More Immigrants Dying at Arizona’s Harshest Border Crossing:

Illegal immigration is down and Department of Homeland Security officials say the Arizona-Mexico border is more secure than ever. But many people still attempt to cross, and in Pima County, Ariz., the number that die doing so may reach record highs this year, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

Law enforcement recovered remains of 170 migrants in that county this year, meaning the death toll along the border could overtake Pima County’s 2007 record of 218 border-crosser deaths. The county typically has the highest number of fatalities, and illegal migrants are often funneled to its harsh terrain by tougher enforcement and barriers elsewhere. “We’re kind of looking at a record-breaking year this year,” Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Eric Peters told the LA Times.

Crossing the border is increasingly difficult, but with family members and hope for better economic opportunities in the U.S., that doesn’t deter all migrants:




Birthright Citizenship Under Siege in the Promised Land and the Home of the Brave:

One cannot help but note an eerie similarity between the birthright debates raging in the US and the State of Israel. Both nations are badly in need of resetting their immigration policies in the face of a rapidly globalizing flat planet.
Both must face up to the reality that immigration is innate and inevitable not to mention key to a nation's vigor and long term vitality. Both have to contend with the reality that porous borders are here to stay and that mass deportation of illegal aliens is just not an option. Both would do well to embrace a rich multicultural future in lieu of a monochromatic past.
And yet, both nations are home to regressive factions intent on stemming illegal immigration by targeting birthright citizenship. Tuning out constitutional, statutory and common law considerations, jus soli opponents appear equally oblivious to notions enunciated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

If it takes re-interpreting the 14th Amendment -- a cornerstone of American civil rights -- so be it. At the Israeli corner, weighing in as the Interior Minister, is Eliezer "Eli" Yishai, an equally seasoned flame thrower and the leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas Party.
Replete with conservative credentials, Minister Yishai is of the opinion that "those who allow these children (of immigrants) to stay in Israel are allowing the parents to pull one over on the state of Israel and stay in the country." It follows that deportation of the children in question, now official Israeli policy, may well proceed in short order.