Details Emerging on Port Newark Stowaway Case

The New York Post is providing additional details about the discovery of a stowaway, Asem Haroon, living in Port Newark for the past two weeks who may have ties to the Iraqi insurgency. Apparently, he was recently detained in Colombia, but the circumstances aren't clear.

Evidence suggests he "came here in January in a container or the bow of [an Italian] ship," King said of the bust, first revealed in The Post. "What I find concerning is . . . that he was in a secure portion of the port, left that facility and then got out of the secure part of the facility and went to a building outside of the secure area."

There's also evidence he'd "been detained in Colombia fairly recently," King said, although it's unclear why. The United States has fought against Colombian drug thugs for years.

So far, there isn't much clear about Asem Haroon's story except that he was found in living in a supposedly secured facility - Port Newark - by Port Authority police. Rep. Peter King is demanding a top to bottom review of security, and it also worth noting that funds for securing American ports is wholly insufficient for the task of guarding against stowaways or uncovering smuggled contraband, including arms and materials for terrorists to use in attacks.

Haroon's arrest comes following revelations about intel gathered in the Osama bin Laden raid that suggested that al Qaeda was interested in carrying out mass casualty attacks by blowing up oil tankers, refineries, and Port Newark is situated close to both.

Haroon is in ICE custody.

Mexican Drug Smugglers' New Export Method - Catapults

Behold - the marijuana catapult.

Mexican soldiers on Wednesday seized a large drug catapult that smugglers were using to launch packages of pot into a remote area of Arizona.

U.S. National Guard troops at the Naco Border Patrol station about 80 miles southeast of Tucson tipped off the Mexican Army after a surveillance camera spotted several traffickers hurling bundles of weed over the border last Friday night.

The soldiers found the launcher about 20 yards from the border on a flatbed platform towed by an SUV, according to The Associated Press.

Sounds like the drug smugglers have been paying attention to the Punkin' Chunkin' contests in Delaware.

Fix the Immigration Mess

When people call for a fix to the immigration system, they are really referring to the mess with illegal immigrants. These are people who entered the US illegally - without going through passport or border control or who have overstayed their visas and otherwise not complied with US immigration law.

There are believed to be 15 million people in the US illegally. That's a considerable amount, and many of the plans bandied about rely on some form of amnesty.

I can't understand why we as a nation would reward people who have broken the US immigration law get some manner of advantage over those people who came to the US legally and conformed to US law.

President Obama knows the system is broken. Republicans like Gov. Chris Christie know the system is broken. That's about it when it comes to consensus.

The problem is what to do about it.

Speaking to lawmakers, academics, and community leaders gathered at American University, Obama touted his plan by stressing the immeasurable contributions that immigrants have made to the United States, and the frequent discrimination they faced throughout history. "Immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country," Obama said.

Obama also put the onus on Republicans to pass a comprehensive immigration law, saying Congress cannot pass it without GOP votes. "That is the political and mathematical reality," he said.

While Obama's plan would include a path to citizenship as well as tighter borders, its chances for passage in Congress don't appear to be great.

Congressional Republicans, and some Democrats, said the government should focus on better law enforcement better moving on to such things as guest worker programs. In the meantime, lawmakers who are already grappling with new Wall Street regulations and an energy bill are also looking at congressional elections only four months from tomorrow.

Legal immigrants have helped build and defend the country - that's not and hasn't been the problem confronting the country these days. It's about the illegal immigrants. It's about border control and enforcing the laws already on the books. Throwing more laws on the books and poor/inadequate enforcement means that the problem continues.

Some kind of pathway for making illegal immigrants status legal is going to happen, but how to make that happen while giving preference to those who legally came to the US and are seeking citizenship through the current channels should be the priority.

To me, amnesty is a non starter because it disincentivizes people coming to the US via legal channels. Why bother going through the hoops if you can cross the border, start up a life here and a few years down the road be given the rights of citizenship or legal resident.

I'd support some kind of fee/penalty, application, and pathway to legal residency - from which citizenship can then follow (if following all the guidelines during that legal residency period). Those who do not pay the fees/penalties, do not fulfill the terms of the application and then the legal residency requirements should be deported (as is and should be current immigration law practice).

The path should give priority to legal immigrants, and not short circuit that approach for illegal aliens.

