Recently in Immigration Category

The Hound has been able to leave the kennel only after showing papers proving that, in fact, The Hound deserves to be in the U.S. Sort of like Arizona, but without the racial profiling aspect.

Those cowboys in the Southwest sure have stirred up a hornet's nest by passing their own faux immigration law. They decided not to wait until the next decade for Washington policymakers to come up with some immigration reform. Instead, they decided to take the law into their own hands in the Grand Canyon State. Yes, sirree, Bob. Now that's how the West was won.

What has immigration backers scared about Arizona's move to protect the state's borders is that others may follow. Currently, 18 states are rushing to follow Arizona's lead of cracking down on illegal immigration via a state route, rather than federal law. What Arizona did may be controversial, but apparently it's popular. Polls are tracking a 60 to 80 percent support for the measure. And the state's governor certainly didn't back down when she had a meeting with President Obama.

By the way, Illinois is not among the 18 states following Arizonans' lead. But you could expect that, couldn't you?

Although some Illinois pols want to boycott Arizona for conventions, vacations, junkets and sports trips. The Hounds says Lake County officials should get involved in this rush.

The red-light ticket camera vendor in a number of county communities, including Gurnee and North Chicago, is Redflex Traffic Systems, headquartered in dry and sunny Scottsdale, Ariz.

Time to take a stand Lake County and also strike a blow for motoring freedom!

So, President Obama, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Gov. Jim Edgar, R-retired, and Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran all want immigration reform sooner than later. But, these immigrants aren't even "from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow". We're worried about the wrong immigrants.

Ever notice all the Brits, Aussies, Irish and Scotch taking over the U.S. entertainment industry. Forget the recording industry (although Keith Urban is from Down Under, right mate?), The Hound is talking about televison and the cinema. Can The Hound go over to Scotland and host a late-night TV show on BBC 1? Of course not.

But, we let these Celtic folks permeate our media. Where's the Tea Party members complaining about this invasion? Drinking sweet tea, that's where.

And, shouldn't immigration start to investigate all the folks on "Dancing With the Stars"? Pretty strange surnames, what? What's with the Smirnovs and Davalantes? Anybody check their work permits?

If the sheriff has decided he doesn't want to rustle up illegal immigrants any more, The Hound suggests he take his lasso to Hollywood.

Now that Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran has kick-started the area debate on illegal immigration with his broadside at "sanctuary city" Chicago the other day and his figures that one in five jail inmates is an illegal alien, it's time for problem solving. The Hound favors the Spanish solution: Pay immigrants to leave.

The federal government is bailing out failing financial institutions, the feds can write a check to send illegals home --- if in fact we really don't want them. After all, one of the major jobs of the federal government is protecting the nation's borders, which appear to be as sturdy as a sieve.

Spain's unemployment currently is running nearly 11 percent on the Iberian peninsula. That jobless rate is the highest in the euro-driven European Union. So, Spain's government has decided to pay the tens of thousands of non-EU people --- mainly North Africans, Turks, Slavs --- in the country to go back to where they came from.

Those that leave get a lump-sum payment of 40 percent of unemployment money once they renounce their residency permits and the rest once they get home. They also have to agree not to go back to Spain for three years, although after the three years they can recover their work and residency permits.

Sounds like a plan to The Hound. What say you, presidential candidates?

Forget that fence the feds are building along the Mexican border from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. After seeing what Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran had to say about the region's immigration policy, let's build one right here along Lake-Cook Road. Curran, who just spent some time in the Lake County jail, says nearly a quarter of the inmates there are illegal aliens or aliens of questionable status.

And, he blames Chicago and Illinois authorities for letting illegal alien criminals stay in the U.S. even after they do the time for their crimes. Curran says he's had enough --- as have right-thinking people --- and wants to deport any and all illegals who happen to be patrons of the Lake County hoosegow. So far, he's convinced immigration agents to place 75 on a hold status for deportation. The overwhelmng majority --- 105 of the jail's 137 foreign-born inmates --- are from Mexico.

Wonder if Curran has discussed this issue with tough-talking Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.?

At least this may touch off the long-awaited debate over illegal immigration some have been waiting for in this presidential election year. So far, both John McCain, who hails from Arizona, and Barack Obama, who hails from the "sanctuary" city of Chicago, have dance arm's length on the topic. They need to let voters know where they stand.

In the meantime, get the post-hole diggers ready.

The Hound spent many Sunday mornings as a pup at a United Methodist Church. It was nice, but Sundays were enough. He wouldn’t want to spend a solid year there.

Sometimes it’s not who you are, but where you live. Suppose you unknowingly moved into a former crack house (so that’s what that smell is). The fact that it was a crack house was well known to police. They even made a few house calls.