The threat from within

Last month, a Saudi Arabian man named Raed Abdul-Rahman Al-Saif, placed three bags on the Tampa, Florida airport security conveyor belt as he made his way toward his gate to board US Airways flight 1077 to Phoenix, Arizona and Portland, Oregon. He never made it to the gate.

Read the rest of this compelling article titled The County and the School of Hate, by David R. Stokes, a Virginia-based minister and broadcaster.

Earlier this year, Seeing Red AZ posted a video and article on this subject. We urge you to read Rev. Stokes article and revisit our post. This is vitally important information.

Obama and Napolitano lay out welcome mat to greater influx of illegals

With Barack Obama ensconced in the White House — when the global traveler is actually in Washington DC –  and Janet Napolitano as Homeland INsecurity Secretary (DHS), new federal standards have been announced intended to tie the hands of local police in enforcement of  immigration laws.

Think of it this way: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has essentially had a federal program crafted specifically to restrain him.       

Former Arizona Gov. Napolitano says that targeting people who commit minor offenses is not the goal of the program. It is arresting and deporting illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes and major drug offenses, the daily reports.

In other words, come on in, the door is open and the welcome mat is out. The federal government of the United State has no intention of enforcing border security or protecting national sovereignty, less than eight years after September 11^th.

For his  part, Arpaio has vowed to continue conducting crime-suppression operations and says he will continue booking suspected illegal immigrants who commit minor crimes in jail, where immigration status has been automatically checked as part of the federal 287 (g) program.

According to the administration, the culprits to be curbed are not those illegally entering the U.S., but the law enforcement professionals who apprehend them.

A DHS spokesman made this odd statement:  “The focus is going to be on criminal aliens.”

Isn’t that anyone who breaks into our country in violation of the law? The fact is, illegals engage in continued criminal activity once the initial act of stealthy crossing into this country has occurred.  There is a booming market in forged, counterfeit and stolen identification, birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses, the necessary components to facilitate their lives in the U.S. after arriving.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has referred 30,000 suspected illegals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the program, about 26,000 of whom were identified after being booked into jail for crimes ranging from felonies to misdemeanors.

Arpaio’s crime sweeps have been hailed by the voters who repeatedly reelect him and other advocates of stricter enforcement.

“DHS has already negotiated agreements with numerous state and local agencies – many just within the last few years. It is counterproductive to bully them now with this kind of ultimatum and undermine their successful programs,” said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, (R-TX), a strong supporter of the 287 (g) program. “This is another example of the administration making it harder to find and deport illegal immigrants,” he said.

Resuscitating “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” to the detriment of American workers

Illegal immigration is once again front and center in today’s Arizona Republic‘s editorial. Nothing surprising there.

But before getting to the meat of this unpalatably re-heated meal, readers are served the appetizer litany of deaths of “migrants” succumbing to desert heat, kidnappings and drop-houses along with the gnawable bone for the ecology minded: “devastation to the borderland ecosystem.”  These are today’s initial reasons put forth as key to the pressing need for ‘immigration reform.”

The real story in Linda Valdez’s editorial titled Arizonans Can Help Obama, is the role of  the hometown crowd.

The editorial enthuses that Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl will join forces with Democrats Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano turned Homeland Security Chief, to “lead a bipartisan group assigned to advance reform.” 

According to Valdez, McCain’s immigration credentials are “beyond reproach, since he recognizes that reform is necessary to facilitate an orderly future flow of migrant labor that is adequate to meet the need.”

Valdez’s assertion stands in direct contradiction to an above-the-fold, front page article in same issue of the newspaper detailing the growing number of churches and synagogues across the Valley forming support groups to assist with networking, career coaching and attempts to restore hope to desperate unemployed citizens. How does importing foreign competition, willing to work for lower wages, aid frantic American citizens who are jobless and losing their homes to foreclosure at record rates?

FOX News reports that liberal Democrat Chuck Schumer, steering an immigration overhaul through the Senate expects to have a bill ready by Labor Day. This time Arizona Republicans Kyl and McCain are deviously letting the Democrat take the flak for a bill on which they have previously been the architects and leading cheerleaders — along with their now ailing liberal cohort, Ted Kennedy. They are keenly aware their own Republican party has had its fill of their duplicity on this crucial issue.

