Get ready for another immigration fight: Greg Siskind, one of the top immigration lawyers in the county, reports in his immigration bulletin that the government is getting ready to propose a new rule for Social Security "no-match" letters — the notices to companies that employees who are working for them have Social Security numbers that don't check out right with Social Security records.

The Department of Homeland Security hopes to use letters to weed out illegal aliens who are using bogus Social Security numbers. After his immigration bill failed for a second time, President Bush vowed to do what he could under existing law to crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens, and the letters are a key tool.

But DHS's first attempt last summer was challenged by unions, rights groups and businesses, and a court called for a full trial to determine if the rule was too burdensome. Rather than fight, DHS withdrew the proposal and promised to come back with another one. That day apparently is at hand.

Last time, businesses complained they didn't want to have to fire employees who hadn't resolved their problems within 90 days. The key question will be what sort of accommodations DHS makes to businesses in the new rule. Whatever DHS does, expect this new rule to end up right back in the courts.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a top proponent of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, today introduced a bill that would return the fence to a two-tiered structure running along 700 miles of the border, as it was originally envisioned in the 2006 Secure Fence Act.

Last year Congress included in its massive year-end spending bill language that cut back on the fence, including dropping the requirement that it have two tiers and deleting the specific locations Congress called for the fence to be built.

President Bush signed the bill into law.

Mr. Hunter's bill would undo those changes.

"The omnibus spending bill dismantles the only legislative advancement made in recent years towards securing our border with Mexico, and represents a prescription for failure that directly threatens the safety, security and prosperity of the American people," said Mr. Hunter, California Republican.

The Department of Homeland Security consistently has balked at the broad sweep of the mandate, arguing that only 370 miles of fencing is needed and that DHS knows the best locations, though they are still studying what those locations are. (We won't ask how DHS is convinced 370 miles is the right number if they don't even know the proper locations yet.)

Mr. Hunter said DHS has built only 75 miles of fencing and only five miles meets the two-tier standard from the 2006 law. DHS says it has built far more and is on track to complete 370 miles and another 200 miles of vehicle barriers by the time Mr. Bush leaves office a year from now.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

A new Web ad argues that an anti-illegal immigration ordinance in Riverside, N.J., worked so well it chased out businesses along with illegal aliens.

It's another take on the argument that U.S. businesses rely on illegal aliens — but in this instance, it's as consumers, not just as employees. The New York Times also chronicled the drop in business with two articles, one in July and one in September when the town ended its rule.

It's an intriguing line of argument, and one that's been kicked around before. What effect would a full-scale attrition-based immigration policy have on the hair salons and restaurants in immigrant-dominated communities across the nation? The ad appears to be targeted at Virginia, where localities and state lawmakers are considering the next step in trying to crack down on illegal immigration.

Still, the ad is misleading in one area: Riverside rescinded its ordinance because it didn't want to fight a lawsuit and only after a judge ruled against a similar ordinance enacted in a Pennsylvania town.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

The National Council of La Raza got the resignation it wanted, and Kansas City still didn't end up with NCLR's annual conference in 2009.

Two months ago NCLR's board voted to deny Kansas City the 2009 conference in retaliation for Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser allowing Frances Semler to be a member of the city's parks board. Semler is a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which NCLR has deemed an extremist, vigilante organization.

In resigning, Semler said she felt "betrayed" by the lack of support from the mayor, and said the controversy just overwhelmed her, according to Associated Press. She said the city asked her to renounce her membership in the Minuteman group. She refused.

But NCLR said the resignation came too late to win back the conference.

“Unfortunately because of the mayor's lack of leadership and sensitivity to the Hispanic community, it is now too late," said NCLR's president, Janet Murguia.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC says the top Republican candidates are so bad on the issue of immigration they are trying to draft CNN anchor Lou Dobbs into the race for president in case a "pro-amnesty" candidate emerges from the Republican contest.

"Ninety percent of our supporters are behind either Romney, Thompson, Paul, or Hunter for President because they appear truly opposed to Amnesty for illegal aliens," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "Eighty four percent of our supporters say they would support Lou Dobbs for President, if the GOP primary fails to yield a candidate opposed to Amnesty."

He has registered the site www.LouDobbsforPresident.org as a placeholder and says all information gathered about potential supporters will be passed on to Mr. Dobbs if he does join the presidential race.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times

An Ohio sheriff who has been an outspoken critic of what he describes as the federal government's failure to secure national borders is looking to put a little bite into his bark.

Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones has sent eight of his deputies to Hall County, Ga., for federal 287(g) immigration enforcement training under the direction of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

After completing the training, which is scheduled to end Feb. 1, the deputies will be able to enforce federal immigration laws.

