Texas Uproar

Texas Photo ID for Voting Bill

2009-03-10T17:13:00.004-05:00

SB 362 a bill relating to requiring a voter to present proof of identification before voting.

I've been listeing to the Senate Democrats today, ask the same questions over and over today. They are wasteing the time of wittinesses and citizens and making them wait for these questions that have been answered several times. Looks like all 12 Democrats are going to ask the same question. Over and over again, Senator Frazer has refered them to the Sec. of State.

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.php

One thing is certain, the Texas Senate Democrats do not know what they are talking about. It is very evident that they do not even know what happens in a polling place on election day.

Here are the insulting excuses the Democrats have made defending this bill, people are too minority, too old, too poor, too ignorant to find the driver's license office and the hours it is open to get an ID.

Anyone that elected these Democrats should evaluate what they have said today and realize how poorly they are being represented. In fact, they've wasted an entire day of the 140 day session of the Texas Senate.

Man in sham marriage to Houston exotic dancer faces deportation

2008-12-28T10:08:00.000-06:00

Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 44, was convicted of a sham marriage to a Houston exotic dancer
Associated Press
Dec. 28, 2008, 1:14PM

EL PASO — A Lebanese man questioned in a terrorism investigation and being held by immigration authorities in Texas faces deportation.

Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 44, was being held at the El Paso federal detention center and could be deported, the El Paso Times reported Sunday.

The Department of Homeland Security initiated a case against Elzahabi and the Justice Department must now decide his immigration status, said Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Falls Church, Va.

His hearing date, name of attorney and other information will not be released at this time because of a non-disclosure order, said Adelina Pruneda, a spokeswoman U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Antonio.

Elzahabi was convicted of possessing fraudulent immigration documents by a federal jury in August 2007 and turned over to ICE custody. According to federal prosecutors, Elzahabi entered into a sham marriage with a Houston exotic dancer and drug addict in 1984 to obtain legal permanent residency, also referred to as a green card. Officials say he promised Kathy Ann Glant, a waitress and dancer at the Pink Pussy Cat club, $5,000 to marry him.

Elzahabi came to the United States in May 1984 on a student visa, with plans to enroll in English as a second language classes at the University of Houston, officials said.

Federal investigators say Elzahabi has acknowledged attending a jihad training camp, being a sniper in Afghanistan and helping train a group seeking to overthrow the Lebanese government. However, Elzahabi has never faced charges of terrorism or committing violent acts.

He was arrested in May 2004 in Minnesota on a material witness warrant in a terrorism investigation. Before his arrest, he voluntarily underwent 17 days of questioning by FBI agents.

Body in trunk was illegal immigrant

2008-12-28T10:06:00.000-06:00

By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News
Published December 28, 2008

TEXAS CITY — The man found stuffed in the trunk of a car that had been abandoned in the driveway of a Texas City home on Christmas Night was identified as an illegal immigrant from Honduras, police said Saturday.

Abisai Hernandez-Garcia, 31, was stabbed and beaten before being stuffed into the trunk of his green 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. The vehicle was abandoned in the driveway of a family’s home in the 100 block of 28th Street about 10 p.m. Thursday.

After calling police about the abandoned car, the homeowners said dispatchers suggested they call a towing company to have it removed, since the vehicle was on private property.

As they waited for the wrecker to arrive, the couple searched for records to identify the owner.

They opened the trunk to discover the man’s body inside.

The medical examiner would not be able to confirm until Monday Hernandez-Garcia’s cause of death. Police said he had been dead less than 24 hours when his body was discovered.

Texas City Police Capt. Brian Goetschius said Hernandez-Garcia had been deported at least once, possibly twice. He had also been arrested twice this year by Texas City police for driving without a license and in November was arrested on a charge of public intoxication.

Outside of those instances, police have very little information about the victim, Goetschius said. They were working with federal immigration officials to find out more about his background.

The police department also was going to contact the Honduran consulate to notify the victim’s family.

Hernandez-Garcia’s body was dumped just a few blocks from the Velami Apartment complex where he lived, Goetschius said. While the transfer of the title had never been completed, police obtained records that show the victim had purchased the Galant about a month before he was found dead.

Goetschius said the car had been reported abandoned at another location in Texas City on Dec. 21. The orange tow warning sticker was still on the car’s windshield.

Police did confirm Hernandez-Garcia had no connection to the owners of the home where his car was dumped.

“We’re bewildered why the vehicle was left there,” Goetschius said.

Hernandez-Garcia’s death is the second case in Texas City of an illegal immigrant’s body found under mysterious circumstances. On Dec. 11, the body of an illegal immigrant from El Salvador was found dead in a field on Amburn Road about three blocks from College of the Mainland.

Police were led to that gruesome discovery after an anonymous phone tip to 911.

Goetschius said the two deaths do not appear to be related.

+++

How To Help

Texas City police asked that anyone with information call 409-643-5760 or Crime Stoppers at 409-948-8477.

Officials Arrest 5 Illegal Chinese Immigrants Flown to Wharton

2008-12-23T10:17:00.000-06:00

Last Edited: Tuesday, 23 Dec 2008, 3:50 PM CST
Created: Tuesday, 23 Dec 2008, 3:50 PM CST

McAllen, Texas FOX 26 News

HOUSTON -- Five undocumented Chinese immigrants were captured after federal and local officials tracked a suspicious aircraft that departed from McAllen and landed in Wharton, according to a statement from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Air and Marine Operation Center, located in Riverside, Calif., tracked the suspicious plane on radar as it landed in Wharton and alerted the Houston Air and Marine Branch to look out for the aircraft as it neared Sugar Land, according to the statement.

Law enforcement officials then engaged in a high-speed chase after the undocumented passengers after they entered into a vehicle waiting for them at the airport, according to the statement.

The five undocumented immigrants were eventually arrested and placed into the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to the statement. However, the vehicle's driver escaped into a wooded area.

ICE agents plan to investigate the crew's activities regarding the transport of illegal aliens, according to the statement.

"This successful joint DHS agency and law enforcement effort is a superb example of effective strategic partnerships and operational teamwork in action," David Lent, Director of Air Operations said in the prepared statement.

ICE arrests 84 illegal immigrants in Dallas area

2008-12-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

Associated Press

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 84 illegal immigrants in the Dallas area this week.

The arrests came after a five-day operation in 18 different cities that ended Thursday, according to an agency news release. Sixty-four of the people arrested had final deportation orders and the remaining 20 were immigration violators that agents encountered during the operation, the release said.

Four of the people arrested had either outstanding warrants for their arrests or previous criminal convictions, the agency said.

We the People Jeers to Bud Kennedy

2008-12-20T15:58:00.000-06:00

Jeers: To Bud Kennedy for continuing to advertise his ignorance of the facts. He continues to write about people and organizations that are "anti-immigration." They are anti-illegal immigration. Will someone please explain the difference to Kennedy?

— Wayne Pricer, Edgecliff Village

IFCO Systems enters into record $20.7 million settlement of claims related to employment of illegal aliens

2008-12-19T16:48:00.000-06:00

IFCO Systems enters into record $20.7 million settlement of claims related to employment of illegal aliens

ALBANY, NY - After one of the largest worksite enforcement operations conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, IFCO headquartered in Houston, Texas has agreed to pay $20.7 million dollars in civil forfeitures and penalties over four years, for employing illegal alien workers at its plants. John P. Torres, Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Andrew T. Baxter, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York; and Superintendent Harry J. Corbitt, New York State Police, made the announcement today.

IFCO Systems North America ("IFCO"). IFCO, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is the largest
pallet management services company in the United States. The settlement amount includes $2.6 million dollars in back pay and penalties relating to IFCO's overtime violations with respect to 1,700 of its pallet workers. IFCO is also paying $18.1 million in civil forfeitures that will be available to support future law enforcement activities. If IFCO fully complies with the terms of the settlement agreement, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York agrees not to pursue corporate criminal charges against IFCO for the conduct of its employees in hiring illegal alien workers at IFCO pallet plants prior to April 19, 2006. The government began its investigation of IFCO following a tip to ICE in February 2005, that illegal alien laborers at the Albany IFCO plant were observed ripping up their W-2 forms. On April 19, 2006, ICE agents, in concert with other federal and state authorities, conducted a work site enforcement action at over 40 IFCO pallet plants in 26 states, which resulted in the detention of 1,182 illegal aliens working at those plants. The United States Attorney's Office has prosecuted several IFCO managers and employees for criminal offenses associated with the employment of illegal alien workers at IFCO pallet plants. To date, nine IFCO managers and employees have entered pleas of guilty related to such criminal conduct. Four managers are currently pending trial on a felony indictment in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York1 and the investigation of IFCO employees is continuing. The IFCO settlement agreement concerns only the liability of the corporation and does not address any pending or possible future criminal charges against individual employees.

The government's investigation documented that several IFCO managers and employees harbored and transported illegal aliens, and encouraged and induced them to remain in the United States as pallet workers. An analysis of the payroll information IFCO submitted to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and the Social Security Administration ("SSA"), and the hiring patterns and practices at IFCO, suggests that during the time period from 2003 through April 2006, as many as 6,000 illegal aliens worked at IFCO pallet plants.