Democrats Propose Immigration Overhaul Focusing On Border Control

The illegal immigration problem facing the country has been going on for decades, and border control has been a massive failure. The feds pretty much abdicated on their responsibilities, but that doesn't mean that AZ has the right to do what it's done (and there are already two voter initiatives being considered that would delay implementation to at least after the 2010 election if not until after 2012, if at all, to say nothing of lawsuits being filed by various cities in AZ over the costs to comply).

That you now have Democrats scrambling to do something about immigration, and are now touting border control as the top priority, is pretty remarkable - and hilarious given their reluctance to do anything serious when the GOP raised the issue.

But Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said Arizona's move last week taking immigration enforcement into its own hands left Congress no choice but to act.

"It's worth quoting what the Arizona association of the chiefs of police have said, "we strongly urge the U.S. Congress to immediately initiate the necessary steps to begin the process of comprehensively addressing the immigration issue, to provide solutions that are fair, logical and equitable."

In their proposal, Democrats acknowledge widespread concern about violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the need to get things under control.

"Our framework is fix the border first, but don't just fix the border," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who succeeded the late Ted Kennedy as chairman of the subcommittee dealing with immigration laws.

Schumer is now the leading advocate for a broad rewrite of those laws. The centerpiece of his proposal is making sure all employees are in the U.S. legally, and to do that, it calls for a biometric version of a familiar document.

"Our framework creates a fraud-proof, hi-tech version of the Social Security card every one of us has," Schumer said. "New hires must show this card to their employers who will swipe the cards through a machine to confirm their identity and immigration status."

A national ID wont solve the matter - as most states now have to comply with federal requirements for strong ID protections. The problem is that once someone gets into the country illegally, it's a matter of time before they can obtain illegal ID that could pass muster.

Hence, the need is to deal with controlling the border, and then gradually rolling back the number of illegal aliens (which by their very label are here illegally - and efforts to mask that very nature by calling them undocumented aliens ignores that these people are breaking federal immigration law every day they're here). Now, that could mean a mix of an amnesty or deportations, but also stronger border enforcement and enforcement of existing employment laws will provide a disincentive for illegals to enter the US in the first place. It's stronger employment enforcement that has the potential to do the most - although it will also mean an increase in costs of doing business since one of the reasons that illegals are hired is because they're willing to work off the books, for less than minimum wage, and do menial labor that folks aren't necessarily willing to do.

None of this should affect legal immigration except as to expand it to allow more legal immigration - permanent visas, green cards, and naturalization. We should make it easier for others to come to the US legally, while discouraging illegal aliens.

Whether the Democrat proposal fits the bill remains to be seen, but it's nice to see that they're now pushing the same kind of border control rhetoric that the GOP was doing just a few short months ago.

On its face, the Democrat proposal is something that the GOP should be able to work with and pass, even if it means giving the Democrats a political victory. As always, the politics will make working on this issue more difficult than it need be given that Democrats are even focusing on the border control issue. The GOP has been pushing for stronger border control for years, and for them to end up opposing the measure because it might deign the Democrats a political advantage would be political suicide. It is in their (and our national interest) to get this done.

Has Arizona Crossed the Line With Latest Immigration Bill?

Legal experts seem to think that Arizona's new immigration enforcement act (AZ SB1070, with the full text here) may survive a legal challenge because it operates in an area of law known as concurrent enforcement between the federal primacy on immigration and border control and state enforcement.

The tests will come soon enough. Civil rights organizations are already planning their suits, said Lucas Guttentag, director of the immigrants’ rights project of the American Civil Liberties Union. The law, Mr. Guttentag said, “will increase racial profiling and discrimination against Latinos and anyone who might appear to be an immigrant.”

President Obama criticized Arizona’s bill last week before it was signed, calling for a comprehensive immigration overhaul as an alternative to such “misguided” efforts. He also asked the Department of Justice to “examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.”

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the department was considering several options, including a federal court challenge.

The major issue in those challenges will be whether federal law should trump state action.

“The closer the law comes to the traditional federal role,” said Juliet P. Stumpf, an associate professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, “the more likely it is that the state law will be considered to be trespassing on the federal government’s domain.”

The new law, Professor Stumpf added, “sits right on that thin line of pure state criminal law and federally controlled immigration law.”

The courts have rebuffed state efforts through pre-emption in the past. Californians passed a voter initiative in 1994 that denied social benefits to illegal immigrants; a federal district court judge struck down the law in 1997 and the state later dropped its appeal.

Arizona has already won one challenge to a different immigration bill: the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a 2007 law that penalizes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Federal law is not settled, however, and a similar law in Hazleton, Pa., was struck down by a federal judge.

