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Fall of Muslim rule and unification
Main article: Reconquista
See also: Medieval demography

Equal partners: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the Catholic MonarchsThe term Reconquista ("Reconquest") is used to describe the centuries-long period of expansion of Spain's Christian kingdoms; the Reconquista is viewed as beginning after the battle of Covadonga in 722. The Christian army victory over the Muslim forces lead to the creation of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias. Muslim armies had also moved north of the Pyrenees, but they were defeated at the Battle of Poitiers in France. Subsequently, they retreated to more secure positions south of the Pyrenees with a frontier marked by the Ebro and Duero rivers in Spain. In the following years Christian armies moved to occupy and colonized the vacant areas. As early as 739 Muslim forces were driven from Galicia, which was to host one of medieval Christianity's holiest sites, Santiago de Compostela. A little later Frankish forces established Christian counties south of the Pyrenees; these areas were to grow into kingdoms, in the north-east and the western part of the Pyrenees. These territories included Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia.[19]

The breakup of Al-Andalus into the competing Taifa kingdoms helped the expanding Christian kingdoms, namely Castile that would become the main driving force in the Reconquista. The capture of the central city of Toledo in 1085 largely completed the reconquest of the northern half of Spain.[20] After a Muslim resurgence in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds in the south fell to Christian Spain in the 13th century—Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south.[21] Also in the 13th century, the kingdom of Aragon, still ruled by the Catalan count of Barcelona, expanded its reach across the Mediterranean to Sicily.[22]

In 1469, the crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united (even though both kingdoms kept a high degree of political and economical independence) by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand. In 1478 began the final stage of the conquest of Canary Islands and in 1492, these united kingdoms captured Granada, ending the last remnant of a 781-year presence of Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula.[23] The year 1492 also marked the arrival in the New World of Christopher Columbus, during a voyage funded by Isabella. That same year, Spain's Jews were ordered to convert into the Catholicism or face expulsion from Spanish territories during the Spanish Inquisition.[24][25]

As Renaissance New Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand centralized royal power at the expense of local nobility, and the word España - whose root is the ancient name "Hispania" - began to be used to designate the whole of the two kingdoms.[25] With their wide-ranging political, legal, religious and military reforms, Spain emerged as the first world power

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We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

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Gunmen take car, flee into Mexico

By CELINA ALVARADO, LAREDO MORNING TIMES
01/22/2008

Carjackers stole a vehicle from a woman at gunpoint and led authorities on a short, high-speed chase Monday that ended with the suspects breaking through a barrier at International Bridge I and fleeing into Mexico, police said."Once they are in Mexico – we can't go in there to get them," said Laredo Police spokesman Jose E. Baeza, noting that in the heat of the moment police had no time to call bridge officials for assistance.

Nevertheless, police are determined to find the suspects with the help of Mexican authorities.

The chase began shortly after 6:30 a.m. after a woman told police carjackers had stolen her Chevy Impala and threatened her at gunpoint in the 2500 block of E. Travis; she was not injured in the incident.

Police said the woman mentioned several men were near the scene in a vehicle that has not been recovered or identified, by police.

A lookout was placed on the vehicle and immediately an officer spotted the suspects near the bridge, police said.

"An officer saw the suspect vehicle on Hidalgo Street. He proceeded to go ahead and try to initiate a traffic stop," Baeza said. "The vehicle fled."

According to Baeza, the vehicle sped passed the tollbooth, causing minor damage, then crashed into the arm that raises once a toll is paid.

"The chase didn't last very long because he was near the bridge, anyway," Baeza said. "The vehicle, basically just crashed its way all the way to Nuevo Laredo.

"The vehicle did succeed into fleeing into Mexico," he added.

Mucia Dovalina, chief CBP officer and uniformed public affairs liaison, said the car plowed its way past the barricades that are set up at the Bridge I site.

"The car was being chased by the police department but we didn't even get called in on it," she said. "All they (agents on duty) heard were the sirens getting closer and closer. By the time they looked out, the car had already rammed the metal."

Police think at least two or maybe three suspects were inside the stolen vehicle.

No one was injured in the incident. Baeza also noted that no police vehicles were damaged.

Laredo police are working closely with Mexican officials to try and locate the stolen vehicle across the border.

As of Monday evening, no arrests had been made.

Anyone with information should contact police at (956) 795-2800.

