Mexican ambassador says illegal aliens burdening taxpayers is “urban myth”

The Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, recently did an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, during which, he criticized American lawmakers around the country who have proposed crackdowns on illegal immigration which he says is “poisoning” relations between the United States and Mexico.

Sarukhan specifically lashed out at Georgia’s HB87 which, if passed, would require state and local law enforcement to investigate the immigration status of suspects they have reason to believe are in the country illegally...

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Illegal-immigrant numbers in state jump 35% in 3 years

They clean the floors of swanky office towers downtown, pick wine grapes in Wenatchee and wash dishes in Belltown restaurants.

An estimated 230,000 illegal immigrants were living in Washington state last year — 35 percent more than three years earlier, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center. The total represents one of every 20 workers in the state.

Researchers at Pew Hispanic, a project of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., used the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey data as a basis for the report.

They found that nationwide, illegal immigrants numbered 11.2 million, virtually unchanged from 2009 and down from a peak 12 million in 2007. Many have attributed the slide to more immigration enforcement and a weaker economy...

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Congressman Allen West Answers a Question On Immigration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPtma2m3bPU

Channel1Images | January 30, 2011

A question for and the answer by Congressman Allen West at his first town hall meeting in Deerfield Beach Florida. Content news and politics copyright 2011 Channel 1 Images Inc.

Mass. man in custody over alleged threat to Fla. representative

(Reuters) - A Massachusetts man has been arrested for emailing an allegedly threatening message to a Florida state representative over a proposal to toughen immigration laws, authorities in both states said on Tuesday.

Manuel Pintado, 47, of Northampton, Mass., was taken into custody on Monday night pending extradition to Florida, on charges of threatening William Snyder, a Republican Florida state representative, in a January 8 email, police said.

In the unsigned message, Pintado allegedly wrote that Snyder "better just stop that ridiculous law" if he valued his and his family's lives, according to a statement from the Martin County Sheriff's office in Florida...

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County Judge says McKinney is 'de facto sanctuary city'

Gov. Rick Perry kicked off the 82nd Legislature by addressing an issue he deemed an emergency: "sanctuary cities."

Katherine Cesinger, press secretary for the Governor, said sanctuary cities are cities that tie the hands of law enforcement by prohibiting them from questioning someone's legal status during the course of a lawful encounter.

"We must abolish sanctuary city rules in this state," Perry told legislators Tuesday. "Although immigration laws and their enforcement are the responsibilities of the federal government, we cannot compound their failure by preventing Texas peace officers from doing their jobs."

Last year, Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 drew similar attention as the governor's remarks. The law states that any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or agency of the state where "reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made to determine the immigration status of the person."

The main difference between Perry's proposed legislation and the Arizona law is the Arizona law would require law enforcement to question immigration status, whereas Perry's proposed legislation would leave the decision to check someone's immigration at the discretion of law enforcement personnel...

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California Spends $21 Billion Annually to Support Undocumented Immigrants

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich reveals the cost of local illegal immigration, and the figures are staggering. When combining the numbers for the CalWORKs program ($22 million) and food stamps assistance ($31 million), the sum totals a confounding $53 million paid to support American-born children of illegal aliens.

Stepping back a bit further, Los Angeles County Supervisor Antonovich explains that 22 percent of CalWORKs and food stamp benefits within the county go to undocumented immigrants. Additional costs of approximately $500 million for health care, $550 million for public safety and $570 million for CalWORKs and food stamps bring the grand total to an estimated $1.6 billion.

This is not the first time that Antonovich sounds the alarm bells for the county of Los Angeles. In May 2010 his office issued a similar news release. It outlined that the cost for the support of illegal immigrants' children stood at $52 million while overall the cost for illegal immigrants -- borne by L.A. County taxpayers -- exceeded $1 billion. It is clear that his warnings fell on deaf ears.

Of course, illegal immigration is not a social issue endemic only to Los Angeles County. Undocumented immigrants present a fiscal drain for taxpayers all over the Golden State. In fact, nationwide California leads the pack with an expenditure of $21 billion on illegal aliens (compare this to the $84.2 billion figure that denotes the statewide cost for undocumented workers across the nation)...

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Immigrant who stole Marine's ID to be deported after prison

A man from Mexico who was illegally in the United States will go to prison for a year after stealing the identity of a U.S. Marine.

Inocente Monroy Alcantara, 26, worked at a meat-processing plant in Arkansas City under the identity of a Marine, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Thursday. He will face permanent deportation from the country after serving his sentence...

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Senator Stewart (OH) plans to bring back SB35
(February 6, 2011 - Zanesville, Ohio)

JIMMY STEWART

Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Albany, has Muskingum County in his district. Stewart is the majority floor leader in the Senate. He is the vice chairman of the Energy and Public Utilities and Health, Human Services and Aging committees. He also sits on the Agriculture, Finance and Rules and Reference committees.

Stewart isn't the primary sponsor on any legislation yet, but said he has several bills in the pipelines.

Stewart plans to reintroduce a bill from last year that would give local law enforcement more training and resources to deal with illegal immigration. It also would allow Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to enter into a contract with federal law enforcement on behalf of local police...