Scrutiny angers Lebanese-Americans in Dearborn - Mexicans get a break

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/15144213.htm

<snip>With fighting raging in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israeli ground forces, the FBI last week issued a nationwide alert for law enforcement to be vigilant in investigating and profiling Hezbollah sympathizers, according to federal sources.

"The question is: Are they loyal to the U.S. or to this terrorist group Hezbollah?" asked assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Chadwell, one of nine federal prosecutors investigating Hezbollah ties in metro Detroit.

The scrutiny has deeply angered this Detroit suburb, where nearly 30,000 Lebanese-Americans live in the largest concentration of Americans with roots in southern Lebanon. Here, many people see no contradiction between being 100 percent American yet backing the guerrillas of Hezbollah against Israel.

On the streets of Dearborn, Hezbollah is not seen as a terrorist group but as a heroic resistance force. Residents say the group led the "freedom fight" in Lebanon during 18 years of Israeli occupation.

Without the diligence and sacrifice of Hezbollah, people here say they would not have been able to return every summer to show their children their hillside villages and share their ancestral heritage. Hezbollah also provides social services and education for their relatives in Lebanon who are too poor to afford them.

"The question is: Are they loyal to the U.S. or to....."

July 27, 2006 - A controversial measure designed to crack down on illegal immigrants won unanimous approval late Wednesday night from the Township Council in Riverside, New Jersey.

Just a decade ago maybe 30 Brazilians lived here. Now officials claim that population has surged to 20 or 30 percent of the towns population, many they claim are illegal.
Wednesday night at an emotional meeting, Riverside passed an ordinance making it unlawful for locals to rent or hire an illegal.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=local&id=4406696