Illegal "Immigration" News

This promising headline from AP: U.S. ends 'catch-and-release' at border

Nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught sneaking into the United States are being held until they can be returned to their home countries, the Bush administration said Wednesday.

In it's coverage of the announcement, WND notes:

Chertoff told the Senate in October "a non-Mexican illegal immigrant caught trying to enter the United States across the southwest border has an 80 percent chance of being released immediately because we lack the holding facilities."

But the agency, through a "comprehensive approach, was moving to end this 'catch and release' style of border enforcement by reengineering our detention and removal process," he said.

Nevertheless, Chertoff has been pessimistic toward calls to deport illegals who have been living and working in the country for some time.

WND also quoted from an email to Kathryn Jean Lopez (of National Review Online) from a Heritage Foundation immigration expert, with this imporant observation:

If true, this is an important advancement in deterring illegal immigration. However, something still needs to be done about the catching and releasing of Mexican Illegal immigrants—the majority of all illegal immigrants.

(off topic, NRO's The Corner yesterday had some interesting posts about politics and Firefly/Serenity).

That same Heritage expert writes a very thoughtful paper: Building a Better Border: What the Experts Say

And along those lines...how twisted it this?

On a misty, moonless night, the group scurried down the canyon wall, their feet slipping in the ankle-high mud. The sirens grew louder as their guide, clad in a ski mask and known only as Poncho, urged them to run faster. "Hurry up! The Border Patrol is coming!"

A couple in matching designer tennis outfits loped awkwardly along, the boyfriend clutching a digital video camera and struggling to keep the pop-out screen steady.

The 20 or so people fleeing the fictional Border Patrol weren't undocumented immigrants; they were tourists about 700 miles from the border. Most are well-heeled professionals more likely to travel to the United States in an airplane than on foot.

They've each paid 150 pesos — about $15 — for what is perhaps Mexico's strangest tourist attraction: a night as an illegal immigrant crossing the Rio Grande.

Advertising for the mock journey, which takes place at a nature park in the central state of Hidalgo, tells the pretend immigrants to "Make fun of the Border Patrol!" and to "Cross the Border as an Extreme Sport!"