In the heart of Tucson's South Side, a new billboard overlooks the mostly Hispanic area as it fans the flames of the illegal-immigration debate.

"STOP the INVASION," the bold letters in red, white and blue scream to drivers headed west on Interstate 10. "Secure our borders," it demands in smaller letters. A few dark splotches of paint — likely applied by opponents of the message — already mar the sign.

The billboard is one of 12 that have gone up in several states, including California, Texas and Florida. The Grassfire.org signs are part of a national campaign that seeks to pressure lawmakers to clamp down on illegal immigration.

"It's like right out there, in your face," Alex Arenas, 25, said of the billboard tucked in the rear of Southgate Shopping Center at South Sixth Avenue and Interstate 10. "It's kind of rude, especially over here."

As Arenas and his friend, Jesus Figueroa, 26, worked out at a gym near the billboard, Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott and 14 Tucsonans who like the billboard's message huddled by a U.S. flag for a news conference. Elliott, the only speaker, said the campaign was launched in May and "represents literally millions of citizens across this country."

The United States is being overrun with people who come here illegally, Elliott said, which "truly amounts to an invasion of our community."...

U.S. authorities tightened their checks of traffic from Canada on Monday as debate over the long and hard-to-police border intensified following the weekend arrests of 17 Muslim Canadians in a suspected Ontario terror plot.

Calls for tougher security measures were countered by pleas from business and civic leaders on both sides to keep border crossings as quick and simple as possible.

"Terrorism is clearly part of the North American environment whether we like it or not, but closing down the border is not going to eliminate it," said Arlene White, a Canadian who is executive director of the Binational Tourism Alliance in the Niagara Falls-Buffalo area.

In Washington, U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said patrol stations along the 4,000-mile border — especially those adjoining Ontario — are on high alert because of the arrests, although investigators say the suspects' alleged plot apparently involved only targets in Canada.

U.S. agents already deployed to the Canadian border will work overtime and some will be moved closer to the areas where the arrests occurred, Aguilar said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Kristi Clemens said some traffic headed into the United States would under go tougher procedures at the 89 ports of entry along the border.

"The current events may result in some additional questions of commuters and travels," Clemens said. She also said, without elaborating, that her agency has added some "enforcement capabilities" following the arrests.

Security along the border has been increasing ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001: new surveillance camera systems, new scanning devices to check on trucks' cargo, and many more agents on duty.

But concerns remain high among some politicians and experts, such as David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He contends that Canada's immigration policies are too lax, enabling more than 50 terrorist organizations to have a presence in the country...

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Congress approved a bill Friday that would legalize drug possession for personal use — decriminalizing the carrying of small quantities of marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and even heroin. The only step remaining is the signature of the president, whose office indicates he will sign it, despite the implications for the war on drugs.

The bill, passed by Mexico's Senate on a 53-26 vote with one abstention, has already been approved in the lower house of Congress. U.S. officials had no immediate reaction on what this means for Mexico's fight against drug trafficking — or the vast numbers of vacationing students who visit Mexico.

"The presidency congratulates the Congress for approving the reforms," presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar. "This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children."

The bill legalizes possession of 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of marijuana (about one-fifth of an ounce, or about five joints), or 0.5 grams of cocaine — about half the standard sale quantity, though half-size packages are becoming more common. It also lays out the legal limits for possession of a wide array of other drugs.

"No charges will be brought against ... addicts or consumers who are found in possession of any narcotic for personal use," the bill reads.

Dozens of protestors and counter protestors showed up in front of Tucson's Mexican Consulate as a Mexican flag was burned in a heated debate that saw tempers flare.

Border Guardians, a group formed along the Arizona border to speak out against the estimated thousands of illegal immigrants that enter the U.S. every day through the Tucson sector, led the protest.

"Flags are symbols of government, not of people," shouted Roy Warden, as a member of his group, Border Guardians, set fire to the Mexican Flag.

One woman speaking out against the Border Guardians yelled, “This is not a gesture of humanity, this is a gesture that provokes.”

As a handful of journalists, and people from both sides of the debate huddled around, members of Border Guardians set fire to Mexico’s flag.

“We have declared this our day, and our moment of expression," said Warden.