Even if the new law is constitutionally acceptable as written, the challenge will be on whether it will be constitutional as applied. On this latter point, I can see real problems with it.

Meanwhile, there are some serious questions that ought to be raised about the background of Kris Kobach, who was quoted in the New York Times article. Apparently the Times didn't do a thorough background check on Kobach and his ties to white supremacist groups and nativists via a group he represents, FAIR, which raises questions about his intentions and the true motivations for the Arizona bill.

Washington State Vineyards Go To Pot

A few years back, we went to Washington State and toured Yakima Valley's wineries. There were some established wineries, such as Hogue, but there were a number of new and upcoming brands as well. What is surprising is that law enforcement has found that vineyards are being used as a cover for marijuana operations. So, who is behind this? Law enforcement believes Mexican drug gangs, who find that smuggling the pot in from Canada or Mexico is too difficult:

Authorities believe some of the buyers are living in Mexico and their vineyards are producing tens of thousands of illegal marijuana plants - a crop that could easily surpass grapes in value this year.

Law enforcement officials in the Yakima Valley already have converged on seven vineyards that had been converted to marijuana operations this summer. At least five had been recently purchased - the buyers are still being tracked - and one had been leased to pot growers by an unknowing owner.

Pot growers aren't just hiding their crops in national forests and random cornfields any more, said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Richard A. Beghtol.

"They are able to amass a huge amount of money and using that money to go out and buy land to do their marijuana cultivation," Beghtol said. "It's their big moneymaker."

The valley, home to acres of fruit orchards and hop fields, has long been recognized as an important pipeline in the drug trade with easy interstate access to Seattle, Portland and points east.

Crackdowns at the Canadian and Mexican borders have made it more difficult to ship marijuana into the United States, prompting dealers to establish U.S. growing operations.

The thing that tips off the authorities that the vineyards might be used for something other than growing grapes? Water consumption since vineyards don't require regular watering while marijuana needs daily irrigation.

Bordering on Craziness

As you are aware, I recently visited Arizona for a week. Part of the time, we were in the Tucson area, and did a day trip to the town of Tubac. It's home to a boatload of art galleries and shops about 50 miles South of Tucson and 22 miles North of the border town of Nogales, Arizona. The art galleries were quite interesting, but that isn't what piqued my interest.

Several miles north of Tubac, we came across a Border Patrol checkpoint where they stopped vehicles heading North along I-19. It looks like it's a semi-permanent affair as they have speed bumps in the area along with a trailer and signage that suggests that they are regularly checking vehicles going through the area.

Mrs. Lawhawk suggests that they are probably doing those checks in that area because they figure that they might catch illegal aliens who made it past the border and had let down their guard.

That's certainly possible, but one has to wonder why the Border Patrol and Congress aren't doing more to secure our borders at our borders. It's a sentiment that was echoed at several of the galleries, where signs made that point clear.

At a similar checkpoint outside San Diego, more than 60 illegals were found crammed into a big rig.

This comes at a time when Sen. John McCain, who represents Arizona is busy pandering to the open borders crowd and claiming to try to woo Hispanics. He clearly doesn't get it. He wants people to think that those who oppose amnesty and open borders are racist or somehow opposed to immigration. McCain has it all wrong. We're opposed to illegal immigration and giving citizenship to those that do not deserve it because they clearly chose the path of least resistance and violated federal law to enter the country illegally. The rule of law is there for a reason, and amnesty stands it on its head.

McCain appears to be out of touch with many of his own constituents, but that's not all that surprising since he's in a pandering mood. Of course, such pandering puts Americans at risk because insecure borders are open borders.

The War Goes On

The AP reports that an Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza when the Palestinian terrorists ambushed an IDF vehicle and then attacked the rescue vehicles. Well, that's not exactly how the Times headlined it: Gaza Attack Said To Kill Israeli Soldier. It's such a lovely use of the passive voice to make one wonder who actually killed the Israeli soldier. It's also funny how when Gazans get killed or injured, the headlines clearly use an active voice to state that Israelis are responsible for the incident.

And the report notes that they're concerned that this might start a fresh wave of violence. Earth to AP (and NYT), but the Palestinian terrorists haven't stopped trying to kill Israelis. They just aren't very successful with their kassam attacks, despite firing thousands of them. This concern about a fresh wave of violence might make more sense when you note that the Palestinians fired a dozen rockets at Israel yesterday.

