Double Barreled Opinions

MEXICAN OFFICIAL SAYS NAFTA INCLUDES SUPERHIGHWAYS

Tell Congress to Stop the Expansion of NAFTA to include Superhighway Link. Alert: While President Bush and other U.S. officials have derided fears of a NAFTA superhighway as merely conspiracy theory, a Mexican transportation expert contends the trade agreement includes plans for a network of international ship, rail and truck connections to deliver consumer goods from China and the Far East to Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. "Transportation linking the United States, Mexico and Canada is key to the future of NAFTA," Eduardo Aspero, president of the Mexican Intermodal Association, told a recent luncheon sponsored by the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio. In transportation economics, the term "intermodal" refers to the ability to move a container by crane to different...

MEXICAN TRUCK DRIVERS TAKE ENGLISH EXAM IN SPANISH

Tell Congress to Stop the Bush Administration's Push for Mexican Trucks. Alert: Mexican truck drivers allowed to travel throughout the U.S. under a Bush administration demonstration project may not be proficient in English, despite Department of Transportation assurances to the contrary. A brochure on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's website instructs Mexican truck drivers, "Did you know ... You MUST be able to read and speak English to drive trucks in the United States." Still, at the Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III reluctantly admitted under intense questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that Mexican drivers were being designated at the border as "proficient in English"...

SENATOR THRASHES BUSH'S MEXICAN TRUCK HAT DANCE

Tell Congress to Halt the Mexican Trucks. Alert: A combative Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters was accused in a Senate hearing yesterday of defying a congressional vote to halt the Bush administration's controversial project allowing Mexican trucks to operate freely on U.S. roads. "I regret supporting your nomination to be secretary of transportation," Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., told Peters. "Your legal counsel is giving you bad advice that unfortunately you have willingly accepted." Dorgan charged the Department of Transportation was "hell-bent on proceeding with this pilot program" regardless of safety concerns the agency's inspector general continues to document. "You believe you have found a loophole, but you are making a very big mistake," Dorgan warned Peters. "This is a slap...

BUSH SAYS BORDER SOLUTION INCLUDES AMNESTY

Tell Congress to Oppose Amnesty and Support the SAVE (Secure America through Verification and Enforcement) Act. Alert: The solution to security issues on the U.S. border with Mexico will need to include some sort of swinging door so that workers can come and go as they want, according to the White House press secretary. Correspondents at the White House, Les Kinsolving, asked spokeswoman Dana Perino: "Reuters reports that our Customs and Border Protection Commissioner admits that the U.S. may not meet the goal of essentially stopping illegal immigration from Mexico by 2011. And my question: What does the president believe would help most in this effort, more border security personnel, more miles of border fence, or more enforcement of immigration...

GOP SENATORS TO INTRODUCE TOUGHEST-YET IMMIGRATION PACKAGE

Bills would mandate prison time for illegal border crossings and compel English dealing with federal agencies. Tell Congress to Support the SAVE (Secure America through Verification and Enforcement) Act. Alert: Senate Republicans are set to announce today the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet -- one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies. Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democratic-controlled Congress. But the move by some of the Senate's leading Republicans underscores how potent the immigration issue remains, particularly in a presidential election year. The bills...

AMNESTY GROUPS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO SILENCE YOUR VOICE

Tell Congress You Stand Against Amnesty. Alert: A national Hispanic advocacy organization said Thursday it is fighting back against what it considers to be "hate speech" that has emerged from the debate over immigration. National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia announced plans to pressure television network executives and candidates seeking their parties' presidential nominations to clamp down on such remarks. The group launched a website to counter the speech, www.wecanstopthehate.org, with clips of what it considers offensive comments made on television, as well as a tracking of hate crimes. "Hate groups and extremists have taken over the immigration debate in an unprecedented wave of hate," Murguia said. Although some comments could be considered free speech, "there is a...

TELL CONGRESS WE NEED A REAL, NOT VIRTUAL, BORDER FENCE

Tell Congress Not to Delay our National Security and Build the Fence. Alert: The Department of Homeland Security spent $20 million on a "virtual fence" to better secure 28 miles of the Arizona-Mexican border but has no way to measure its effectiveness and never consulted with the field agents who will use the system before it was installed, two House subcommittees learned today. During a hearing at which some members angrily challenged department officials to say how much it will cost to secure the entire border and when that effort will be completed, U.S. Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar acknowledged that the agency does not "have the means" to measure how many people are crossing illegally into the United...