Not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat to Americans. Many Mexicans complain about the rapid growth of the American population in their neighborhoods, the threat they see to Mexican culture and language, and the possible drain on Mexico's inexpensive health care.

In San Miguel de Allende, the group Basta Ya is protesting the erosion of the language and the rising cost of living generated by the infusion of dollars into the local economy.

"They think Mexico, especially San Miguel de Allende, is an extension of their country," group member Arturo Morales Tirado said of the Americans who call San Miguel home. "It's not and won't be, no way."

Others are fuming over what they consider to be the privatization of beach land. Under Mexican law, beaches are federal land and are open to the public.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - California will no longer exist on the Russian map.

Russia's north-western region of Nizhny Novgorod has decided to eliminate the tiny village of California due to the lack of inhabitants, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Thursday.

The village was set up in the 19th century by a Russian landowner as a snub to the government for selling Alaska to the United States in 1867, Tass said.

The once vibrant village has been in decline since the Soviet collapse, with the last of its residents leaving in 2000 to seek better lives elsewhere.

It will now officially cease to exist as a geographical unit but it was unclear if its buildings, including a school, would also be destroyed.

Thousands of villages, abandoned by people moving to cities, are scattered across Russia, many in ruins but some frozen in time, their wooden huts unchanged for decades.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The owner of a fast food joint in Montana's booming oil patch found himself outsourcing the drive-thru window to a Texas telemarketing firm, not because it's cheaper but because he can't find workers.

Record low unemployment across parts of the West has created tough working conditions for business owners, who in places are being forced to boost wages or be creative to fill their jobs.

John Francis, who owns the McDonald's in Sidney, Mont., said he tried advertising in the local newspaper and even offered up to $10 an hour to compete with higher-paying oil field jobs. Yet the only calls were from other business owners upset they would have to raise wages, too. Of course, Francis' current employees also wanted a pay hike.

• Secure borders. That means a fence between us and Mexico. Secure borders must be the first thing accomplished.
  
• Deportation of illegal immigrants with (other) criminal records. Repeat offenders do no make good citizens.
  
• Putting the other illegal immigrants at the back of the line, whether in terms of time or money. They should not be rewarded for their lawbreaking.
  
• Prohibit the "backdating" of government benefits for illegal immigrants. They should never collect a dime in benefits until they are here legally and then only measuring the time they have been legal.
  
• No voting rights for non-citizens, no counting them in the census for purposes of representation, taxation or other government services.
  
• Pay as you go: non-citizens must pay their fair share of health care and education costs.
  
• No special process for granting illegal immigrants citizenship or the rights of citizens.
  
• Fines for employing illegal immigrants who do not register with the government; deportation for illegal immigrants who do not register with the government. Immigrants who register must follow the proper procedures for obtaining work permits.
  
• Tax capital transfers from the US to other countries made by illegal immigrants.
  
• A definite, reasonable time frame for allowing illegal immigrants to register. After that they face immediate deportation.
  
• Any priority status developed for processing illegal immigrants can only be granted to those who can speak English or who have an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent, sibling) who can speak English.
  

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. will try to reduce its staggering employee and retiree health care liabilities in upcoming contract talks with the United Auto Workers, according to a government regulatory filing Thursday.