United States Immigration

Here in America's sixth-largest city, home to the world's busiest border crossing, no one has to explain the impact of Mexico or the complexities of immigration to political figures like Lucy Killea. But Killea thinks U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein could use a lesson or two. Although Feinstein has done some great things for California as a senator, Killea said, her views on Mexico have been unacceptable. Too often, Killea said, Feinstein has treated Mexico--and immigrants--like political scapegoats.

Seeking a preelection political push, Latino activists converged on party offices in the Los Angeles area Thursday demanding support for legislation that would grant amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and ease rules for many others who have lived for years in legal limbo. The chief target was GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush, whose Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill have blocked approval of a bill dubbed the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act, sponsored by Sen.

More than 200 Iraqi Christians, including 133 who were detained by Mexican police in Tijuana last week, were safe on U.S. soil Wednesday as immigration officials processed their asylum applications. Their journey is turning out a lot happier than that of many who pay smugglers to get them to a new life in the United States. Chinese groups are regularly captured off the Baja California coast and sent home--at U.S. expense--without setting foot in the United States.

More than 1,700 Iraqi Christians crowded into separate church services Sunday to celebrate the release of 46 Iraqi immigrants from U.S. custody and call for the release of others being detained in Mexico. "It is difficult to describe it," said 28-year-old Mufeed Yousif, one of 16 Chaldean Christians released by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials Saturday.

Iraqi Christians held by police at a Tijuana hotel appeared closer to their goal of asylum in the United States after Mexican authorities agreed Friday not to send them back to Iraq. Authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border were still working out how and when the 133 emigres would be allowed to make their way to the San Ysidro port of entry to pursue asylum bids.

An immigration judge in Hawaii has ruled that the leader of one of China's largest spiritual movements can remain in the United States indefinitely, the guru's attorney said Thursday. The judge stopped short of granting political asylum to Zhang Hongbao, founder of the Zhong Gong group, who had faced deportation to China. Zhang was being held at a detention center in the U.S. territory of Guam.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service promised Wednesday to put a stop to what officials acknowledged is the far too frequent mistreatment of legitimate travelers from Asia who attempt to enter the United States through Portland International Airport in Oregon. INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ordered a thorough investigation of practices at the airport one day after Oregon's senators, Republican Gordon H.

Australian basketball player Martin Iti's petition for guardianship in Orange County Superior Court has been dismissed, as requested in a strategic move by an attorney representing Iti's local guardian. The dismissal clears the way for Iti's petition for emancipation, a second legal action that has similar goals to the petition for guardianship but requires a less demanding burden of proof, said the attorney, Ronald E. Lais.

A class action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the Immigration and Naturalization Service of placing thousands of immigrants at risk of deportation by failing to promptly process their applications to remain in the United States. The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the children and spouses of immigrants who have obtained permanent legal resident status under a 1986 amnesty law.