Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meanwhile, on the Border,.....

Yup,....and we some how can muster funds to display jars of urine poured over pictures of Our Blessed Lord ( "Endowment to the Arts"),....while comin' up shorta' funds

like this,......

FOLKS,....DEFEND and support ( fund ) your local SO ( long's they're delivering the goods, or trying to)

Link: http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/LOCAL/809050376/1044/LOCAL08

Published: September 5, 2008 6:00 a.m. Sheriff's immigration training plan delayed over grantAmanda IaconeThe Journal GazetteAdvertisement
Allen County sheriff�s officers won�t be enforcing U.S. immigration laws, at least for now.

The department applied last fall to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to arrest illegal immigrants in Allen County. The department learned this week that no federal money is available this year for the training program, Chief Deputy Dave Gladieux said.

Immigration officials encouraged the sheriff�s department to apply again in November for money to pay for officers to participate in the five-week program next year, Gladieux said.

�We are probably going to reapply,� Gladieux said.

Sheriff Ken Fries hoped to send 10 civilian jail officers and 10 sworn officers to the training.

They would learn how to check immigration status and how to complete paperwork that goes to the federal agency.

The program is known as 287(g), referring to a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

When news of the sheriff�s plan broke this past winter, the idea of local police enforcing complicated immigration laws rankled local minority leaders. Rosa Gerra, executive director of the United Hispanic-Americans, was among them.

�I�m glad that it�s postponed,� Gerra said Thursday.

She and Jonathan Ray, president and CEO of the Fort Wayne Urban League, met with Fries in January to discuss their concerns. They were worried that a quota system would be used and could lead to racial profiling. They were also concerned that residents would be deported over driving infractions.

Fries said at the time that the immigration checks would be completed after a person was arrested on a felony charge. He said the officers would not hunt for undocumented residents.

Gerra hopes by the time the department begins working with immigration officers, federal laws will be streamlined and improved so local communities aren�t asked to tackle the country�s immigration issues.

aiaconejg.net

Quite simply,....I just could not agree more with Barr, on this.

"Effective enforcement is more important than a physical fence."

I'm sure GPA would find some sorta' wiseass "low Blow" crack to distribute.

Must be rough,....goin' through life without sense enough to pour pidss outta' a boot,.......even if the DIRECTIONS are written on the heel.

I'm sure that Hunter will have an alternate ( but perspicascious) comment or 2 on this,.........

Another Voice of Reason
Bob Barr Should Be In the Presidential Debates

Washington Times -- September 6

Barr: Border First
"Today, however, the U.S. government has lost control of its borders. While too many people come illegally, we accept too few legal immigrants. Rather than consciously decide who should be welcomed as new citizens, citizenship is bestowed on anyone who happens to be born in the U.S. Current policy is a mess.
"The federal government first must regain control over the nation's border. Only then will the U.S. be able to deal with threats of terrorism and infectious diseases, as well as implement a consistent immigration policy. Effective enforcement is more important than a physical fence."
American Patrol Comment: Former Congressman Bob Barr is the Libertarian candidate for President. He wants to end birthright citizenship; education for all illegal aliens, opposes amnesty whatsoever and says we should enforce existing law. Many argue he should be in the presidential debates. We agree.
We push for a physical fence because it has been proven effective in San Diego and can be easily measured � it is either there or it isn't. Besides, Congress approved it overwhelmingly. If Washington bureaucrats openly defy the wishes of Congress and the people, how can we expect them to enforce other laws?

Just gotta' love the small town South,.....Mayor and his bro
( COP )

something I see nothing particularly wrong with,.....though it's none of my business,........it's the business of the townfolk, and theirs to run with.

This town needs our support, in the face of MSM villification.

" Fiesty",....ya' just gotta' love that,.....no?

Carlos Galarza, another "fair and balanced" source, no doubt.

Link: http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2008/sep/06/mayor-says-illegal-aliens-abound




Mayor says illegal aliens abound
School numbers tell a different story
E-mail story Discuss story iPod friendly version

September 6, 2008 - 12:05 a.m. EST



Carlos Galarza

The Mundo Hispano grocery store in Walhalla stayed busy Friday. Although several Latino businesses have had a presence in the community for many years, Mayor Randy Chastain says there also is an illegal presence sapping the small city's resources.
Photo
Click on photo to enlarge

Carlos Galarza

A Spanish sign in front of a building on South Catherine St. in Walhalla promotes free dinner Mondays from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Walhalla Mayor Randy Chastain claims he has no doubts that the number of illegal aliens is growing in his city.
WALHALLA �Mayor Randy Chastain minced few words in saying that an increasing illegal immigration presence is sapping his city of resources and adding a heavy burden on the backs of Oconee County taxpayers.