The demonstration began before the flag burning as protestors verbally sparred with ACLU members showed up to observe the event.

One man stomped, and danced on the Mexican flag. He also taunted the empty, Mexican Consulate to express the group's view:

"(This protest) is against the Mexican government and the Mexicans that are illegally present in the United States right now," says Laine Lawless, Director of Border Guardians, “I want the American people to know that we're going to stand up for them."

Roy Warden added, “You may not enter our country without our permission.”...

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano on Wednesday ordered more National Guardsmen posted at the Mexican border to help stop illegal immigrants and curb related crimes.

National Guard troops have worked at the border since 1988, but Napolitano signed an order authorizing commanders to station an unspecified number of additional soldiers there to help federal agents.

Once the funding is approved, the troops will monitor crossing points, assist with cargo inspection and operate surveillance cameras, according to the order.

"They are not there to militarize the border," the governor said. "We are not at war with Mexico."

About 170 National Guardsmen are already posted at the nation's busiest illegal entry point, where they assist with communications, fence construction and anti-drug efforts.

Napolitano did not say how many additional troops would be stationed at the border and referred questions to the National Guard, which did not immediately return a call.

Napolitano has asked the military to pay for her plan, but said she would commit state dollars if necessary...

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican federal agents have arrested four Iraqis trying to sneak into the United States without proper documents, the government said Monday.

Wasim Francis Schamoun and Ivan Yalda, both 23, and Refon Chlil Oraha and Thaer Salem Yelda, both 27, were found on a bus in the northern city of Navajoa after police received an anonymous tip, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

The Iraqis were in Mexico illegally, the statement said.

Officials on Monday said they were investigating the background of the four and trying to determine how they got into Mexico...

TUCSON - Arizona members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps plan a weekend patrol to watch for illegal immigrants in the Three Points area southwest of Tucson.

Some 50 to 65 volunteers are expected for the operation Saturday and Sunday along three to four miles of a dirt road off Arizona 286, said Stacey O'Connell, head of the civilian border patrol organization's Arizona chapter.

Three Points, about 35 miles north of the border, has become a popular pickup point over the last year or so for smugglers to get migrants who have made their way north _ both on foot or in vehicles _ to Tucson and Phoenix.

Minuteman volunteers patrolled part of the Arizona-Mexico border near Naco last April, reporting sightings of illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol. The effort garnered national attention and served to launch similar patrols in other parts of the country.

The road targeted near Three Points runs through heavy washes in typical rocky and sandy Sonoran desert terrain, O'Connell said.

"Ranchers have a lot of valid complaints about damage to property," from fences to broken water pumps and cattle slaughtered for food, O'Connell said. One rancher has spent more than $40,000 repairing a water pump, he said...

PHOENIX -- Gov. Janet Napolitano has proposed spending $100 million in state money to fight illegal entry, including a crackdown on businesses that intentionally hire illegal aliens.

Arizona, the busiest illegal-entry point along the country's southern border, serves as a hub for smugglers who transport illegal aliens across the country.

Mrs. Napolitano, a Democrat up for re-election in November, is also asking the federal government to pay for more National Guard troops along the state's porous border.

"We are going to step up and protect our citizens when the federal government fails them -- but this is a federal problem, and we expect the federal government to do its part," Mrs. Napolitano told lawmakers on Monday, the opening day of the Legislature.

Mrs. Napolitano also has asked Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld to invoke a law allowing the federal government to pay Arizona to station National Guard troops at the border. The state already has about 170 National Guard troops at the border, assisting federal and state officers.

She said further details on her illegal-entry curbs will be provided next week when she releases her budget. When asked about her plan to fine companies who intentionally hire undocumented aliens, Mrs. Napolitano said she is working with a Democratic lawmaker on legislation...

Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl have introduced different bills to thwart illegal entry. Mr. Kyl's bill would authorize 10,000 new Border Patrol agents and require millions of undocumented aliens to return to their countries after five years. The McCain bill would allow illegal aliens to stay in the United States if they pay a fine and participate in a guest-worker program.

MEXICO CITY - Diplomats from Mexico and Central America on Monday demanded guest worker programs and the legalization of undocumented migrants in the United States, while criticizing a U.S. proposal for tougher border enforcement.

