2006 TOP TEN Number 1

In February, twenty one people were injured, eight of them seriously, when a van pursued by US police near the Mexican border crashed head-on with a truck. A total of four vans suspected of carrying illegal immigrants from Mexico were fleeing US border patrol officers when one of them lost control and swerved into the oncoming truck. And to make matters worse for the US officers patroling the border, Mexican criminal syndicates began stepping up their attacks on American agents patrolling the border as officials of the Homeland Security Department intensify efforts to stem the flow of immigrants and drugs into the United States.

President Bush then asked Congress to increase the Homeland Security Department's budget by nearly 6 percent. The Border Patrol received an extra $459 million to hire 1,500 new agents, bringing the total force to about 14,000. An additional $410 million was allocated to add 6,700 beds for detainees so fewer illegal immigrants would have to be released before being deported. Another $100 million was spent on cameras, sensors and other detection technology. Mexico also increased its commitment by sending an additional 300 Federalis to patrol their side of the border.

In May, President Bush began calling for 6,000 National Guard troops in a supporting role along the border. And in a controversial move that conservatives are still complaining about, the President endorsed a controversial proposal to give illegal immigrants already in the United States a path to work toward eventual citizenship. Bush made the argument that a guest-worker program is necessary to gain control of the border and relieve pressure from the border. Bush has long championed a guest-worker program that would allow people to enter the United States to fill jobs for which employers can't find enough American workers. In response, a private company called VeriChip, offered to provide radio frequency identification tags that would be implanted beneath the skin of guest workers. These RFID tags would provide the government with the guest workers' location at all times. These tags have been used to keep track of animals, but have not been widely used in humans. This proposal died in its infancy and was never implented.

The increased security along the border forced human traffickers to develop new ways of getting illegals into the US. In August, CA border patrol agents arrested a U.S. man after he tried to smuggle three migrants into the country hidden in the seats of his vehicle. Officers discovered three undocumented migrants sewn into three seats of the conversion van, including the driver’s seat.

In a blitz that began May 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested nearly 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country. Officials said the raids are aimed at child molesters, gang members and other violent criminals, as well as people who sneaked back into the country after a judge threw them out. The crackdown was called Operation Return to Senderand was also carried out in Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit arresting 154 undocumented immigrants. The agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices came heavily armed and loaded with files and warrants for deportation.

To further document those entering the US, beginning January 23, nearly all air travelers entering the will be required to show passports including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere. Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver's licenses or birth certificates.

In defiance of the many Mexican-pride rallies throughout the US this past year, a Nevada town passed a law this week making it illegal to fly a foreign nation's flag by itself. The town council of Pahrump, which lies in the Mojave Desert west of Las Vegas, voted 3-2 to make flying any foreign flag above the U.S. flag or alone an offense punishable by a $50 fine and 30 hours' community service. Hispanic groups slammed the flag ordinance as a blow to first-amendment rights to free speech but thought it unlikely that the community would enforce it. In passing the bylaw, the town joined several other communities from California to Pennsylvania that have passed laws curbing illegal immigrants in recent months. Among them are Escondido, in southern California, and Hazleton in Pennsylvania, where councilors barred landlords from renting to undocumented aliens and denied them access to services. In Texas, where a third of the citizens are Hispanic, the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch enacted laws fining landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and making English the official language.