A jerk who likes illegals

The blog Arkansaswatch has a story about a government worker who thinks we should give our taxpayers to illegals.

Woman removed from post office, Ordered to leave while collecting signatures

Below are excerpts from the story:"Jonesboro – A Jonesboro woman collecting signatures for a petition said Tuesday she was wrongly ordered off U.S. Postal Services property downtown."Cora Jean Liles of Secure Arkansas said she was at the U.S. Post Office, 310 East Street about noon Tuesday when a postal employee [Ron Driskell] ordered her off the grounds. She'd been soliciting signatures for a proposed initiated act on the November ballot to prevent illegal immigrants from getting public benefits."

The unidentified postal employee called city police who advised Liles the building was private property and that she should leave or face arrest.A police report read that a female was talking about 'aliens at the post office, refusing to leave."The article goes on to say that Liles said she received permission last week from a postal employee to collect signatures and had collected signatures at another post office in Jonesboro without incident in recent weeks. Liles said the police officer did not force her but asked her to leave the postal property.

More here:

http://arkansaswatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/police-call-on-lady-collecting.html

Events in Little Rock

We got a lot of signatures at Riverfest this weekend! Other than the rain late Saturday, we were able to get to people and get their signatures. This summer is supposed to be filled with public events where activist can get signatures. Some of these events have entry fees, but you might be able to get signatures at an entrance. Here is a list of events below:

Wed. May 28th- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Thurs May 29th- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Fri May 30th- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sat May 31st- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm.

Sat May 31st- Alltel Arena-7:00pm Arkansas Twister's Game. Also best to be there around 5:30. http://www.arkansastwisters.com/

Sun June 1st- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 2pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 1pm

Sun June 1st thru Sat June 14th- Hot Springs- 13th Annual Hot Springs Music Festival visit http://www.hotmusic.org/ or call 501-623-4756 for more info

Mon June 2nd- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Thurs. June 5th thru Sat June 7th- Downtown Des Arc 23rd Annual Steamboat Festival
visit http://www.steamboatdays.net/ or call 870-256-5289 for more info

Fri June 6th and Sat June 7th- Mulbery Mountain Lodge in Ozark will have a hot air balloon Festival visit http://www.mulberymountainlodge.com/ or call 479- 667- 1919

Sat June 7th- Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Little Rock- Pinnacle of Music Festival 9am-10pm. Call 501-868-5806 for more info

Tuesday June 10th thru Sat June 14th- Petit Jean 50th Annual Car Show Museum of Automobiles Petit Jean Mtn. Morrilton http://www.motaa.com/ 501-727-5427

Tues June 10th thru Sun June 15th- Clarksville Town Square-Annual Johnson County Peach Festival- http://www.jocopeachfestival.8m.com/ 479-754-9152

Thur June 12th- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sat June 14th- Alltel Arena-7:00pm Arkansas Twister's Game. Also best to be there around 5:30. http://www.arkansastwisters.com/

Fri June 13th- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sat June 14th 7:10pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sun June 15th 6:00pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Mon June 16 7:00pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Tues June 17 7:10pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Wed June 18 7:10pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Thurs June 19 7:10pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Thurs June 26th 7:10pm- North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Fri June 27th-Sat 28th- Morrilton again!- Great Arkansas Pig Out 501-354-5400 or http://www.pigout.info/

Fri June 27th 7:10pm North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sat June 28th 7:10pm North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sun June 29th 6pm North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

Sat June 30th 7:10pm North Little Rock- Trav's game at 7:10pm- Dickey Steven's Park visit http://www.travs.com/ for more info. It's best to be there by 5:30pm

http://www.fox16.com/news/state/story.

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - When Gov. Mike Beebe came out against a measure to limit state services for illegal immigrants, saying it largely duplicates laws already on the books, he was only partly correct. State and federal law, the practice of Arkansas agencies and Beebe's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution sometimes differ.

-Arkansas' two largest colleges offer in-state tuition rates regardless of a student's immigration status; that would disappear under the proposed constitutional amendment.

-While hospitals are generally required to provide emergency care to all, the Arkansas Department of Health offers additional services beyond critical care without checking a patient's papers; that, too, would disappear.

-And all recipients of state benefits programs are not checked against a federal immigration database before taking government aid; that, too, would change if voters pass a ballot measure put forth by a group called Secure Arkansas.

