Houston Mayor Bill White stubbornly refuses to end his city’s sanctuary policy even though it has directly contributed to the deaths of officers (including Rodney Johnson, pictured) and citizens (like carjacked mom Tina Davila).

Houston’s largest police union, citing the death of six officers during Mayor Bill White’s tenure, called on the mayor and City Council this week to hire more officers, restore $14 million in overtime pay and overturn the long-standing policy of not questioning residents about their immigration status.

In a letter to White, Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, called last week’s slaying of veteran officer Henry Canales a “trifeca failure” of federal, state and city government to protect citizens and police officers from criminal illegal immigrants.

White responded with a news conference Thursday to make clear there would be no change in the department’s policy on illegal immigrants.
[Officers, mayor square off over immigration policy, Houston Chronicle, July 2, 2009]

Another Houston Chronicle article revealed the feelings of average cops about having to work with one arm tied behind their backs.

“It’s a strong issue,” Blankinship said. “My guys get tired of dealing with the criminal aliens out here, and it seems like the severity of the crimes is escalating and that’s frustrating to the rank and file.”

He stressed that calls for a change in the policy are not aimed at a wholesale roundup of illegal immigrants in Houston, a population the Greater Houston Partnership estimated last year at 420,000 in the 10-county Houston metropolitan area. It would help officers to weed out dangerous criminals in the undocumented community, he said.

The good news here is that the Houston Police Union is openly condemning the city’s sanctuary policy as dangerous to public safety and to officers on the job.

Politically correct mayors tend to forget that immigration status can be an important factor in suspect behavior: illegal aliens may react violently when they believe they are threatened with deportation. For example, Houston Officer Rodney Johnson was murdered by an illegal he had stopped for speeding. Actress and mother Adrienne Shelly was killed by an illegal alien who feared his deportation if she reported him to the authorities. She had discovered Diego Pilco stealing from her purse in her office, and he strangled her to death to hide his status.

You can contact Mayor White at mayor@cityofhouston.net with your thoughtful comments.

Opportunists, er immigrants from the Subcontinent are coming to America in fewer numbers, since the gravy train is no longer as promising as before.

Not that long ago, Indians were congratulating themselves on their brilliant success in this country and touted the growth of their numbers. But now that the riches are more difficult to attain in a bad recession, the Indians’ once enthusiastic crush on America is fading like cut flowers in a dry vase. Talk about a short attention span. (Hint: patriotism is about unconditional love.)

H-1B visas to the US used to be hot property. Something that should be grabbed with both hands and held close. Not in 2009. On May 21, 50 days after the gates were opened for the financial year 2010, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services received only 45,500 visa applications against a cap of 65,000. That was a revelation. In April 2008, all available H-1B visas were grabbed in a week’s time, making FY-2009 the fifth consecutive year to achieve the cap before October 1, the start of a fiscal year in the US.

So, is the dollar losing its sheen? A recent study, titled ‘America’s Loss Is the World’s Gain’ and involving 1,203 Indian and Chinese immigrants who have returned home after studying and working in the US, shows that “a trickle of returnees a decade ago has become a flood”. The study, by Vivek Wadhwa, senior research associate of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, and his team from University of California and Duke University, says lesser people want to go to the US, and more are heading home. [Indians: US is not for us!, The Week Magazine, Kerala, July 5, 2009]

(Perhaps the author meant “fewer” in the preceding paragraph.)

Indians may be a little slow; Chinese abroad have been scampering back to their homeland, the People’s Republic of China, for a while. (See Temps Decamp… from 2006. The Red China economy has been booming — at least until the recent difficulty — and the totalitarian communist government is apparently not a deterrent when measured against the primal allure of rejoining the Tribe on its own turf.)

And since the Indians and Chinese only came for the money (like most immigrants these days), bon voyage to the campers.

While on the subject of Indians, I caught part of a program on public radio recently about the cruelty of the caste system, particularly the dehumanization that dalits (“untouchables”) still have to endure. The audio is not available, but some of the material can be seen and heard on the producer’s website, Ellis Cose: Breaking the Bonds of Tradition.

“The so-called upper caste men would enter any house of the Dalits that they wanted and do anything with the women they wanted. So, for example, a higher caste man has come and entered the house where a woman is alone. He sets his shoes outside the house. If the husband comes from market and sees the shoes, he understands somebody’s there, so he won’t go inside. He will go back to the market.” — Dalit leader Martin Macwan

Nice culture! How misogynous, caste-obsessed Indians ever became considered as a model minority in America is beyond me.

