OH-05 GOP Bob Latta: Cuban-American Who Opposed Border Fence Gives Him $$$$

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (TDB) -- A South Florida congressman who was one of six GOP U.S. House members voting last year against the border fence with Mexico has sent a $1,000 check to Bob Latta's OH-05 congressional campaign. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is a Cuban-American who has generally supported President George Bush's immigration reform policies. The House approved the fence by a wide margin in September 2006. Bush's reform proposals have been rejected in Congress because they were seen as offering amnesty to about 12 to 14 million illegal immigrants -- most from Central America and Mexico -- believed to reside in the U.S.

Latta has portrayed himself an immigration hardliner. He has called illegal immigrants "a slap in the face" to resident aliens living in the United States with proper documents allowing entry. Latta says he favors the fence along the Mexican border. It is not clear why he would accept financial support for his campaign from someone who opposes the fence along the Mexican border.

U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio and the House minority leader, has described the bill that Diaz-Balart voted against last year as critical to securing U.S. borders.

"With more border patrol agents, additional fencing and border infrastructure, and more state-of-the-art surveillance, this bill will make a real difference in securing America's borders."

OH-O5 GOP Bob Latta: MIA On Bill That Says Illegals Can't Have Ohio Licenses

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (TDB) -- Republican congressional candidate Bob Latta is portraying himself as an immigration hardliner who would bar illegals from receiving taxpayer-funded health care and education benefits. But the state legislator from Bowling Green hasn't signed on to support a bipartisan measure in the Ohio House that would take the actions he is now promising. The House immigration crackdown bill Latta has turned his back on also includes a prohibition against Ohio driver licenses and ID cards to immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

For the past three months, Latta has been missing in action from the sponsor's list on H.B. 308, a measure that would place restrictions on hiring and sheltering illegal immigrants in Ohio. The measure was introduced last September and restricts "the employment, transport, post-secondary education benefits, driver's licenses and identification cards, and receipt of public benefits of persons who are not legal residents of the United States."

Legislative officials say they are unaware of any steps taken by Latta to sign on as a co-sponsor.

"He's full of it, he's hasn't lifted a finger on this issue in the Statehouse. They sent out for co-sponsorships. If Latta wanted to do something, he could have jumped on it. You had Republicans like Bill Seitz and Courtney Combs who signed up, and Dale Mallory, a Democrat whose brother is the mayor of Cincinnati. Where's Latta? He's missing in action. He could have done something in Columbus. He only wants to do a commercial, not any lawmaking. He's totally full of it."

Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, moved to the Ohio Senate when Patty Clancy stepped down. Combs is a former Butler County Commissioner. Combs comes from a community where the sheriff and other local officials are making it clear that illegal immigrants are not welcome.

Latta is running against Democrat Robin Weirauch for the vacant U.S. House seat in Ohio's 5th Congressional District. The special election is Dec. 11.

Latta says Weirauch favors extending federally financed health care benefits to illegal immigrants. Weirauch's campaign says Latta's charge is false. Latta held a news conference this week that was timed to coincide with the release of a campaign ad that proclaims "Washington Does Nothing" about illegal immigration. The National Republican Congressional Committee goes on to say that Latta is "ready to get tough on illegal immigration."

OH-05 Dem Robin Weirauch: Sounding Tough Like Tancredo On Immigration

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Democrat Robin Weirauch is strutting her blue collar roots -- she used to work beside her mother in a factory -- and has been heating up the anti-NAFTA rhetoric. Now she's pledging a crackdown against undocumented aliens and says she's in the camp that favors "absolutely no amnesty, no driver's licenses and no federal benefits for illegal immigrants."

[UPDATE: 12:20 PM est -- Weirauch is traveling around NW Ohio today and in speeches she is targeting what she has called the "Taft Tax," the sales tax increase sought by former GOP Gov. Bob Taft that was the biggest tax hike in the state's history. "To create a new direction for Ohio, we need new leaders with new priorities. We remember all too well what the politics of the past brought. Career politicians gave us the Taft Tax, which was the largest tax increase in Ohio history in order to pay for budgets that provided millions for the special interests. Worst of all, those same career politicians told middle class Ohioans to pay for it all." Jeff Coryell is on the road with Robin and Ohio Daily Blog is carrying his reports.]

Weirauch is running against Republican State Rep. Bob Latta for the vacant seat in Ohio's 5th Congressional District, which covers the conservative northwest corner of the state. The special election is Dec. 11. Latta voted for Taft's sales tax increase. The district covers a patch of political turf that has not been held by a Democrat since 1938. Weirauch has fashioned a message that looks to be in tune in a region filled with farms and small factories that are being squeezed by globalization, high energy costs and an economy that seems to have left much of the Midwest behind. On immigration, Weirauch -- who is campaigning today with Gov. Ted Strickland -- is running to the right of many who come from her party's Big City urban districts. She says family budgets in rural Ohio are being stretched beyond the breaking point as local economies wither.

"Unfortunately, the politicians in Washington have worked harder on behalf of the special interests than the working families of Northwest Ohio."

