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Politics : Stopping the North American Union -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tadsamillionaire who wrote (107)	2/15/2008 4:08:11 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 111

Greens, Teamsters collide with Mexican trucks By: Erika Lovley Feb 13, 2008, politico.com International Brotherhood of Teamsters lobbyist Fred McLuckie thought his fight to keep Mexican trucks out of America ended when Congress cut a pilot program’s funding last December. Instead, the veteran lobbyist is still in the fight, after U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters continued to fund the program — a move many interest groups and lawmakers say is unconstitutional. Some lobbyists say they’ve done as much as they can on Capitol Hill and are urging their interest groups to pursue legal action. The Teamsters and three other groups are adding the new funding controversy to a lawsuit filed against the Department of Transportation last year. “You never know what to expect in this town,” McLuckie said. “It is certainly disappointing that we’re going back at this program. Our immediate concern is that Mary Peters isn’t following the law.” The program, launched by the DOT last September, opened the border to several dozen Mexican trucks for deliveries in the United States. Some U.S. trucks are also allowed to deliver directly into Mexico. Before, the Mexican trucks were only allowed within a 25-mile buffer zone near the border to have their goods loaded onto U.S. trucks. The program drew harsh criticism from the Teamsters, citizen rights group Public Citizen and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which have aligned to press safety and pollution concerns with lawmakers. The groups say there is no guarantee that the trucks are in compliance with U.S. safety or emissions standards. The Teamsters have gotten support from an unlikely bedfellow: the environmentalist Sierra Club. Greens are concerned that emissions from Mexican trucks could cause El Paso, Texas, and other U.S. cities along the border to violate Environmental Protection Agency regulations. “We think the increase of potential air pollution could put communities along the border out of Clean Air Act compliance,” said Sierra Club spokesman Oliver Bernstein. The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard oral arguments Tuesday over the plaintiff’s charges that Peters broke federal laws and endangered American motorists by allowing the trucks on the road. “We’re pushing Congress to stop this,” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. “We already passed a law that says you can’t spend this money, and Mary Peters is.” Much of the trucking dispute comes down to a war of words. The transportation department maintains that funding should continue under the new law, even though it states that taxpayer funds can’t be “used to establish” a pilot trucking program. The law was enacted in December, three months after the pilot program had already been established, the DOT argues. Entire article at politico.com

To: Tadsamillionaire who wrote (107)	2/16/2008 10:55:28 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 111

Gasp!>Police Check Arrestees’ Immigrant Status By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD, Feb 16 2008 PHOENIX(AP) — The police in this city at the center of the immigration debate will soon ask all people arrested whether they are in the United States legally and will in certain cases report the information to the federal authorities, Mayor Phil Gordon announced on Friday. All those arrested on criminal charges like drunken driving and murder will be asked by officers whether they are in the United States legally. The police may decide to recommend checking by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The change includes having the police notify the immigration agency about people who are detained but not arrested who officers have “reasonable basis” to believe are illegal immigrants. A conservative legal group said the policy did not go far enough. Civil rights advocates suggested that people who appeared to be Latino or spoke with accents would be more likely to be checked than others. Hispanics make up 34 percent of Phoenix, the nation’s fifth-largest city, with 1.5 million residents. At a news conference on Friday, Mr. Gordon and the four lawyers on a commission that recommended the changes tried to emphasize that the program would be closely monitored. Police officers, they said, would not become immigration agents and would not stop people at random and ask their legal status. “We are doing what every city in this country should be doing but doesn’t,” Mr. Gordon said. He added that the policy drew “a bright line between what should and should not be the role of the Phoenix Police Department.” The program departs from a policy that is more than 10 years old that bars officers from asking people about their legal status in most cases. It also sets Phoenix apart from most other big cities with large immigrant populations, including New York and Los Angeles. The police in those cities generally avoid such questions over fears that they would lead to racial profiling and discourage immigrants from cooperating with the police. Mr. Gordon had faced criticism that the current policy was in effect helping make Phoenix a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. The city is 200 miles from Mexico and is the largest in a state with the heaviest influx of illegal immigrants. An illegal immigrant killed a police officer last fall, and the police union and others stepped calls to change the policy. Judicial Watch, a conservative-leaning legal group in Washington, began preparing a suit and looked into a recall of Mr. Gordon. Police Chief Jack F. Harris, who has been outspoken in warning of the dangers of major police involvement in immigration enforcement, said he endorsed the policy, would write regulations for it and put it into place within three months. Christopher J. Farrell, director of investigations with Judicial Watch, called the change a “public relations feel-good piece” that “split the baby.” The main problem, Mr. Farrell said, is that it continues to restrict officers from contacting the immigration agency, which Judicial Watch believes violates federal law. Antonio D. Bustamante, a member of Los Abogados, a Hispanic legal group in Phoenix, said the policy changed “only because of xenophobia” and people “who hate the undocumented without understanding the huge contribution they make to the city and the economy.”<