Here's how the first three paragraphs of the story read:

Palestinian militants ambushed an Israeli army jeep patrolling the Gaza border, then attacked a rescue crew that rushed to the scene, killing one soldier and wounding three in a brazen cross-border attack, according to military and witness accounts.

The attack raised the possibility of a fresh round of violence in Gaza, just two days after Israel ended an offensive that killed more than 120 Palestinians. Senior Israeli military officers held an emergency meeting to plot a response, officials said.

Palestinian witnesses said a large explosion tore through the jeep, which was on the Israeli side of the border fence near the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, and set it on fire.

More to the point, the article clearly states that the Palestinian terrorists launched the attack across the Gaza border into Israel - killing and wounding the Israelis on the Israeli side of the border.

And the kassams continue to be fired from Gaza and slam into Israel. Sderot once again came under attack.

Meanwhile, Egypt is trying to rebuild its border fence with Gaza - having already rebuilt a section. Hamas had breached that fence and invaded Egypt, which included sending tens of thousands streaming across the border to cover for illicit activities, including smuggling weapons and materials necessary for the terrorist war against Israel.

UPDATE:
Media Backspin (via dhg4 at LGF) runs the numbers that the world media ignores. To wit:

28 Claims of damage for agricultural property and goods.

113 Cars damaged by rockets between Saturday and Tuesday.

230 Buildings in Ashkelon alone damaged by rocket fire between Saturday and Tuesday.

565 Overall number of Israeli buildings damaged between Saturday and Tuesday.

It takes a whole lot of rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian terrorists to cause that kind of damage. It's the context often missing in reports on the situation in Gaza and why Israel was forced to take military action in Gaza.

The fact is that the media is actively running interference for Palestinian terrorists, enabling them to attack and kill Israelis, while not having to worry about the repercussions because the media spin ignores or downplays the acts that initiate the Israeli response.

Steve Erlanger, a NYT reporter, leads with a sob story about a Palestinian who support the ongoing terrorism. It's always about the heroic struggle against Israeli actions - all the while downplaying the Palestinian terrorism that forced Israel to act.

“We all support resistance to the Israelis,” said Hitam Abed Rabo, 33, a lawyer with the military court set up by Hamas, which she supports. “They talk about responding to rockets, but nothing justifies what the Israelis did here. They have to be confronted with strong resistance, so they don’t come back.”

Will firing rockets on Israeli towns bring independence and freedom? “Yes,” she said. “Absolutely.”

Ayash Abed Rabo, 34, her cousin, scoffed. “These rockets are a joke,” he said. “We want to live. We want peace. I don’t want Israel here, and I don’t want resistance.”

Nothing? A couple thousand rockets fired at Israel, and you think Israel should just sit back and take it? Hundreds of homes and businesses damaged by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, and Israel should pack it in in Sderot. Well, according to the Palestinians, that is exactly what they want - they want Israel to pack it in.

The voices of reason in Gaza are few and far between, because Hamas has a way of silencing those who oppose its war with Israel.

Questions over just how many civilians were killed is a political one - because Hamas and Fatah need lots of civilian casualties to justify Israeli condemnation for its self-defense, while Israel knows that the number of civilians killed is far lower than the Palestinians will care to admit because the terrorists always seek to blend in so as to maximize the appearance of civilian casualties. They purposefully hide behind women and children, so if they are attacked, the body count will be ripe with images of blood soaked children and their toys.

UPDATE:
The moral equivalence brigade at the UN Human Rights Council issued a condemnation of the terrorist rocket attacks, but also condemned Israel's response. Figures.

Hamas says that they'll talk, but only if Israel lets down its guard and stops trying to kill terrorists.

The PRC is claiming responsibility for the morning's attack that resulted in a dead Israeli soldier on the Israeli side of the border, saying that it was in retaliation for the Israeli actions in Gaza.

They say this even as more kassams strike Sderot, and another Israeli was injured. That latest attack left a house on fire.

UPDATE:
Carl in Jerusalem has video of the attack on the Israeli forces at Kissufim Junction. Once again, the Palestinians handed out candies to celebrate the death of an Israeli.

UPDATE:
Expect more candy to be passed out by the Palestinians: Seven people slain by two terrorists at Jewish seminary at entrance of Jerusalem, police tell AP. Terrorists also dead. (HT: anonymous emailer) The Jerusalem Post notes the following:

Two Palestinian terrorists entered the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe on Thursday night and opened fire at students inside.