IFCO received repeated notice from the SSA and others, dating back to at least the year 2000, of the irregularities in the social security numbers used for employment purposes by many of its pallet workers. IFCO, its managers and employees, failed to take significant measures to verify the social security numbers of these workers, and in 2004 and 2005, failed to make any effort to address the use of invalid social security numbers by numerous pallet employees. Investigative entities further concluded that, at 30 of IFCO's pallet plants, back wages were due, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to piece-wage pallet workers - the vast majority of whom were illegal aliens. Under the settlement agreement, IFCO acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the unlawful conduct of its managers and employees, as described in the agreement. The company further agrees to cooperate fully and actively with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the government entities involved in the investigation, as it has done since the date of the work site enforcement action. The agreement further includes a precedent-setting, compliance and reporting program, designed to prevent the employment of illegal aliens at IFCO plants in the future. The company will take remedial actions in hiring, such as use of DHS's "E-Verify" screening program for all new hires, and will verify the social security numbers of all IFCO employees through SSA.

IFCO is also required to maintain an employee hotline to receive reports of any suspected violation of law at the company. The agreement runs through the year 2012, at which time, if the company has been in full compliance with all of the agreement's terms and conditions, the United States Attorney's Office will not seek to prosecute the company for any criminal charges related to the conduct of its employees prior to April 2006.

"Today's announcement that IFCO Systems North America will pay the largest settlement amount ever in a work site enforcement case and the fact that nine IFCO managers have admitted their guilt related to the employment of illegal aliens will send a powerful message that ICE will investigate and bring to justice companies which hire illegal workers," said John P. Torres, Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. "Companies who break the law by employing illegal aliens often exploit them and gain an unfair competitive advantage in the marketplace. By hiring illegal workers, these companies are unjustly able to undercut their law-a-biding competition."

Andrew T. Baxter, Acting United States Attorney stated, "This settlement accomplishes the government's objective of deterring employers who might seek to subvert the immigration laws of this country. The Agreement severely punishes IFCO for its serious immigration and employment violations; but it also allows the corporation to continue its operations, so that its lawful employees and innocent shareholders do not suffer the consequences of a business failure in this economy. It is our hope that the compliance and reporting requirements under the agreement will serve as a model for other businesses."

New York State Police Superintendent Harry J. Corbitt said, "The New York State Police commends all of the investigative agencies for their hard work in investigating IFCO Systems and prosecuting the individuals who engaged in illegal immigration and employment-related conduct. This agreement sends a strong message to corporations that exploitive and illegal business practices for the sole purpose of their own financial gain will not be tolerated." Acting U.S. Attorney Baxter expressed his appreciation to the New York State Police for their invaluable assistance in this nation-wide investigation.

The IFCO managers who previously entered guilty pleas, and the respective charges to which they pled guilty, are as follows:

Robert Belvin, of Stuart, FL (former General Manager, Albany IFCO plant): Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens and Conspiracy to Possess Identification Documents with the Intent to Use Unlawfully (felonies);
James Rice, of Houston, TX (former corporate New Market Development Manager): Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens (felony);
Steven Means, of Cincinnati, OH (former corporate New Market Development Manager): Conspiracy to Unlawfully Employ Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
Bryan Baily, of Nashville, TN (former corporate New Market Development Manager): Conspiracy to Unlawfully Employ Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
Abelino "Lino" Chicas, of Houston, TX (former Systems Manager): Aiding and Abetting the Transportation and Harboring of Illegal Aliens (felony);
Michael Ames, of Shrewsbury, MA (former General Manager, Westborough, MA IFCO plant): Unlawful Employment of Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
Craig Losurdo, of Arlington, TN (former Assistant General Manager, Albany IFCO plant): Unlawful Employment of Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
Dario Salzano, of Amsterdam, NY (former Assistant General Manager, Albany IFCO plant): Unlawful Employment of Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
Scott Dodge, of Elmira, NY (former Assistant General Manager, Albany IFCO plant): Conspiracy to Unlawfully Employ Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor).
The IFCO managers who are indicted on felony charges and pending trial are:

Charles Davidson, of San Antonio, TX (current Vice President - New Market Development; formerly, Director, New Market Development);
William Hoskins, of Cincinnati, OH (New Market Development Manager);
Thomas Soto Castillo, of Cincinnati, OH (Foreman, Cincinnati; operations manager for New Market Development);
Wendy Mudra, of Tampa, FL (Human Resources Manager).
The government's investigation of the involvement of certain IFCO's managers and employees in the hiring of illegal aliens and related conduct is continuing. The investigation is being conducted by ICE; the New York State Police, Special Investigation Unit; SSA, Office of Inspector General; IRS, Criminal Investigation; and the U.S.Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. The Guilderland Town Police Department and Schenectady Police Department also provided assistance during the investigation. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney, Tina E. Sciocchetti.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Friday, December 19, 2008

Williamson commissioners set to vote on immigrant detention operator

2008-12-19T16:43:00.000-06:00

Critics have condemned holding families in former prison, but some officials lean toward renewing contract.
By David C. Doolittled

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Williamson County commissioners are set to vote next week on renewing a contract with the company that operates a much-criticized immigrant detention center in Taylor.

Since 2006, the county has had a contract with Corrections Corp. of America and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to act as the intermediary between the two and disburse federal funds for the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, which holds immigrant families while they await decisions in their immigration cases.

That contract is set to expire Jan. 31, and commissioners will take up renewing the contract for another two-year term during Tuesday's meeting.

County Judge Dan A. Gattis and Commissioner Ron Morrison, whose precinct includes the detention facility, said they are leaning toward renewing the contract. Precinct 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman and Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said they are undecided. Several calls to Commissioner Cynthia Long were not returned.

"I'm leaning to renew because I did the last time," Morrison said. Commissioners voted to renew the contract in January 2007.

"I based it on touring the facility and looking at the situation. I like the idea that families stay together, are fed, clothed and in a comfortable place — as comfortable as an ex-prison can be. You can't hide the fact that it was once a jail cell."

Morrison said he has visited the former medium-security prison three times and plans to tour it again Monday.

The county's contract with Corrections Corp. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement allows for any party to terminate the contract within 120 days.

Gattis said that because of the 120-day period and because he expects some changes to immigration policy when Barack Obama becomes president, he'd rather renew the contract and wait to see what the new administration might do.

"Unless something jumps up and bites me, I will vote to renew," Gattis said. "I think we're going to need time to assess what the administration wants to do, and we'll support what they want."

Birkman, who voted for renewing the contract in 2007 "with reservations," said she understands the reasons for the facility. "But on the other hand, I would feel more comfortable if they were not in a prison setting," she said.

Covey said a tour of the 512-bed facility on Monday will help her make a decision.

Critics have protested the detention of children and have pushed for alternatives such as electronic monitoring and intensive supervision.

"There is the taint of using taxpayer dollars to pay a private company to do something that can be done more humanely and just as effectively at a much smaller cost," former Georgetown Mayor MaryEllen Kersch said. "The for-profit prison industry has benefited greatly from the demonization of immigrants."

Federal officials have said they have an obligation to ensure that those accused of being in the U.S. illegally show up for their court hearings.

Steve Owen, a spokesman for Corrections Corp., said if the contract is not renewed, families could be split apart waiting for hearings. He said the company has worked to make the facility safe and humane. Several calls to immigration officials were not returned.

ddoolittle@statesman.com; 246-0040

We the People Border fence needed to protect Americans

2008-12-19T16:38:00.001-06:00

In light of the protest of Shapleigh and others against further construction of the border fence, we once again see how our politicians disregard the well-being of the American people.

Shapleigh's group says that the fence restricts trade. Tell me, what kind of trade comes across in the areas where the fence is constructed. Drugs, that's what.

They say that the fence causes bad feelings in light of the events in the "murder capital of the world." I say that severing all ties with Mexico is a viable option.

They say "wall of hate." What a joke. The fence protects Americans against illegal aliens and drug traffickers.

For those of you who want to call my statements "racism," I say you don't know what racism is. I'm calling it like it is.

How many Canadian drug cartels do you hear about, and how many Scandinavian immigrants are members of violent street gangs?

"Mexican sovereignty" is a joke, and in Mexico the corruption runs from top to bottom -- politicians, army generals, etc. The Mexican "war on drugs" is only a war to eliminate the rivals of the politicians' favorite drug cartels.

The fence protects the American people.

Pete Porter / West El Paso

Police charge man with sexually assaulting child

2008-12-19T15:27:00.000-06:00

A Mineral Wells man was arrested Monday on a warrant for aggravated sexual assault of a child.

According to Mineral Wells investigators, Manuel DeJesus Silva, 21, was taken into custody in the 100 block of N.E. 9th Avenue during a traffic stop.

The alleged assault occurred inside Mineral Wells city limits in either March or April though it wasn’t reported until December, officials said. The alleged incident involved a child less than 14 years of age. Silva was reportedly a friend of the victim’s family.

According to Palo Pinto County jail records, Silva remained in custody Wednesday on with his bond set at $250,000 for the aggravated sexual assault charge and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Frisco: Police arrest suspect for 2006 sexual assault of elderly woman

2008-12-18T15:29:00.001-06:00

By Ann Marie Shambaugh, Staff Writer
(Created: Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:18 PM CST)

Frisco police arrested a Honduran man this morning who is accused of sexually assaulting an elderly woman in her home here more than two years ago.

Manuel Guerra, 24, was arrested at a relative’s home in Dallas at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Police said that they believe the suspect was living abroad after the alleged incident, and that he returned to the Dallas area recently.

