At a recent town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Dick Cheney commented on the current state of immigration and border security.  He said that while border security has improved significantly since September 11, it still remains a problem.  Cheney said that most undocumented immigrants are coming to the U.S. to work, and that the government has no idea of who is actually in the country.  He voiced his support for President Bush’s guest worker program, so the government could keep track of who was coming in to the country and of when they would leave.  He insisted that these individuals could not become citizens and that the proposal was only an idea or concept at this point.

Cheney said that it is extremely necessary to know who is in the country at all times, and that there isn’t enough security yet to employ this proposal.  He said the proposal is an attempt to address the problem of screening out terrorists to the maximum extent possible.

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The Pacific News Service in California reported last week that at the 17^th Constitutional Convention of the United Farm Workers in Fresno, California, Democratic presidential hopeful, John Kerry, asserted his claim to sign the bipartisan AgBill bill if elected into office.  The AgBill works to giving legal residency status to undocumented farm workers in the United States.  This statement comes as part of Kerry’s proposed initiative to comprehensively reform immigration policy during his first 100 days in office.

During his phone conversation with delegates of the Convention, Kerry described every child in America being covered by childcare.  Kerry said “Within hours of being sworn in, there will be health care for all Americans.  In addition to that, we will be introducing an opportunity for kids to graduate from high school differently.”

President of United Farm Workers, Arturo S. Rodriguez, guaranteed the union’s support of Kerry’s candidacy throughout his campaign.  Reversely however, John Sweeney, president of AFL-CIO, the union federation which UFW is under, criticized the Bush administration for problems with job loss and health insurance coverage for Americans. Sweeney stated that the Bush administration let Americans down when 5 million jobs were promised to the American people and the loss of 2 million jobs resulted.

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According to the Arizona Daily Star, President Bush’s nephew, George P. Bush, did not apologize for a previous comment regarding  U.S Border Patrol’s use of pepper-ball guns, calling it reprehensible.  However, after a rally at the University Marriott for his uncle’s re-election, Bush backed off his charge, and told some Tucson reporters that “I made an error and I accept it but…there shouldn’t be this use of arms.”

Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman, Andy Adame, said the pepper-balls are used “to de-escalate a violent situation where an agent’s life is threatened, but he doesn’t have to rely on deadly force.” According to Adame, the pepper-ball guns have been used 71 times since they were introduced in August 2002. The paper also reported that the Mexican government, in turn, has been criticized by Mexican lawmakers for approving the use of “balas de goma” – translated literally as rubber bullets – against illegal border-crossers.