South of the border, down Mexico way
Hmm, where to start. How about Report Says Migrants Repatriated $23 Billion to Latin America, Caribbean in 2001.

Immigrants who helped send $23 billion home to Latin America and the Caribbean last year say the transactions are too costly and put undocumented workers in danger of arrest.

Gee, too bad. And the headline writers need to look up repatriate. The money isn't being repatriated, but we wish the illegal migrants were.

Only 9 percent of 302 U.S. immigrants interviewed for the study use banks to send money home, according to the study by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Inter-American Development Bank. Seventy-eight percent still use wire transfer companies, and the remaining 8 percent send money home by courier or family member, according to the study released Friday by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Ah - illegal money flows! The coppers are on to them and arrests are imminent?

The center and the Multilateral Investment Fund of the development bank conducted the research to gauge how immigrants are responding to the changing money-transfer industry and to spur financial institutions to enter the market.

Nope, it's market research for banks on the burgeoning illegal alien market. What a business opportunity!

Speaking of which, Newsmax reports that Border Patrol Advertises for Illegal Aliens:

Get this: The U.S. Border Patrol is using your tax money to advertise its "rescue beacons" to abet illegal aliens.

The one-minute commercial is expected to be broadcast next year on TV stations in Mexico and in the border city of Yuma, Ariz.

"Officials want to reach viewers in the interior parts of Mexico, where potential border crossers may know little about the treacherous terrain and nothing about the beacons," the Associated Press reported.

"A strobe light directs the illegal immigrants [sic; an 'immigrant,' of course, is someone who has entered the nation legally] to the beacons at night. During the day, a reflective mirror guides the crossers."

The feds have already bought eight of the beacons with your money and plan to add plenty more - six just in the area south of Yuma - to help criminals invade the country.

Hey, more bank customers!

But they need to drive, so DMV Worker Charged With Taking Bribes:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A license examiner with the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles has been charged with receiving thousands of dollars in bribes to issue fake driver's licenses.

Marvin Alphonso Brinkley, 34, of Littleton, was charged with two felony counts of fraudulent acceptance of money for licenses, the DMV reported.

So far, 63 warrants have been drawn up in connection with the case, said Wayne Hurder, director of the driver's license section of the DMV.

The bribes averaged between $350 and $500, court records show.
...
Brinkley has been accused of conspiring with Carlos Mauricio-Garcia Berganza, 24, "to omit to perform an official act in the written and road test," according to the arrest warrants.

Berganza was jailed Wednesday and charged with one count of felony conspiracy and 20 counts of offering bribes, court records.

Vroom!

But don't worry, there's a change of heart in the Mexican government:

Something very unusual happened this week in Mexico, a country long known for its fiery nationalistic demagoguery:

Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castaneda said it's time for his nation to stop being anti-American.

Thanks, Jorge. What's the catch?

Speaking in Mexico City at a book presentation before Wednesday's celebration of the 92nd anniversary of the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution, Castaneda - a former leftist intellectual who has become one of President Vicente Fox's most trusted Cabinet members - said Mexico's current clash between pro-American sentiment and anti-American rhetoric is creating a bad case of "political schizophrenia."

Mexico's nationalism and anti-Americanism made sense in the 19th and 20th centuries, Castaneda said.
...
But what's happening today?" Castaneda asked. "These two theses should not only be considered outdated and be phased out, but are unsustainable in today's world.

"One can't continue defining Mexico's national identity, or any other country's national identity, primarily through nationalism."

Why? Not only because we live in a globalized world, in which countries depend more on exchanges of goods, services and people than at any time in recent history, but because Mexico in particular depends more than most countries on good relations with the United States.

Consider: About 90 percent of Mexico's trade, nearly 90 percent of Mexico's foreign tourism, more than 75 percent of foreign investment and more than 95 percent of the remittances of Mexican workers living overseas - which have become the country's third-largest source of income - come from the United States.

In addition, 25 percent of Mexico's economically active labor force works in the United States.

I get it now! Nationalism is obsolete because we might notice the giant lamprey attached to our southern border.

Carlos Monsivais, a prominent writer and one of the most brilliant minds of Mexico's democratic left, is somewhat more optimistic.

"Mexican society has long ceased to be nationalistic: It's a post-nationalistic society," Monsivais said.

"Nobody that I know of is demanding an anti-American war or anything like that. What it is asking is that Mexico demand the end of racist U.S. anti-immigration policies and other issues that affect us."

Interesting world these "brilliant minds" live in. A big national policy issue is that it they want it to be easier to dump their citizens across the border.

Hey, I don't mind because there is geeky fun involved! Wired says Geek 'Vigilantes' Monitor Border:

A group of tech-savvy ranchers in Arizona is using military technology to monitor and apprehend illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the United States.

Members of the group have spiked their land with thousands of motion sensors. They also use infrared tracking devices, global positioning systems, night vision goggles, radar and other gear to survey movement near the border.
...

ABP member Roger Barnett has $30,000 worth of sensors on his land and receivers in his ranch house and trucks. The ranch receiver produces a continuous printout of sensor hits.

"Roger can generally tell from the location of the sensor if a given hit is good or not," Spencer said. "When I was there two weeks ago, two hits led to the discovery of 40 illegal aliens."

When human presence is detected by one of the devices, the ranchers said they attempt to apprehend illegal immigrants and turn them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

ABP members are further aided by portable battlefield radar units once used by Special Forces reconnaissance teams to protect their camps.
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Spencer said he is opening a test center for security technology, and welcomes any company that wants to conduct field trials of its products. The patrol documents their operations on a website.

When suspected illegal border crossers are found, patrol members typically e-mail the GPS coordinates (longitude and latitude) of their location to Spencer, as well as digital pictures or videos. The information is then uploaded to the group's website.

Spencer said a new website, to launch in February, will automatically produce and update maps from the e-mailed reports.

Visitors to the site will see real-time tracking information on people who are attempting to cross the border. Flashing icons will indicate the current "hot spots" where visitors can click to zoom in and watch live video feeds of the patrol's activities.

Betty Lou get the popcorn! It's illegal alien TV!

But I thought the government was supposed to be patrolling the borders?