent crime.

"Targeting this with a rifle approach is the best way to address what I think is the worst problem we have with illegal immigration," Dee said.

HB 64 also creates a fraudulent-document identification team within the attorney general's office.
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http://www.standard.net/live/news/166158/