McCain blames some Arizona wildfires on illegal immigrants

(CNN) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain is blaming illegal immigrants for starting some of the wildfires that have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in Arizona.

"There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain, R-Arizona, said Saturday at a press conference. "The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border."

The Arizona senator, however, did not say what the evidence is, prompting a swift rebuke from Latino civil rights advocates.

"It's easier to fan the flames of intolerance, especially in Arizona," said Randy Parraz, a civil rights advocate who ran unsuccessfully against McCain as a Democratic candidate in 2010.

Parraz called McCain's remarks "careless and reckless" but not entirely surprising given the political climate in Arizona. The Latino advocate is co-founder of Citizens for a Better Arizona, a group trying the recall the legislator who authored the state's controversial anti-illegal immigration law.

Parraz said McCain "should know better" than to make such an accusation without presenting any facts.

McCain said that illegal immigrants set such fires either to send signals, keep warm or distract law enforcement agents. But he did not specify which fires allegedly had been started by illegal immigrants, nor did he identify his sources or provide details of the "substantial" evidence he cited.

Firefighters are currently battling five wildfires that have burned a combined 732,427 acres in Arizona, according to InciWeb, an online interagency database that tracks fires, floods and other disasters. The fires are under investigation and suspects have not been named. However, local media outlets have reported anecdotal cases of fires breaking out in areas where illegal immigrants have been known to cross the border.

Parraz said it is particularly distressing that immigrants are being blamed for destructive fires at a time when many are also being targeted given the state's unemployment, foreclosure and other economic issues.

"People are looking for someone to blame," he said, claiming it is too easy and convenient to target what he called one of Arizona's "most vulnerable populations."

Angelo Falcon, the president of the National Institute for Latino Policy, criticized McCain for what he called "increasingly blatant" political opportunism.

"The degree of irresponsible political pandering by Sen. McCain has no limits," Falcon said in an email to CNN. "With the lack of evidence, he might as well also blame aliens from outer space for the fires."

CNN

North Sudan Abyei seizure 'illegal,' says south (AFP)

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) – Northern troops seized control of most of Abyei district on Sudan's north-south border Sunday, Khartoum said as the south accused it of an "illegal invasion" that threatens the lives of thousands.

The seizure, coming in the run-up to international recognition of the south's independence in July, was condemned by the world powers as a threat to peace between Sudan's north and south.

Abyei was granted a special status under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended 22 years of devastating civil war between north and south and requires both sides to keep their troops out until a vote to determine its future.

"We are in control of Abyei and all the (Bahr al-Arab) area north of the bank of the river," Khartoum's minister of state for the presidency, Amin Hassan Omer, told a news conference in Khartoum.

"This is because there is still elements from SPLA (the south?s Sudan People?s Liberation Army) trying to enforce its presence in Abyei, and this is not acceptable according to Abyei protocol and the CPA."

South Sudan's government warned the north's "illegal occupation" of Abyei risked tipping the country back to a conflict that would threaten the lives of thousands of civilians.

"This is an illegal invasion and breaks all the peace agreements, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians," said south Sudan's information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin.

"They (the north) are in a fighting mood but we can not accept that they drag the people of Sudan down the drain."

Both sides said they were committed to the CPA.

Omer said "the next step is that we are ready for engagement and negotiations to stop the problem.

"We are a responsible government, we'll not leave any part of Sudan in a security vacuum," he said.

The south's Benjamin said: "We are committed to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement."

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said earlier that "the fighting has been very, very bad" and that "indiscriminate" bombing forced people to flee.

"People have fled the area, because the bombardment was indiscriminate -- bombs from the air and from tanks on the ground," he added.

Troops loyal to the SPLA had all retreated into the south from the disputed district on the border with the north, he added.

Britain on Sunday joined the growing chorus of international condemnation of the north's move into the contested district.

"I condemn recent military actions in and around Abyei, including the attack on Abyei town by the Sudanese armed forces on 21 May and the attack on a joint Sudanese armed forces and UN convoy on 19 May," said Foreign Secretary William Hague in a statement.