At the same time, Chastain categorically denied that the city�s police department, headed by his brother, Tim Chastain, is engaged in racial profiling.

The mayor said he has to set the record straight because published reports gave the impression that Latinos are being arrested for minor traffic violations.

Chastain said the proliferation of graffiti and the arrest last month of an undocumented Guatemalan man charged with murder are signs that a serious illegal alien problem exists in Walhalla.

However, if illegal Latino immigrants are overrunning the city and the county, as Chastain contends, School District of Oconee County student population tallies fail to support that premise. School officials say they have not seen any dramatic spike in the number of Latino students attending Oconee schools.

School spokesperson Kay Powell said 754 Hispanic students are enrolled in grades kindergarten- through 12-grades for the 2008-09 school year. That is a 6.6 percent increase from the 707 Latino student population recorded the previous year.

Given that the total student population in Oconee has hovered around 10,500 for the past 40 years, Hispanics make up 0.07 percent of students in Oconee classrooms.

At James M. Brown Elementary School on Coffee Road in Walhalla, which at one time had one of the largest Latino-student enrollments in the state, their numbers actually declined during the current school year.

Principal John Frady said 171of the 696 students enrolled at the school this year are Hispanic. Last year, 175 Latinos were enrolled there.

Over the past five years, the largest Latino enrollment at the school was 177 students during the 2005-06 school year. During the same period, the percentage of Hispanic students at the school has fluctuated from 23 percent to almost 25 percent.

Frady, who grew up in Walhalla and attended public schools there, said he doesn�t get into the debate about illegal immigration.

�I�m all about education and not immigration,� Frady said. �My job is to educate every child to the best of my ability.�

Frady said the number of Hispanic students has not changed much over the past six years, which indicates to him that a number of Latino families are now part of the community.

�There are radicals that don�t want that sector in the community, and there are others who are more accepting,� Frady said. �I happen to be among those that are more accepting.�

Chastain said he�s supportive of people who are in the country legally, but adds he does not sympathize in the least with anyone who breaks the law to enter this country illegally.

After being elected mayor last fall, Chastain said at the first City Council meeting he headed that Walhalla has an illegal immigration problem. He now says the problem is getting worse.

�Initially, they came here and were basically to themselves,� Chastain said. They didn�t cause much problems. Now they are more brazen; there�s a lot more of them. There�s more now than there�ve ever been. It�s their culture versus the American culture.�

A private investigator and owner of the downtown Walhalla eatery, Bantam Chef, Chastain served on the City Council 10 years before defeating his closest rival in the mayoral race last fall by more than 70 votes.

The feisty mayor said he�s not afraid to speak his mind.

Chastain said he was so disturbed by published reports stating that federal immigration officials have shown little interest in picking up undocumented inmates at the county jail that he contacted U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-Westminster, to complain.

�I�ve been assured by Barrett�s office that this situation has been worked out,� Chastain said. �I think everybody that has a concern should sound off and let their elective representatives know.�

Regarding the posting of the article ref. the Sheriff in Ft. Wayne In. who wanted to get involved in the immigration program. Funding does make the difference, i know that's something that's hard to swallow, but it's true.

You have to understand that if you want to do something, that's above that of the fiscal budget, you've either have to cut something, somewhere else or go back to the county commission, and beg for the funding. If you pay for something now out of the fiscal budget, will it cause issues in other areas later in the year?

You really have to know and understand the county commission as a sheriff. Do you have a commission, that's so tight that they can [bleep] in a hotsauce bottle, or can you convince them that whatever you need the money for, is a good idea within reason? Remember the county commission are elected officials also, they might not be so hot on what you need the extra funding for, as you are.

This immigration program which is ran through ICE/Immigration/Customs/USBP is there baby. They control the software and training, needed to make it happen. At this point in time if no funding is available to train and set up the program in this sheriff's local area, he's got to wait till funds are available.

It's a sad fact of life that less then probably 50% of the population give a hoot about illegals. If this sheriff was to take funding from his budget and pay for the Fed. training people would raise hell, that he was spending money, on something that isn't that important.

I can almost guarantee that this sheriff isn't going to fall on his own sword and cause a tax increase or have to go beg for more funding from the county commission over it. Those states on the border see it as a bigger issue, then many far from the border.

The majority of these sheriff's are smart when it comes to political & financial boat rocking, they know too many waves will result in the possibility of being voted out, and you don't have much influence on the issue, when you don't hold the office.

We have " County Supervisors" that are visible early on a Sunday AM,....stinking of booze and buying 3 packs of "Wheat Straw" rolling papers,...at the local convenience store.

Funny,.....one, who of couse is saddled with the not so affectionate nickname "Pothead" ( that earned by a BP stop,.....he had dope / Roach, ....in a County Vehicle)
anyway this winner is running for a seat on the State Corporate Commission................
Go figger.