Eyewitnesses said that they saw four people dead, Channel 1 reported.

Magen David Adom has confirmed casualties but the number of wounded was unknown. MDA has confirmed that one of the terrorists was killed.

Once again, terrorists targeting schools. This is what they do.

UPDATE:
I'm breaking out the Yeshiva attack into it's own post. More to follow.

Sealing the Border?

Eleven days after Hamas breached the Gaza-Egypt border and unleashed a torrent of humanity, including Palestinian terrorists in an invasion of Egypt, the Egyptians have finally closed the border. Maybe.

The Egyptian troops and police were allowing Gazans and Egyptians to cross the border to return to their homes, but prevented any new cross-border movement.

Egypt has made earlier attempts to close the border, but this time, after a visit to Cairo by senior Hamas officials, Hamas gunmen were cooperating with the Egyptians instead of seeking to thwart them.

On Saturday, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, said that the group, which runs Gaza, would cooperate with Egypt to close the border, breached before dawn a week ago Wednesday by Hamas land mines.

Mr. Zahar said his group’s gunmen would be removed from the Gaza side of the border and that efforts would be made to avoid any violence or confrontation with Egyptian border guards. Mr. Zahar spoke on his return to Gaza after taking part in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, blew up sections of a wall along the border with Egypt on Jan. 23, days after Israel sealed its border crossings with Gaza in response to intensified rocket fire against Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since crossed in and out of Egypt to stock up on supplies and other merchandise.

On Friday, Egypt tried to stop Palestinian vehicles from crossing the border but Hamas militants were seen removing the metal barricades and spikes laid down by the Egyptian police.

Hamas has gotten what it needs from Egypt - the means and materials to continues its onslaught against Israel. They won a huge propaganda victory because the media failed to ask serious questions over how the entire circumstances of the latest incident was stage managed from inception through to the current phase.

It was all designed to make Israel look bad, despite the fact that Israel was simply engaging in self defense. Of course, the media and world diplomats hate when Israel defends itself against mortal enemies, so they were predisposed to images of Gazans suffering by candle light - in the middle of the day.

The invasion of Egypt by Hamas thugs enabled them to obtain more advanced weapons. Go figure. Egypt says that this wont happen again. Right, just like they looked the other way as Hamas spent weeks preparing for the invasion by cutting the border fences with blowtorches and no one noticed?

Yet Another Reason To Dislike McCain

As my readers know, I detest GOPer and Arizona Senator John McCain and can't wait to see his presidential campaign go down in flames. This is yet another reason I do not trust him. One campaign official can be a mistake. Two could be a coincidence. But when you start loading up your campaign with advisors who are open borders and amnesty enthusiasts, it's a seriously disturbing trend.

And it's one that is even more enlightening considering that McCain has said that if he were elected President, he'd sign into law his McCain-Kennedy amnesty immigration plan.

Fences Make Good Neighbors: Hamas Doesn't Want Them

Hamas continues its efforts to completely obliterate internationally recognized borders - the border between Egypt and Gaza. Egyptian security forces continue to take casualties in skirmishes with Gazans who try to force their way into Egypt. Egypt is busy complaining about the ongoing violence at the border. Welcome to Israel's world. Now, multiply the violence tenfold and you begin to get the idea of what Israel has been dealing with.

The terrorists continue their rocket war with Israel, and thankfully no casualties were inflicted by the Palestinians in the attacks.

As I've predicted in the past, Egypt is now trying to push its own diplomatic efforts after watching the Saudis proffer their own last week. They want to mediate between Hamas and Fatah. The Palestinian civil war continues to simmer as both sides are unwilling and incapable of conceding on basic issues.

Jordanians rally in support of Gazans. Iran did the same thing last week. Well, considering that this is a manufactured crisis, and the media was a willing accomplice in this, what do you expect? The mullahs bring out their gullible followers and stage protests for even more media attention.

As for the United Nations, well, nothing new there. Libya blocked the latest diplomatic statement that would have condemned both Israel's withholding of gas and fuel to Gaza while deploring the incessant rocket attacks. Libya was holding out that the statement opposing the rocket attacks would be dropped.

UPDATE:
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Rosemary's Thoughts, 123beta, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Pursuing Holiness, A Newt One- The Truth Surge, Nuke Gingrich, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Wolf Pangloss, A Newt One, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Hamas: Don't Fence Me In

Hamas continues to try and destroy whatever border control Egypt is seeking to impose along the Gaza/Egypt border.