Secure Arkansas plans to use only volunteer signature gatherers to collect 61,974 valid signatures needed by July 7. The group began collecting signatures in earnest Tuesday as voters went to the polls for the state's primary election. Beebe's office released the governor's statement the previous afternoon. "If some of the principles of this ballot title make sense to you, it may be because they are already the law of the land," Beebe said in the statement. But the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway both offer students in-state tuition if they have official transcripts from a state high school. Officials at both schools said applications had spots for potential students to write down their Social Security number, but that officials processed the paperwork if the space remained blank. "We don't check to see if they've got documentation," said Steve Voorhies, a spokesman for the University of Arkansas. Need-based financial aid requires potential students to fill out a federal form known as the FASFA - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Voorhies said that form required a proper Social Security number or other identification.

The same rules apply at UCA, said university spokesman Warwick Sabin. "The UCA financial aid form is a simple, one-page form that does not require a Social Security number," Sabin said. "However, in order to process anything involving federal financial aid, UCA would eventually require a Social Security number." State scholarships like the Arkansas Academic Challenge and governor's scholarships require students to be legal U.S. residents. However, different rules can apply to other academic scholarships offered by colleges - meaning illegal immigrants could receive them. "My position on it is we give the scholarship to the most highly qualified student," said Bryan Hembree, director of scholarships at the University of Arkansas. "Undocumented is not something we're looking for." Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the governor, said Wednesday he was unaware the two colleges accepted applications that did not include Social Security numbers. He noted Beebe issued an opinion as state attorney general in 2005 saying giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition likely would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. "If we have institutions that need to change their verification processes, we're going to ensure that happens," DeCample said. In health care, federal law requires emergency rooms to accept anyone, regardless of whether they can pay or their immigration status. Federal law also covers other public health measures for illegal immigrants, like immunizations. But a report by the Arkansas Department of Health showed it did not ask for proof of citizenship when offering maternity care, newborn screenings and other care for diseases. Out of the department's $191 million budget in 2006, illegal immigrants cost the department only $199,000 during the year, officials estimated. DeCample said the number of illegal immigrants likely served by those programs would be small. "You have to make the choice: Do you have a screening now or wait until something happens and spend more money for emergency care, which is mandated by the federal government," DeCample said.

Arkansas does partially meet some of the requirements that would be mandated under the proposed ballot measure. State law makes the theft of public benefits a crime, though the state does not uniformly screen all applicants for services through a federal immigration database. All those applying for Arkansas driver's licenses are required to provide proof they live in the country legally. However, a new facial matching program with license photos found more than 3,700 suspicious images so far, something a state official blamed largely on illegal immigrants using phony documents. But Beebe isn't the only person making claims about the ballot measure that don't fully match up with the realities of illegal immigration. Jeannie Burlsworth, the chairwoman of Secure Arkansas, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette she feared America would merge with Canada and Mexico and allow part of Kansas City to become "sovereign Mexican territory." (the North American Union is a reality of illegal immigration) Wednesday, Burlsworth declined to comment beyond saying "the state of Arkansas should not be held hostage by the federal government's inaction." But the governor may be right about one thing - implementing the new immigration checks could prove costly for the state. A preliminary report by the state Department of Finance and Administration released Wednesday said every state agency would have to provide a notary public for free to those filling out paperwork if the measure became law. The report also claims using the federal database would cost 50 cents to a $1 per transaction, which would take "between a few seconds and five days" to be completed. "This delay could create significant hardship," the report reads. (again they refuse to calculate how much money the state will save by stopping illegals from getting State benefits)

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Here's Beebe attempting to look like he's solving the problem.

http://www.fox16.com/news/state/story.aspx?