Meeting in Mexico's capital, the regional officials pledged to do more to fight migrant trafficking, but indirectly condemned a U.S. bill that would make illegal entry a felony and extend border walls.

"Migrants, regardless of their migratory status, should not be treated like criminals," they said.

Derbez has called the measure — which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month but still must go before the Senate — "stupid and underhanded," but was somewhat more restrained on Monday, saying "it's not the Mexican government's position to tell the U.S. Senate what to do."

Mexicans working in the United States are a huge source of revenue for Mexico, sending home more than $16 billion in remittances in 2004, Mexico's second largest source of foreign currency after oil exports according to the country's central bank.

Aguilar also said migrants "don't emigrate because they lack work, but rather for a series of other reasons, cultural reasons or better living conditions."

WASHINGTON - To J.D. Hayworth, conservative Republican congressman from Scottsdale, Americans are acting like "a bunch of defeatist wimps," unwilling to stand up for the country's culture, its borders, its security and its own laws.

But in Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security, and the War on Terror, a new book authored by Hayworth and his chief of staff, Joe Eule, the 47-year-old lawmaker declares that he won't be among those "cowed into inaction" by "namby-pamby" editorial writers or even presidential adviser Karl Rove.

In fewer than 200 pages, Hayworth levels a full-scale attack on illegal immigration that he seems confident will draw wide attention.

Predicting that he will be pilloried by "the media elite" for what he has written, Hayworth takes on President Bush's plan to establish a limited guest-worker program, as well as the left, the right, the country of Mexico and political correctness.

Hayworth's own prescription for a more-secure United States calls for such things as putting active-duty troops on the border to help stop illegal crossings and, "as a last resort," building a border security fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

"Sympathizers of illegal immigration," Hayworth says, may argue that it is unfeasible to seal the border. But the $4 billion to $8 billion cost of such a security fence would be "a bargain when considering what illegal immigration is costing the country" in health care and education, higher crime, and perhaps even the eventual balkanization of parts of the country, he writes...

The Department of Homeland Security announced a new plan to secure the nation's borders with Mexico and Canada, hinging its latest effort on a temporary worker program, more agents and more resources on the border.

The Secure Border Initiative was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Houston. And in Washington, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales stressed the need for a temporary-worker program - something President Bush has been pushing for nearly two years.

The immigration and border enforcement initiative comes just days before President Bush is scheduled to attend the opening day of the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he is expected to discuss trade and economic growth with a group of Latin American leaders.

The Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill approved last month provides funds to increase the number of agents on the border and increase the bed space for illegal entrants it captures. The money will allow the department to eliminate its policy of releasing detained border crossers with a promise to appear in court, a policy called "catch-and-release."

Last spring, the department promised the same kind of "operational control" along the border but by the end of the fiscal year, it became apparent that federal agents had dropped the number of illegal entrants moving through its Tucson Sector only to see them crossing through the surrounding Yuma and El Paso sectors.

Analysts say the Bush administration is under pressure to produce real results because it hasn't accomplished anything toward controlling the border.

Members of Arizona's congressional delegation were satisfied to see Chertoff's Secure Border Initiative, but in a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said such proposals have been seen before with little to show for them.

Unlike last year's Arizona Border Control Initiative, which placed reinforcements along the border but did little for interior enforcement, Chertoff's plan would add 250 criminal investigators and 400 new immigration agents to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael Jackson.

The department plans to add 1,000 Border Patrol agents and provides an 11 percent budget increase to $7 billion for Customs and Border Protection, Jackson said.

Detention bed space was also increased by 2,000 to about 20,000 beds for illegal entrants who are held in custody...

HERNDON, Va., Nov. 2, 2005 — Opposition to the 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States is growing. A citizen's group called the Minutemen, which conducts Mexican border patrols, is heading to the nation's suburbs, where migrant workers go for work.

"I think that we as people have the right to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough. It's got to stop," said Diane Bonieskie, a Minutemen volunteer.

In Herndon, Va., for example, 15 members of the Minutemen gathered to take their war on illegal immigration to the heart of suburbia. They were armed with paper badges, walkie-talkies, digital cameras and video recorders.