GTC

Aparently what "Happens Down in Mexico"

DOES stay down in Mexico.

Have fun touring, Ya'll.

Link: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/95990.php

Mexican official: Oregon man drowned in own blood
The Associated Press

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico � A Mexican prosecutor says an Oregon tourist drowned in his own blood while in police custody.
Sam Botner of Yancalla, Oregon, was arrested on Aug. 27 in the resort of San Jose del Cabo and was later found dead in a jail cell. Prosecutors say a surveillance video shows officers beating Botner.
In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, state prosecutor Fernando Gonzalez said Botner suffered a ruptured spleen and then died of asphyxiation after internal bleeding blocked his airway.
Six police officers are under house arrest in the death.
Prosecutors have two weeks to determine whether they will bring charges in the case.

Barr has some very good points. Effective enforcement probably is better then physical control.

The folks that are coming from Mex. Cent./South America aren't the smartest folks in the world if it came to going through the normal immigration procedures, paperwork, documents, etc, to include passing the citizens test.

My MIL, about fifteen years ago went through the procedure even though she (German) had married an American soldier in the 50's, she wanted to become an American citizen and passed the test etc.

Alot of those sneeking in from the South, aren't too darn far from living in third world situations. I've learned that many who come into this country, are criminals in the country that they left. That's not always the situation, but it's true in many cases.

I guess if you toss a tatooed "MS 13" type into a back country village ,El Salvador,.....he'll be finely minced by many willing machetes,.....folks there have

GTC

The "County Supervisors" are they the ones who control the purse strings in the county, as far as approving budgets?

If they are, they don't sound very pro-LE. That might of been a problem for Cloud, if he had gotten elected. Hopefully you can vote the crappy supervisors out, and get some that are decent. Your county has a pretty good Pop. it appears well over a hundred thousand, about twice the Pop. of mine.

If you were to look at the turn out for the primaries,...it would just flat break your heart,......

21-22% of all registered voters,.......sigh.

I'll bet the turn out in your district WILDLY exceeds that.

Some kinda' "Manana" lethargy here that makes getting anything done more than difficult.

The "County Seat" Bisbee,....is a nest of burnt out Haight Ashbury types that have cashed in on a "Real Estate Boom".
The dirty old abandoned Miner's Homes that they bought for diddl;y in the 70's and 80's are now " Valuable"

The place is morass,....PETA,....ACLU,......and Earth First types,... just the top layer,.....with an almost unbelievable street crime index.

ALL, ....I repeat ALL funding for this circus is Fed tax $,....and grants,....because of "Historic Site" status.

I was in a book store there, some years back ( it's only 40 min. drive from " The Rusty Iron" )......there was a WHOLE shelf devoted to how to sabatoge Ranches,....and screw up hunting.

A little SICK piece of the worse Cal. produced,....here in the Old West.



GTC

Local voting is low, everywhere that i've noticed. I just don't understand it. That's why and how many career politicans can stay in office aslong as they do, they know that folks don't vote.

People will come out of the woodwork to vote for a POTUS, but couldn't care less who their US Rep. or Sen. is. The same with local elections, they'll vote any schmuck in as county commissioner or sheriff or school board etc. etc.

I've seen folks who couldn't tell you who their county supervisors/commissioners were, yet these politicans, have the ability to raise property taxes on a simple vote, at a monthly meeting.

I don't know how it is in Az. but in the majority of counties in this state, the two highest users of tax generated funds are the schools and LE/courts.

One thing that the counties in this state can do, and that is limit the tax increase on those over 65. I don't know if this occurs in Az or not. It keeps folks on a fixed income from having to sell their home or property to pay the tax bill.

They still pay property taxes, but at a lower reduced rate. It helps keep the developers from taking good farm land and turning it into a subdivision. In some of the counties in this state, which use to be agriculture based, are only growing houses.

I probably don't like posting this sorta' thing any more than ya'll like reading it,....but when attention to a problem is REQUIRED,......niceties go by the wayside.

Another "Catch and Release" snafu.


Link: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_10400247

denver & the west
ICE checks out suspect in ice cream fatals
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 09/06/2008 08:28:28 PM MDT


Related
Ice Cream Shop Deaths
Sep 7:
ICE holds driver in crashSep 5:
Man arrested in ice cream shop crash that killed 3Sep 4:
Truck hits ice cream shop, kills 3A man held for suspicion of vehicular homicide in the deaths of a 3-year-old child and two women is now being detained by federal immigration officials.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent a faxed a detainer on Francis Hernandez, 23, at 12:04 a.m. Saturday, indicating his U.S. citizenship is under question, according to Arapahoe county jail officials and federal authorities.