Egyptian guards with riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border Friday, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier.

Men in black clothing, some of them masked, stood atop the bulldozer as it knocked down a concrete slab under the watchful eyes of Egyptian forces on the other side who shot in the air in an attempt to hinder the flow of Gazans into Egypt.

Thousands of Palestinians, many of them carrying empty fuel canisters, managed to push through several openings despite the presence of the Egyptians deployed nine rows deep in some places. At one point, guards aimed a water cannon above the heads of people, not at them, to keep them back.

Egypt is laying down deadlines for Gazans to leave Egypt. Yes, I'm sure that will work. Hamas is busy tearing down other sections of the security barrier along the border.

Hamas is promising that 500,000 will march on Erez Crossing and Egypt is making promises to the PA that they'll seal the border.

Meanwhile, the US is blocking the latest anti-Israel Security Council resolution, which would condemn Israel for the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza, even if the crisis is wholly invented by Gaza itself - and exacerbated by Hamas to gain a propaganda advantage.

The Times reports this as little more than Gazans crossing into Egypt to do their shopping, despite the fact that terrorists and smugglers are making the most of the open and thoroughly porous border by bringing in materials necessary for bomb making (fertilizer) and the smugglers are bringing in cigarettes and other contraband to sell.

Meanwhile, yesterday saw Palestinian terrorists attempt attacks on a Jerusalem yeshiva. It's yet another example of why revolving justice doesn't work. The
terrorists responsible for yeshiva attack in Jerusalem yesterday was among those just released by Olmert.

The two terrorists killed in Mekor Chaim yeshiva in Kfar Etzion Thursday night while attempting to infiltrate the high school were released only two weeks earlier from an Israeli prison, Palestinian sources quoted by Israel Radio said.

The two, Hamas operatives, were cousins from the town of Beit Omar north of Hebron.

It's funny how that works. The terrorists get arrested by Israel for committing crimes against Israelis but get released because it's supposed to be a humanitarian gesture. The same terrorist then goes back and resumes the activities that got them arrested in the first place. In this case, the two terrorists wont be able to do any further damage since they were killed while attempting their attack.

Hamas says it was behind the attack on Kfar Etzion. As always, the rockets keep slamming into Israel.

Border Agent Murdered By Drug Smuggler Entering US Illegally

Luis Aguilar, 32, who was assigned to the Yuma, Arizona, border patrol station, died Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said in a statement.

"Agent Aguilar's death serves as another stark reminder of the risks our front-line agents and officers face each day," Basham said.

Aguilar was trying to place spike strips in the path of two vehicles believed to have illegally entered the country from Mexico when one of the vehicles hit him, agent Michael Bernacke, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector, told The Associated Press.

Both vehicles drove back across the border into Mexico, the AP said.

The fatal incident occurred in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Andrade, California, Basham said. Andrade is just over the California state line from Arizona.

The area is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts but also is frequently used by smugglers carrying people or drugs, the AP said.

Once again, lawlessness and mayhem is caused by criminals who cross the border into the US. Agent Aguilar was murdered by drug smugglers who treat the US border as nothing more than a line in the sand that can be crossed with impunity.

Will the US government take further action to secure its borders, or will it simply pay lip service to the family of Agent Aguilar, who will be left to grieve the lost of their husband, brother, and father. Given past performance, I would count on more lip service. I wish I'd be wrong on that count.

When Will NYT Run Expose On Illegal Aliens

The New York Times began running a series of articles about crimes committed by US military war veterans, which suggests that members of the US Armed Forces come home to commit crimes. The Times' methodologies are suspect, and ignores the fact that crimes committed by members of the US Armed Services is below that of the general population. In other words, it's agenda "journalism" that seeks to undermine support for the US military.

I wonder whether the Times would do a similar report on criminality of illegal aliens, seeing how they are not only here in the country illegally (a violation of federal law), but engage in a significant number of violent crimes that are shocking and deplorable (recall the Newark triple execution murders committed by MS-13 thugs). One such recent case is reported by Dan Riehl. This particular individual was arrested and deported twice. His crimes? Serial rapes of 25 teenagers. In other words, he was a one-person crime spree.

But sadly, it's not just a one-person spree. How about law enforcement officers murdered or assaulted by illegal aliens. Or the victims of illegal aliens in general, which is just the tip of the iceberg.

