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Guard troops pulled back from border National Guard troops assigned to help increase security along the U.S.-Mexico border are being pulled off the line a year earlier than promised, and some state and federal officials are not happy about it. "The drawdown of Operation Jump Start's strength level is ill-timed and should be halted and re-examined," Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wrote in a letter last week to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Arizona remains a problematic border in the Southwest region, and the long-planned drawdown in personnel and patrol is premature," she said. Miss Napolitano said President Bush's deployment of the Guard troops in her state had "made real progress" in cutting the number of people sneaking illegally into the country, and noted that the Border Patrol is not yet up to the manpower totals promised by the presidentially mandated program. The reductions, which began July 1 and will be completed by Sept. 1, will result in a cut of Guard troops in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas from 6,000 to 3,000 — half of that promised by Mr. Bush in 2006....
Hearings urged on DEA report A Texas congressman today demanded a hearing based on recent reports that Islamic terrorists embedded in the United States are teaming with Mexican drug cartels to fund terror networks overseas. The 2005 DEA report outlines several incidents in which multiple Middle Eastern drug-trafficking and terrorist cells in the U.S. are funding terror networks overseas with the aid of Mexican cartels. These sleeper cells use established Mexican cartels with highly sophisticated trafficking routes to move narcotics — and other contraband — in and out of the United States, the report said. These "persons of interest" speak Arabic, Spanish and Hebrew fluently, according to the document. The report includes photographs of known Middle Eastern persons who "appear to be Hispanic; they are in fact, all Spanish-speaking Arabic drug traffickers supporting Middle East terrorism from their base of operations" in the southwestern United States....
Migrant fatalities rise at Ariz. border People seeking prosperity in this country are dying at record-setting rates in the deserts around Nogales, even though the number of illegal immigrants perishing throughout the Southwest continues to decline. The alarming reversal of last year's dip in fatalities between Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and New Mexico runs counter to government statistics that suggest fewer immigrants are crossing into Arizona. The rise in fatalities comes as more Border Patrol agents, fences, roads and cameras are arriving at the border. The increase also coincides with the start of the Bush administration's phased withdrawal of supporting National Guard units from the border. So far this year, the Border Patrol reported 154 deaths in that part of eastern Arizona. That's a 23 percent increase over the same period last year and 6 percent more than the same time in 2005, the deadliest year for such crossings. The sharp increase in desert fatalities in this area, the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, comes even as agents are detaining 16 percent fewer illegal immigrants there than during the same period in 2006....
U.S. plans workplace crackdown on illegal immigrants The government is planning a workplace crackdown on illegal immigrants after Congress failed to overhaul immigration laws, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said on Wednesday. The department will announce in the next several days the final version of a rule that would require employers to fire workers who falsify identity documents. Those that don't comply would face fines of up to $10,000. The rule, proposed last year, was delayed when Congress took up immigration reform, an attempt that failed in June despite heavy lobbying by the Bush administration. The final rule will be announced within the next several days, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said....
Bush to order new crackdown on U.S. border The Bush administration on Friday will announce plans to enlist state and local law enforcement in cracking down on illegal immigrants, which previously was largely a federal function, according to congressional sources. The administration is unveiling a series of tough border control and employer enforcement measures designed to make up for security provisions that failed when Congress rejected a broad rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws in June. The plans are scheduled to be announced at 10:30 a.m. by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. Details were provided to Capitol Hill on Thursday. As part of the new measures, the secretary of Homeland Security will deliver regular “State of the Border” reports beginning this fall. In one of the most interesting revelations, the plans call for the administration to “train growing numbers of state and local law enforcement officers to identify and detain immigration offenders whom they encounter in the course of daily law enforcement,” according to a summary provided to The Politico by a congressional source....
Mexico, U.S. hone anti-drug deal the Bush administration is close to sealing a major, multiyear aid deal to combat drug cartels in Mexico that would be the biggest U.S. anti-narcotics effort abroad since a seven-year, $5 billion program in Colombia, according to U.S. lawmakers, congressional aides and Mexican authorities. Negotiators for Mexico and the United States have made significant progress toward agreement on an aid plan that would include telephone tapping equipment, radar to track traffickers' shipments by air, aircraft to transport Mexican anti-drug teams and assorted training, sources said. Delicate questions remain - primarily regarding Mexican sensitivities about the level of U.S. activity on Mexican soil - but confidence is running high that a deal will be struck soon....