Border Bulletin - Farmers in Ala. suffer from immigration law, GOP up's ante on border security, feels tension on Immigration

Alabama's harsh anti-immigration law is hurting Alabama's coming crop picking season as both legal and undocumented pickers are fleeing the state. Herman Cain and Michelle Bachman both sign pledges for an impenetrable border fence between the United States and Mexico. As the GOP primary continues candidates continue to raise the level of "incivility," towards immigrants, hurting their prospects for electoral gains in the general election.

NPR - Labor Worries Rise As Planting Season Nears In Ala. by Debbie Elliot 24/10/2011 Alabama farmers are facing a labor crisis as the traditional workers who pick their crops are fleeing over the states harsh anti-immigrant law. " So far, piecemeal efforts to match the unemployed or work release inmates to farm jobs are not panning out, and farmers are asking state lawmakers to do something before the spring planting season."

La Times Opinion - Immigration: Candidates up the ante on border security by LA Times 19/10/2011 All of the GOP candidates who have increased their calls to secure the border have overlooked some basic facts: " Currently, deportations and federal funding for immigration enforcement are at an all-time high. On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that it had deported 396,906 immigrants, up from 291,000 in 2007.  Spending has also increased, going from $8.5 billion in 2005 to nearly $16.2 billion this year. The number of Border Patrol agents has increased from 12,348 in 2006 to more than 21,000 in 2011."

Reuters Opinion- The U.S. border and immigration reform - by Bernd Debusmann  21/10/2011 - "Violent crime across the United States has been dropping every year since 2006, according to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Does that hold true for the border region the generals’ report describes as a war zone under assault from Mexican gangs? In May, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, listed violence his agency had identified as “directly related to the Mexican cartels.” Between January 2010 and May 2011, he said, there were 22 murders, 24 assaults, 15 shootings and 5 kidnappings — 66 incidents in all in a state with 23 million people.  That translates into 3.9 per month. Not much of a war."

 The Hill - Tensions over immigration tear away at GOP candidates by Niall Stanage 24/10/2011 - As the GOP continue to make comments about securing the border and ridding the country of immigrants, the dichotomy of winning the Republican primary (by being anti-immigrant) and being a viable candidate for the general election ( by appealing to Hispanic voters) are coming into sharper focus. Many GOP strategists have begun to question the wisdom of being so incivil in their immigration rhetoric. "The “fence” comments “just show Mr. Cain’s ignorance,” said Neftali Partida, a Texas-based consultant who works with Republicans. “It is not the subject of immigration but the rhetoric of immigration that is the problem. Incivility does alienate Latinos.”