Guerra is accused of sexually assaulting a 79-year-old woman in her home in the Old Donation area of Frisco on Aug. 15, 2006. Reports stated that the victim told police she had been sleeping in the early hours of the morning when she awoke to find a man standing next to her. She yelled at him to leave and he fled, only to return. Police found a broken window on the back door of the house.

Frisco Police Department spokesman Officer Greg Barnett said that the investigation included assistance from several agencies.

“We had some tips from Crime Stoppers as well as evidence that was recovered at the scene,” Barnett said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Detention and Removal Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force also assisted in the investigation.

Police charged Guerra with aggravated sexual assault, and his bond is set at $150,000.

Oak Point City Council rescinds English-only resolution

2008-12-17T17:53:00.000-06:00

06:29 AM CST on Wednesday, December 17, 2008
DENTON RECORD-CHRONICLE

The Oak Point City Council rescinded its English-only resolution with a 3-2 vote Monday night, about 18 months after adopting it.

The difference between the votes was a change in leadership in the small Denton County town.

In June 2007, council members Jim Almond, Leslie Maynard and Mark Rakestraw voted to adopt the measure.

On Monday night, council members Colleen Cameron, Judith Camp and Jim Wohletz voted to rescind it. Ms. Cameron defeated Ms. Maynard last spring in a runoff.

Mayor Duane Olson said he put the resolution on the agenda. He believed the city needed to get rid of the resolution after Lewisville considered a similar measure in October.

Lewisville Mayor Gene Carey had linked Oak Point with Farmers Branch, and Mr. Olson said he took exception to the characterization.

Farmers Branch officials have been battling in court to pass an ordinance that would ban illegal immigrants from renting apartments in that city.

Motorist credited for helping police arrest 'fake cop' suspect in Grapevine

2008-12-17T17:50:00.000-06:00

By BILL MILLER wmiller@star-telegram.com

Grapevine police are crediting a motorist for alerting them to a man who now faces a charge of trying to impersonate a cop.

The arrest was made around 9:30 p.m. Sunday after a 22-year-old man in a white pickup with flashing lights allegedly followed a car on Texas 360, police said.

The suspect, Adan Ramirez of Grapevine, was being held Wednesday in the Grapevine jail, charged with impersonating a public servant.

Police declined to release the driver's name, but they lauded him for immediately calling 911 when he suspected the flashing lights on the truck didn't belong to a real cop.

He also stayed on the line as he drove, which helped dispatchers send police to his location.

"He did everything exactly right," said Sgt. Kim Smith, police spokeswoman. "If we could write it in a textbook and give it to the public, this would be it."

The driver had been on the shoulder of Texas 360 checking a map and was trying to merge back into traffic when he noticed the flashing lights, Smith said.

The truck had special police-style flashing lights on the front and back of the pickup, similar to the ones used on unmarked police cars, Smith said.

The man called 911 and told the operator, "I ain't pulling over for an unmarked car," according to a recording of the call.

Also on the recording, the operator asks the man if he thought he was being pulled over by whoever was driving the truck.

"I don't know if he's trying to pull us over or what," the man said, "but he turned his lights on and he won't go around me or anything."

At some point the truck driver turned off the lights.

"He ain't got them on now," the man told the 911 operator, "but he had them on a while ago."

Dispatchers contacted police who saw the truck and the car, Smith said. Officers got behind the truck and directed the operator to tell the caller to exit at William D. Tate Avenue, Smith said.

That's where officers made a traffic stop on the truck and Ramirez was arrested, Smith said.

He also carried a fake identification that was actually a gift card from a restaurant that had been painted black and had the word "police" on it, Smith said.

Police shared information about Ramirez to other law enforcement agencies who had reports of fake cops in their cities, but none had responded back by Wednesday, Smith said.

Ramirez, she added, "admitted to installing system on the truck, but he didn't admit to any use of ID card or explain any intent or motive."

"But," she said, "whenever the witness felt the person in the truck was trying to get his attention or make contact -- that violates the law."

Impersonating a public servant, which is a third-degree felony, is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

Smith noted, however, that a "hold" was placed on Ramirez by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or "ICE." The hold indicates he is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, which makes him ineligible for bond.

Man Accused of Impersonating Police Officer Had 'Gift Card' ID

2008-12-17T17:42:00.000-06:00

Video

Police in Grapevine, Texas have arrested a man accused of impersonating a police officer with an impressive truck but less than stellar fake I.D. card.

They were alerted by a concerned motorist who called 911 after spotting the man attempting to pull other drivers over.

When police got there, they stopped the white pickup truck and found it had an elaborate police lighting system, similar to what some departments use on undercover vehicles.

Police said officers also found a homemade police identification card that was not nearly as realistic as the lights on his truck. It was made with a gift card from a Chipotle restaurant, and the restaurant chain's logo was still visible on the top of the card with the word "police" written under it.

The driver of the truck, Adan Juarez Ramirez, 22, was arrested on a charge of impersonating a public official.

Smith said Ramirez admitted to mounting the lights on his truck but would not say why he did it or what he planned to do if he stopped someone.

He was jailed with an immigration hold. Police records indicate Ramirez is a Mexican citizen.

Police credited the alert driver who called 911 for making the arrest possible.

"It was incredible teamwork between the witness, our dispatcher and the officers to coordinate where they were going to go to apprehend this man," Sgt. Kim Smith said.

Editorial: ID provides useful immigration tool

2008-12-17T17:33:00.000-06:00

There are reasons to be squeamish about the new "temporary visitor" licenses and ID cards that the Department of Public Safety now issues to legal immigrants. There are also strong justifications, and, on balance, they outweigh the drawbacks.

The vertical layout of the new card is designed to distinguish its holder as someone deserving of extra scrutiny, which doesn't sit well with many people. Immigrants might feel they're getting a mixed message. We tell them to assimilate, but we issue them a special ID that says: You're not one of us.

Yet this new format and the security measures behind it are necessary. There are 12 million or more illegal immigrants residing in America, and according to a 2006 Pew Hispanic Center study, nearly half of them arrived legally but overstayed their visas.

The new cards specifically address this problem, getting rid of the standard expiration periods that allowed immigrants to drive legally or present a valid ID even though they were in the country illegally. Instead, temporary visitors' licenses will expire when their visas expire. The vertical format – the same one used for minors – tells law enforcement personnel to be extra vigilant.

Critics say the vertical card unnecessarily stigmatizes immigrants. Besides, the expiration date is all that really matters. But when officers in most cities stop drivers and see that the license expiration date has lapsed, the driver will receive only a misdemeanor citation. No arrest occurs.

With horizontal licenses, officers have no way of quickly determining whether a "foreign-looking" driver should be detained or allowed to leave. Ethnic considerations come into play as the officer decides whether an immigration check is necessary. The horizontal ID invites racial profiling. The vertical ID dramatically reduces that problem.

Critics counter that state and local authorities are busy enough; immigration enforcement is the federal government's job. True, but it's obvious that this task is too big for the federal government to do by itself.

Sometimes state and local authorities must get involved because they are the ones who encounter illegal immigrants most often. More and more communities are demanding that local authorities assume a more aggressive role. We believe those cases should be rare.

The city of Irving is an example of federal-local cooperation through the Criminal Alien Program. And last month, Dallas County announced that prisoners' information will be checked against a federal immigration database during jail book-in procedures.

Local and state authorities must be careful about potential abuse of such new, expanded powers. The risk of racial profiling remains.

Vertical IDs help reduce that problem because they remove all racial considerations from the verification procedure. With the new ID format, vertical cards with expired dates are the only ones meriting additional scrutiny, whether the holder is Canadian, European, African, Latino, Arab or Asian.

People with horizontal cards – regardless of race or national origin – must receive the treatment afforded any U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.

That's a change for the better.

Two charged after Valley Girls raid

2008-12-17T17:28:00.000-06:00

Two charged after Valley Girls raid
Ana Ley

EDINBURG - Two people were charged after Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies busted a gambling operation near a flashy Donna strip club.

Ricardo Melendez Gomez, 47, and Blanca Hubert, 63, were charged with keeping a gambling place, promoting gambling and possessing a gambling device.

Gomez was being held at the Hidalgo County Jail on a $15,000 bond Wednesday. If he makes bond and is released, Border Patrol officials plan to deport the illegal immigrant back to Mexico.

Hubert was released Wednesday on a $9,000 bond.

A friend listed only as "Luis," whom Gomez called at booking, refused to comment Wednesday. A number for Hubert's emergency contact, listed as Veronica de la Cruz, was out of service.

The sheriff's office seized 11 slot machines and arrested Gomez and Hubert on suspicion of distributing cash winnings to customers who played the eight-liner gambling machines, which were located in a business office next to Valley Girls.

It is illegal in Texas to award cash to people who win at slot machines.

The small building housed a limousine business and beauty salon. Both buildings, owned by Harlingen-based Valley Entertainment Corp., are managed by Joey Holder.

Four customers were cited during the Tuesday raid for playing at the underground casino, a new tactic Sheriff Lupe Treviño hopes will discourage the operation's organizers from establishing another gambling ring.

"If we can impact the demand, we can have a detrimental impact on the supply," Treviño said Tuesday.

The raid was the culmination of a nearly two-week-long investigation led by Treviño and Hidalgo County District Attorney René Guerra. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission also inspected the strip club for alcohol license violations on Tuesday.

In October, two popular McAllen bars were raided on suspicion of condoning illegal slot machine gambling. Police seized 21 eight-liner machines from Fast Eddie's Billiards, bar Simon Sez and a McAllen office.

