[Guest post by DRJ]

Via Hot Air, this LA Times’ article says Congress will once again take up immigration reform.

In the Senate:

“As early as this week, Democratic senators are set to introduce an amendment that would give conditional legal status to young illegal immigrants.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) hopes to bring up a visa program for farmhands that eventually would allow them to gain citizenship, while Republican senators are discussing a short-term guest-worker program for low-skilled laborers.

Republicans also are mulling a bill that would overhaul visas for high-skilled foreigners.”

On the other hand, in the House:

“In the House, Republicans have been steadily introducing initiatives aimed at ensuring that illegal immigrants cannot gain access to federal benefits.”

The Bush Administration has stepped up enforcement efforts since immigration reform was defeated in Congress. Nevertheless, given President Bush’s history on immigration, I assume he will support the Senate proposals.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

According to the AP, President Bush will name retired federal Judge Michael B. Mukasey to serve as Attorney General following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales:

(more…)

[Guest post by DRJ]

A cooperative O.J. Simpson has been arrested in Las Vegas on multiple felony charges:

“O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great’s sports memorabilia, authorities said. Simpson was arrested shortly after 11 a.m., Capt. James Dillon said.

The charges against Simpson will include robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a firearm, all felonies, Dillon said. More charges could be brought against him, he said.

Simpson was being held at Las Vegas police offices pending the arrival of his lawyer, who was expected later Sunday, Dillon said. “He was very cooperative, there were no issues,” Dillon said.”

My favorite part:

“Simpson told The Associated Press on Saturday that he did not call the police to help reclaim the items because he has found the police unresponsive to him ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed in 1994.

“The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me,” he said, noting that whenever he has called the police “It just becomes a story about O.J.”

On the other hand, this is good news for Greta Van Susteren.

Update: MSNBC and Fox News report the judge has ordered O.J. Simpson held without bail.

— DRJ

UPDATE FROM PATTERICO: The Smoking Gun has the mug shot.

[“Deport the Criminals First” is a recurring feature on this blog, highlighting crimes committed by illegal immigrants — with a special focus on repeat offenders. I argue that, instead of arresting illegal immigrants who work hard for a living, we should use our limited immigration enforcement resources to target illegal immigrants who commit crimes in this country.]

Another DUI, another hit and run, this time in Northern California:

Sara Cole remembers it all: the sickening sound of crunching metal, her young sons’ panicked voices crying out, “Oh my God,” and the sudden burning pain. She then glanced down at her twisted legs and knew in that moment she would never be the same. “I knew from the way I was laying, I was hurt really bad,” Cole said as she lay Friday in her hospital bed at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. There, the 44-year-old mother of four appeared surprisingly upbeat for a woman who barely survived after a man accused of drunken driving swerved his vehicle off Blossom Hill Road and slammed into her, severely crushing her legs Sunday.

She was loading her son’s bike into the rear of her sport-utility vehicle parked at a lot next to Baggerly Field in Los Gatos, when the boom came. She fell to the ground and suddenly heard her 12-year-old son, Patrick, yelling out, “He’s leaving. He’s driving away.”

. . .

Today, Cole is facing her fourth surgery, and doctors say she still may lose her left leg.

Who did this to her? You already know the answer.

Soon after, officers stopped Lucio Rodriguez about four miles from the crash, which happened during her son’s Little League game.

Rodriguez, 27, was unable to stand on his own when officers asked him to get out of his car, according to a police report. They said he smelled strongly of alcohol, his eyes were glassy and he slurred his speech. They also said that before police stopped him, Rodriguez was weaving through traffic and driving erratically.

He had a blood alcohol level of 0.16 when his blood was drawn about an hour and a half after, twice the 0.08 level at which a driver is legally presumed to be under the influence. According to the police report, Rodriguez joined a friend between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. at a 76 gas station not far from the crash site and the two drank beers behind the station. The friend is an employee at the station. The friend told police Rodriguez left the station about 5 p.m. Rodriguez, who worked at the Lark Avenue Car Wash and at Una Mas restaurant in Los Gatos as a cook, called the eatery to say he was feeling sick and would not make it to work. He said he’d been drinking and was not physically able to go to work, the report said.

Rodriguez faces felony drunken-driving and hit-and-run charges and a charge of driving with a suspended license…. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said Friday that Rodriguez has been living in the United States illegally. Rodriguez had been convicted of drunken driving in March for an incident in January. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to pay about $1,600 in fines.

If he spent even a day in jail, he should have been identified as an illegal alien by ICE, and deported. If ICE had done its job, Sara Cole wouldn’t be facing the possible loss of her leg.

(H/t: Andrew G.)