Closing the Borders

Stories

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February 2008
- 'Virtual Fence' Cleared For Arizona Border
  
  Associated Press | Feb 22, 08 12:14 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The government has just given the green light to a 28-mile “virtual fence” along the Arizona/Mexico border, the AP reports. The system, which uses cameras, radar, and other sensor devices to detect border jumpers, is already partially constructed, and working. Last week Border Patrol caught 38 would-be illegal immigrants thanks to a system tip off. More »
- Families Battle Feds Over US Border Fence
  
  Washington Post | Feb 16, 08 7:30 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Americans on the southern US border are fuming over a federal fence that threatens to cut their properties in two, the Washington Post reports. The feds have erected about 165 miles of fence in the West and southwest, but some families, protecting land they have held for generations, are turning back surveyors. "This is the land that gave me my life and my spirit," one landowner said. "I will fight this all the way." More »
- Mexican Prez Predicts Friendlier US
  
  Los Angeles Times | Feb 8, 08 3:03 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon expects the next US administration to bring a “broader and more comprehensive view” to immigration, providing immigrants a path to legalization, he told the Los Angeles Times . For Calderon, Super Tuesday was heartening. “The most radical and anti-immigrant candidates have been left behind,” he said. They’ve been “put in their place by their own electorate.” More »
- Tweaks May Boost Guest Worker Pool
  
  Los Angeles Times | Feb 6, 08 11:11 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - With immigration reform having failed in Congress, the Bush administration is today unveiling a plan aimed at boosting the US guest-worker program. President Bush's plan would simplify the much-derided bureaucratic program, providing a reliable source of legal workers to replace illegal immigrants. But anti-immigration groups say the changes will cost Americans jobs, and pro-immigrant advocates say it’ll reduce already-low wages. More »
January 2008
- Immigrants Facing Epic Citizenship Delays
  
  Boston Globe | Jan 25, 08 5:40 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Over one million immigrants will have to wait up to 18 months before become US citizens due to a massive bureaucratic backlog nationwide. Applications surged last summer ahead of a fee increase of nearly 75%, the Boston Globe reports, helping create the paper jam. Before the increase, the average immigrant waited six months to be processed. More »
December 2007
- Tancredo Throws in Towel
  
  Associated Press | Dec 20, 07 3:03 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Republican hopeful Tom Tancredo abandoned his long-shot bid for the presidency this afternoon, reports the AP, and in turn gave his endorsement to rival Mitt Romney. The Colorado congressman has been pushing his hardline views on illegal immigration throughout the campaign but hasn't been able to get his poll numbers into double digits. More »
- Border Strife Escalating in Tijuana
  
  Los Angeles Times | Dec 14, 07 4:18 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Areas of Tijuana that abut the American border have turned into battlegrounds, as Mexican smugglers lob rocks from rooftops at US Border Patrol agents, who have begun retaliating by firing pepper spray and tear gas into densely populated neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Times reports. The tactics have caused evacuations and sent both residents and agents to the hospital. More »
- UK Probe Finds 6K Illegals in Security Jobs
  
  BBC | Dec 13, 07 2:07 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith came under fire today after an investigation revealed that as many as 11,000 illegal immigrants are employed in or have been cleared for security jobs, including one man who guarded the PM's car. Of those workers, 6,653 were found to have no permission to work in the UK, while another 4,447 had yet to prove their immigration status. More »
- Immigration Fervor Could Burn GOP
  
  New Yorker | Dec 13, 07 1:19 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The GOP contenders embracing anti-immigrant fervor may be sorely miscalculating, Ryan Lizza writes in the New Yorker, in a piece looking at the party's dramatic turn from the Bush strategy of cultivating immigrants in 2000 and 2004. The nativist passions Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have been fanning appeal to a vocal niche, he notes, but they’ve erased Republican gains among Hispanics and might be damaging the party. More »
November 2007
- Immigrant Kids Talk the Talk: 90% Master English
  
  Los Angeles Times | Nov 30, 07 5:40 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Although many Spanish-speaking immigrants who moved to America know little English, that's not true of their children and grandchildren, according to a new Pew survey. Only 23% of first-generation immigrants said they were competent in English, but 88% of second-generation and 94% of third-generation residents said they can carry on a conversation in English very well. More »
- Good Fences Make Good Borders
  
  Los Angeles Times | Nov 16, 07 1:45 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Pity the designers of the new border fence with Mexico: They'd been asked to come up with a design that will keep out the most determined immigrants but doesn't read as unfriendly. The government has mandated the fence be "aesthetically pleasing" to folks in Mexico, who are, after all, allies. "They want to make it seem like you could shake hands through the fence," says one political science professor. More »
October 2007
- Mexican Fence & More Guards Will Stop Illegals: Rudy
  
  Associated Press | Oct 25, 07 7:13 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Republican White House candidate Rudy Giuliani said that if he's elected president he would stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the country by building a high-tech fence along the Mexican border, boosting patrols 50% and stationing guards at 50-mile intervals. "You can stop them at the border," he told a town hall meeting in Iowa. More »
September 2007
- Mexican Border Fence Grows
  
  Los Angeles Times | Sep 30, 07 12:32 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - After a slow start, the federal government has ramped up construction of the fence along the Mexican border in recent weeks. The steel barrier now reaches far into rural areas for the first time, in response to a shift in smugglers' strategy, the Los Angeles Times reports. Workers have finished 145 miles of fencing, including a 32-mile stretch—the barrier's longest continuous section—from San Diego to the Tinajas Atlas mountains. More »
- Canada-US Border Insecure
  
  CNN | Sep 27, 07 7:01 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - It is easy to smuggle radioactive material across the border between Canada and the US, CNN reports. Investigators from the Government Accountability Office testified before Congress today that they were able to pass from one country to the other with a duffle bag containing what looked like radioactive components, and never saw a police or border-security officer. More »
July 2007
- Mexico Calls for Eco-Friendly Border Fence
  
  BBC | Jul 31, 07 5:14 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Citing environmental concerns, Mexico is calling on the US to revise its plan to expand border fences. The current layout threatens fragile ecosystems in the Sonora Desert area and could wipe out endangered species like the Mexican black bear, a new report shows. Mexico is ready to take the US to international court if it doesn't respond, the BBC reports. More »
June 2007
- High-Tech Towers Could Seal Border
  
  Los Angeles Times | Jun 23, 07 10:01 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A series of towers equipped with high-tech cameras now being tested along the Arizona-Mexico border could be the first step towards a "virtual border" for the US, the Los Angeles Times reports. The system, being tested in the busiest corridor for illegal immagrants entering the country, could obviate the need for physical barriers. More »