According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, Arizona’s unemployment rate has risen from 6.6 percent in December to 8.2 percent in May. And home foreclosures  in Arizona rose to 16,865 properties with foreclosure filings in May, a 4 percent increase from the previous month and 31 percent ahead of May 2008.

And we need to import workers, Linda?

Just a few more good people coming to do the work Americans refuse to do

illegal aliens selling pirated movies still in theaters

Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Karina Romero-Figueroa, 24, and Judith Romero-Figueroa, 27, on two counts of pirating movies and music, a class-three felony.

The two suspects are being held in the county jail without bond, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

One suspect who fled deputies, leaving two teenagers behind, is still at large. Those children are currently with Child Protective Services. The two suspects in custody have admitted to selling these pirated movies and music titles for the past year at a Mercado for five dollars apiece.

“We have received intelligence indicating that illegal aliens are believed to be heavily involved in this type of activity locally and I will be working closely with these companies to crack down on the problem” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

Sheriff’s officials were contacted with the information leading to the arrests by a local private investigation firm that is working for the Recording Industry of America. During the raid, deputies recovered 1,252 movies and over 1,800 music CD’s and MP3’s. Some of the movie titles included Transformers, Ice Age, and Up, all of which are currently in theaters.

 The early morning raid comes just hours after a news conference where Sheriff Arpaio and his attorneys announced their disappointment in the way that the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil investigation is being conducted.

 “I will say it again; I am not going to be deterred by the Justice Department’s attempt to intimidate me from doing my job” Arpaio says.

Since the civil investigation was launched by the Justice Department in March of this year, the Sheriff’s Office has arrested and booked over 4,000 illegal aliens.

Barto lays down her hand — and gets trumped

In the back and forth emails making the rounds after six defectors left the Capitol building to avoid going on record as opposing HB 2280 –  a bill which would have ended sanctuary city policies –  Rep. Nancy Barto (R-Dist.7) attempts to defend her actions.  

She writes: “Rank and file officers are not calling for this bill — they want and need true discretion to perform their duties.”

How, then, does she explain this?

The bill authored by Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Dist.18) was endorsed by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, AZ Fraternal Order of Police, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), Maricopa County Deputies Association, Border Patrol Officers Association, Arizona State Republican Party, Maricopa County Republican Party, Arizona Highway Patrol Association. It also gained the support of  the Arizona African American Republican Committee, Arizona Republican Assembly, The Pachyderm Coalition, NumbersUSA, and F.A.I.R.

Seeing Red AZ covered the spineless misadventures of these legislators in this post: Keep these folks in mind when elections roll around.  Maricopa County Republican Chairman Rob Haney voiced his concerns in this letter sent to GOP political activists.

Haney wrote: Last week nine of our Republican state representatives opposed a SOVEREIGNTY bill which would have attempted to end sanctuary city policies. Six of the nine did not even have the courage to vote their convictions. They chose to attempt to protect their political future by not voting. This lack of courage, as well as the failure to understand that the well-being, if not survival, of our citizens and our country is so intricately tied to this invasion is unconscionable. The billed failed by five votes. It was within the power of these nine Republican representatives to protect you and enforce Constitutional mandates. They failed you.

Point well taken, Chairman Haney.

BHO lectures Russians: “States must have the right to borders that are secure”

The UK’s Telegraph reports on President Barack Obama’s speech to students at the New Economic School in Russia. Oddly, he lays out for them what he and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, refuse to institute for the United States of America — the right to sovereign, enforceable, national borders.

“State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order,” said Obama. “Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states must have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies.”

Then came his obligatory apology for America and the requisite ethnic references.

“By no means is America perfect,” Obama informed the Russian students. “Independent media have exposed corruption at all levels of business and government. Competitive elections allow us to change course. If our democracy did not advance those rights, I as a person of African ancestry wouldn’t be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president.”

Obamenforcement: Putting the onus on the employer rather than the illegal worker

The Obama administration has begun launching investigations of hundreds of businesses around the U.S. as part of its strategy to focus immigration enforcement on the employers who hire illegal workers — rather than the illegal aliens themselves.

Thirty-two Arizona companies are among the 652 nationwide being “audited.” According to a report in the daily, the audits are not random. The businesses were identified based on “leads and information obtained through other investigative means.” ICE would not release the names or locations of the businesses that are being audited citing ongoing investigations.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun notifying businesses of plans to audit their I-9 forms — employment eligibility documents that employers fill out for every worker.