The Minutemen show up where illegal immigrants wait to be picked up for day jobs. They photograph the workers and their employers and plan to give the pictures to immigration and tax officials.

George Taplin, a retired naval officer, is the local commander.

"We want to see all the illegal aliens leave Herndon," Taplin said. "I don't know who these people are. They could be painters. They could be mass murderers."

The suburban Minutemen chapter was created after local officials floated a controversial proposal to provide a community center for day laborers, who have been congregating at a 7-Eleven convenience store...

US Customs and Border Protection unveiled its new Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle to help monitor illegal immigration activity along the Arizona/Sonora border.

The $14 million project will include the plane and a pilot and maintenance team, initially leased from a company in San Diego. After one year, Border Patrol will have its own pilot and maintenance team.

Predator B will be used to help Border Patrol agents on the ground monitor areas of illegal migrant activity where the terrain is difficult to access, such as the Chiricahua Mountains and the Buena Vista Wildlife Refuge.

Illegal immigration is one of the biggest issues facing our country today. To address this problem, on Nov. 3-5, 2005, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is putting on the Southwest Conference on Border Security, Illegal Immigration, and Crime to discuss the impact of illegal immigration and to propose solutions.

The conference will feature many well-known experts and commentators representing a wide spectrum of viewpoints, including Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Stephen Moore and John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, John Leo of U.S. News & World Report, Sheriff Larry Deaver of Cochise County, Arizona, and many other notable speakers. Our office is the fifth largest district attorney’s office in the country, and prosecutes two out of three felonies committed in Arizona.

Arizona sees a disproportionate share of illegal immigration. Last year there were more arrests of illegal immigrants in Arizona than in all other border states combined. (Los Angeles Times, 3-13-2005). And according to the Pew Hispanic Center, Arizona has the highest per capital number of illegal immigrants.

The conference is open to all, and promises to be one of the largest, most comprehensive and interesting conferences in the nation on illegal immigration. For more information and to register, go to http://immigrationconference.com.

Lawyers and law enforcement can receive CLE and POST credit for attending. Please help us spread the word by passing this email on to anyone you think might be interested and/or post an announcement on your website (graphics can be found here).

Please contact Bill FitzGerald at 602-506-3170 or fitzgera@mcao.maricopa.gov to schedule an interview.

Thanks and we hope to see you there.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Suspected or convicted foreign-born terrorists have routinely exploited federal immigration laws over the last decade to enter or remain in the United States illegally, according to a report set for release Tuesday.

Once in the country, some of them became naturalized citizens, says the report distributed by the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocate for stricter immigration policies.

The report provides newly compiled data on U.S. terror arrests to illustrate gaps in the nation's border security, visa approval and immigration systems. It was written by Janice Kephart, who served as counsel to the 9/11 Commission that investigated missteps leading to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"The attack of 9/11 was not an isolated instance of al-Qaida infiltration into the United States," the 46-page report found.

"In fact, dozens of operatives both before and after 9/11 - other than the 9/11 hijackers - have managed to enter and embed themselves in the United States, actively carrying out plans to commit terrorist acts against U.S. interests or support designated foreign terrorist organizations," the report concluded. "For each to do so, they needed the guise of legal immigration status to support them."

Overall, 59 of 94 foreign-born nationals who were either convicted or indicted on terror charges broke federal immigration laws to enter or remain in the country between 1993 and 2004, the report found. It also noted:

-Twenty-two of the 94 either had student visas or other applications approving them to study in the United States; another 17 used visitor visas to enter the country.

-In at least 13 instances, suspected and convicted terrorists overstayed their temporary visas.

-Seven of the 94 were indicted for using false driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards and immigration records.

-Twenty-one became naturalized citizens.

The report identified many of the immigrants as affiliated with at least one terror organization, including 40 with al-Qaida, 16 with Hamas, 16 with the Palestinian or Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and six with Hezbollah.

Tightening U.S. borders has become a top priority for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who last week called immigration enforcement an issue of utmost importance. The department has enacted a slew of programs - including stricter background checks, visa security systems and sharing intelligence with international allies - to harden immigration laws against terrorists, said spokesman Russ Knocke...