Petition and legislation update

I want to thank everyone who got signatures during Tuesday's Primary. According to feedback from volunteers, most of the voters were receptive to the petition. I got a few people to join our cause and only had 1 real argument. Despite good reception from voters, Tuesday's Primary had very low turnout. This weekend, Riverfest will be an excellent opportunity to gather more signatures. For more information, visit http://securearkansas.com/
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The pro-illegal crowd has already decided to play the RACE Card! Visit this link here so see the story and comments!:
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/blogcomments
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http://www.fairus.org/site/
May 22) FAIR has received confirmation from Senate Republican Leadership that the Mikulski H-2B Amendment was removed from the Iraq War Funding Bill on the Senate floor this afternoon. The H-2B amendment was added to the War Funding Bill last week by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) as the bill traveled through the Senate Appropriations Committee. The amendment reinstated for three years the returning worker exemption to the H-2B unskilled guest worker program which expired last year. Under the exemption, an alien who worked in the U.S. during the past three years under the H-2B program can return to the U.S. to work without counting towards the 66,000 cap. This exemption would have led to ever-growing numbers of unskilled H-2B guest workers entering the U.S. each year—increasing the number by hundreds of thousands. (May 21) Under growing pressure, Democratic leadership agreed to remove three of the four immigration amendments from the Iraq War Funding Bill that is on the Senate floor this week. The move came when Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) made a point of order under Senate rules, which prohibit legislating on an appropriations bill. This parliamentary move effectively removed three of the four immigration measures from the bill.
Removed from the bill were:

The AgJobs Amendment offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would have granted amnesty to 1.35 million agricultural workers and their families;

The Murray-Gregg Amendment that would have made approximately 218,000 more green cards available for multinational executives and so-called "highly skilled workers" by "recapturing" visas from as far back as 1994;

The Leahy Amendment that would have extended for 5 years a program that helps wealthy investors get green cards.

Busy in Arkansas and nat. issue

Sorry about the lack of posting. I have been collecting signatures for the ballot initative! We will still most likely need to get more signatures. Here's some video footage of that event!
http://www.todaysthv.com/video/default.aspx?mid=748731999

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Got this from FAIRUS.org earlier-
Amnesty Amendments Set to Hit the Senate Floor Today Call Your Senators NOW!!

As we reported last week, during the Senate Appropriations Committee mark-up of the Iraq War Funding Bill, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Larry Craig (R-ID) successfully attached a version of AgJOBS onto the bill. This special interest legislation is intended to protect sources of cheap labor by granting 5-year amnesty visas to 1.35 million illegal aliens plus their spouses and children. To see a summary of the amnesty portion of the Feinstein-Craig amendment, click here. THE SENATE IS SET TO BEGIN DEBATE ON THE IRAQ WAR FUNDING BILL AS EARLY AS TODAY!!!! FAIR is urging all members, activists and friends to call their Senators NOW and urge them to strip all immigration amendments from the bill.
If that weren't enough, the Senate Appropriations Committee also saddled the Iraq War Funding Bill with:
An amendment authored by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) that will dramatically expand the number of unskilled H-2B guest workers entering the U.S. each year; An amendment authored by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) that will make approximately 218,000 more green cards available for multinational executives and so-called "highly skilled workers" by "recapturing" visas from as far back as 1994; and An amendment authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that grants a 5-year extension to a program that helps wealthy investors get green cards.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW AND URGE THEM TO STRIP ALL IMMIGRATION AMENDMENTS FROM THE IRAQ WAR FUNDING BILL!!! As soon as you have called your own Senators, please also call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). These two leaders are the most powerful, influential, and able to strip these disastrous amendments from the Iraq War Funding Bill. When you call these Senators, please tell them:
The American people overwhelmingly rejected amnesty for illegal aliens in 2007;
You are outraged the Senate is once again attempting to sneak amnesty and other immigration amendments aimed at appeasing corporate interests into an unrelated appropriations bill;
The debate over the funding for the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan should not be held hostage by the corporate cheap labor interests in Washington, DC!
To find your Senators' contact information, click here.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) DC Office (202) 224-3542 District Office (702) 388-5020
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) DC Office (202) 224-2541 District Office (502) 582-6304

Identity theft in America goes hand and hand with illegal immigration.

