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GUEST: Roberto Lovato, Writer with New American Media, The Nation, and the former head of CARECEN in Los Angeles.

The Senate approved an additional $3-billion for so-called border security last week, most of which will be used to build some 700 miles of fencing in an attempt to keep migrants from crossing. Lawmakers voted 95-to-1 to add the funds to a nearly $500-billion defense bill. Meanwhile, more than 1,300 people have been arrested by ICE officials in Southern California in the past two weeks, which authorities say was one of the largest actions the agency has ever taken. And while mainstream media called the actions a crackdown on so-called criminal aliens, about one-third of those arrested had no criminal record whatsoever. Nearly half of those arrested by ICE have already been deported. These latest raids are an extension of an increasingly visible attack on immigrants.

Roberto Lovato blogs at www.ofamerica.wordpress.com