The United Nations had called Saturday for an "immediate cessation of hostilities," after the United States and France called on Khartoum to withdraw its forces.

A UN base in Abyei came under attack, with a mortar round landing inside the compound, but there were no casualties, a UN spokesman said.

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, which runs health clinics in Abyei town and 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the south in Agok, said in a statement the "entire population of Abyei town fled the city."

Its clinic in Agok had received 42 wounded people by Saturday evening.

Fighting in Abyei has pitted the former civil war enemies against each other since January when the district was due to vote on its future alongside a referendum on independence for the south which delivered a landslide for secession.

But the plebiscite was postponed indefinitely as the north and south disagreed on who should be eligible to vote in an area where conflicted loyalties and land disputes keep tensions high.

A UN Security Council delegation met Sunday with representatives of the Sudanese government in Khartoum but neither Foreign Minister Ali Karti, who was expected to lead discussions, nor Vice President Ali Osman Taha were present.

"The issue of Abyei was of course at the heart of discussions and the Sudanese party expressed its will to cooperate" with the international community, a participant told AFP on condition of anonymity.

State news agency Suna, meanwhile, said Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir ordered mixed local administrative units be replaced, a move violating the 2005 peace treaty.

The district's future is the most sensitive of a raft of issues the two sides had been struggling to reach agreement on before July.

Yahoo! News

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2 tractor-trailers, 513 illegal immigrants

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday.

X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern state of Chiapas, the state attorney general's office said. The drivers of both trucks sped away after authorities ordered them to stop, but police apprehended them nearby.

Inside the tractor-trailers, they found 513 people from El Salvador, Ecuador, China, Japan, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Guatemala's president declares 'state of siege' after 'massacre'

Each of them had paid $7,000 to travel to the United States, the attorney general said.

Border arrests of undocumented immigrants down 58% in 5 years

They had been traveling in "inhumane conditions," Mexico's National Migration Institute said.

Officials said the group was receiving food, shelter and medical assistance while Mexican federal immigration authorities reached out to consulates and embassies to arrange their return to their home countries.

Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is a major crossing point for Central American immigrants heading north.

Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law

In 2010, Mexican authorities apprehended about 25,000 illegal immigrants there, according to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute.

Journalist Angeles Mariscal and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

CNN

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2 tractor-trailers, 513 illegal immigrants

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday.

X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern state of Chiapas, the state attorney general's office said. The drivers of both trucks sped away after authorities ordered them to stop, but police apprehended them nearby.

Inside the tractor-trailers, they found 513 people from El Salvador, Ecuador, China, Japan, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Guatemala's president declares 'state of siege' after 'massacre'

Each of them had paid $7,000 to travel to the United States, the attorney general said.

Border arrests of undocumented immigrants down 58% in 5 years

They had been traveling in "inhumane conditions," Mexico's National Migration Institute said.

Officials said the group was receiving food, shelter and medical assistance while Mexican federal immigration authorities reached out to consulates and embassies to arrange their return to their home countries.

Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is a major crossing point for Central American immigrants heading north.

Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law

In 2010, Mexican authorities apprehended about 25,000 illegal immigrants there, according to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute.

Journalist Angeles Mariscal and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

CNN

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

2 tractor-trailers, 513 illegal immigrants

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday.

X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern state of Chiapas, the state attorney general's office said. The drivers of both trucks sped away after authorities ordered them to stop, but police apprehended them nearby.

Inside the tractor-trailers, they found 513 people from El Salvador, Ecuador, China, Japan, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Guatemala's president declares 'state of siege' after 'massacre'

Each of them had paid $7,000 to travel to the United States, the attorney general said.

Border arrests of undocumented immigrants down 58% in 5 years

They had been traveling in "inhumane conditions," Mexico's National Migration Institute said.

Officials said the group was receiving food, shelter and medical assistance while Mexican federal immigration authorities reached out to consulates and embassies to arrange their return to their home countries.

Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is a major crossing point for Central American immigrants heading north.

Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law

In 2010, Mexican authorities apprehended about 25,000 illegal immigrants there, according to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute.

