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Thursday, April 24, 2008
Department of Justice adds prosecutors on the border
The Department of Justice announced Thursday it would invest $7 million to boost U.S. Attorney’s offices along the Southwest border region.
The department will hire 64 assistant U.S. attorneys and 35 support staff to expand the prosecution of criminal activity including human trafficking, drug and gun smuggling, violent crimes and money laundering.
“Border issues are a top priority for the Department of Justice,” said Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, in a press release. “This infusion of resources will provide for new prosecutors and staff as part of the department’s comprehensive, but flexible, strategy to fight crime along the border.”
The new positions will boost offices in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.
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Senate Judiciary Committee: John McCain is a “natural born” American
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed a resolution expressing the “sense of the Senate” that Sen. John McCain is constitutionally eligible to run for president of the United States.
“The Senate should adopt this resolution and put to rest any question of Sen. McCain’s status as a ‘natural born citizen,’” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the committee. “There is no doubt in my mind that he is eligible to run for president.”
The resolution says: “Whereas John Sidney McCain III was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936: Now, therefore, be it resolved that John Sidney McCain III is a ‘natural-born citizen’ under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States.”
The two Democratic candidates for president — Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — support the resolution.
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Hispanic lawmakers lash out at Democratic leaders
Democratic Hispanic lawmakers lashed out at their own party Wednesday for planning hearings on immigration enforcement legislation and “piecemeal” visa reform measures while ignoring broader reforms.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, a leader on immigration issues, said that Democrats were “no better than the Republican majority” if they didn’t offer a solution for all immigrants, including those in the United States illegally.
He said that millions of immigrants and their supporters didn’t stage giant marches in 2006 “for a handful of visas.”
The lawmakers said that the House is planning to schedule hearings on an enforcement bill known as the SAVE Act, and on efforts to increase caps for specialized visas for seasonal workers and high-tech employees.
The SAVE Act would increase the Border Patrol by 8,000, train more state and local police to enforce immigration law, and require that all businesses, within four years, use a government program to verify the legal status of their employees.
Most of the House members pushing the SAVE Act are Republicans, however the author of the legislation is a Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina.
Rep. Joe Baca of California, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said that the immigration measures being considered by the House were “nothing more than a band-aid being used to cover up a gaping wound.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, said that Democrats were being “spineless” and that he felt disrespected.
“We have been good Democratic foot soldiers,” he said.
Read more here.