Immigration

Re "Is anyone listening?" Opinion, Jan. 2 When immigration is discussed, way too often the word "illegal" is omitted, at least at the start of the discussion. Americans do not oppose legal immigration -- just people who sneak across our borders. This is a distinction too often omitted from various diatribes, or at least not mentioned until well into an article. Jan Young Foothill Ranch

John McCain: An article in Monday's Section A about Sen. John McCain and Arizona Republicans' views of his stance on immigration said a new state law fined businesses that hired undocumented workers. The law calls for revoking the licenses of businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

In his first visit to California as president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon told the Legislature on Wednesday that immigration "carries off the best among us," and he vowed to create the economic conditions that would allow Mexicans to find well-paid work in their own country. Calderon drew applause, particularly from Republican legislators, when he said, "While my government is committed to protecting the rights of all Mexicans, including those living beyond our borders, we are taking great efforts to ensure that in the future no Mexican needs to leave our country to find job opportunities elsewhere."

The FBI is submitting nearly 40% fewer criminal investigations to the Justice Department for prosecution than it did two decades ago, a study indicated Thursday. The bureau has focused on terrorism investigations in recent years. Other federal agencies also heavily engaged in white-collar criminal investigations are showing similar changes, said the study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a private group at Syracuse University.

Immigration authorities this week arrested a Mexican citizen accused of killing a police officer in San Julian, Mexico, and have turned the man over to officials there. Authorities said Jaime Castaneda, 37, was living as a fugitive in an Inglewood apartment and had been running from the law for years. He allegedly killed San Julian police officer Francisco Gonzalez in 2004 and is wanted for a series of other crimes in both the United States and Mexico, said Virginia Kice of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother. The Camelot connection has become part of the mythology surrounding Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It is a touching story -- but key details are either untrue or grossly oversimplified.

The attack on the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Order 40 -- which limits when officers can ask about the citizenship status of suspects -- has come largely but not exclusively from anti-illegal-immigration forces. But now the order has a new and potentially potent foe: the family of Jamiel Shaw Jr., the Los Angeles High football star who was killed last month. Police have charged a gang member who was in the country illegally with Shaw's slaying. Jamiel Shaw Sr.

Don Chew leaned in close, crinkled his nose and offered a Cheshire smile that threatened to envelop his face. Yes, he said, he is well aware that his grand dream -- a foreign man pioneering badminton, a foreign sport, in a foreign land -- has been preposterous from the start. But, he said, here's the thing: "It's all coming true." Chew's American tale has its roots in his native Thailand. It incorporates faces from Laos, Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers Friday announced its support for a controversial campaign to make it easier for officers to question gang members about whether they are in the country legally. Last week, City Councilman Dennis Zine introduced a motion that would require Los Angeles Police Department officers to check the immigration status of a gang member suspected of being in the country illegally -- even if the suspect is not under arrest.