How about the fact that the nearly 55,000 illegal aliens incarcerated in 2003 were arrested some 460,000 times and were responsible for some 700,000 criminal offenses (see pages 8 through 10) for the year studied - 2003. Among the caveats of the report - it may not capture all illegal aliens in the system nor does it capture all the arrests. It makes for a most interesting read.

That's just a small sampling of the problem, and yet the Times sees fit to focus elsewhere. It isn't curious, because the Times has regularly sought amnesty for illegal aliens and has refused to consider enforcement of existing laws as a solution to deal with illegal aliens in the country. The editors refuse to recognize the serious disruption caused by illegal aliens on the nation, and the huge burden on the nation as a result of illegal aliens. Further, the problems are exacerbated by the likes of MS-13 and other gangs that are made up of illegal aliens that terrorize inner cities and suburbs alike around the country.

Drawing the Line

After dealing with hundreds of attacks by Mexican thugs across the US/Mexico border, US border control agents have finally had enough and begun to go after these thugs using tear gas.

The Border Patrol says its agents were attacked nearly 1,000 times during a one-year period along the Mexican border, typically by assailants hurling rocks, bottles and bricks. Now the agency is responding with tear gas and powerful, pepper-spray weapons, including firing into Mexico.

The counteroffensive has drawn complaints that innocent families are being caught in the crossfire.

"A neighbor shouted, 'Stop it! There are children living here," said Esther Arias Medina, 41, who on Wednesday fled her Tijuana, Mexico, shanty with her 3-week-old grandson after the infant began coughing from smoke that seeped through the walls.

That's gotten some Mexicans quite annoyed.

Sorry, but that's a tiny violin playing for them.

Some of these same Mexicans have no problem with the thugs using those people as cover for their illegal operations and illegal border crossings into the United States.

Jules Crittenden offers his take, and Michelle Malkin notes that Congress has again gutted the border fence funding. Nice. Combine that with the fact that Congress can't figure out how to provide enough personnel for issuing passports as per federal law, then you begin to scratch the surface of what a mess border control really is.

Congress Shirks Its Responsibilities Again

Congress has originally sought to require US citizens to obtain passports to visit neighboring countries like Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. It had delayed imposition of the rule after finding that the State Department couldn't handle the influx of requests for passports.

Now, we're about to witness Congress holding off on imposing this security rule again.

The State Department is once again showing itself incapable of handling the paperwork.

WASHINGTON - Congress is seeking to delay a new security rule requiring passports at all U.S. border crossings next year in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last summer's vacation-killing backlog of passport applications.

The Bush administration said Monday it opposed the measure and still plans to go forward with implementing the planned passport rule next summer.

Lawmakers said Monday that under a major end-of-the-year spending bill to be voted on this week, the border passport rule would be moved back even further, to no earlier than June 1, 2009. ...

As a result of the new requirements, demand for passports soared and the State Department issued a record 18.4 million passports in fiscal year 2007, compared to 12.1 million in 2006.

The rules were originally passed as part of a 2004 intelligence reform package.

Congress and the State Department must both take the blame for failing to implement the program and funding sufficient additional personnel to review applications.

The passport rules are supposed to help border agents determine who is entering the US and delaying the rule would pose a security risk, but one that Congress apparently has no problem with.

Funny thing is that the same Congress that wanted to impose an amnesty program for illegal aliens along with the bureaucracy to process the tens of millions of people subject to that amnesty program and guest worker program are having second thoughts about a program that can barely handle an additional six million requests per year.

It shows the utter unseriousness of Congress and the Administration to secure our borders in a functional and serious manner.

El Emigrante

What kind of message is being sent with this game? Avoid being caught by the border police for as long as possible and points are awarded not only for the time evading the border police, but when you get the border police to crash into each other.

Nice.

Classy.

Security Breach at O'Hare Airport

This isn't going to foster confidence in the air security systems that are in place. Twenty three people were arrested in a major bust at O'Hare Airport involving illegal aliens and related hiring practices:

Much of the investigation centered on the airport security badges issued by the Department of Aviation, said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Agents found that 110 of the 134 badges issued to Ideal Staffing workers did not match the individuals who carried them, he said.

The discrepancies were first noted in March by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector, Fitzgerald said.

"If we are to ensure public safety, we must know who has access to the secure areas of airports," Fitzgerald said. "A fundamental component of airport safety is preventing the use of false identification badges, and punishing those who commit or enable such violations."

Mary Gurin, 36, of Carpentersville, and Norinye Benitez, 24, of Franklin Park, were each charged with one federal count of harboring illegal immigrants for gain and one federal count of misuse of Social Security numbers. They were scheduled for a preliminary appearance later Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Brown said.

