Illegal Aliens

Federal immigration officials were interviewing 32 Chinese stowaways Saturday after they were found in two cargo containers at the Port of Los Angeles. A crane operator was unloading the containers about 6 p.m. and noticed three men climbing out of one, said Lt. Titus Smith of the Los Angeles Port Police. The illegal immigrants were all men who looked to be in their 20s, police said.

Frustrated by security crackdowns in Arizona, thousands of illegal immigrants and drug traffickers are flooding once-quiet New Mexico, making it the newest frontier in America's struggle to control its southern border. Border Patrol agents who once caught handfuls of immigrants a day here now arrest 140 or 150 a night. Armed confrontations are increasing, high-speed chases have become routine and officials say they lack the resources to hold the line.

State regulators said Monday that they disciplined two insurance agencies for attempting to sell illegal workers' compensation policies issued by an unlicensed company based on an Indian reservation. The California Department of Insurance levied penalties and enforcement costs of $19,000 against Barlocker Insurance Agency Inc. of Salinas, Hall-Schenk Inc. of Camarillo and two of their agents. The two firms, which neither admitted nor denied guilt, couldn't be reached for comment.

Faced with a booming -- but barely perceptible -- human smuggling trade in Los Angeles, federal authorities Monday called on the Los Angeles Police Department for help and announced the disbursement of $450,000 to train officers to better identify immigrant exploitation.

A controversial plan to train clerks at the Los Angeles County jail to identify inmates who are illegal immigrants and turn them over to immigration officials was approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors. After hours of intense debate, the board voted 3 to 2 for the plan, the first time a California jailer has agreed to screen inmates for immigration violations.

In a move that could put him at odds with President Bush, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee introduced legislation Wednesday that would effectively deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, tighten requirements for political asylum and complete the border fence between California and Mexico. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said the measures would help secure the nation from attacks like those carried out by Al Qaeda on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Fed up with illegal immigration and eager to send a message to federal lawmakers, hundreds of volunteers from across the nation will spend the month of April patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border, helping to apprehend migrants coming into the U.S. "This is a direct challenge to President Bush," said Chris Simcox, an organizer of what's being called the Minuteman Project. "You have continued to ignore this problem. Our state officials, senators and congressmen will do nothing.

Gov. Janet Napolitano said Tuesday she had billed the federal government for nearly $118 million in unreimbursed costs for imprisoning criminals who were illegal immigrants. If the federal government doesn't pay, it should take custody of the approximately 3,600 illegal immigrants incarcerated in Arizona prisons, Napolitano said. She sent the bill last week in a letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. "This is just wrong," Napolitano said Tuesday.

A bill aimed at blocking states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants appeared headed for passage today in the House of Representatives, aided by a strong endorsement from the White House and broad support within the Republican majority. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.

Signaling a potentially bruising congressional battle on immigration reform, the House on Thursday passed a bill that would virtually bar states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, tighten the rules for asylum and close a hole in the border fence between California and Mexico. The bill passed easily, 261 to 161. But the prospects for its provisions becoming law remain uncertain. Indeed, the House vote underscored the divide between it and the Senate on immigration policy.