Hernandez has been arrested 16 times in five years in Colorado but apparently has never been deported, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.

On Friday, authorities said they believed he was a U.S. citizen born in California.

Hernandez had been arrested in Denver as recently as July 18 on a traffic stop and charged with numerous crimes including resisting police, CBI records say. Had he been held on an ICE detainer at the time, he would have been jailed until his case was completed and he served any sentence, then deported, a time-consuming process.

Hernandez is now being held on the ICE detainer and for investigation of three counts of vehicular homicide, reckless driving and hit and run after he allegedly left a Baskin-Robbins store at South Havana Street and East Mississippi Avenue where the accident happened at about 8 p.m. Thursday, Sopranuk said.

His bail was raised Friday from $10,000 to $100,000, according to Sgt. Lisa Grosskruger of the Arapahoe county jail.

Late Friday afternoon, the Aurora police identified the three victims as Patricia Guntharp, 49, of Centennial, Debra Serecku, 51, of Aurora, and 3-year-old Marten Kudlis.

Sopranuk said that Hernandez was driving a Chevy Suburban rapidly and erratically south on Havana shortly after 8 p.m. Witnesses said he may have run a red light at the intersection of Mississippi and South Havana.

The SUV hit a northbound white Mazda pickup that was turning into the Good Times burger outlet. The impact sent the truck more than 100 feet into the corner of the Baskin Robbins in the Market Square shopping center.

Dating back to 2003, Hernandez has been arrested for mostly misdemeanor offenses 16 times by police officers in Denver, Longmont, Aurora, Westminster, Lakewood and Broomfield and sheriff's deputies in Boulder, Gilpin and Arapahoe counties, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. His charges have included forgery, assault, theft, fraud and driving under restraint.

But he apparently was never deported previously. Sopranuk said Friday that Hernandez was born in California and is a U.S. citizen. But he added that detectives could find no indication that he had ever held a driver's license in California or Colorado.

Also according to CBI records, Hernandez, who has 11 aliases and two listed birth dates, has four listed birth places including Mexico.

ICE placed a detainer because of indications he was born outside the country, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok. Officers are currently investigating his citizenship, he sai.

When ICE did not place a hold on Hernandez following his July 18 arrest, he was released and has since been listed as a fugitive, according to CBI records.

There were multiple warrants for his arrest when the fatal accident happened Thursday, Sopranuk said.

He could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Rusnok said it is possible that if Hernandez is illegally in the country that his status was not checked or identied previously despite numerous arrests.

He said in some instances suspects are arrested for minor offenses and they are released on bail or serve short sentences before an citizenship check is done.

ICE places a priority on deporting illegal immigrants who have been arrested for crimes, Rusnok said. Sometimes ICE agents make regular visits to jails checking for suspects illegally in the country, he said.

Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchelldenverpost.com

This is a prime example of some of the things i've mentioned with the multiple names, DOB's etc, when dealing with these subjects. I'll tell you something else, not every LEO or jailer speaks Spanish.

The Mexicans come into jail, and start the "no understandee" stuff. You speak Spanish to them, they play stupid, like they don't know what your saying to them. They do the same thing on the street, when you make contact with them as an LEO. They know that this is good Ol'USA, not Mex. so we can't beat them, as they would in Mex.

They have the same rights as American citizens when it comes to rights within the legal system. Not trying to talk bad about lawyers, but you violate one of these illegals civil rights. They'll have a lawyer and a lawsuit on you, quicker then you know it.

Some agencies don't access the Customs/Immigration programs to determine alien status. As was described regarding the misdemeanors, their arrested, charged, they bond out and either appear or fail to appear in court.

Many times there's no follow up, within local agencies as to that persons immigration status. Alot of agencies don't have the manpower to follow up on these aliens. As i've mentioned ICE won't respond, for one individual regarding a misdemeanor.

Unfortunatly this time their responding due to the felony charges, which resulted from three deaths. I know that this topic is dear to your heart and soul, but alot of agencies/states that aren't located on the border, really don't care about some illegal Mex's, with misdemeanors.

Right now there's no Natl. policy for all LE agencies, to check immigration status on people that are arrested. Nor will ICE pick up one individual and go through the deportation proceedings.

One of the good things of allowing the local agencies to get the training and for their jail employees to become deputized ICE agents, is that they can do all the paperwork required for the alien, to be taken before a Fed. judge in a deportation hearing.

I think there's progress evident,....recently. ( one can hope)

We'll have to see if the "Surge" switch gets thrown into the off position

GTC

Here's a WIERD one, reflective to your comment on Lawyers and Legalities,....