San Antonio, Jun. 21 (UPI) — Texas ranchers, frustrated by the government's inability to stem illegal immigration, have helped the Arizona Minuteman set up a state affiliate.

At a meeting in Goliad near the border with Mexico, organizers recalled the town's historic battle to gain freedom from Mexico, the San Antonio News-Express reported.

"Once again, this time we are asking brothers to help us and secure our Texas borders," said Kenneth Buelter, a rancher and an organizer of the event to create a Goliad County chapter of the Minutemen...

Washington, Jun. 14 (UPI) — The number of illegal migrants arriving in the United States has exceeded the number of new legal immigrants, a Pew Hispanic Center report finds.

In recent years some 700,000 unauthorized migrants have arrived annually, compared with about 610,000 legal immigrants.

"Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics" was prepared by Jeffrey Passel, a veteran demographer and senior research associate at the center.

The report estimates the number of people living in families in which the head of the household or the spouse is an illegal alien at 13.9 million as of March 2004, including 4.7 million children.

The report also said at least 6.3 million unauthorized workers were employed as of March 2004, comprising 4.3 percent of the civilian labor force.

Overall, illegal migrants are less educated than other sectors of the population, with 49 percent not having completed high school, compared with 9 percent of the native-born and 25 percent of legal immigrants.

PHOENIX - Opponents of a law that denies some public benefits to illegal immigrants are heading to court today to argue that one provision of Proposition 200 no longer should be enforced until its constitutionality is debated during a trial.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is hearing oral arguments on whether it should order the U.S. District Court in Tucson to reverse its decision not to issue a preliminary injunction.

If the court in Tucson orders the preliminary injunction, the part of the voter-approved law that denies some public benefits to illegal immigrants will stop being enforced until a trial is held to determine whether it is constitutional. Another provision dealing with voting will not be affected.

"There is a lot riding on this argument on Monday," said Richard Samp, chief counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation, who represents supporters of the law. "Even though there could be a trial down the road, this hearing on Monday could decide the whole case."

The Court of Appeals' decision will be based on whether it feels people could be irreparably harmed if it doesn't order the U.S. District Court to issue the injunction, and on whether it decides the plaintiffs have a strong argument on their constitutional claims, Samp said.

The parties were advised to be prepared today to discuss whether the plaintiffs have the right to sue, Samp said.

Supporters argued the initiative voters approved last November was needed because Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point on the country's southern border, spends millions of dollars annually to provide food stamps, welfare and other social services to illegal immigrants.

They said the law would help to curtail fraud by requiring people to produce proof of immigration status when obtaining certain government services and would punish state workers who ignore illegal applicants. They also maintained it would safeguard the election system by requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

The passage of the law emboldened Arizona legislators to propose other anti-immigration bills. Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a number of them, including one that would have given local police the power to enforce federal immigration laws.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is appealing the U.S. District Court's decision to deny the preliminary injunction, says the law is unconstitutional because it usurps the federal government's power over immigration and naturalization.

"We are confident that the Court of Appeals will agree with us and conclude that the district was wrong when it refused to enjoin Proposition 200," said Hector Villagra, the fund's attorney.

To persuade the court in California to order the court in Tucson to issue the preliminary injunction, the fund will have to prove that Judge David Bury abused his discretion by lifting an earlier order temporarily blocking the law.

Fort Huachuca, a 150-square-mile U.S. Army base in Arizona just 20 miles north of the Mexican border, is home to the country's premier military intelligence school and, despite the sensitive nature of its assignment, has become a popular corridor for illegal migrants headed to America.

Law-enforcement authorities and congressional investigators said the illegals -- some in groups of up to 60 -- routinely wander through base housing units, drink from hoses and pools, and trample through the yards of military families and other private areas en route to nearby highways, where they catch northbound rides.

Officially, 3,086 illegal aliens were detained by U.S. Army personnel on the base last year and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. Illegal immigration has been described by base officials as "a problem."

But a report written for the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus as part of an assessment of the Minuteman Project in Arizona last month called Fort Huachuca "surprisingly ... disturbingly, the most undermanned federal entity in the area in terms of being able to adequately meet the threat waves of illegal immigrants."...