Benitez is believed to be an illegal immigrant from Mexico, and Gurin employed her and signed her airport badge application while knowing her illegal status, Brown said.

The workers arrested, 21 from Mexico and two from Guatemala, were being held in the Cook County jail. They face state criminal charges and deportation, Brown said.

These are people who have access to supposedly secure locations at the airport, including access to the aircraft themselves.

This is a major breach of security, and one has to wonder whether other airports have similar issues.

UPDATE:
Border and port security isn't much better.

Hillary Clinton Support Spitzer Illegal Alien License Plan

Fresh off her dismal performance in the latest Democratic Party debate, her spinmeisters are busy claiming that she indeed does support New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to extend drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

A day removed from the waffling roasting at the hands of Dodd and moderator Russert, her staff admits that she indeed is supporting Spitzer and his plan to open up drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

Mrs. Clinton’s aides said her statement was intended to signal that she broadly supported Mr. Spitzer’s goal of awarding driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Mr. Spitzer initially proposed a blanket program of awarding full-fledged driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants; in the face of sharp opposition from the Legislature, he backed off and presented a two-tier program system of awarding licenses to illegal immigrants.

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said that she had not studied either plan, and was not specifically endorsing either of them.

Still, the wording of the statement was murkier than what many of her opponents have said in either supporting or opposing Mr. Spitzer’s initiatives. Among those opposing it were Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut; Senator Barack Obama of Illinois supported it.

Still, the release of the statement suggested her advisers believed it was politically wiser to embrace a position that could clearly hurt her in a general election rather than risk providing more fuel to what has emerged as a damaging line of criticism: That she, taking advantage of her dominant position in some polls, is not being candid about her views and about would she would do as president.

That argument was voiced by Senator Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, in an interview leading up to the debate and set the framework for two hours of attacks on Mrs. Clinton. And it continued this morning as Democratic and Republican presidential candidates attacked her for her answer on Social Security.

“She is a habitual evader,” said Mr. Obama’s senior strategist, David Axelrod.

Clinton's people can't help but take digs at the Bush administration over this, despite the fact that Bush himself is an open borders kind of guy, just like one William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary's husband and former President. The opposition to the amnesty plan came from both sides of the aisle against a bipartisan group of politicians who realize that border control and dealing with the illegal alien mess shouldn't include amnesty - not when existing law hasn't been enforced for decades and the borders are still not properly secured.

Never mind that so much of the public finds the idea of giving illegal aliens drivers licenses - a privilege and not a right. Never mind that this is an issue that could torpedo her chances because so much Democrat support comes from the very kinds of leftists and socialist groups that support open borders and extending illegal aliens all kinds of rights and privileges.

New Yorkers have grave reservations over the plan, and I'm talking about Democrats. Forget about GOP denunciations of Spitzer's ill conceived plan to extend drivers licenses to illegal aliens, consider that many leading Democrats in New York are wary of giving those illegals the privilege of driving because of the security concerns.

What security concerns? Well, consider that drivers licenses are a gateway document, enabling the procurement of other key documents, and terrorists and criminal enterprises are keen to exploit weaknesses in such document procurement to further their own criminal and terroristic exploits.

Driving is a privilege, and extending to illegals this privilege does not bring them out of the shadows. Indeed, illegal aliens are not in the shadows. They're defiantly open about their presence and mark on the country. You've got illegal aliens openly demonstrating against those who seek to secure US borders and enforce existing US law, as though that is somehow racist or biased. You've got illegal aliens utilizing advocacy groups to further their agenda in a very open and obvious manner.

These people aren't hiding in the shadows and they certainly aren't afraid to come out and show their intentions.

Spitzer has seriously miscalculated on the issue, and his own DMV is up in arms over this since it affects all New York State drivers - drivers licenses are a key document showing residency in the State.

Hot Air has more, including links to Hillary's performance at the debate and the inevitable pretzel logic invoked by Clinton and her people to pin the blame on someone other than Hillary for this.

Nightmare Averted For Now

The DREAM Act - an amnesty laden piece of legislation couldn't pass cloture and will likely join previous efforts to bring an amnesty legislation before the President (who would likely sign such legislation) despite the failure of every prior amnesty to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the US.

The full roll call vote will be posted as it becomes available.

Needless to say, the open borders/amnesty crowd will be back.

UPDATE:
The roll call is here.