Journalist Angeles Mariscal and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

CNN

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Obama pledges help for illegal immigrant grads

MIAMI (AP) — Stepping up his demand to change the nation's immigration laws, President Obama on Friday promised graduates at a vast, multicultural community college that he'll keep working to help students not legally in the U.S. to become American citizens.

President Obama points to graduates at the Miami Dade College North and West Campus graduation on Friday.

By Charles Dharapak, AP

President Obama points to graduates at the Miami Dade College North and West Campus graduation on Friday.

The president's renewed endorsement of the DREAM Act, which has become a rallying cry for Hispanic and other students around the country, drew enthusiastic applause from more than 3,000 graduates of Miami Dade College at their commencement ceremony. The students are part of an increasingly important political constituency in a state that will be crucial to the president's 2012 re-election hopes.

The college graduates more Hispanic students than any other higher education institution in the U.S. Obama took note that some students had recently identified themselves publicly as immigrants without legal status in the country.

"Some were brought here as young children and discovered the truth only as adults," he said. "They put their futures on the line in hopes they will spur the rest of us to live up to our most cherished values."

It was Obama's first commencement address of this graduation season. He called on students to take responsibility for the future and portrayed the United States as an optimistic land with vast opportunities. But the speech had a clear political tone as well, demanding that older Americans have proper access to health care and calling for an overhaul of the immigration system.

Obama has made little progress on his commitment to immigration changes since taking office, discouraging some Latino voters and particularly students.

More than two dozen students, many of them undocumented, chanted and waved signs outside the graduation ceremony, calling on Obama to take executive action and halt the deportation of youths who would qualify for the DREAM Act. Inside, Obama said that he could not act on his own and that he needed Congress to change the law.

The students, from universities throughout the South Florida area, were dressed in black gowns striped with white masking tape to make them look like prisoners.

"Education, not deportation!" they shouted.

Obama has been elevating the profile of the immigration issue lately. He met with high-profile Hispanic entertainment and media figures on Thursday. Last week, he met with about 70 public officials and leaders from different constituencies to urge them to press for changes in immigration among their communities and spheres of influence.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

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Obama pledges help for illegal immigrant grads

MIAMI (AP) — Stepping up his demand to change the nation's immigration laws, President Obama on Friday promised graduates at a vast, multicultural community college that he'll keep working to help students not legally in the U.S. to become American citizens.

President Obama points to graduates at the Miami Dade College North and West Campus graduation on Friday.

By Charles Dharapak, AP

President Obama points to graduates at the Miami Dade College North and West Campus graduation on Friday.

The president's renewed endorsement of the DREAM Act, which has become a rallying cry for Hispanic and other students around the country, drew enthusiastic applause from more than 3,000 graduates of Miami Dade College at their commencement ceremony. The students are part of an increasingly important political constituency in a state that will be crucial to the president's 2012 re-election hopes.

The college graduates more Hispanic students than any other higher education institution in the U.S. Obama took note that some students had recently identified themselves publicly as immigrants without legal status in the country.

"Some were brought here as young children and discovered the truth only as adults," he said. "They put their futures on the line in hopes they will spur the rest of us to live up to our most cherished values."

It was Obama's first commencement address of this graduation season. He called on students to take responsibility for the future and portrayed the United States as an optimistic land with vast opportunities. But the speech had a clear political tone as well, demanding that older Americans have proper access to health care and calling for an overhaul of the immigration system.

Obama has made little progress on his commitment to immigration changes since taking office, discouraging some Latino voters and particularly students.

More than two dozen students, many of them undocumented, chanted and waved signs outside the graduation ceremony, calling on Obama to take executive action and halt the deportation of youths who would qualify for the DREAM Act. Inside, Obama said that he could not act on his own and that he needed Congress to change the law.

The students, from universities throughout the South Florida area, were dressed in black gowns striped with white masking tape to make them look like prisoners.

"Education, not deportation!" they shouted.

Obama has been elevating the profile of the immigration issue lately. He met with high-profile Hispanic entertainment and media figures on Thursday. Last week, he met with about 70 public officials and leaders from different constituencies to urge them to press for changes in immigration among their communities and spheres of influence.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

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