The unreliable Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said investigations will focus on businesses that knowingly hire immigrants who cannot legally work in the U.S.

Read the FOX News report here.

Sanctuary City San Francisco: A perfect fit for George Gascon

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has defended the Back on Track jobs program in which participating illegal alien felons are able to have their criminal records cleared. The program trains drug offenders for jobs that those in this country unlawfully would legally be prevented from holding.

Departing Mesa Police Chief George Gascon who has advocated limp enforcement policies for illegals should fit right in, as he assumes his new duties in San Francisco.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that illegals are enrolled in the program and that Harris’ office had let several graduate early, have their criminal records expunged,  and go free even after learning of their deportable status.

Kamala Harris, like Gascon, has said that enforcing federal immigration law is not the job of local authorities. And like Phoenix, San Francisco has the misfortune of having a mayor — Gavin Newsom, now running for governor — who supports sanctuary city polices.

The Times notes that Kamala Harris’ liberal San Francisco pedigree will pose challenges in her statewide race for Attorney General. In 2004 she vowed to “never charge the death penalty.” That pledge will be put to the test in the upcoming murder trial of Edwin Ramos, the illegal immigrant previously convicted of two gang-related felonies, and now accused in the shooting deaths of a man and his two sons, ages 20 and 16,  returning home from a Sunday afternoon picnic.

San Francisco’s 1989 “City of Refuge” ordinance prohibits city agencies from contacting the feds on immigration matters.

Still the open-borders and amnesty-committed Arizona Republic gives Gascon high praise today as they bid him adios.

Read more on Gascon here and here

Napolitano plays politics with national security

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano plans to demolish a program begun by the Bush administration that uses U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law enforcement.

The program was announced in 2007 and authorized the department of Homeland Security to use overhead and mapping imagery from existing satellites for national security and law enforcement purposes.

Rep. Peter King, (R-NY) said he hoped the department wasn’t canceling the program. “If it is true, it’s a very big mistake,” said King, who is the leading Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. “This is definitely a step back in the war on terror.”

For years, domestic agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Interior Department have had access to this satellite imagery for scientific research, to assist in response to natural disasters like hurricanes and fires, and to map out vulnerabilities during a major public event like the Super Bowl.

The program was included in the Obama administration’s 2010 budget request, according to Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat and House homeland security committee member. Harman has been outspoken about her concerns that the program is unnecessary, far reaching and open-ended.

“I thought this was just an invitation to huge mischief,” Harman said. Of killing the program, she said, “It shows real leadership on the part of Janet Napolitano.”

In a post 9/11 world, with North Korea in a threatening stance and Iran erupting, Jane and Janet are showing neither has a concept of “real leadership.”

Read the AP account here.

Just when we think we’ve seen the worst of Linda Valdez….

….comes clean with desire that  GOP hold “permanent minority status”

Beginning her absurd column “Mexicans today are the Irish of yesterday,” by telling us more than we want to imagine about her unusual romantic life and subsequent marriage to a Mexican immigrant, Valdez pounds her pro-illegal immigration drum more ferociously than ever.

Ina an argument that doesn’t fly, she likens illegal Mexicans who are flooding into the United States in violation of our law and national sovereignty, to the Irish who came through Ellis Island to be lawfully processed after arriving via an ocean voyage. 

Then she dives into a tirade — hurling brickbats at Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, who stands in opposition to La Raza (The Race) studies in the Tucson Unified School District.  Horne exposes the Reconquista instruction as “ethnic chauvinism.” The program teaches students in American schools that the American Southwest belongs to Mexico and should be reclaimed.

Valdez contends this instills a “sense of pride and political savvy in Latino kids.”

After recounting her attendance at a seminar put on by Humane Borders, a group that places water stations in the desert to aid illegal crossers, she lays blame for heat-related deaths on those who believe a nation’s borders are legitimate and should be respected. She calls them “Demagogues, mean-spirited politicians and other blowhards spewing corrosive blather.”

Then she makes a not-so-startling admission. 

“Horne and the GOP-led Legislature,” Valdez opines, “have attracted the attention of teenagers who usually have better things to do than watch politicians make fools of themselves. What those kids learn from this assault on their education will shape their political views — and help relegate the Republican Party to permanent minority status. This should trouble the mainstream Republicans who used to bring something to the political debate besides ideology and intolerance.

But it doesn’t bother this wife of an immigrant one little bit.”

Finally, she confesses to what we have long ago figured out.