I'm not sure I'm buying the 660 BILLION ( ????!!!!) in an Earnings suspense file,....jeez, you could train every small dept in the US for that,......and have a bit to spare for fence wire.

Link: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080907/BIZ/709079867/1005

Published: Sunday, September 7, 2008

Absurd case shows mess caused by illegal hirings

By James McCusker, Herald columnist

'Too bad they both can't lose."

That was former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's comment on the Iran-Iraq War, which broke out in 1980 and lasted for nearly eight years.

His observation and the same kind of contempt for the behavior of the participants come easily to mind when we take a look at the legal battle between Agriprocessors and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Agriprocessors is the largest kosher meat-processing company in the United States. Its plant in Postville, Iowa, has for some time been the scene of conflict with the federal government, primarily over the hiring of illegal immigrants, but also violations of child labor laws. A recent raid there by Immigration and Customs Enforcement resulted in the arrest of 389 workers, 302 of whom have already pleaded guilty to either immigration violations or other criminal charges.

Agriprocessors is not the first, and certainly not the only, company in America to hire illegal immigrants, or to become dependent on them for its profitability. Still, there is no doubt that, as they say, they "took it to the next level." Since 2002, for example, the Social Security Administration has notified the company of over 3,000 discrepancies in employee identification numbers and records.

But it was in Brooklyn, New York that the Agriprocessors story climbed to the comic opera stage. The company operates a small plant there and about three years ago workers voted, 15-5, to join the UFCW. The company subsequently refused to recognize the union, saying that it had "discovered" that seventeen of the twenty workers who voted were illegal aliens and had no right to join the union. These workers were fired and replaced -- with, the union claims, other illegal immigrant workers.

The National Labor Relations Board saw it differently, citing a 1984 Supreme Court decision that, it says, affirmed the right of illegal immigrant workers to join unions. The company challenged that ruling but the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington sided with the NLRB.

Now Agriprocssors is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their argument that the 1984 ruling should be reversed. It is basing its case on the changed view of illegal immigrants -- including enforcement -- and on the passage, in 1986, of a federal law making it a crime to hire illegal aliens.

So now the stage is set. We have a company with a history of hiring illegal immigrants, pleading to the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling that would get rid of the union but also, as a logical, if unintended, consequence, make the firm guilty of a crime. And on the other side we have a union that, while not conducting itself in quite the unsavory manner as its adversary, still wants to organize illegal immigrant workers, something that common sense would tell us would itself be illegal. And, as an accounting subplot, there is the issue of illegal workers paying dues so that they can enjoy the benefits of such things as a pension. Oh, wait, that's not going to happen with all that false documentation.

Well, at least while they are working they can contribute, just as they pay into Social Security, with no hope of ever collecting anything in return. The Social Security Administration has over $660 billion in its "Earnings Suspense File" account, which is where payroll tax payments from illegal immigrants usually end up. How much money from illegal immigrant workers' pension contributions might be in union suspense or holding accounts is anybody's guess.

The 1984 Supreme Court decision -- Sure-Tan, Inc. vs. NLRB -- that is now at the center of this opera is itself more than a bit messy. After a pro-union vote, the employer turned in its own workers to the immigration authorities. As a result, six of the seven workers involved in the vote left the U.S. in order to avoid deportation. The NLRB said that the employer's actions were an unfair labor practice -- an improper "constructive discharge" --and the court agreed.

For those totally disillusioned with election year politics there is a Web site business that will sell you a yard sign that proclaims, "Too Bad They Can't All Lose." And while I don't share that view of politics, it is difficult to shake that same feeling about this legal case. It is very hard to find any heroes.

Still, it would be very helpful for the U.S. Supreme Court to take on the thankless task of deciding this matter, if only to clarify what needs to be done by the Congress to set things straight. After four decades of bi-partisan avoidance of the illegal immigration issue, it's not surprising that the law is messy too. It's time to clean it up.

"Still, it would be very helpful for the U.S. Supreme Court to take on the thankless task of deciding this matter, if only to clarify what needs to be done by the Congress to set things straight. After four decades of bi-partisan avoidance of the illegal immigration issue, it's not surprising that the law is messy too. It's time to clean it up. "

Amen to that.

I can remember a friend's mother who was pretty enthusiastically involved in the John Birch Society back in the late 1950's- early '60's who told me how illegal immigration was going to be a big issue.
Interesting how prophetic conservative groups have been.

The Dallas morning News agrees,.....as do ABP,......

looks like the quoted "4 decades of avoidance" will legnthen further yet.