Houston is well known for keeping its criminal-coddling sanctuary policy even after terrible crimes by illegal foreigners have occurred, like the murders of mother Tina Davila and PD Officer Rodney Johnson.

Houston police officer Henry Canales was shot dead during an undercover operation involving people who wanted to buy stolen televisions:

Here’s a print story on the case: Prosecutors: Jailed suspect ordered robbery of slain undercover officer

The gunman who fatally shot a Houston police officer in the back before being gunned down by another officer during an undercover sting late Tuesday is believed to have been an illegal immigrant from Mexico, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Robert Rutt, agent in charge of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement office of criminal investigations in Houston, confirmed that Houston police had asked for assistance in determining the immigration status of the gunman shot to death in a drug store parking lot after officer Henry Canales, 42, was fatally wounded.

Official San Francisco is well known for pampering dangerous illegal alien criminals. Apparently we have not heard the last of the city’s TLC toward the bad guys, judging from the LA Times’ recent report of malfeasance by the District Attorney’s office: San Francisco D.A.’s program trained illegal immigrants for jobs they couldn’t legally hold, June 22, 2009.

DA Kamala Harris wants to be the top law enforcement official of California, and questions are being asked about her competence and temperment. She ran for city DA on an anti-death-penalty platform, to which she stuck even in a cop murder case. So the citizens of San Francisco were at least warned about what they were getting in that regard. However her support for the extreme version of sanctuary that provided social services for hardened drug-dealing gangsters was an eye-opener for many San Franciscans.

Even in the capital of the Left Coast, only the most extreme believed that releasing dangerous foreign criminals into the local community was a good idea. In fact, a poll taken after news appeared about the cushy treatment for Honduran crack dealers showed that 79 percent of those surveyed thought that the city should turn over convicted illegal immigrants for deportation.

Following is a snip from the LA Times article.

The assault on Amanda Kiefer at dusk in San Francisco’s posh Pacific Heights was extraordinary enough for its cruelty.

A stranger, later identified as Alexander Izaguirre, snatched her purse and hopped into an SUV, police say. The driver sped forward to run Kiefer down. Terrified, she leaped onto the hood and saw Izaguirre and the driver laughing. The driver slammed on the brakes, propelling Kiefer to the pavement. Her skull fractured. Blood oozed from her ear.

Only after the July 2008 attack did Kiefer learn of the crime’s political ramifications. Izaguirre, police told her, was an illegal immigrant who had pleaded guilty four months earlier to a drug felony for selling cocaine in the seedy Tenderloin area.

He had avoided prison when he was picked for a jobs program run by San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, now a candidate for California’s top law enforcement post. In effect, Harris’ office had been allowing Izaguirre and other illegal immigrants to stay out of prison by training them for jobs they cannot legally hold.

The program, Back on Track, is a centerpiece of Harris’ campaign for state attorney general. Until questioned by The Times about the Izaguirre case, Harris, a Democrat, had never publicly acknowledged that the program included illegal immigrants. In interviews last week, she and her office offered inconsistent explanations.

Izaguirre’s trial this fall for the Kiefer attack — his arrest forced him out of the program and into jail — will put Harris in the middle of the controversy over San Francisco’s lax policies toward illegal immigrants.

(See the San Francisco DA’s page about its do-gooder program Back on Track.)

In addition, it was reported recently that San Francisco Shielded 185 Juvenile Illegals from prosecution and deportation, and around 30 percent of those “juveniles” were actually adult offenders with fake ID that lied about their age as well as their nationality.

San Francisco values continue to rock and roll off the charts, so stay tuned!

One of the most financially successful immigrant groups in the country is getting on the apology bandwagon. A newly elected California Assembly Member, Paul Fong from Silicon Valley, has submitted a bill (ACR42) that demands a statement of remorse from Californians for historical discrimination agaist Chinese immigrants. Mr. Fong appears unaware that his victimhood bill is no way to win friends and influence people, particularly at a time when Californians want Sacramento to get serious about fixing the budget. (Contact information here.)

California should formally “express regrets” to the Chinese immigrants who were historically persecuted and abused while they helped build the Golden State’s railroads, mines and agricultural fields, said a state legislator who is promoting legislation that would lead to the first-ever government apology to Chinese-Americans.

Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Mountain View, the grandson of a Chinese immigrant who was interned at Angel Island, said his goal is to eventually convince the federal government to also issue an apology, and then legislate redress for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which specifically barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. It was repealed in 1943.
[California should apologize for persecution of Chinese immigrants, legislator says, San Jose Mercury News, June 11, 2009]

However, American groveling is not sufficient for Mr. Fong; he wants money.