Illegal immigrants arrested at Mission H-E-B Plus

2008-12-17T17:06:00.001-06:00

Mission police discovered a group of illegal immigrants being transported at a local grocery store.

Video

Investigators said the incident happened at the H-E-B Plus off Shary Road and U.S. Expressway 83.

Police busted two vehicles carrying six men, two women and a young girl.

Border Patrol agents took custody of the two alleged smugglers and the immigrants.

Authorities said they will review the group's immigration status and apply appropriate criminal charges.

Texas taxpayers spent $678 million on healthcare for illegal immigrants

2008-12-13T12:50:00.000-06:00

Texas taxpayers spent $678 million on healthcare for illegal immigrants
By ANDREW CHAVEZSpecial to the Star-Telegram

Healthcare for illegal immigrants cost the Texas government and local hospital districts $678 million in a year, according to a new study that state lawmakers hope will show the federal government how much Texas is spending in uncompensated care for illegal immigrants.

The study, by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, estimates that $597 million of the total was spent by 94 public hospitals during fiscal 2005-06.

The remainder, about $81 million, went to the state’s contribution to emergency Medicaid, which pays for emergency medical care for things such as childbirth, and to the Texas Family Violence Program, which funds shelters, 24-hour hot lines, counseling and other related services. That figure is from fiscal 2006-07.

The figures are intended to lend support to future state requests for more federal funding to offset the costs.

All figures were estimates because of the limited information available. However, a bill proposed for the upcoming state legislative session would require agencies to report the cost of services provided to illegal immigrants.

Legislative reaction

The report, generated by the House’s 2007 appropriations bill, was criticized by a Fort Worth legislator as "immigrant bashing."

Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said looking just at the cost of illegal immigrants doesn’t take into account the money they pump into the state.

"If you tell somebody to design a study and discover half the facts, you’ll get half the facts," Burnam said. "All you’ve done is look at one side of the ledger. People cost money no matter what their legal status is."

Burnam pointed to a 2006 report from the state comptroller’s office indicating that illegal immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues and received $1.16 billion in state services.

But state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the new report puts a number on healthcare costs that the state cannot do anything about.

And an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said he was glad that Congress is getting the report.

"I’d like to bill the United States government," he said, "and have them pay Texas for the cost of the benefits that they require us to provide to illegal aliens."

Local impact

Tarrant County’s JPS Health Network wasn’t compensated for $133 million in care for illegal immigrants, according to the study.

A JPS spokeswoman said administrators plan to evaluate the report, which was provided by a reporter late Friday afternoon.

"We are reviewing the information and will begin work next week on evaluating the numbers," said Jamie Brown, a JPS spokeswoman.

Immigrant care at JPS has been hotly debated in past years. The hospital provides emergency care because federal law requires it to. But in 2004, the district moved to bar illegal immigrants from receiving discounted or free care at the health network’s nonemergency clinics, an option available to qualified Tarrant County residents.

The board revisited the issue in 2007 but has not voted on it.

This report includes material from the Houston Chronicle and from the Star-Telegram archives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cost to area hospitals Parkland Memorial, Dallas…$135 million

John Peter Smith, Fort Worth…$133 million

Campbell Health System, Weatherford…$4 million

Wise Regional Health System, Decatur…$3 million

Other hard-hit Texas hospitals Ben Taub General, Houston…$203 million

R.E. Thomason General, El Paso…$38 million

University, San Antonio…$25 million

Source: Texas Health and Human Services Commission report

ANDREW CHAVEZ, 817-390-7957

Riot, hostage situation ends at West Texas prison

2008-12-12T12:56:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press

PECOS, Texas -- An uprising at a privately run prison in West Texas ended Saturday morning after two hostages were released, authorities said.

Outside law enforcement officers returned control of the Reeves County Detention Center back to prison personnel about 6:30 a.m., said Patricia Dieschler, a state Department of Public Safety dispatcher.

Responding law enforcement officers were not injured, Dieschler said. Prison officials declined to comment Saturday.

Federal inmates at the prison took two prison employees hostage when the disturbance erupted Friday. Prison officials did not release the names of the two employees, who are recreation specialists at the prison. The hostages were released late Friday night.

The inmates, who include immigration detainees, were asking for better medical treatment, DPS Trooper John Barton told the Pecos Enterprise.

The riot started when the body of an inmate who died of natural causes was removed from the prison, Barton said.

Inmates burned an exercise room at the facility, but the exact cost of damage was not known, Barton said. The newspaper reported that firefighters had to extinguish bonfires inmates had set to keep warm overnight.

The GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has run the jail since 2003. The prison holds more than 2,400 inmates.

http://www.star-telegram.com/462/story/1091490.html

Cops: Suspected Illegals Plotted Kidnap of Texas Corn Dog Scion

2008-12-10T10:24:00.002-06:00

Candelario Romero, Adolfo Chavez, and Porras Placido

DOUBLE OAK, Texas — A man who had once been a neighbor is believed to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping of a woman whose family owns Fletcher's Corny Dogs, a staple of the State Fair of Texas.

Amber Fletcher, 21, was shaken but otherwise unhurt after being rescued following the abduction early Monday by three men from her Denton County home in the town of Double Oak, authorities said.

She was found after one of the men was stopped by officers while Fletcher's mother was meeting him to pay a $100,000 ransom, authorities said.

Adolfo Chavez, 39, had once lived next door to the Fletcher family and sold them a home, said Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree, who assisted Double Oak police in apprehending the suspects, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday in an online story.

Chavez, 39, of Dallas; Candelario Romero, 44, of Justin; and Porras Placido, 37, of Irving were being held Wednesday at the Denton County Jail charged with aggravated kidnapping for ransom or reward, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison.

Bond was set at $200,000 for Chavez and at $250,000 each for Placido and Romero, according to jail records.

All three won't be released because they are suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and a hold was placed on them by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The ordeal began just before 9 a.m. Monday when Amber Fletcher, who had spent the night at her parents' house, returned to her home.

"She was going back home to get some clothes, and two suspects were waiting for her," Murphree said. Her hands were bound with duct tape, and she was blindfolded. She then called her mother, Glenda Fletcher, saying she needed $100,000 or the kidnappers would kill her, according to an affidavit.

Glenda Fletcher then called Double Oak police, who learned that Amber Fletcher lived next door to her parents and had been taken.

The kidnappers directed the family to bring them the money and officers agreed to let the mother do it, Murphree said.

He added that sheriff's narcotics officers had the "drop" under surveillance, and that's when they nabbed Chavez near an intersection and he told them where to find Amber Fletcher.

Officers found the woman and two other suspects in a pickup parked at a store several miles from the Fletcher homes.

She later told officials that the men had made a lot of threats but didn't harm her. After she was abducted, she was taken to Romero's home in Justin but spent most of the day with the two men as they drove around, officials said.

Officials believe the suspects, who never received any ransom money, acted alone.

The Fletcher family faced another ordeal Tuesday the funeral of their son. Neil "Dutch" Fletcher III, 50, died Saturday from a long illness, according to an obituary in The Dallas Morning News.

Perry demands immigration action by feds

2008-11-19T00:46:00.000-06:00

Perry demands immigration action by feds
After a Chronicle investigation, governor urges steps to ensure criminals here illegally don't avoid deportation
By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Gov. Rick Perry and members of the state's congressional delegation called on the federal government Tuesday to take steps to help state and local officials ensure that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Texas remain in custody until they are deported.

In a strongly worded letter to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, Perry said he was outraged to learn that many convicted illegal immigrants in Texas jails were released after they completed their jail sentences instead of being deported.

In a series of stories this week, the Houston Chronicle outlined gaps in the screening of inmates in local jails that allowed scores of violent criminals, including some ordered deported decades ago, to walk away from Harris County Jail despite the inmates' admission to Harris County jailers that they were in the country illegally.

"Texas has spent the last four years investing unprecedented amounts of state resources to secure our border with Mexico," Perry said in his letter to Chertoff. "To now learn that criminal aliens who have been jailed are being released back into our communities by federal authorities who have neglected to secure our border is infuriating and unconscionable."

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Reps. John Culberson, R-Houston, Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, and Michael McCaul, R-Austin, called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to improve screening in the nation's jails and better coordinate efforts to identify illegal immigrants convicted of crimes while they are incarcerated. Brady asked for a meeting of the Houston-area congressional delegation to help ICE determine what resources are needed to "close the terrible gaps in detaining and deporting" illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.

The Chronicle examined arrest and immigration records for 3,500 inmates who told jailers that they were in the country illegally during a span of eight months starting in June 2007, the earliest immigration records available. In 177 cases reviewed by the Chronicle, inmates who were released from jail after admitting to being in the country illegally later were charged with additional crimes. More than half of those charges were felonies, including aggravated sexual assault of a child and capital murder.

At least 178 cases in the review involved suspects who absconded, meaning they had bail revoked for missing court dates or allegedly committing more crimes. Some 330 inmates who told jailers they were in the U.S. illegally were later sentenced to a form of probation.

This spring, ICE officials announced a plan to identify and deport the most serious offenders in the nation's prisons and jails, estimating it would cost roughly $930 million.

Agency defends work
ICE officials said they have made improvements in recent months, including providing the Harris County Sheriff's Office and six other law enforcement agencies in the U.S. access to a database that allows jailers to automatically check defendants' immigration history.