Hold Their Feet to the Fire
Dallas Morning News Agrees

Dallas Morning News Editorial -- September 8
FAIR's Lobby week will include the "Feet to the Fire" radio blitz

Obama, McCain avoid immigration reform
Mr. McCain, trying hard not to offend his conservative base, says he would not vote for the comprehensive immigration reform bill that he himself introduced in the Senate. Mr. Obama has committed only to deal with illegal immigration sometime before the end of his first term. Instead of debating solutions before the voting public, they are punting this as far down the road � and away from the elections � as they can. [...]
If the presidential candidates are foolish enough to think illegal immigration isn't on voters' minds, they'd better think again. State and local lawmakers recognize voters' outrage. They're acting because lawmakers neither see "change we can believe in" nor "maverick courage" when it comes to progress on comprehensive immigration reform.

I'm wondering why the L.A. Times chose to Re-editorialize this, at this particular time...............

A sad and troubling tale, insightful in the telling.

.....Mexico under siege,.....indeed

CAUTION,......GRAPHIC CONTENT (PHOTOS)

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-soriano7-2008sep07,0,6331687.story

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
In Mexico, a police victory against smuggling brings deadly revenge


Juan Jose Soriano, deputy commander of the Tecate Police Department, helped U.S. authorities find a drug-smuggling tunnel. The next morning, gunmen shot him 45 times in his bedroom.
By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 7, 2008
Tecate, Mexico

Adrug-sniffing dog pulled the U.S. Border Patrol agent to a rusty cargo container in the storage yard just north of the Mexican border. Peeking inside, he saw stacks of bundled marijuana and a man with a gun tucked in his waistband.



Photos: A police victory is... Mexico Under Siege: Complete Coverage Photos: Mexico under siege (graphic content)

The officer and the man locked eyes for a moment before the smuggler scrambled down a hole and disappeared. By the time backup agents cast their flashlights into the opening, he was long gone, through a winding tunnel to Mexico.

U.S. authorities called a trusted friend on the other side, Juan Jose Soriano.

The deputy commander of the Tecate Police Department gathered the entire shift of 30 officers at the decrepit police headquarters on Avenida Benito Juarez. Soriano knew any of them might leak information to the tunnel's gangster operators. So he took their cellphones and sent them away on a ruse about a car chase near the border.


The veteran officer told only a few trusted aides about the tunnel. Later that day, the officers went into the U.S. and traversed the length of the passageway to an empty building, where they found computers, ledgers and other key evidence.

For U.S. authorities, it was an encouraging example of cross-border cooperation in the drug war. For Mexico's crime bosses, it was a police victory that could not go unpunished.

That night last December, while Soriano slept with his wife and baby daughter, two heavily armed men broke into his house and shot him 45 times. The 35-year-old father of three young daughters died in his bedroom. He had lasted two days as the second-in-command of the department.

The death of a police officer is generally greeted in Mexico with a knowing smirk. All too often, it is assumed the cop in question was playing for both sides in the raging drug war that has claimed at least 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.

But all indications, from U.S. and Mexican sources, suggestthat Soriano was among the good ones, poorly paid but somehow immune to the lure of big money and the threat of deadly firepower from Mexico's violent drug gangs.

Cooperation with U.S. law enforcement ranges from secretive intelligence sharing to high-profile raids and arrests. It is aggressive police work that runs the risk of death for honest cops.

An intense, soft-spoken man, Soriano struggled for years to clean up the troubled department. But his corruption-busting ways earned him only contempt from many cops. At the small shrine to fallen officers in the courtyard at police headquarters, Soriano's image is conspicuously absent.

"It's a shame," said Donald McDermott, a former Border Patrol assistant chief who worked with Soriano. "He was one of the good guys. . . . His untimely demise was a blow to border enforcement on both sides of the border."

A city of 120,000 tucked in the rugged mountains 40 miles east of Tijuana, Tecate is best known for its tree-lined plaza and beer brewery. But its tranquil veneer masks its reputation as a hub of organized crime groups that use the surrounding area of boulder-strewn peaks and remote valleys as a launching pad for smuggling drugs and humans.

The 200-member police department has long been suspected of functioning as an arm of the drug cartels, providing protection and ensuring that smuggling routes remain open along the 75 miles of border for which the department is responsible.

Soriano stood apart: an aggressive, disciplined lawman who aspired to become police chief, according to law enforcement sources on both sides of the border. Unlike most Mexican cops, he had a degree in police science. And he spent three years working for Grupo Beta, a federal immigrant-safety force with whom he once saved 65 immigrants in a snowstorm.

In 2003, Soriano took charge of Tecate's SWAT-like special response team. In a break from past practices, he reached out to U.S. agencies for training opportunities and cross-border crime fighting.

Soriano's officers arrested border bandits, disrupted smuggling operations and went where cops hadn't gone in years, say U.S. and Mexican sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.

Soriano was a go-to source for the U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies and was a regular at binational meetings, where he shared information with his U.S. counterparts. "He wanted to do things the right way," said one Mexican law enforcement source. "But that was a problem for many people."