Celina Alvarado may be reached at 728-2566 or celina@lmtonline.com. Ashley Richards contributed to this story

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Treat aliens how we’re treated when abroad

    An uninvited guest in a home wouldn’t expect to be treated better than family members.
    This great country is our home and the uninvited guests are illegal aliens. They should not be given preferential treatment compared to law-abiding, taxpaying citizens.
    Foreign countries have not changed their national language to accommodate us when we move there.
    Nor can we collect benefits from their national health care, unemployment, education or business incentive programs. Even when we go to foreign countries legally, with a passport, we are held to a higher standard than its own citizens.
    Every other country collects taxes to pay for programs to be used to improve the quality of life for its citizens. Little or no regard is given to the “rights” of foreign visitors.
    Watch the news for stores of offenses and punishment for alleged crimes committed by aliens in foreign countries.
    Reward for good, law-abiding behavior, and punishment for bad, was the cornerstone on which our legal system was built. Illegal aliens, by definition, have broken the law and should be sent back to their country. Deportation and an increasingly higher fine should be the penalty for repeat offenders. Americans can expect that repeat violations lead to stiffer punishments.
    It’s equally objectionable that lobbying groups for special interests have so much influence. As employees of the American voters, elected officials need to make adjustments in policy, laws and attitude, and make the welfare of American citizens their top priority — or be voted out of office!
    BARBARA PETERS
    Argyle     

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Only the most motivated and soggy were in front of the United Church of Christ, this morning, protesting the illegal alien who is currently being housed their, as she defies a court deportation order / United Church of Christ Simi Valley Lilliana Liliana Illegal Immigration Aliens Sanctuary Church Save Our State No More Invasion (less)

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This great country is our home and the uninvited guests are illegal aliens. They should not be given preferential treatment compared to law-abiding, taxpaying citizens.

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Clinton directs $303,000 earmark to group that encourages HIV/AIDS victims as immigrants to U.S.



The Gay Men's Health Crisis Center, a group that lobbies for needle exchanges, for allowing immigrants with HIV/AIDS to legally enter the country, and for condom distribution in prisons, has received a $303,000 in U.S. federal funds in an earmark pushed by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

The earmark funding came through the $555 billion FY 2008 omnibus bill. Clinton's 261 earmarks contrasts dramatically with those of other presidential candidates. Of those still in the primary race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had 46 earmarks, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) had 10 earmarks, Rep. Dennis Kucinich had 9 earmarks and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had no earmarks, said an analysis by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). Under ethics reform legislation passed last year, 2008 is the first year that members of Congress have to put their names on earmarks.

This particular earmark is from the Department of Justice and is specifically aimed at fighting methamphetamine use. Clinton announced the grant in October 2007, a month after receiving a $750 donation and a $250 donation from Felix Lopez, an attorney for the Gay Men's Health Crisis and for a clinic based in New York.

The Gay Men's Health Crisis Center, based in New York City, has a public policy agenda for the federal, state, and city level that includes a needle exchange program to curb the spread of HIV, allowing non-profit groups to distribute condoms for free throughout prisons, and opposition to abstinence-only sex education. The group says its top legislative agenda item at the federal level involves changing immigration policy to eliminate HIV/AIDS as grounds for inadmissibility as a disease of public health significance.

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and for condom distribution in prisons,

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New Arizona law pushes immigrants to other areas
Pressure to move leaves families, workers uneasy
BY JACQUES BILLEAUD The Associated Press

    PHOENIX — Parents are pulling students out of school. Construction workers are abandoning their jobs. Families are hastily moving out of apartments.
    Two months after Arizona enacted a law punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, the law is already achieving one of its goals: Scores of immigrants are fleeing to other states or back to their Latin American homelands.
    Gaby Espinoza, who has been unemployed since November, is among those affected. She gave up looking for a job because of the law and may have to return to Mexico.
    Espinoza’s husband works here legally, but the law means that employers must ask her for papers, and she faces the daily fear of being deported.
    “There’s no work over there in Mexico,” said Espinoza, who has three U.S.-born children. “People there live so poorly. Here, my kids have health insurance and Medicare. Over there, there’s nothing.”
    Jose Perez Leon, a laborer in Phoenix who wants to return to his home in Mexico City, said jobs were plentiful when he came to Arizona about 18 months ago but began to dry up in the last three months.
    “I don’t like it here anymore because of everything that’s happening,” he said. “There’s no work.”
    The Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano approved the law last summer out of frustration with federal efforts to curb illegal immigration. It took effect Jan. 1.
    The law suspends or revokes the business licenses of violators and was intended to reduce the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak across the border. Illegal immigrants account for an estimated one in 10 workers in Arizona, which is the nation’s busiest gateway for illegal immigration.
    Business groups have challenged the law. While awaiting a ruling, prosecutors agreed to hold off bringing cases to court until at least March 1.
    Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce designed the law to reduce spending on educating and providing health care for illegal immigrants and their families, and to encourage them to leave Arizona.
    “Why in the world do [illegal immigrants] think they have a right to break the law? And we are the bad guys for insisting that the law be enforced? The public doesn’t agree with that,” Pearce said.
    Many school officials believe the law has played a role in falling enrollment. The state’s struggling economy and slumping housing market are other factors. Several districts reported losing more than 100 students at least in part because of the law.
    The Isaac School District in central Phoenix, with a student body that is 96 percent Hispanic, lost 500 students, said district spokesman Abedon Fimbres.
    The departure of so many students upsets people like Jackie Doerr, who is principal at Andalucia Primary School, which is in a separate district in west Phoenix. She said teachers had made progress teaching English to many of the children.
    “They have to leave and start all over again. It’s just so frustrating when you see how far they have come,” Doerr said. “They are probably going to lose it, especially if they go back to Mexico. They are definitely going to have problems.”
    The law has also contributed to rising vacancies in Phoenix. The slow economy and a market overloaded with rental homes have exacerbated the problem, said Terry Feinberg, president of the Arizona Multihousing Association.
    Even so, property managers have reported that the law has also driven away Hispanics who are legally in the country, Feinberg said. The construction industry says some of its workers are leaving, too, for California, Nevada, Colorado or Texas.