As everyone knows, America is experiencing an epidemic of identity theft. In the last five years alone, complaints to the Federal Trade Commission from U.S. residents who have had their identity stolen have skyrocketed 60 percent, to 258,427 in 2007—one-third of all consumer fraud complaints that the commission receives. What’s less well understood, however, is how illegal immigration is helping to fuel this rash of crime. Seeking access to jobs, credit, and driver’s licenses, many undocumented aliens are using the personal data of real Americans on forged documents. The immigrants’ identity theft has become so pervasive that the need to combat it is “a disturbing front in the war against illegal immigration,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The FTC’s latest statistics help show why. The top five states in terms of reported identity theft in 2007 all have large immigrant populations—the border states of Arizona, California, and Texas, as well as Florida and Nevada. People who pilfer legitimate identities in these states are much more likely than in other parts of the country to use them to gain employment unlawfully—the most common reason that illegal aliens steal personal information. In Arizona, for instance, 36 percent of all identity theft is for employment purposes, compared with only 5 percent in Maine, a state with far fewer illegal aliens. “To many law enforcement leaders in Arizona, this suggests that Arizona’s identity-theft epidemic is directly linked to the problem of illegal immigration,” says a recent report by Identity Theft 911, an Arizona company that helps businesses and individuals protect themselves. Government investigations have only begun to uncover the extent of the crime wave. When ICE agents raided six Swift meat-processing plants in December 2006, they found widespread evidence of fraud involving the use of real people’s identities; the feds eventually charged 148 illegal aliens in the case with crimes related to identity theft. In the first year and a half after Arizona created a special unit to deal with identity theft, investigators said that they were able to purchase more than 1,000 phony documents that made use of real people’s identities. A so-called three-pack—a Social Security card, a driver’s license, and a permanent-resident card—costs on average just $160 in the state. Government statistics probably grossly underestimate the size of the problem. Many local police departments don’t track identity theft accurately, and the FTC only reports complaints that it receives. By combining data on complaints with FTC consumer surveys—which show that far more people have had their identity stolen than report it—Identity Theft 911 estimates that in Arizona alone, some 1.57 million people, or a quarter of the state’s population, have been victims over the last six years. About one-fifth are children—whose Social Security numbers are especially valuable targets, since the kids usually aren’t employed, making discovery of the fraud less likely. “We just don’t know how they’re getting all this information on minors,” says Maryann McKessy, bureau chief for fraud and identity-theft enforcement in the Maricopa County attorney general’s office.



One disturbing theory: health-care employees with access to children’s files are working for organized gangs that trade in illegal documents and are willing to pay richly for the data. “We have a major problem with workers in medical offices stealing patients’ identities, selling them and making a direct profit,” Sergeant James Bracke of the Phoenix Police Department told authors of the Arizona report. The gangs can afford these bribes because identity theft has become such a big business. In Phoenix, “coyotes,” the smugglers who lead illegal immigrants over our borders, have created a network of phony-document producers and safe houses where undocumented workers can wait until they get their fraudulent papers. Americans who have their identity stolen by these gangs are in for major headaches. Among the complaints filed with the FTC is that of a Texas man arrested for a crime committed by an illegal alien who had filched his identity. In another case, highlighted by Nevada senator John Ensign in last year’s immigration-reform debate in Congress, the Internal Revenue Service hit a woman with a $1 million back-tax bill, even though she was a stay-at-home mom. An investigation later found that 218 illegal aliens were using her Social Security number. A Los Angeles police detective—who, ironically, worked in the department’s fraud bureau—was unable to buy a home because of bills piled up by an illegal immigrant who stole his Social Security number to gain employment at a processing plant. Then the IRS served the cop with a bill for $40,000 in back taxes; when he protested, the agency threatened to send his case to collection. Other legal residents have had their unemployment claims or workers’ compensation cases rejected after government records showed that someone with their Social Security number was working. Despite all this, efforts to crack down on identity theft have proved controversial. Ensign offered an amendment to last year’s immigration-reform bill that would have barred illegals from Social Security benefits if they obtained work using stolen identities, but the amendment went down to defeat after critics complained that it was unfair to refuse benefit payments to those who had contributed to the Social Security system, even if they did so under a false identity. Ultimately, the immigration bill itself was defeated, in part because of controversy over its provisions to offer amnesty to illegal aliens, including those who might have stolen identities. Frustrated by what some see as a tepid federal response, local officials in the hardest-hit areas have stepped up antitheft efforts. In Arizona, a new law makes it a felony to use the identity of another person to obtain a job. Local law enforcement agencies, like the Maricopa County attorney general’s office and the Phoenix Police Department, have expanded their fraud units. Even private businesses have gotten into the fight. Last year, the Arizona offices of A. G. Edwards, the national brokerage firm, held “community shred-a-thons” to give people a chance to destroy outdated financial records and other documents that might provide information to identity-theft gangs. But many local law enforcement agencies still don’t treat the theft as a serious crime. Until they do, Americans who have had their identity stolen will pay the price in time, stress, and expensive legal bills. Steven Malanga is senior editor of City Journal and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of The New New Left, a collection of his City Journal essays.

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