Police brass reassigned Soriano to a desk job in 2005. "They took away his wings. They weren't ready for where he was going," said one U.S. law enforcement source.

Late last year, Tecate's new mayor salvaged Soriano's career, asking him to take the No. 2 job at the department. Law enforcement contacts across the border applauded the move and didn't wait long to restore ties.

This time, though, the stakes were higher.



Photos: A police victory is... Mexico Under Siege: Complete Coverage Photos: Mexico under siege (graphic content)

A well-concealed tunnel can generate tens of millions of dollars in drug profits for traffickers, who pay huge amounts of protection money to keep them open and threaten anyone who talks about their location.

It was crucial to quickly find the opening of the tunnel discovered that December morning. U.S. authorities didn't want the operators to have time to clear out the drugs and other evidence. In other tunnel cases, Mexican authorities had been slow to respond, allowing crime bosses to abscond with drugs.

Soriano took immediate action. After confiscating the cops' cellphones, he dispatched them to the four-lane border crossing and told them to look out for a fugitive trying to flee from California authorities. Then he and several trusted officers started searching for the tunnel in homes and businesses near the border. He kept a close watch on crooked cops, who he feared would slip away to warn the tunnel operators.


The search failed. Someone would have to traverse the length of the passageway to find the opening.

Soriano volunteered seven officers. They crossed into the U.S. and descended into the tunnel while U.S. and Mexican authorities waited for them to surface in Mexico. About 45 minutes later, the Mexican team climbed up the 80-foot-deep shaft into a vacant two-story building a block south of the border.

A Virgin of Guadalupe picture hung near the opening. Nearby were computer monitors and scribbled ledgers. Soriano, alerted by a radio call from his team, arrived at the building just ahead of the crush of reporters and other police. Mexican federal agents took over the crime scene.

At about 2 a.m. the next morning, a convoy of vehicles drove down the deeply rutted dirt road leading to Soriano's modest house, which was decorated with a string of Christmas lights. Two men armed with AK-47s broke in. Soriano jumped out of bed, but the men stopped him before he could grab his weapons in the hallway.

Soriano seemed to recognize his attackers and begged them not to shoot, a source said. But the men opened fire, the spray of bullets coming within inches of Soriano's year-old daughter sleeping in the crib by his bed.

Since Soriano's death, relations between the Tecate Police Department and U.S. agencies have been almost nonexistent. The force doesn't have a liaison officer, and the border lands are more lawless than ever, Mexican sources say.

Soriano's slaying sent a message to other cops who would dare cooperate with U.S. authorities.

That was clear at Soriano's funeral, where many cops seemed to be celebrating his death, said one person who attended. Some laughed, while others chatted loudly in gestures of disrespect.

Mexican authorities suspect police were involved in the slaying, either as the triggermen or the lookouts for hit men. Nobody has been arrested in the case.

Meanwhile, the tunnel investigation has stalled. There have been no arrests, and it is unknown who was behind the construction and financing of the passageway.

On the day of the tunnel discovery, Soriano turned over a largely intact crime scene. But soon, dozens of soldiers, police, federal agents and reporters gathered to marvel at the sophisticated lighting and water pumping system. Other unidentified people seemed to linger for no apparent reason, said U.S. and Mexican sources.

The computers and other evidence had vanished.

Soriano once wrote on an employment evaluation that he wanted to be a police commander and lead a team of loyal, aggressive cops whom he would treat as friends. "I want to be surrounded by honest police who would never betray anyone."

richard.marosilatimes.com

Times staff writer Robert Lopez contributed to this report.

No Need to introduce Michelle Malkin,.....

Link: http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/07/sanctuary-kills-a-bloody-needless-tragedy-in-aurora/

Sanctuary kills: A bloody, needless tragedy in Aurora
By Michelle Malkin � September 7, 2008 04:55 PM How many times do I have to ask: How many more tragedies like this need to occur before Americans finally hold illegal alien sanctuary enablers responsible for their reckless, deadly neglect?

Lord have mercy. One of the victims was a 3-year-old child enjoying ice cream at Baskin-Robbins:

As new questions arose about the man police say is responsible for the tragedy, several hundred friends and relatives gathered Saturday night outside an ice cream shop to mourn three lives suddenly lost.

�It hurts now,� said Vito Kudlis, surrounded by friends as he and his wife, Enely, wept for their 3-year-old son, Marten. �It is freaky. It is crazy.�

Marten, Patricia Guntharp, 49, of Centennial and Debra Serecky, 51, of Aurora all died when a Thursday night collision caused vehicles to careen into the Baskin-Robbins at the corner of South Havana Street and East Mississippi Avenue.