If he gets the state apology, Fong said, he will seek federal redress for the people interned in camps that operated from 1910 to 1942 at Angel Island. However, he did not say how much he wanted the government to pay.

When the U.S. government issued a 1988 apology for the World War II internment of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-American citizens, it paid reparation of $20,000 for each individual who was interned.

Another article contained pertinent information about how Fong family utilized fraud to enter America: Calif. lawmaker seeks apology for Chinese workers, Google AP.

Fong’s grandfather paid about $2,000 for fake identification papers and took a new name of Chan Share, becoming a “paper son.” The term referred to immigrants who purchased fake identification papers from the Chinese who claimed they were citizens and wanted to help their children in China immigrate to America. The practice became popular after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that destroyed many birth records. [...]

“There were discriminatory laws on the books at the time, and he had to get around them,” Fong said. “That was the way they did it.”

See, Fong thinks it’s fine to lie your way into America because of all the nasty discrimination. He doesn’t seem to notice that his other country, the Peoples’ Republic of China, doesn’t permit immigration of persons who are not racially Chinese.

In fact, it’s quite true that early Chinese immigrants were treated poorly — just like the Irish and other groups. Since then, the Chinese have done very well. The Chinese median family income is $10K above that of the American family’s ($60,058 vs. $50,046), according to the Census Bureau’s 2004 analysis, Asians in America.

But money-grubbing hypocrite Paul Fong has a high opinion of his racial tribe (as do many Chinese), and he apparently believes that Americans must be forced to pay for humiliating his grandfather.

Useless Governor Arnold wants save a few million dollars by releasing illegal alien prisoners to Mexico, etc., where they will most certainly be released and many will simply return to the United States to commit more crimes.

With California slipping into a financial sinkhole, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to save more than $180 million by cutting short the sentences of thousands of immigrants in the state’s prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation. [...]

The state’s plan would involve as many as 19,000 inmates. Those among them who committed sex offenses or violent crimes would not be eligible for early release, Page said Friday.

Nearly 65,000 immigrants–most of them in the U.S. illegally–are serving time in the U.S. for state crimes. [...]

Since more than 70 percent of California’s immigrant inmates are from Mexico, deporting them would typically involve putting them on a bus. [...]

Most of these released inmates are unlikely to serve additional time once they are home. That is one reason governors of some states are not about to follow Schwarzenegger’s example. [Calif. looks to immigrant inmates to save costs, June 19, 2009 ]

Sob stories with lawyers–oh my!

This ploy is another escalation of the emotion-fraught amnesty tour, led by Rep Luis Gutierrez who prowled the whole country giving speeches at churches, preaching the open-borders message. A big part of the road show was tearful kiddies giving testimony of their sadness because of dad’s deportation (or even just the fear that someone in the family might be deported someday).

MIAMI (AP)–Ronald Soza celebrated his 10th birthday Wednesday with cake and a serenade by more than 100 other children and their parents.

His own family: absent. His mother was recently deported back to Nicaragua. His father rarely ventures out in public in fear of a similar fate. Now Soza and the other children–all U.S. citizens whose parents face deportation–are demanding a say in the immigration debate.

They are suing President Barack Obama, asking a court to halt the deportations of their parents until Congress overhauls U.S. immigration laws.

The children, who gathered Wednesday at the Miami nonprofit American Fraternity to draw attention to their cause, say their constitutional rights are being violated because they will likely have to leave the country if their parents are forced to go.

Some children said their families didn’t have enough money to pay for school supplies because the breadwinning parent had been deported, and some are at risk of losing their homes. They also say they are suffering psychological and physical hardship.

“My grades went from A’s to C’s when my mom had to leave,” said Ronald.

Nearby, 5-year-old Sara Bedoya Sanchez comforted her sister Salome, 3, who played with a paper sign pinned to her chest reading “Don’t Leave me alone.” [More than 100 kids sue over parents' deportations, By Laura Wides-Munoz, AP,June 17, 2009 ]

It happens all the time — illegal alien teens complain at length that state-sponsored colleges and universities in America are not cheap enough for them, and the press is happy to assist by supplying sob stories. (For an example, see For an illegal immigrant, getting into UCLA was the easy part.)

The illegal students squawk that they want cheaper in-state tuition (unavailable to citizens of other states) and often get it, even though the foreigners cannot work legally upon graduation.