On her campaign blog Weirauch writes that she considers illegal immigrants a threat to Ohio's rural economy. She says they are part-and-parcel with what she calls foreign trade agreements fashioned by corporate lobbyists that don't have the interests of U.S. workers at their core. Weirauch writes:

"Making matters worse, Washington isn't enforcing our immigration laws, allowing big companies to hire illegal aliens without being penalized. That isn't right. Washington has failed to fix America's broken immigration system and hardworking Northwest Ohioans are paying the price. Washington needs to enforce our immigration laws and hold employers liable when they break them. We must secure our borders and make sure that illegal immigrants aren't rewarded for breaking the law . . .

"We've had enough of politicians who send our jobs overseas, support trade agreements that encourage illegal immigration, and fail to enforce immigrations laws."

NFL Hall Of Famer Anthony Munoz: Signs Up To Play Offense For Phil Heimlich

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Former Bengal Anthony Munoz owns three NFL offensive lineman of the year awards, and now he's going to try to open holes in the OH-02 GOP primary that will give Phil Heimlich some running room. Heimlich landed the Latino sports star's support despite Heimlich's firm opposition to any easing of immigration laws for Hispanics who settled in the United States illegally. Munoz was born in Ontario, Cal., in 1958.

Heimlich is seeking to wrest the party's nomination from U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt next March. Munoz, who is an extremely popular figure in the Cincinnati area where he lives, has signed on to back Heimlich and will headline a fundraiser next month.

Munoz is in the NFL Hall of Fame and played for the Bengals from 1980 until his retirement in 1992. He made the Pro-Bowl 11 times during his 12-year career. After football, he started a charitable foundation that has become one of the most important organizations working with young people in Southwest Ohio. He has also dabbled in Republican politics, and served as a local leader in the 2004 Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. His alignment with Heimlich -- who is challenging a sitting member of Congress -- is a blow to Schmidt and a sign that she may have difficulty holding the allegiance of the area's top Republicans.

Munoz is Hispanic and played college ball at the University of Southern California in his native state. Heimlich got the NFL great's support even though he's no fan of legislation that would transition some of the Latino residents who immigrated illegally to U.S citizenship. Heimlich says:

"Illegal immigration is an issue of national security. Certainly, most immigrants moving illegally into the U.S. are not terrorists and are not consciously seeking to harm our nation. But our current policies allow those who seek to harm our nation to simply walk onto our soil, undetected and unaccounted for.

"I oppose granting amnesty, or creating an easy 'pathway to citizenship' for those who have come here illegally. To do so makes a mockery of our laws, and disrespects every immigrant who has come to America legally."

Ohio's Bizzyblog Spots An Important Nugget: U.S. Black Unemployment Fell Sharply

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Bizzyblog's Tom Blumer is highlighting a positive development in the just-released U.S. employment data: The jobless rate among black Americans and teens has declined. Still too high. But still a needed move in the right direction.

Bizzyblog mentions the news in a long takeout on the overall jobs picture, and wonders if employers who formerly would have hired undocumented aliens are now employing native-born citizens. He theorizes the failure of an immigration bill in Congress last month was a factor that could have resulted in the dip:

"Here are a couple of interesting numbers -- black/African American and teenaged unemployment fell pretty sharply -- from 8.5% to 8% and 15.8% to 15.2% respectively. Both percentages are still higher than anyone would like to see them. But, as noted here previously, those figures have, up to now, stayed stubbornly high relative to previous economic expansions. Could late June's shamnesty-bill failure have influenced this by making employers less likely to hire illegals, forcing them to find relatively unskilled citizens to do the work instead."

The data pose other questions: How will the fact that more lower income minorities have jobs impact social issues such as crime, prison construction, health care, child support, drug abuse and on and on? Employment equates with stability. Simply put, if people can find work, they are probably less likely to find trouble.

Ohio: Another Asylum Plea Over China's 'One-Child' Law

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A federal appeals court rebuffed the Bush Administration's attempt to deport a male illegal immigrant from China who says he has fathered two children in Ohio and faces sterilization if sent home. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati instructed the Justice Department's bureau of immigration appeals (BIA) to reopen Xin Mao Wu's petition for political asylum.

A three-judge panel ruled unanimously the agency did not legally explain its decision to reject the asylum plea. (Case No. 05-3939.)

In November, a different 6th Circuit panel said the government could deport Xue Ying Lin, a mother whose two children were born in Ohio. She argued she faces prosecution by the People's Republic of China because she violated that nation's policy of limiting families to one child. (Case No. 05-4505.)

The panel on the mother's case was comprised of three male judges. The latest ruling came from a panel that included two women, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook and Cornelia G. Kennedy of Detroit.

The U.S. State Department's most recent Human Rights Report about China criticizes the country's coercive birth control policies. It confirms that forced sterilizations and abortions occur. The Daily Bellwether's story about the mother's asylum case mentions the annual human rights reports prepared by American diplomats.

Wu slipped into the U.S. in August 1995 and worked in a Cleveland restaurant, where he was arrested in February 1996. He did not show up for a deportation hearing and never left. In 2003 he applied for asylum, saying he had two children. He claimed if he returned to China either he or his wife would be forcibly sterilized.

"The BIA has been charged with providing expert interpretations of the immigration laws, and this court must give the BIA deference in making such decisions," the appeals court said. "Accordingly, where, as here, a reviewing court cannot sustain an agency decision because the agency has failed to consider a legal issue central to resolution of the petitioner's claim, the appropriate remedy is to remand to the agency for further consideration." A link to the full text of the decision is HERE.