Council votes to oppose measure; local conference unites groups in opposition

 

National polls show majority favors Arizona's new law

By Bill Pogue and Miriam Raftery

May 10, 2010 (San Diego) – The San Diego City Council has voted 7 to 1 to condemn Arizona’s tough immigration law, Senate Bill 1070. "This law threatens to divide our union," Councilman Ben Hueso said. "I believe it violates the Constitution. It victimizes legal residents as well as those who are here in the country illegally. And, it discourages the victims of crimes in the immigrant community to access justice."

Councilmembers joined mayors of San Francisco and Minneapolis, 12 City Councilmembers in New York City, Tucson and Flagstaff city governments in criticizing the measure. San Diego Unified School Board is also preparing to vote on opposing the measure as well as warning parents that travel to Arizona may subject their families to unlawful scrutiny.

By Miriam Raftery

May 4, 2010 – ECM has received several e-mails from readers with updates on the situation in Baja, California and Mexicali in Imperial County more than a month after the devastating Easter earthquake.

According to an eyewitness in Mexico, flooded villages have started to dry up and trucks have been dispatched to remove large quantities of mud from homes. Crowds of people have been asked by police to return to their villages, but sleep outside of their damaged homes.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor
 

Edited by Robert A. Donnelly and David A. Shirk

Book Review by: Dennis Moore

County warns public of sick puppies sold through local pet dealers

November 22, 2009 (Campo) – Christopher Daniel Castro-Alvarez, 17, pled guilty in federal court Friday to charges of murdering Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas during a robbery. In court, he testified that he and others lured Rosas from his vehicle to rob him.  But Britt Craig, who heard the fatal shots and spoke with Rosas shortly before the Agent was killed, told East County Magazine that he does not believe that the story is plausible.

By Enrique Morones

October 1, 2009 (San Diego) – Today marks the 15th anniversary of the wall of death—the border wall of shame. Since October 1st 1994 and the launching of Operation Gatekeeper here in San Diego, thousands have died. Nobody knows the exact number: 5,000, 6,000, 10,000. How many more?

By Miriam Raftery
 

Photos by Deborah Craig
 

August 6, 2009 (San Diego) –The U.S. Border Patrol has added a $250,000 reward to the growing pool of reward money offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for killing agent Robert Rosas July 23 at the border near Campo.
 

June 2, 2009 (San Diego) – “This economy is built off immigrants, and immigration reform will benefit the economy,” El Cajon resident and Center for Social Advocacy spokesperson Estela De Los Rios said at a press conference Friday in San Diego, where community leaders announced launch of the Reform Immigration For America Campaign (www.immigrationforum.org).

By Miriam Raftery April 18, 2009 (San Diego)—Congressman Bob Filner (R-San Diego) has introduced the “Save Our Border Communities Act, H.R. 670. The bill would require the federal government to reimburse costs for local police, firefighters and other first responders to provide services associated with U.S. ports of entry on the international border. “The federal government has not reimbursed border towns for border-related incidents and the drain on local emergency services is increasingly unbearable,” Filner stated in a newsletter to constituents.

By Ernie McRay Editor’s Note: Alan Bersin has served as Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego City Schools and was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as California Secretary of Education. He is now in the running to head up the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol. Dear Secretary Napolitano: April 1, 2009(San Diego)--I write this letter because Alan Bersin is rumored to be on a short list of people who seek to run the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

March 1, 2009 (Washington, DC -- Congressman Bob Filner has re-introduced H.R. 937, the Visitors Interested in Strengthening America (VISA) Act. The bill gives Port Directors the discretion to issue humanitarian visa waivers to Mexican children making brief, pre-scheduled visits to the United States for medical, educational or recreational purposes. This legislation does not affect the number of legal or illegal immigrants living in the United States - the children and accompanying adults will visit for one day and then return home to Mexico.

By Billie Jo Jannen

Victor Leon of Potrero and Rudolfo Reyes of Campo put a raked finish on the drying concrete at the base of the border fence in the far western portion of Campo. They are working on the south side of the fence, which is constructed a short distance north of the border inside the border "buffer zone." Workers on the fence have been harassed by suspected smugglers on the Mexican side and there was at least one incident of rock-throwing toward U.S. workers.

February 16, 2009 (Campo) — Of the 670 miles of infrastructure built along the Southwest border as of January '09, about 10.5 miles of primary fencing was in San Diego County and most of that, about 9.75 miles, was in rural East County. An additional 2.6 miles in Marron Valley, south of Dulzura, is funded and expected to be completed this year.

The fence, itself, stands 18 feet above the ground, according Agent Jerry Conlin of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is sunk into a footing of concrete - six feet deep and two feet wide - and made up of steel tubes filled with concrete, called bollards. The bollards stand upright in steel framework with their feet buried in the concrete.