Illegal immigration into US on the rise, report shows News
Illegal immigration into US on the rise, report shows

[JURIST] The rate of illegal immigration into the United States has increased despite tighter security measures in place since the September 11 terror attacks, but only at a pace that parallels the rate of economic growth, according to a report [PDF text] released Tuesday. The report from the Pew Hispanic Center [organization website], a nonpartisan research organization, found that the implementation of tighter security measures [JURIST report] has created processing backlogs and delays that have hindered legal immigration [JURIST news archive], while the lure of high-paying jobs has continued to attract both legal and illegal immigrants into the United States [US CIS guide]. Tighter security measures, however, have led to an overall decrease in the level of legal immigration into the US. The report comes one month after the governors of New Mexico and Arizona declared states of emergency in order to free up money to combat illegal immigration. Four California lawmakers also announced last month their intent to introduce legislation [JURIST report] that would declare a state of emergency to deal with illegal immigration from Mexico. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.