The agency also trained nine Harris County jailers in August to help file paperwork to detain illegal immigrants through its 287 g program, which allows local law enforcement to help ICE screen inmates in the nation's 3,100 jails. ICE also removed a record 107,000 convicted criminals from the U.S. in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended in September, officials said.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves," said ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel. "The number of criminal aliens in prisons and jails has more than tripled in the last few years. ... Can we do more? Absolutely. Are we committed to doing more? You bet."

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, said the system "is breaking down in several places." Poe said he sent a letter on Tuesday to Adrian Garcia, Harris County's sheriff-elect, requesting that he "ratchet up" participation in the 287 g program. He said when illegal immigrants post bond, ICE should file a detainer and pick them up for possible deportation.

"I don't think ICE is trying to solve the problem," he added. "But if they need more money, Congress should certainly be helping to bail out ICE instead of people like General Motors."

Garcia did not return phone calls this week.

Harris County's newly elected district attorney, Pat Lykos, said ICE needs to be in the Harris County courthouse "24-7" and improve screening of illegal immigrants so prosecutors have more reliable information when making bond recommendations and considering plea agreements.

Houston Mayor Bill White said on Tuesday that he plans to call Chertoff to urge for more personnel to deport illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes and have finished serving their sentences.

"Most citizens would far prefer us to spend more money trying to get the violent criminals out of the country than trying to figure out how many years the person who's doing their landscaping has been in the country," White said.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the issue is a law enforcement problem, and added: "In a way it's kind of sad that it gets wrapped up in an immigration debate. The issue really is you've got criminals and you've got a way of getting rid of them. Do it. To me a system doesn't work if you have violent criminals who are just turned back out into society and they disappear. That's a flawed system. I don't think anybody would disagree with that."

Stewart Powell, Liz Austin Peterson, Clay Robison and Bradley Olson contributed reporting.

Special driver's license for noncitizens raises concerns

2008-11-18T13:09:00.000-06:00

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

To get to her job cleaning other people's houses, Maria depends on her car. Without it, the native of Monterrey, Nuevo León, says she would be hard-pressed to keep a job. Without the job, she would not be able to provide for her family or help pay her daughter's tuition at Austin Community College.

Maria has a Texas driver's license, which she got after coming here 16 years ago on a temporary visa. The visa expired long ago, meaning she is no longer in the country legally. Maria renewed her license anyway, because the Texas Department of Public Safety did not require that she prove her visa was still valid. (Maria — not her real name — and other unauthorized immigrants spoke to the American-Statesman on condition of anonymity.)

The DPS says it does not know how many noncitizens with expired visas renewed their licenses over the years, but it stopped the practice in May.

Now, under a regulation that took effect Oct. 1 in the name of national security, the state has tightened its license policy more by requiring foreign nationals to prove they are lawfully here before they can get an original, renewal or duplicate driver's license or ID card.

The DPS estimates that the rule could affect about 2 million Texas residents.

So what happens when Maria's license expires in 2013?

"I'll keep on driving with the license issued by God," she declared during a break from English classes she is taking at El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission in South Austin. "What are we supposed to do, stay at home with our arms crossed? We have to keep working and hustling if we want to get ahead."

About 20.5 million people have valid Texas driver's licenses or ID cards, according to the DPS; the new restrictions apply to about one in 10. Agency spokesman Tom Vinger emphasized that that does not mean all of their licenses are ineligible for renewal, only that the drivers will have to prove they are here legally.

For new applicants, the practical results of the policy will be less apparent. According to the National Immigration Law Center, Texas already had strict identity requirements that amounted to a de facto prohibition against illegal immigrants getting licenses. Those identity requirements are unchanged.

What is new is that noncitizens with legal permission to live in the country will now get special, vertical-shaped driver's licenses bearing temporary visitor designations. The licenses will be valid only until the person's legal status expires. Immigrants whose legal status is scheduled to expire less than six months from the time they apply cannot get a license or ID card at all.

The policy is drawing criticism from some state lawmakers as well as immigrant advocates who warn that it will drive illegal immigrants further underground and increase the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road. Critics also say that creating a different-looking license for noncitizens could lead to profiling and discrimination.

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, called on the Texas Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing body, which approved the rule, to rescind it until the Legislature meets in January.

"I think that DPS officials are creating immigration policy, which is not their responsibility. That is the sole responsibility and obligation of the Texas Legislature and not a state agency," McClendon said.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, joined a number of lawmakers promising to address the policy when the Legislature reconvenes.

Allan Polunsky, the chairman of the Public Safety Commission, said he respects legislators' concerns. But, he added, "in this particular case, I feel that the commission had the authority to pass the rule," which he said was motivated by concerns about national security, not illegal immigration.

Polunsky came under criticism last week after asking Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for a ruling on the legality of setting up statewide driver's license checkpoints. In a letter, 15 lawmakers asked Abbott to ignore that request because the Legislature has not authorized a checkpoint program.

Insurance and security

In closing the loophole that allowed Maria to renew her driver's license, Texas joins a number of states that, since the 2001 terrorist attacks, have moved to restrict illegal immigrants' access to licenses, usually citing national security as the reason. Only five states — New Mexico, Washington, Utah, Maryland and Hawaii — do not require applicants to show evidence of lawful presence in the country.

Supporters of such requirements have long argued that issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is an incentive for more illegal immigration.

"The fact is that they're already here," said Jaime Chahin, a professor of social work at Texas State University and a member of the board of directors of El Buen Samaritano, which serves working-poor Hispanic families. An estimated 1.5 million unauthorized immigrants live in Texas, and about 800,000 of them have jobs, according to a study by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman.

No one knows exactly how many illegal immigrants in Texas drive without a valid license or drive without liability insurance — which all drivers are required by law to have — but it's presumed that the vast majority do not carry insurance.

Of the hundreds of auto insurers in Texas, "there may be a small number of companies that would sell insurance to a driver who does not have a valid driver's license, but I am not familiar with any of those companies," said Jerry Johns, president of Southwestern Insurance Information Services, an insurance trade association representing companies in Texas and Oklahoma.

Johns said the association has strong concerns about the estimated 20 percent of Texas drivers who do not carry liability insurance — about 25 percent in Austin — but that it has not taken a position on whether undocumented immigrants should be able to get licenses.

Another undocumented immigrant, Javier, said he has auto insurance from a Texas carrier, though he does not have a Texas driver's license — only one from his home country of Mexico. A Mexican license is valid for up to a year after a person arrives in Texas, said Vinger, the DPS spokesman.

Javier, a 40-year-old who juggles three jobs, says buying insurance "makes sense to protect our investments in our vehicles, which we need to get to work."

Opposition

Immigrant advocates say public safety would be better served if undocumented immigrants were allowed to get licenses because they would then be held responsible for their driving record and for getting insurance like everyone else.

"They've got to feed their families, and they're going to go and drive. That's all there is to it," said the Rev. Ed Gomez, pastor of El Buen Samaritano.

But survey results show that most Americans are apparently unswayed by the safety argument. Voters opposed allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses by an almost 4-1 ratio in a 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

"They shouldn't be here in the first place, so we shouldn't be giving them ID documents," said Brent Munhofen of Austin, a spokesman for the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, which opposes benefits for illegal immigrants.

Vinger said foreign nationals who can't prove they are in the country legally are not reported to immigration authorities but simply denied a license.

An exception would be if the DPS discovered that an applicant had presented fraudulent immigration documents.

The special driver's licenses themselves have drawn criticism. Maria Luisa Bautista, who heads the Austin-based nonprofit group Inmigrantes Latinos en Acción, said she fears they will make legal immigrants "marked people," potentially vulnerable to discrimination.

The licenses could lead to more scrutiny by law enforcement officers conducting routine traffic stops or landlords reviewing rental applications, said Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

'Why'd they let him go?' In killing blamed on immigrant, woman's kin want answers

2008-11-16T12:32:00.005-06:00

Tina Davila murdered by an illegal immigrant

By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

On a cloudy Monday afternoon in April, Tina Davila was buried according to her wishes: dressed in her favorite Dallas Cowboys jersey, with a photo of all five of her children tucked inside her coffin. In the picture, Kaylynn, the baby girl Davila died trying to protect, looks fussy, her chubby cheeks puckered into a pout.

Billy Brewer, Kaylynn's father, watched as Davila's coffin was lowered into a grave at San Jacinto Memorial Park Cemetery in Houston.

Brewer, a long-haul trucker, had a crush on Davila since he was a teenager. He loved her wide smile and how, he said, ''she wouldn't back down from nothing for nobody." Most especially on the day Davila, 39, tried to fight off the man who cornered her in a parking lot while Kaylynn was strapped into her car seat.

Witnesses told police Davila refused to hand over her car keys and screamed as she was stabbed in the chest: "My baby! My baby!"

In the days after her death April 16, Brewer couldn't bring himself to watch the surveillance camera video of the slaying. Not yet. He had a 4-month-old baby, just learning how to roll from her back to her belly, and a house full of memories.

On the TV news, Brewer learned that Timoteo Rios, the man charged with killing Davila, was an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. Rios had admitted to local law enforcement twice before the slaying that he was in the country illegally, but he wasn't deported, according to arrest and immigration records.

"I just want to know why," Brewer said. "If they were doing their jobs right, he wouldn't have been out there. Why'd they let him go?"

