Via the San Francisco Chronicle:

SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appeals court reinstated a taxpayer lawsuit on Wednesday that accuses San Francisco officials of violating a state law that requires police who make drug arrests to notify federal authorities if a criminal suspect doesn't appear to be a U.S. citizen.

 

A Superior Court judge dismissed the suit last year, saying the California law on which it was based was an invalid attempt by the state to regulate immigration. The First District Court of Appeal disagreed Wednesday and said the law, though it might affect immigration, is based on the state's legal authority to combat drug trafficking.

 

The 3-0 ruling allows opponents of San Francisco's immigration policy to try to prove that the city has broken the state law.

Via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

MADELIA, Minn. - Several people have been taken into custody in immigration raids in Madelia  and St. James this week.

 

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been making sweeps through those southern Minnesota towns over the past two days with help from local law enforcement.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released the results of a nationwide poll conducted in partnership with Zogby International concerning the American people's attitudes towards illegal immigration. Among the poll's highlights of 1,211 likely voters, conducted October 16-19, 2008 (margin of error is /- 2.9%):

--  71.5% said they agree local law enforcement officers should enforce federal immigration laws, including 51.5% of Hispanics and 56.2% of self-described "liberals."

Posted at MarketWatch:

WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) demonstrates why Georgia has taken a lead in adopting state-based policies to control the costs of illegal immigration. According to the new study, The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Georgians, the state currently spends about $1.6 billion a year to provide three basic services to illegal aliens and their dependents -- K-12 education, public health care, and incarceration of criminals. These costs associated with the estimated 495,000 illegal aliens residing in the state amount to a $523 a year burden for every Georgia household headed by a native-born American.

I paid a visit to the construction site of the border fence recently...yeah, it's not going up anytime soon.

Nor do I believe it's a solution to the problem, just some feel good legislation and waste of money.  Yeah, I said it.

The fence actually only goes about 250 yards on either side of the new site of the Anzalduas Bridge in the RGV.

Surprise!--not:

The United States will miss its deadline to complete a security fence along the Mexican border this year, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Thursday.

 

“I don’t think we’re going to hit the nail on the head and be done by the end of the year,” Chertoff told Reuters, adding that about 370 miles of the planned 670-mile (1,070-km) fence had been completed.

First of all, Steve King is a rock star for doing this.  Secondly, this issue isn't dead!  And Colorado is not lost in 2008 for conservatives.

Via Rocky Mountain News:

State Rep. Steve King wants a legislative audit to determine whether Colorado governments are complying with a 2006 bill prohibiting so-called sanctuary policies toward illegal immigrants.

 

King, a Grand Junction Republican, said he suspects it's not being enforced, and that he began thinking about making the audit request when a man plowed into an Aurora Baskin-Robbins and killed two women and a toddler in early September.

Via the Dallas Morning News:

The Carrollton City Council has derailed new Mayor Ron Branson's plan for a citizens task force to recommend ways to crack down on illegal immigrants in the city.

 

Mr. Branson said creating the committee would be one of his first actions after he was elected in May.

 

But the council couldn't agree on how many members the panel should have, how they should be chosen, and exactly what their mission would be.

 

A council subcommittee made recommendations on those issues, but the council decided to scrap the citizens committee and instead let the four subcommittee members study illegal immigration.

 

Mr. Branson largely attributes the demise of the citizens task force approach to council member Herb Weidinger, who withdrew his support. "He managed to pretty much derail it against the wishes of the citizens," Mr. Branson said.

Via the San Antonio Express-News:

[Rick] Noriega said [Sen. John] Cornyn has told border officials he opposes a fence to halt illegal immigration and then voted in favor of some fencing in strategic areas.

 

He also said Cornyn supported immigration legislation that included “deport and re-port” provisions that would have required immigrants in the country illegally to leave the country and then return before being eligible for work visas or possible citizenship. That plan, Noriega said, is impractical.

[Cornyn spokesman] McLaughlin said Noriega's attack is “irresponsible.” He noted that 70 border sheriffs, mayors and members of the Border Patrol have endorsed Cornyn's re-election.

Via Union County News:

PLAINFIELD: Several immi gration-rights groups have jointly filed a "friend of the court" brief in opposition to a lawsuit against a Plainfield real estate company that seeks to compel landlords to screen the immigration status of prospective tenants.

 

The suit, Del Rio-Mocci v. Connolly Properties Inc., filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, holds that by renting apartments to undocumented immigrants, landlords are violat ing federal statutes that impose criminal penalties for harboring undocumented people.

Via the El Paso Times:

This summer, two Republican legislators asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott what authority the state had to impose sanctions on businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and to stop cities from enacting so-called "sanctuary" policies.

 

MALDEF and the ACLU of Texas sent letters to Abbott last week urging him to decline the request. They argued it would be a waste of time to issue an opinion on the constitutionality of laws that do not exist and proposals modeled after statutes that are being litigated in other states.

Via the Houston Chronicle:

AUSTIN — In a clampdown on illegal immigrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety has adopted a new policy requiring noncitizens to prove they are in this country legally before they can obtain or renew a driver's license.

 

Gov. Rick Perry applauded the change, which went into effect Oct. 1, as a way to strengthen the state's security.

 

"Texas is a great place to live and work, and while we welcome legally documented individuals to the Lone Star State, we must ensure that this privilege is not abused by those seeking to enter our country illegally," he said.

Via WYFF4.com:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- More than 300 people were arrested Tuesday on immigration charges, part of a massive federal raid at a Greenville County poultry processing plant.

 

 

Immigration agents spent most of the day executing a criminal search warrant and interviewing employees at the Columbia Farms plant on Rutherford Road....

 

The investigation has already resulted in criminal charges against 11 supervisors and one human resources manager at the plant.

Via The Hindu:

Islamabad (PTI): A US court has ordered deportation of the brother of Lashker-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on a charge of violating immigration laws in his bid to obtain green card.

 

The Boston court ordered the deportation of Muhammad Masood, the former Imam of the Islamic Centre of New England, on Thursday.

 

After the court order, Masood agreed to voluntarily leave America for Pakistan late Friday under an agreement with US immigration authorities rather than be deported which would have taken months and he would have had to spend this period in jail, a Pakistani daily reported.

Via Newsday:

NEWARK, N.J. -- Federal immigration officials are appealing the case of a New Jersey Muslim leader who won his fight to remain in the United States, a move the leader's spokesman says may damage hard-won trust between Muslims and law enforcement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants the Board of Immigration Appeals to review the decision to stop the deportation of Mohammad Qatanani, a leader accused by some federal officials of having terrorist ties but praised by others as being an important ally.

Qatanani, 44, won his fight to gain permanent U.S. residency in September, when a federal immigration judge determined the government's case against the Palestinian was too weak to prove he had any ties to extremist groups.

The ruling would allow Qatanani and his family to remain in the country and eventually be eligible to apply for citizenship.