Sheriff Butler said his office is believed to be the first law enforcement agency in Ohio to operate under the federal program.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added section 287(g) — performance of immigration officer functions by state officers and employees — to the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

The section authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration enforcement functions.

"I am pleased we have finally reached this point and look forward to working with ICE as we transition to these new powers," said Sheriff Jones, who has championed the cause for local immigration enforcement powers over the past several years.

"Being part of the 287(g) program will not only assist us with local issues and the deportation of illegal aliens process, but can lead to a closer working relationship with ICE and hopefully the housing of more of their prisoners.

"We're finally on our way to making a difference with illegal immigration in Butler County," he said.

Sheriff Jones has criticized the federal government's failure to secure its borders and has sent bills to federal officials asking for reimbursement for the county for the cost of jailing criminal aliens whom he said should have been stopped at the border.

The sheriff, who also asked the Mexican government to reimburse him in his fight against Mexican-based drug rings in his county, says the Senate's failure to pass an immigration reform bill is reason enough for states to target illegal aliens themselves.

He has called on state officials to enact legislation to deal with what he calls a "continuing illegal-immigration crisis."

"Just in this county alone, the cost to the taxpayers for illegal immigration is $1 million," he said. "Add to that the cost to the citizens throughout the United States and that taxpayer burden is in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

— Jerry Seper, national reporter, The Washington Times

We've gotten more than 100 e-mails and a few phone calls today from Ron Paul supporters critical of our story on Mike Huckabee and his supposed support for rewriting the Civil War-era 14th Amendment:

In the story, Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist tells The Washington Times that Huckabee "looked me right in the eye" and expressed support for legislation to exclude the children of illegals from the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to any child born in the United States.

Mr. Paul's supporters say their candidate clearly staked out that territory earlier and more forcefully (see the campaign Web site's position paper here), and they're citing the story as another news organization ignoring or downplaying their candidate.

Stephen Dinan, the reporter who wrote the story, says there was no slight intended, he was just focusing on the major candidates -- something he makes clear in the first sentence:

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate -- a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.

Deciding whether a contender should be considered a "major" candidate or not is subjective, of course, but Mr. Paul finished fifth in Iowa, behind Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain.

That status quo could change tonight, or down the road. But until he wins, or places, or shows, in a primary, it's difficult to make the case that Mr. Paul can be called a "major" candidate.

Stephen also notes that The Washington Times is one of the few news organizations to report on Mr. Paul's position on the 14th Amendment, as he did here (read all the way to the end), in an Aug. 9 blog post.

-- David Eldridge, managing editor, WashingtonTimes.com

UPDATE: Today, Mike Huckabee issued a statement on his Web site denying that he supports rewriting the 14th:

I do not support an amendment to the constitution that would prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens. I have no intention of supporting a constitutional amendment to deny birthright citizenship.

-- DE

Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council, the largest union among the nation's force of rank-and-file U.S. Border Patrol agents, doesn't know who to endorse in the presidential race, but the union does know who it won't: "We will not endorse Sen. John McCain, even though he is currently representing our home state of Arizona."

In a posting on the local's web page, the union said Mr. McCain "has never been serious about immigration enforcement, and he has never been serious about supporting the Border Patrol," adding that the senior senator has routinely "minimized and trivialized" the illegal immigration problem in this country. It said the only "solution" he has ever offered is a massive new amnesty program designed to reward illegal aliens who have succeeded in violating the nation's laws.

"If Sen. McCain succeeds in becoming the president of this great nation, we believe it would be a disaster for border security and the enforcement of our immigration laws. We believe the American people have already seen enough of this type of behavior from our politicians.

"For those who care about the issues of illegal immigration and border security, we ask that you not support Senator McCain under any circumstances," the local said. "Don't be fooled by any 'tough' talk he may use now regarding illegal immigration and border enforcement. His actions over the years, his complete lack of support for rank-and-file Border Patrol agents, and his incessant calls for more 'amnesty' programs for the illegal aliens who succeed in violating our laws have done all the talking we care to hear."

The local said that while it honors Mr. McCain's past military service, Border Patrol agents are routinely being assaulted, shot at, killed, crippled and otherwise injured trying to do an often unpopular job for this country, and "Senator McCain has sought to sell us out and sell our mission out at every turn. Of all people, he should understand what it's like to serve your country and to have politicians and others turn their backs on you. Please honor Senator McCain's military service, but support someone else for president."

— Jerry Seper, national reporter, The Washington Times

Washington Times political reporter Stephen Dinan reports today that GOP front runner Mike Huckabee has staked out at least one aggressive position aimed at curbing illegal immigration:

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate -- a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.