1. Wal*Mart is in talks to pay a $10 million fine for (supposedly indirectly) hiring illegal aliens: "If it settles, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, isn't expected to admit wrongdoing, and criminal charges aren't expected to be brought against the company's top executives. The settlement, however, is likely to include conditions that provide for a stiffer penalty if the retailer is found to hire undocumented workers in the future, these people said."

For those of you who'd like to put this fine in perspective: go to a Wal*Mart store and stand there for 15 minutes. Their total revenues are $1 billion per day, and in that 15 minute period they've probably brought in more money than the fine.

2. The DHS - which "doesn't do politics" - has restricted the Border Patrol to only conducting operations on the border. Another DHS agency, ICE, will supposedly conduct interior operations:

"The Border Patrol will take the lead at the border and on all arrests of illegal immigrants in inland areas as they travel north; ICE agents will focus on enforcement away from border areas and take the lead on all immigration investigations."

Joseph Dassaro - president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 1613, the union that represents 1,500 agents in San Diego - said ICE was not equipped to enforce immigration law.

ICE agents already conduct investigations of immigrant smuggling rings, in addition to crimes such as terrorism, child pornography, copyright infringement, drug smuggling and customs violations.

"The mission of ICE agents is broad and diluted. They don't know whether they should be going after terrorists, child pornographers or smuggling rings," Dassaro said.

R.C. Martinez, Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego, said his office had received more than 2,000 e-mails and telephone calls applauding the June sweeps. The sweeps were ordered to be stopped by Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at Homeland Security, who said department officials had to approve them...

(Both links and the one in the following post via the Stein Report)