First arrest
Rios, now 24, was arrested for the first time in Harris County on May 29, 2007, a Tuesday afternoon. He attracted little attention. About 370 inmates pass through the intake division of Harris County Jail daily. Rios, who was living in a southwest Houston apartment complex, was charged with failure to identify to a police officer and marijuana possession, both misdemeanors.

He was fingerprinted, photographed and asked a series of questions. His answers were entered into the jail computer system. Birth date: Oct. 6, 1984. Height: 5 feet 11 inches. Weight: 162 pounds.

The jailer eventually asked: Are you a U.S. citizen? The records show that Rios said no, he was a Mexican citizen.

The jailer then asked: Are you an illegal immigrant?

Yes, Rios replied, according to jail records.

The jailer entered Rios' name into a database of inmates, set up in September 2006, who have admitted they are in the country illegally. The data entries are shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Houston, who have unrestricted access to the county's four jails. Agents routinely question and place "holds" on inmates in Harris County Jail they suspect are eligible for deportation.

Rios' name was the 15th of 20 added that Monday to the database. ICE officials confirm that they did not file paperwork to detain him.

Rios pleaded guilty to both counts against him and was released from jail June 5, 2007.

Second arrest
Twenty-two days later, Rios was back in jail, charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. Police said he argued with his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, the mother of two of his daughters, and punched out her apartment window. Then he threw a beer bottle at his ex-girlfriend's mother.

Rios was booked at 4:35 p.m. Again, Rios told jailers he was in the country illegally and, for a second time, was added to the database. He filled out paperwork for the court, writing that he was from Michoacan, Mexico, and worked in construction.

He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 20 days with 11 days credit and was released July 6.

Kenneth Landgrebe, ICE's head of detention and removal for Houston, said ICE agents didn't have a chance to get to Rios.

"He was released before we had an opportunity to handle the case," he said. "We're in Harris County (Jail) every day, but we can't be in all places at the same time. I believe he was in a different part of the jail that we were working in. He was not where we were.

"We have to prioritize," he said. "Should we have been over there identifying him and letting a child molester get out? Or a pedophile or a bank robber or someone convicted of a serious drug crime? In a perfect world, if we had all the staff we needed, we could hopefully identify every alien that is unlawfully present in the U.S."

Ruth Alsobrook, Davila's grandmother, still lives in the house where Davila was raised in Galena Park, a 1950s-era neighborhood near the Port of Houston. Davila's parents died before she was 12.

"I loved that girl," said Alsobrook, 93, sitting in an armchair. ''I raised her in the church. Every time the church doors were open, we were there."

Davila attended Galena Park High School and rebelled as a teenager. She married her high school sweetheart, Eric Matt, in the spring of 1988. They had three children: Patrick, 20, Patricia, 18, and Payton, 16. Davila and Matt divorced after eight years but stayed friends. Davila later remarried and had another daughter, but that marriage also ended after a long separation.

One night about two years ago, she and Brewer ran into each other at Del's, a diner on the city's east side. Brewer asked her out for a date, and she said yes.

He said he felt lucky every day since, until April 16.

It was Brewer's 35th birthday. He had to drive a load out to Oklahoma City. He kissed Davila and Kaylynn, who was 3 months and 28 days old. It was early morning when he left for work.

At 5:02 p.m., Davila pulled into the parking lot outside the Cricket cell phone store on Uvalde Road near Wallisville Road, about a five-minute drive from her house in Houston. The next few moments were captured on the video surveillance camera outside the store.

Davila parked her white Chrysler Aspen SUV and stepped out. She started walking toward the store, leaving Kaylynn buckled into her car seat. An older model Ford Taurus pulled in behind Davila's SUV. A man jumped out and ran to block the door. He and Davila struggled over her purse and car keys.

A witness in the parking lot told detectives Davila screamed for her baby. The man stabbed Davila and ran back to his car, tossing the keys away. She stumbled inside the store, clutching her chest.

That night, Brewer tried Davila's cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail. Finally, his mother called him.

"Billy, come home," she said. "Tina's had an accident."

"How bad?" he asked.

"Just come home," she said.

Unanswered questions
Davila was taken to East Houston Regional Medical Center. She was pronounced dead minutes after arriving. By the time Brewer reached his mother's house that night, Davila's death was already on the TV news.

Days after the slaying, Harris County detectives arrested 18-year-old Kennedy Escoto, the suspected getaway car driver. Investigators said Escoto implicated Rios in Davila's death. Detectives say Rios may have fled to Mexico.

Davila's older children had questions about what happened. They saw on the news that Rios had been arrested twice before the slaying — and was in the country illegally.

"The kids just couldn't understand why he could be illegal and commit crimes and still be here. And I couldn't explain it to them," Matt said.

After Davila was killed, Brewer exchanged his long-haul job for one that keeps him closer to home. He asked his cousin to care for Kaylynn, temporarily, he said, until she gets a little bit older.

He put down a $150 deposit on a grave near Davila's and is paying $50 a month.

The more he learns about the man accused of killing Davila, the more his anger grows.

"He should have been deported after the first arrest," he said. "It's that simple. There's got to be a better way."

Brewer has started putting together a scrapbook for Kaylynn. He's saving Davila's high school jacket, a bunch of magnets he picked out for her over the years on the road, and the program from her funeral service. On the cover, there's a picture of Davila, with a warm, wide smile.

susan.carroll@chron.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warning: Some may find this video distrubing and upsetting.

Store Security Video
The last few seconds of this video is the footage of Tina Davila's murder, and it is preceeded by a shoplifting theft.

A system's fatal flaws

2008-11-16T11:39:00.002-06:00

Thousands of inmates admit they're in the U.S. illegally, but even those convicted of violent crimes are often r: Criminals avoid deportationeleased right back onto Houston's streets

By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 16, 2008, 7:33AM

Mayra Beltran Chronicle

Inmates are interviewed by jailers in the booking office at the Harris County Jail, where officers maintain a database of inmates who tell jailers during booking that they are in the U.S. illegally.

This three-day Houston Chronicle investigation examines how scores of illegal immigrants cycle through local jails and fall through the cracks of immigration enforcement.

Federal immigration officials allowed scores of violent criminals — some ordered deported decades ago — to walk away from Harris County Jail despite the inmates' admission to local authorities that they were in the country illegally, a Houston Chronicle investigation found.

A review of thousands of criminal and immigration records shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials didn't file the paperwork to detain roughly 75 percent of the more than 3,500 inmates who told jailers during the booking process that they were in the U.S. illegally.

Although most of the inmates released from custody were accused of minor crimes, hundreds of convicted felons — including child molesters, rapists and drug dealers — also managed to avoid deportation after serving time in Harris County's jails, according to the Chronicle review, which was based on documents filed over a period of eight months starting in June 2007, the earliest immigration records available.

Other key findings in the investigation include:

•In 177 cases reviewed by the Chronicle, inmates who were released from jail after admitting to being in the country illegally later were charged with additional crimes. More than half of those charges were felonies, including aggravated sexual assault of a child and capital murder.

•About 11 percent of the 3,500 inmates in the review had three or more prior convictions in Harris County. Many had repeatedly cycled through the system despite a history of violence and, in some cases, outstanding deportation orders.

The investigation found that the federal government's system to identify and deport illegal immigrants in Harris County Jail is overwhelmed and understaffed. Gaps in the system have allowed some convicted criminals to avoid detection by immigration officials despite being previously deported. The problems are national in scope, fueled by a shortage of money and manpower.

In reaction to the Chronicle's findings, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, said ICE needs more resources to target immigrants convicted of crimes.

"There's no question about it," Poe said. "Criminals from foreign countries who get caught after committing a crime and prosecuted should go to the top of the list of people we deport."

ICE removed 107,000 convicted criminals from the U.S. in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended in September. But during the same time frame, ICE sent home more than two times as many illegal immigrants without criminal records, prompting criticism from some members of Congress.

Kenneth Landgrebe, ICE's field office director for detention and removal in Houston, said officials are doing the best they can with the resources they have. ICE trained nine Harris County jailers this summer through a federal program that empowers local law enforcement to act as immigration agents.

The Houston ICE office set a record by removing 8,226 illegal immigrants with criminal records from Southeast Texas last year, an increase of about 7.5 percent from fiscal 2007.

"No agency has enough law enforcement officers to do the job the way they'd like," Landgrebe said. "If you look at law enforcement in general — at Houston or New York City or Los Angeles police — do they apprehend every criminal that commits a crime? No. Do they arrest every person that speeds in a traffic zone? No.

"We have to prioritize what we handle," Landgrebe said.

Missed opportunities
ICE officials estimated that between 300,000 and 450,000 inmates incarcerated in the U.S. are eligible for deportation each year.

Though ICE has improved screening in federal and state prisons in recent years, the agency estimates it screens inmates in only about 10 percent of the nation's jails.

This spring, ICE officials announced a plan to identify and deport the most serious offenders in the nation's prisons and jails, estimating it would cost between $930 million and $1 billion and take about 3 1/2 years.

Congress is pressuring ICE to move faster.

"The present situation is unacceptable," said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., chairman of the House Homeland Security appropriations committee.

"The highest priority for ICE should be deporting people who have proven their ability and their willingness to do us harm. Immigration is a very, very contentious issue, but this seems to be one thing almost everyone agrees is a priority."

Yet, the Chronicle's review found hundreds of missed opportunities to deport convicted criminals, perpetuating a cycle of crime and violence.