To: Tadsamillionaire who wrote (107)	2/28/2008 5:50:56 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 111

A few good state Reps >State Legislators for Legal Immigration Targeted by United Nations State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) founder Daryl Metcalfe announced today that both he and his Invasion PA: National Security Begins at Home Keystone State Report have been referenced in the latest United Nations “Committee on the Elimination of Racism” report entitled Right of Immigrants and Migrants to the United States: A Critical Look at the United States and its Compliance Under the (UN) Convention. “Anti-American reports like this one are exactly why the United States should serve the United Nations and any other foreign or domestic organization who is demanding for our nation to voluntarily sacrifice our land of opportunity, sovereignty and national security with a long overdue eviction notice,” said Metcalfe. “Whether the more than 3,000 illegal aliens documented in the Invasion PA report were or ever will be convicted of the additional offenses of homicide, human trafficking, drug running, cop killing gang violence, or stealing American jobs, there is nothing alleged or even hypothetical about their criminal status. “Every illegal alien’s very first step across our borders is a violation of our federal immigration laws which makes them foreign invaders. Therefore, the only right they have as non-American citizens is to go home on their own or face incarceration, deportation, and at the very least, criminal prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. Establishing a zero-tolerance policy against illegal alien invaders and anyone who harbors them remains one of America’s foremost and most effective defenses against global terrorism, infectious diseases and importing even more third world poverty,” added Metcalfe. Citation 76 which specifically mentions Metcalfe and appears below, came as part of the strategically selected testimony presented by 120 representatives of United States “human rights” organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), during a United Nations sanctioned panel discussion held in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month. The full document can be currently viewed online at www2.ohchr.org. “PA State Representative Daryl Metcalfe issued Invasion PA: National Security Begins at Home Keystone State Report, which leads with the following inflammatory call to action: With the federal government currently AWOL in fulfilling its Constitutional responsibilities to protect American lives, property and jobs against the clear and present dangers of illegal immigration, many states and local governments are left with no choice but to take individual action to address this important issue.” Compiled directly from testimony at House Republican Policy Committee hearings on illegal immigration and media reports from across the Commonwealth and the nation, the individual incidents and statistics chronicled in the Invasion PA report involve ordinary Pennsylvania citizens whose lives have been unnecessarily lost or irreparably damaged due to the federal government’s outright refusal to honor the Constitutional obligation of securing America’s borders against foreign invaders. This frequently updated report can be viewed online at RepMetcalfe.com. “As a U.S. Army veteran, state lawmaker and founder of State Legislators for Legal Immigration I do not answer to the UN or the ACLU when it comes to protecting the lives, liberties and properties of the citizens I serve against illegal alien invaders,” said Metcalfe. “Unlike Washington, D.C., myself and all other SLLI members recognize that doing so would be a violation of our sworn oath of office to uphold our state and federal constitutions. This includes Article 4, Section of 4 of the United States Constitution, which states in no uncertain terms that our government, ‘shall guarantee to every state in this Union, a Republican form of government and shall protect each of them against foreign invasion.’” Including the newest additions of New York and Florida, lawmakers from 34 state legislatures, or more than 60 percent of the nation, have now signed on as members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration. In addition, State Legislators for Legal Immigration members recently entered into a working partnership with the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) to create a comprehensive package of model National Security Begins at Home legislative solutions that any state lawmaker can introduce to effectively shut off all economic attractions and incentives for illegal aliens.<