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Politics : ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION THE FIGHT TO KEEP OUR DEMOCRACY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (2470)	9/28/2007 10:57:48 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3197

Mexican truckers in the US:"“It is an assault on U.S. sovereignty and it needs to be stopped.” “This is all being done to fulfill a promise President Bush made to (former Mexican president) Vicente Fox, that he would open the border with Mexico,” Dr. Corsi told NewsMax. Dr. Jerome Corsi, author of “The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger With Mexico And Canada,” told NewsMax, “The White House lobbied the Senate Transportation Committee to not hold hearings on the Senate version of the bill. “It is clear that the Bush administration and the Department of Transportation are proceeding in complete defiance of the will of Congress and the American people. “U.S. trucking regulations have no chance of being enforced in Mexico. For example, they say Mexican drivers have to be drug-tested, but there are no certified alcohol/drug testing facilities in the entire country of Mexico! There is no national criminal database in Mexico, to allow checking on the criminal histories of these drivers. “The DOT is doing a poor job of inspecting American trucks, with only 40 percent inspected. How are they going to inspect trucks in Mexico? The DEA constantly finds Mexican trucks smuggling drugs, human beings and who knows what kind of contraband. There is massive organized criminal smuggling activity going on at the border. If al-Qaida gets into this mix, we will have a nightmare. You could have nuclear weapons, dirty bombs or terrorists in those trucks, and no one would ever know. “Now it has started, it will never stop. The whole thing is a sham.” The Bush administration argued “the critical bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Mexico would be placed under considerable strain by further delay in the demonstration project.” However, Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, termed the program, “a calculated, cynical move intended to ensure that the border is open to all commercial traffic, regardless of the implications for highway safety.” She termed opening the border, “a perfect storm. It is a predictable disaster.” Claybrook noted that in 2005, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) stated that 17.5 percent of inspected Mexican trucks had bad brakes! One in four border-crossing drivers did not have a Mexican commercial license and 15 per cent had no logbooks. The numbers involved are staggering. Seventy per cent of the $300 billion in trade between the US and Mexico in 2006 was carried by truck, according to Mexican Transportation Ministry figures. Josh Dorner, spokesman for the Sierra Club, told NewsMax, “If you have a lot of new traffic in older, dirtier rigs coming into border areas, that will hinder our ability to meet clean air standards.” The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has said that allowing Mexican trucks into the U.S. would bring an additional 50 tons per day of polluting nitrogen oxide and 2.5 tons of other particulate matter into California. Mexican trucks are older, with 66 percent built before 1993, when cleaner electronic fuel injection began. In addition, Mexico doesn’t require use of low-sulphur diesel fuel. Spencer told NewsMax Mexican drivers can be expected to fill up in Mexico, where diesel is not only dirtier, but cheaper. “Our average member pays $16,000 per year in state and federal highway user fees. How much will Mexico pay? They won’t be paying taxes on diesel fuel they buy across the border, and that may add up to 400 gallons per truck. “There are no hours of service regulations in Mexico. You wouldn’t know when a driver got to the border whether he had been driving seven hours or seven days! “There is no reliable way to do a meaningful background check on a driver from Mexico, because there is no reliable way to get data. Police are not going to be able to verify driver or vehicle licenses. When the DOT tried to check Mexican drivers’ licenses, they found that on 16 percent of them, there was no information available at all. “The U.S. will pay a terrible cost in terms of safety and security.” Spencer said that OOIDA intends to pursue legal action in appellate courts and to lobby members of the Senate to cut off funding for the DOT program. “This is all being done to fulfill a promise President Bush made to (former Mexican president) Vicente Fox, that he would open the border with Mexico,” Dr. Corsi told NewsMax. “Soon, there will be a thousand Mexican trucks on the road. There will be accidents. There will be pressure on U.S. truck drivers to lower wages. Hundreds, if not thousands, of American jobs may be lost. “It is an assault on U.S. sovereignty and it needs to be stopped.” newsmax.com

To: John Carragher who wrote (2470)	9/28/2007 4:27:00 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3197

Mexican President: We Are Coming! Friday, September 28, 2007 PUERTO PENASCO, Mexico — Mexican President Felipe Calderon told U.S. governors Thursday that immigration is an inevitable, natural phenomenon and he urged the U.S. Congress to approve reforms that would allow more Mexicans to work legally north of the border. Calderon demanded that the United States respect "the right to work wherever one can make the greatest contribution." "Immigration is a natural phenomenon that is economically and socially inevitable," he told the meeting in this Sonora seaside resort town. Immigration and border security were among the top issues at the meeting, the 25th annual such event between Mexican and U.S. governors from states along the two countries' common border. Mexican officials were focused on stopping the illegal flow of U.S. weapons into Mexico and protesting expansion of U.S. border fencing. For the Americans, the drug trade, migration and border security topped the list. On Monday, the U.S. government announced plans to erect about 370 miles (600 kilometers) of fencing and 200 miles (320 kilometers) of vehicle barriers by the end of 2008. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has opposed the border fencing, praised Mexico and its cooperation with its northern neighbor. "The relationship has become stronger and stronger each year," he said. "We have become more than just good neighbors. We have become great friends." Describing his many visits to Mexico since his first one 40 years ago, Schwarzenegger lifted a line from his movie "Terminator," quipping, "I always look forward to saying, 'I'll be back." Eduardo Bours, governor of the border state of Sonora, called for more border crossings, saying those that exist between Arizona and Sonora are saturated. "There are lines of three, four and five hours, and so we have to invest much more in border crossings," he said. He also called for a crackdown on U.S. weapons that "cross the border all too easily." Calderon said weapons illicitly smuggled in from the U.S. had been responsible for killing dozens of Mexican policemen While all the Mexican governors were scheduled to attend, half of the U.S. contingent of governors — New Mexico's Bill Richardson and Texas' Rick Perry were not coming. Richardson, who is making a presidential bid, did not give a reason for his absence; Perry's office cited a scheduling conflict.