•Armando De La Cruz, a Mexican national, told jailers on two occasions in 2007 that he was undocumented. Both times, he was convicted of assaulting his wife and released after serving his jail time. De La Cruz is now back in Harris County Jail, charged with raping a woman at knife point behind a southeast Houston apartment complex in July, and attempting to rape another woman less than a week later. His defense attorney, Ricardo Gonzalez, did not return phone calls.

•Pedro Alvarez, a convicted sex offender from El Salvador who was first deported in 1991, racked up eight convictions in Harris County over a span of two decades and was allowed to walk free from jail multiple times — as recently as the spring of 2007. Immigration officials finally charged him with re-entry after deportation in February. Sandra Zamora Zayas, the attorney who represented Alvarez in federal court in South Texas, did not return phone messages.
"It's just amazing how long it took them to catch up with him," the mother of a 5-year-old girl Alvarez sexually assaulted in 1988 said in an interview with the Chronicle, after learning about Alvarez's extended criminal history.

'Never lied about who I am'
Miguel Mejia Rodriguez, 36, is locked up on the fifth floor of the San Jacinto Jail downtown, accused of raping and sodomizing a second-grader.

It is the fourth time in 12 years that Rodriguez, an unemployed drifter from Zacatecas, Mexico, has landed in Harris County Jail. Over the years, Rodriguez has served time for drug possession, theft, trespassing and indecent exposure. He told jailers he was in the country illegally in December 2006, after a security guard caught him touching himself in an apartment complex parking lot, records show.

But ICE officials did not file paperwork to detain Rodriguez. He was released after serving his 25-day sentence.

"I never lied about who I am, or where I'm from. I'm 100 percent Mexican," Rodriguez said in a jail interview with the Chronicle in September, after he was accused of the rape and sodomy of a 7-year-old.

According to court records, the girl told a friend Rodriguez started abusing her after her mother died in 2005, while he was living with her family.

The girl was hospitalized and treated for syphilis, court records show. In an interview with Houston police detectives, Rodriguez admitted to contracting syphilis from a woman he met in a Houston cantina, but he denied raping the girl. He said she was a "troublemaker" who lied because he punished her when she misbehaved.

When he was arrested on the sexual assault charge in July 2007, Rodriguez again told jailers he was in the country illegally, records show. In June, nearly a year after his arrest, ICE officials filed paperwork to detain Rodriguez, who is scheduled for trial in December.

Deadly consequences
Katherine Anne Bridges, deaf and mute, was just 19 in the fall of 2004 when she told Harris County authorities that Jeremias Fuentes, her boyfriend, tried to grab their 6-month-old baby boy from her arms and kicked her in the face. He hid her emergency phone so she couldn't call for help. Fuentes was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Nearly three years later, in August 2007, Fuentes was arrested again, suspected of interfering with case workers trying to interview Bridges about abuse allegations. Fuentes, 36, told jailers he was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, records show. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He was released after ICE didn't file paperwork to detain him.

On the morning of Nov. 26, 2007, a medical examiner puzzled over the writing scrawled on Bridges' palm. It read in part: "Payback because ... help me."

The evening before, Bridges' body had been found facedown in the bedroom closet of her southwest Houston apartment complex. She had blood in her brown hair and a dozen stab wounds on her face, neck, chest and back. A knife rested on the baby crib.

Detectives questioned Fuentes, who admitted he stabbed Bridges, but he said it was self-defense. In December, immigration officials filed the paperwork to detain Fuentes, who declined a request for a jail interview. He is scheduled for trial in February.

Andy Kahan, director of the Houston Mayor Crime Victims Office, said he hoped Bridges' case could be a ''catalyst for change" and encourage local authorities to work more closely with ICE to ensure inmates with violent criminal histories are vetted before release.

"There were numerous opportunities to do the correct thing, and that's have him deported, and that didn't happen. And as a result, a woman paid dearly with her life," Kahan said.

Matthew Baker, an assistant field office director for ICE in Houston, said agents try to screen out as many violent criminals as possible to avoid preventable crimes. Many illegal immigrants are identified by ICE in the state's prison system, he added, even if they are not caught while in jail.

"No one can measure the cases where we picked up and removed someone and prevented that carjacking or that drunk driving accident that kills a family," Baker said. "There are hundreds of thousands of incidents that we prevent every year; those are not measured because they don't happen."

Facts vs. fears
While the Chronicle's review found cases involving hardened criminals who slipped through the deportation net, the investigation also revealed that 43 percent of suspects who were arrested and admitted being in the country illegally were charged with misdemeanors and had no prior criminal record in Harris County.

Immigrant advocates cautioned against stereotyping illegal immigrants based on high-profile cases. Most research has found that recent immigrants are far less likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to commit crimes and end up in prison.

In Texas, foreign nationals made up approximately 15 percent of the state's population in 2005, and about 7 percent of state prison offenders.

"Many people see it as a profound insult when someone who is here without permission commits a heinous crime," said Rebecca Bernhardt, director of policy development for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. "To be outraged at the individual who committed that crime is an appropriate response. But to be angry at everybody who is just here trying to work to support their family and comes from the same background as that defendant is a mistake."

Asking about status
The nation's system for identifying and deporting immigrants convicted of crimes is largely secretive. ICE officials refuse to disclose the names or basic immigration history of people detained and marked for deportation, citing privacy protections in federal law.

To better understand how ICE screens inmates, the Chronicle obtained a copy of a database, maintained by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, of inmates who tell jailers during booking that they are in the U.S. illegally.

The Sheriff's Office voluntarily started questioning inmates about their legal status and created the database in September 2006, after a previously deported felon killed Houston police officer Rodney Johnson. During the booking process, inmates are asked whether they are in the country illegally. If they answer 'yes,' their name and jail ID number is entered into a database that is shared with ICE agents in Houston.

The Chronicle compared the entries in the Sheriff's Office database with immigration ''holds" placed by ICE with the Sheriff's Office. An immigration hold is essentially a request by ICE agents that law enforcement notify them before releasing an inmate. ICE officials confirmed that jailers notify them before releasing immigrants who are marked for possible deportation.

The Houston Police Department, which runs the city's jails, notifies ICE only about suspects with immigration warrants and previously deported felons.

Of the more than 80,000 bookings into Harris County Jail during the review period, about 3,500 — less than 5 percent — admitted to being in the country illegally. ICE filed paperwork to detain roughly 900 of the 3,500. During the review period, the agency also filed paperwork to detain 2,500 suspects not included in the database, indicating that many immigrants who are eligible for deportation do not disclose that they are here illegally.

ICE, however, could not confirm whether the inmates marked for ''holds" actually were deported.

Landgrebe, the ICE official, also questioned the quality of the information in the Sheriff's Office database, because it was based only on inmate responses and was entered by some jailers without immigration training.

More removals
ICE officials would not answer specific questions about ICE staffing at the Harris County or city jails but said screening has improved in recent months. In October, the Sheriff's Office started testing a Homeland Security database that gives jailers access to millions of immigration records. The county's participation in the federal government's 287(g) program, which trains jailers to act as immigration agents, also is expected to help improve screening, ICE officials said.

Harris County Sheriff-elect Adrian Garcia, who defeated incumbent Tommy Thomas in the November general election, said he plans to evaluate the office's participation in the program after he takes office in January.

Thomas said he believes the program is necessary — at least until ICE has the resources to improve screening.

''In a perfect world, I'd like to see our borders secured to where we have someone we find to be here illegally, we turn them over to ICE and have them deported," Thomas said. ''But that's not something that's happening at this day and time."

Chronicle reporter Chase Davis contributed to this report.

susan.carroll@chron.com

500,000 immigrants defying deportation

2008-11-15T20:33:00.001-06:00

'Fugitive aliens' like Obama's aunt escape notice as U.S. pursues criminals

By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press
Nov. 14, 2008, 11:04PMShare Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzBOSTON — Zeituni Onyango came to the United States seeking asylum from her native Kenya but was turned down and ordered to leave the country in 2004.

Four years later, she is still here. And her nephew is about to become president of the United States.

Onyango's family connection to Barack Obama has thrown a spotlight on a phenomenon many Americans might find startling: An estimated half-million immigrants are living in the United States in defiance of deportation orders.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up efforts to catch fugitive aliens, as they are known, and now has about 100 "fugitive operations teams" around the country. In the past year, the teams have made 34,000 arrests, more than double the number two years ago. But there are still 560,000 such immigrants in the U.S.

Fugitive aliens include people who, like Obama's aunt, sought asylum in the United States but were rejected and ordered to leave the country. Others were caught entering or living in this country illegally, and failed to show at their deportation hearings.

Often, illegal immigrants who have been issued deportation notices are given a certain amount of time to get out of the country on their own. They are not forcibly put aboard a plane; these deportations essentially operate on the honor system.

Critics irked
Generally, if these immigrants stay out of trouble — if they don't get pulled over by police or swept up in a workplace raid, for example — they are in little danger of being thrown out of the country.

That galls many immigration reform advocates, who say the practice breeds disrespect for the law and emboldens immigrants to sneak in and stay.

"We are strong believers of enforcement of our immigration laws, and this is a priority area for getting the message across to this country, that if they've been convicted of committing crimes or if they have been ordered deported, that they will be apprehended if they try to hide and continue to stay in the country," said Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Government officials say that they do the best they can with the money and manpower available to them, and that they focus on the most serious cases, including those involving illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in this country.

