YONKERS – Eight members of two Yonkers Mexican street gangs who are in this country illegally have been arrested by local and federal agents, police said yesterday.

Members of the Yonkers Gang Unit, Narcotics Unit and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Team of the Department of Homeland Security, arrested the Mexican nationals yesterday and Wednesday, officials announced.

Five members of Vatos Locos, a notorious Mexican street gang that police blame for numerous crimes in Yonkers, were arrested.

Three members of a lesser-known street gang, the Elliott Mexican Gang, based on Elliott Avenue in Yonkers were also arrested.

By Will David
The Journal News
March 30, 2007

Topics: Mexican Street Gangs, Yonkers, Illegal Alien Gangs, Illegal Immigrant Gangs, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, Mexican Nationals, Vatos Locos, Elliott Mexican Gang, Deportations,

The Bush administration yesterday circulated a new plan for immigration reform that would create a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants currently in the country but would require them to return home and pay a large fine to gain permanent U.S. residency.

On the enforcement side, the plan calls for deploying about 6,000 additional Border Patrol agents along the southern border, together with 200 miles of vehicle barriers, 370 miles of fencing and a 300-mile virtual wall of electronic sensors. An employment verification system would feature new, tamper-proof identification cards for immigrants.

The administration has worked on the plan in closed-door sessions with Republican senators since President Bush called for comprehensive immigration reform in his State of the Union address in January. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez have led those discussions, an administration spokesman said.

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 30, 2007

Topics: Amnesty, Guest Worker Program, Illegal Immigrants, Border Fence, President Bush, Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, Carlos M. Gutierrez, Z-Visas,

WATSONVILLE — Federal immigration authorities are expanding into Northern California and the Central Valley, creating a pair of teams to track down illegal immigrants in Sacramento and Fresno under "Return to Sender," a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.

The operation has netted 18,000 undocumented residents nationwide in the past nine months — including more than 100 people on the Central Coast and 900 people in the San Francisco area, said Virginia Kice, ICE’s spokeswoman in Laguna Niguel.

Nearly half of those arrested have been deported to their home countries, mostly Mexico, she said.

"These are fugitive immigrants who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge and have exhausted all legal means," said Kice. "We believe there are more than 600,000 of them in the United States, and we’re in the process of creating new teams to identify, arrest and remove the people who have already been through the legal proceedings and immigration court"

By Tom Ragan
Sentinal Staff Writer
March 30, 2007

Topics: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Illegal Immigrants, Illegal Aliens, Undocumented Residents, Deportations, Immigration Courts, Immigrant Criminals, Return To Sender,

A White House plan devised in weeks of closed-door meetings with Republican senators would grant work visas to undocumented immigrants but require them to return home and pay hefty fines to become legal U.S. residents.

The draft immigration legislation is the first stab by the White House and Republican senators to address the presence of 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living and working in the country and the reliance by employers on illegal workers.

The White House draft plan was circulating Thursday around Capitol Hill and among groups with an interest in immigration legislation after elements of it were leaked late Wednesday.

Under the plan, undocumented workers could apply for three-year work visas, which the plan dubs "Z" visas. They would be renewable indefinitely but renewal would cost $3,500 each time.

By Suzanne Gamboa
March 29, 2007

Topics: Amnesty, Illegal Immigrants, Illegal Aliens, Z-Visas, Immigration Legislation, Undocumented Workers, Path to Citizenship, President Bush, Work Visas, Guest Worker Program, Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, Carlos Guiterrez, Jeff Flake,