Saturday night, they were remembered in a candlelight vigil. Small children held glow sticks as others added stuffed animals � especially bears � to a memorial.

Francis Hernandez, the man being held for suspicion of vehicular homicide in the deaths, is now being detained by federal immigration officials.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sent a faxed detainer on Hernandez, 23, at 12:04 a.m. Saturday, indicating his U.S. citizenship is under question, according to Arapahoe County jail officials and federal authorities.

Hernandez has been arrested 16 times in five years in Colorado but apparently has never been deported, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
Watch the revolving door go �round and �round:

Hernandez had been arrested in Denver as recently as July 18 on a traffic stop and charged with numerous crimes, including resisting police, CBI records say. Had he been held on an ICE detainer at that time, he would have been jailed until his case was completed and his sentence served and then deported, a time-consuming process.

Hernandez is now being held on the ICE detainer and for investigation of three counts of vehicular homicide, reckless driving and hit and run in Thursday night�s accident, Aurora police spokesman Lt. John Sopranuk said�

�Dating back to 2003, Hernandez has been arrested for mostly misdemeanor offenses 16 times by police officers in Denver, Longmont, Aurora, Westminster, Lakewood and Broomfield and sheriff�s deputies in Boulder, Gilpin and Arapahoe counties, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. His charges have included forgery, assault, theft, fraud and driving under restraint.

Sopranuk said Friday that Hernandez was born in California and is a U.S. citizen.

But he added that detectives could find no indication that he had ever held a driver�s license in California or Colorado.

Also according to CBI records, Hernandez, who has 11 aliases and two listed birth dates, has four listed birth places, including Mexico.

ICE placed a detainer because of indications he was born outside the country, said

.......That which shall NOT be discussed,......

by either,.....

In the "DARK",....indeed.

Link: http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sanbernardinocounty/ci_10407914

Issue stays in the dark
Both candidates shun border talk
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/07/2008 10:55:06 PM PDT


It's one of the most complex and controversial issues facing the country.
But it was scarcely mentioned at the two largest political gatherings of the year.

Neither of the major presidential candidates touched on immigration reform during their parties' national conventions.

Political experts say there are good reasons for Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain to sidestep the minefield of the immigration debate.

John J. Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, said the issue is tricky for both candidates.

"Both parties face cross-pressures," Pitney said. "On the one hand, both Obama and McCain favor immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship. But within each party, there is significant opposition to anything like that. It's more vocal on the Republican side, but even among Democrats you have a fair number of blue-collar workers who are very concerned about immigration."

The word "immigration" was absent from McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last week.

To capture the White House, analysts say, McCain needs a sizable share of traditionally Democratic Latino voters to move to his side. Polls have shown that many Latinos, especially recently naturalized citizens, favor proposals to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

But in trying to woo Latino voters, the Arizona senator risks the wrath of
conservative Republicans who want the federal government to secure the border to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country.
"That's his dilemma," Pitney said. "The more he appeals to the Latino voters, the more he alienates Republicans who might stay home" on Election Day.

Obama also must be careful not to press too hard for Latino support because doing so could turn off working-class white voters in key battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, analysts say.

In his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver two weeks ago, Obama avoided any talk of immigration reform.

The Illinois senator made a vague reference to the controversy surrounding immigration, but he did not repeat his earlier support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers," Obama said.

That was the extent of his remarks on the issue.

Area Latino activists who went to Denver to rally in favor of comprehensive immigration reform were expecting more from Obama.

"I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't talk about it at all, especially when there was such a large Latino contingent at the convention and there was a large Hispanic caucus," said Jose Zapata Calderon, a professor of sociology and Chicano studies at Pitzer College in Claremont.

Calderon, who supports Obama, attended the convention and participated in a march that was meant to keep the immigration issue at the front of the Democratic Party agenda.

In the past, Obama has supported allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. He also was a co-sponsor of a bill in Congress known as the Dream Act, which would provide a way for qualified illegal immigrant students to become legal residents and eventually citizens.

And, like McCain, he backed legislation to allow the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to earn legal status. McCain has since changed his position to require the border to be secured before a path to citizenship is created.

"Certainly (Obama is) being very safe on controversial issues such as immigration," Calderon said. "When he's talking about it, he's talking about it in small settings. Sooner or later, I think in the debates, those issues are going to be brought up. I'm hoping there is no backtracking on it."

Some opponents of illegal immigration don't see much difference between McCain and Obama on the issue.

"Both of them recognize that their positions are significantly out of step with most of the voters, especially those in the center that they are trying to win over," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors strict limits on immigration. "That's why they don't want to talk about it."

I understand not wanting to make an issue out of a very polarizing issue - you'll lose too many votes, but, it is kind of important.