ROSS D. FRANKLIN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jackie Doerr, principal of Andalucia Primary School, stands near the front entrance of the school on Feb. 20 in Phoenix. The departure of so many students, due to new immigration laws, upsets people like Doerr as she says teachers had made progress teaching English to many of the children.

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Immigration bill used by GOP to split Democrats
BY JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — House Republicans are trying to force action on a Democratic-written immigration enforcement measure, the latest GOP attempt to elevate the volatile issue into an electionyear wedge.
    Republican leaders hope that by pushing the bill — endorsed by 48 centrist Democrats and 94 Republicans — they can drive Democrats into a politically painful choice: Backing a tough immigration measure that could alienate their base, including Hispanic voters, or being painted as soft on border security in conservative-leaning districts.
    The plan is fraught with political risks for both parties. A full-blown immigration debate could call attention to Republicans’ divisions at a time when their expected presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, is fighting to gain the trust of the GOP base.
    McCain, R-Ariz., played a prominent role in failed legislative efforts to grant some of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here a path to legal status, which conservatives deride as “amnesty.” He now says he would consider such a plan only after the borders have been fortified.
    House Republicans are eyeing a bill by Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., that would do just that, as well as mandate that employers verify that their workers are in the U.S. legally.
    Leaders are expected later this week to use a parliamentary tactic that would eventually force a vote on the measure if 218 lawmakers — a majority of the House — demand it. Republicans are pressuring Democratic backers of the measure — including several first-termers and dozens from swing districts, all facing tough re-election fights — to defy their leaders and sign the petition.
    “Lots of Republicans and lots of Democrats would like to see something done,” Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the No. 2 whip, said Friday.
    The move would be a rebuke to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who opposes the Shuler bill unless it’s paired with measures to allow undocumented workers a chance at legal status and allow legal immigrants to bring more family members to the United States. Democratic leaders have been working behind the scenes to craft an alternative that could dissuade their more conservative members who back Shuler’s bill from joining the GOP effort to press forward on it.
    They are considering pairing a widely popular measure by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., to allow more seasonal workers to come to the United States under so-called H-2B visas with proposals aimed at speeding the process of granting immigrants’ spouses and minor children visas to join their parents in the U.S., among others. Also under discussion is a bill that would allow nonresident immigrants serving in the military to become citizens.
    It’s not clear whether Republicans can gather enough support for a vote on the bipartisan enforcement bill, which couldn’t take place until April at the earliest. GOP leaders relish the idea of calling attention to Democrats’ rifts on the issue in advance of Congress’ 14-day Easter recess starting next week. They plan to blast Democrats who have endorsed the legislation but not signed onto the effort to force a vote on it.
    “I think it makes it harder for the majority to do nothing,” Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla, said of the idea last week. “On a district-by-district basis, there will be places where this is an important issue.”
    Shuler has said he would sign the petition.

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Immigration official accused of demanding sex for green card
The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — A federal immigration official who was recorded demanding sex from a young Colombian woman in exchange for a green card was arrested on corruption charges, prosecutors said Friday.
    Queens prosecutors said Isaac R. Baichu, who worked as an adjudication officer in the Garden City, Long Island, office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, threatened to hold up the woman’s application and even deport her relatives if she didn’t acquiesce.
    “I want sex,” he said on the recording, which the woman also played for The New York Times. “One or two times. That’s all. You get your green card. You won’t have to see me anymore.”
    The woman, who is married to an American citizen, said she gave in to one demand for oral sex because she was afraid, but she also used a mobile phone hidden in her purse to record the December encounter and the conversation that preceded it.
    Days later, she went to the newspaper to tell her story. She also called the district attorney’s office.
    Baichu was arrested on March 11 after meeting with the woman again, this time with prosecutors listening in.
    USCIS spokesman Shawn Saucier said Baichu was placed on paid suspension immediately after his arrest and paperwork will be fi led to halt his paychecks. Baichu was hired by the agency three years ago and made about $50,000 annually.
    “USCIS has zero tolerance for criminal activity and employee misconduct,” Saucier said.
    Baichu’s attorney did not immediately return a phone message on Friday.
    He faces misdemeanor charges of coercion and sexual misconduct and a felony charge of receiving a reward for official misconduct. A judge released Baichu on a $15,000 bond while he awaits trial.