But Mexico (the top sender of illegal aliens) has advanced far beyond stone tools, and it has perfectly fine universities that its citizens abroad could attend. Many of these students want to speak Spanish (because they cannot speak English) as well as celebrate Hispanic culture — what could be more wonderful than returning to their home society where they can immerse themselves totally in Raza-ness. Win win.

There is excellent higher education available in Mexico, as indicated by the National Autonomous University (pictured) recently being recognized for its excellence [Mexican university wins Spanish award, Google AP, June 10, 2009].

MADRID (AP) — A nearly 100-year-old Mexican university was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities on Wednesday in recognition of its role in providing Latin America with outstanding intellectuals and scientists.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has nearly 300,000 students and more than 34,000 professors and researchers, had received more than 1,500 letters of support for the award, including ones from world famous authors Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the award foundation said.

The university, founded in 1910, “has become a point of reference, combining quality and an extensive academic and research offering with its firm commitment to disseminate culture, humanism and new technologies,” the foundation said.

It also praised the school for the role it played as “a reception center for intellectuals and professors exiled (from Spain) after the (1936-39) Spanish Civil War.”

The award includes a euro50,000 ($70,000) cash stipend and a sculpture by artist Joan Miro.

Last year’s Communication and Humanities award went to the Google Internet search engine.

The university is one of the most important public centers for higher education in Mexico and Latin America, with alumni including three Nobel Prize winners — the late Octavio Paz for literature (1990), chemistry scientist Mario Molina (1995), and the late diplomat Alfonso Garcia Robles for the Peace Prize in 1982, the foundation said.

In 2007, the university’s main campus in Mexico City, the University City, was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, which praised it as a monumental example of the modernism of the 20th century.

Incidentally, California is projected to have spent spend $11,935 per pupil in 2007-08 for K-12 education, so foreign children have already gotten plenty from state taxpayers.

The Donohue family of Brewster, New York, was brutally cut in half June 8 when the daughter, Kayla, and her mom, Lori, were run down in the parking lot of the little girl’s dance academy by a drunk-driving illegal alien: [Local Family Destroyed By Alleged DWI Crash, WCBS-TV, June 10, 2009].

A mother and daughter were killed instantly on Monday evening after they were hit by a suspected drunk driver. It happened in Brewster and on Tuesday friends of the family held a candlelight vigil. [...]

On Tuesday grief counselors met with the young dancers, some of whom witnessed the devastating site as the young girl became pinned against the wall. Her mother was below the truck.

Behind the wheel was 35-year-old Zacaria Conses Garcia. It was 6:45 p.m. Monday when his Ford pickup truck barreled through a Brewster intersection and into the dance academy parking lot.

Garcia was driving without a license, in the country illegally.

Eight-year-old Kayla had been practicing for a dance recital later in June. Putnam County Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher York remarked, “The only thing I can think was that this little girl was dancing a few hours ago.”

The drunk driver, Zacaria Conses-Garcia, worked for a local horse trainer, Valerie Ann Renihan, who actually owns the Ford 350 pickup which killed Lori and Kayla Donohue. Renihan claimed ignorance about the truck, but neighbors of the accused said the truck was routinely parked at his residence overnight.

Conses-Garcia had a blood alcohol level of .15, which is nearly twice the New York threshhold for intoxication (.08). He is a citizen of Guatemala and has been charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter, a felony, and driving while intoxicated. He remains in Putnam County jail with a $150,000 bail.

Below, the Donahue family at an earlier time, before the mother and daughter were killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien.

Healthcare reform has been a headline item coming out of Washington this past week. Regarding that policy, the Rasmussen pollsters found that a large majority of voters don’t want illegals included in the deal — no surprise in that result. Americans really dislike the government rewarding lawbreaking foreigners with citizen tax dollars: Americans Support Universal Health Coverage, But Not If It Covers Illegal Immigrants, Rasmussen Reports, June 12.

Eighty percent (80%) of U.S. voters oppose providing government health care coverage for illegal immigrants as part of the health care reform package that is working its way through Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 11% disagree and think coverage for illegals is a good idea. [...]

But, as is often the case, there’s a wide division between Mainstream America and the Political Class on this question. The Political Class is evenly divided on the question of a universal health care plan that includes coverage for illegal immigrants. Those with populist or Mainstream views are overwhelmingly opposed.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that up to 22% of the 46 million people in America without health insurance are illegal immigrants.

As ever, the “political class” wants to be generous with the taxpayer’s money to show illegal foreigners that they are still welcome to come and work cheap.

In addition, the favorability of the elites toward equating foreigners with citizens show how little elites really care for national sovereignty as a guiding principle.