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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (6688)	5/30/2000 8:20:00 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 9127

Stirs fear in Mexico, concerns in U.S. By Mark Stevenson The Associated Press DOUGLAS ? An Arizona rancher turns down weekly offers to help him detain illegal entrants from Mexico passing through his land. Another resident patrols his spread from a 25-foot steel tower with night-vision goggles. A Ku Klux Klan supporter probes for support at an anti-immigration "summit." Arizona became the preferred U.S. crossing point for Mexican illegal entrants two years ago. Now, with their efforts to restrict illegal entrants' rights in California blocked by courts, some conservative and reactionary groups are pushing to make Arizona the front line in a new battle against illegal immigration. The growing tension has sparked fear in northern Mexican towns. It also worries U.S. government officials, even those who so far have largely tolerated ranchers who set out with guns and dogs to look for Mexicans crossing the border. In this southeastern Arizona town on the Mexican border, the once-overwhelming influx of illegal entrants through residents' properties has declined due to the posting of additional Border Patrol agents. Despite the drop-off, some ranchers and their supporters in the area have decided to build a political movement. They concede that property damage is no longer the driving issue, as they once contended. Instead, they are trying to spark a nationwide battle against what activist Larry Vance calls "a literal invasion." Vance, himself the son of a Mexican immigrant, denies any connection to hate groups ? "I don't want any goofball groups around," he says. But he says Southern California "has already become a political extension of Mexico," and he patrols his land outside Douglas from a steel tower with his night-vision goggles. With California's anti-immigrant Proposition 187 struck down by the courts and little support in the state, several California-based groups came out to the nearby Arizona town of Sierra Vista in mid-May for a meeting to support the local movement. A local Ku Klux Klan supporter distributed leaflets bearing the burning-cross logo outside the meeting. When the man identified himself, the participants asked him to leave. Inside, the meeting's organizers played a video featuring native Mexican dancers. "Do you want to see an America like this?" the announcer intoned ominously. Participants hailed rancher Roger Barnett ? who patrols his 22,000-acre ranch with a high-powered rifle and dogs and has detained dozens of immigrants ? as a national hero. "I get calls every week from people wanting to come here and help," said Barnett, who says he has turned down the offers because he doesn't think they would be effective. Barnett says the damage in litter, lost cattle and downed fences on his property ? which has cost him about $15,000 ? "is not the primary thing" any more. "It's a principle," he says. The ranchers face a potential legal fight from the Mexican government, which has hired a Washington law firm to take possible legal action against them for assault. The ranchers hate the Mexican government so much, they almost relish the prospect of a tussle. "Maybe the troops need to go down and occupy Mexico," Barnett says. Despite pressure from Mexico, the U.S. government has paid little more than lip service to trying to discourage the movement. The government argues it can't stop U.S. citizens from patrolling their own private property, though there are reports that some ranchers have taken to detaining immigrants on roads outside their land. Local, state and federal authorities have somehow never found an immigrant willing to lodge a complaint against the ranchers. Vance says one local official told him to "stay within the law, so I can stay on your side." The Border Patrol says it doesn't condone citizen detentions and adds that its agents have never seen a rancher pulling a gun on an immigrant ? something Barnett says he did only once, with a particularly suspicious-looking Mexican. David Aguilar, the Border Patrol's Tucson sector chief, concedes the ranchers "are an assistance, in the sense that they're our eyes and ears" in remote areas around the border. But Aguilar says the Border Patrol is concerned about the potential danger of citizen detentions, and his second-in-command, Carlos Carrillo, says there has been an uptick in incidents of violence since the ranchers' movement started a year ago. It is undeniable that illegal entrants have frightened residents and caused property damage since they began making Arizona their main crossing point. But south of the border ? in Agua Prieta, where reports swirl that ranchers hunt Mexicans for sport ? many say property protection is not the ranchers' motivation. "It's racism," said Rafael Baez, a 40-year-old native of central Mexico waiting, bag in hand, to make a run back into the United States. "It's just pure racism and nothing else," he said.

To: Lane3 who wrote (6688)	5/30/2000 9:20:00 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

that is WONDERFUL

To: Lane3 who wrote (6688)	5/30/2000 10:10:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9127

How disgusting of Germany to keep a father from his children. Everyones up in arms about Elian and here we have two American children which have been kept from their father for 7 years. What has Clinton done for SEVEN YEARS! And why hasn't this story been on the front page of the New York Times? Can the American mainstream media be any more hypocritical? Yes, get all exercised trying to return a boy to Castro's fascist Cuba, but let's not bother caring about bringing these children home to their father in America. How utterly pathetic. What kind of German law would keep a father from his children and give those same children to foster parents who probably aren't even related to the parents? I also read a story where Castro is keeping a dozen children from parents who escaped and didn't want to risk the lives of their children in the process. So Castro is keeping these children from their parents as well. Why hasn't the mainstream press ran stories on those parents? Michael

To: Lane3 who wrote (6688)	5/30/2000 10:47:00 AM
From: jhild	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

Is it really the German way that Schroeder ducks responsibility by blaming it on their "ponderous legal system"? Is it possible that I am hearing echoes of Eichmann just following orders here? It seems to me that there is an entrenched bureaucratic slavishness that goes on there. That they blame the process when they are the ones that define and control that process. This isn't to say that all countries don't have their share of bureaucrats, but when the head of state throws up his hands and only offers the sop of increased visitation in lieu of rightful return, this is not exactly leadership.