"ICE has taken tremendous steps at closing these cases and apprehending fugitives," said spokesman Richard Rocha. "However, we prioritize our efforts on egregious violators and criminal aliens."

The Obama camp has said the candidate did not know about his aunt's status.

DPS scraps plans for driver's license checkpoints

2008-11-15T20:22:00.000-06:00

AUSTIN -- Plans to create driver's license checkpoints on Texas highways have been scrapped in the face of strong lawmaker opposition and suspicions that the proposal targeted illegal immigrants.

Allan Polunsky, chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety Commission, said Friday he would withdraw a request for an attorney general's opinion on whether the checkpoints would be legal.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said the opinion request was sought only for "informational purposes."

"There was never any connection to immigration issues," Vinger said. "DPS does not enforce immigration issues."

Fifteen state lawmakers asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to ignore the opinion request made in September. Some suspected the purpose of the checkpoints was to crack down on illegal immigrants.

In August, the public safety commission issued new rules for driver's license applicants to prove they are here legally.

"A state agency is making immigration policy for the state of Texas, and that is not their job," Democratic state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon told the San Antonio Express-News.

During a commission meeting Friday, Polunsky said it was not appropriate to proceed with the proposal at this time. Commission members agreed, but postponed voting on withdrawing the request because the issue wasn't on the agenda.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 1994 that checkpoints would have to be approved by a "politically accountable governing body at the state level." The Legislature has not passed bills outlining procedures for checkpoints.

The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund was among those who said the proposed driver's license checkpoints, coupled with the requirement for proving immigration status, could lead to profiling.

Officer's widow blames gun store in death

2008-11-14T13:01:00.002-06:00

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We're hearing from the widow of a slain Houston police officer who says a Pasadena gun store is to blame for her husband's murder.

[SIGN UP: Get headlines and breaking news sent to you]
Rodney Johnson was murdered two years ago. His killer is in prison for life.

The lawsuit filed at the Harris County Civil Courthouse says even though Juan Quintero pulled the trigger, he's not the only one to blame for Officer Johnson's murder. It says a gun store should have prevented the convicted felon and illegal immigrant from getting his hands on the gun he used.

It's been six months since the Quintero went to prison for life. Still Joslyn Johnson's fight is not over.

"I would not like this to happen to any other family," she said. "I wouldn't want anyone else to have to endure their pain."
She has sued the city over its one officer per car practice, now she's suing the store that sold the gun that Quintero used to kill her husband.

Quintero fatally shot Officer Rodney Johnson during a traffic stop. The officer missed a hidden weapon on Quintero during a pat-down and Quintero managed to get to it while handcuffed, but Joslyn believes the killer never would have had the 9mm had Carter's Country, she says, followed the law.

"I would just like the gun companies to know this should not be tolerated," Johnson said. "They should be more responsible and they need to do a complete and thorough background check."

According to the lawsuit, Carter's Country was negligent because although Quintero did the shopping, the salesperson allowed his wife, Theresa, to fill out the federally mandated paperwork for the purchase of the gun as if she were the actual purchaser. They did this, it says, because Quintero's immigration status and criminal record made him ineligible to legally buy a gun. It's called a straw sale and it's illegal.

"There are federal regulations out there, other laws out there, to present this type of purchase," said Johnson's attorney Ben Dominguez.

In a videotaped confession, Dominguez says Quintero admitted to the details of the gun purchase.

Meanwhile, Carter's Country denies the allegations. In its answer to the lawsuit, attorneys for the company argue in part the shooting was out of its control. Juan Quintero and his employer, Robert Camp, now under indictment for illegally employing him, are responsible.

Beyond that its attorney told us, "we don't think it's ethical to discuss the facts of a pending case."

Joslyn Johnson doesn't want to stop talking. She's on a crusade of sorts for her husband.

"I just want people to be aware that this should not happen to anyone else if I can help it," she said.

There's no dollar amount listed in the lawsuit. Johnson's attorney says they'll let a jury decide on that. As for criminal investigation. A spokesperson said t hey could neither confirm or deny they're investigating.

(Copyright ©2008 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Berman Will File 9 Bills About Illegal Immigration

2008-11-13T18:11:00.000-06:00

Berman Will File 9 Bills About Illegal Immigration
By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, will file nine bills in Austin aiming to reduce the burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers by reducing benefits and protections for illegal immigrants in the state.

Berman said legislators first addressed illegal immigration during the last legislative session, but around 24 bills were killed in committee before they could be voted on by the House. He hopes legislators will consider immigration legislation during the coming session.

The first bill Berman plans to file will challenge automatic citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The bill says the state of Texas will not issue a birth certificate to children of illegal immigrants born in the state.

Berman said if the bill passes it will invite an immediate lawsuit into a federal court and possibly will require a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The 14th Amendment of the Constitution has no application to the children of illegal aliens or any other children of foreigners born in the United States," he said. "We are giving away 350,000 citizenships each year (nationally) erroneously and that's why we have to challenge it."

The second bill would put an 8 percent surcharge on money wired from Texas to Mexico, Central and South America, he said. There is about $6 billion each year sent from Texas to Mexico alone, Berman said.

The bill would require all recaptured funds, almost half-a-billion dollars, be earmarked for border security and hospitals that provide free health care.

Another bill to be filed by Berman would analyze the number of illegal alien children in the state's public school system.

"We are building new schools across the state which are costing hundreds of millions of dollars and we think that at least 20 percent are for the children of illegal aliens that pay little to no property taxes," he said.

Berman will file a bill that would make English the official language of Texas. That would mean that all state business, except for that which is mandated by the federal government, be done in English.

A bill requiring every level of government in the state to enforce all federal and state laws and constitutions under penalty of losing all state funding will also by filed by Berman.

This would require "sanctuary cities," such as Houston, Austin and Dallas, to enforce immigration laws or be held liable for nonaction.

Another bill to be filed is identical to a five-part bill passed in Oklahoma that resulted in thousands of illegal immigrants moving from Oklahoma to Texas, Berman said. He said there would be no public state benefits for illegal immigrants and authorizes law enforcement officers to take Section 287 G training with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allowing them to deal directly with illegal immigrants.

"Right now a law enforcement officer can't do anything with (illegal aliens) unless they commit a crime," he said. "But if they take the 287 G training they can actually arrest them for being illegal in the United States."

The bill would also prohibit the transportation, concealment or housing of illegal aliens, Berman said. This would make it possible for stiffer penalties to be levied against landlords, employers or traffickers who house, employ and transport illegal immigrants within the state of Texas.

The bill would also require employers to verify citizenship of anyone they hire, he said. Berman said the means are available by the federal government to verify Social Security numbers to determine if the numbers are fraudulent or stolen.

Berman said the immigration bills he is filing may be blocked in the Senate or vetoed by the governor, but the need to address illegal immigration remains.

He said it is outrageous that he has middle income constituents that have fewer benefits than illegal immigrants.

"It is important for them to pass because we have 2 million illegal aliens in Texas that are costing my constituents, my Texas residents, $4 billion every year," he said. "We have never had a class of immigrants in the United States that require free education and free health care by U.S. citizens as the illegal aliens in our country require."

Still Smoldering

2008-11-12T20:12:00.000-06:00

Metropolis: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Still Smoldering
Local firefighters may have gotten burned by the pension fight they started.

By DAN MCGRAW

In a presidential election year, especially one where the top of the ticket drew as much attention as this one, local races often fly under the radar. But in Tarrant County, you’d have had to be living under a rock in the past few months not to have noticed the campaign for the Texas Senate’s District 10.

That would be the one between challenger Wendy Davis and incumbent Kim Brimer, the one that filled local mailboxes with endless glossy campaign fliers, produced more TV ads in this area, it seemed, than the Obama and McCain organizations, and that threatens to live on via some strange legal possibilities.

And it all started, oddly enough, over pensions — not exactly the usual hot-button, sound-bite fodder of political campaigning. But in this case, the pensions involved, in part, were those of local firefighters. The bitter ruckus that followed went from city hall to the state capitol to various courtrooms, and it may not be over.

Davis, a Democrat and former Fort Worth City Council member, beat Republican Brimer, a 20-year veteran of the thenTexas House and Senate, by a slim margin last week. Despite that victory and several months of unsuccessful attempts to get Davis thrown off the ballot, there’s a chance that Brimer may try to have the tally overturned through some wrangling in Austin.

The dispute began last year when the city learned that it was behind by $411 million in fulfilling its obligations to the city employees’ pension fund. In seeking ways to reduce those mounting obligations, council members considered various remedies; one was to curtail the massive overtime hours some employees were racking up, especially the police and firefighters. Because city workers’ pensions are based on their total wages, reducing such overtime would help reduce the pension amounts the city would be on the hook for. Davis was one of the most vocal supporters of that idea.

The firefighters balked. They made an end run around council, and Brimer carried the ball: He got the Texas Legislature to amend state law to transfer most of the control of the pension fund from the city to the Texas Pension Review Board. Davis was livid. She and two other council members voted against endorsing Brimer’s bill — and in doing so, publicly opposed Mayor Mike Moncrief.

“It really upset me,” Davis told Fort Worth Weekly. “I saw it as our city being disrespected by one of the legislators who should have been looking out for our interests. What was done was, the taxpayers were going to have all the responsibility for that fund, but little control over it. I honestly didn’t think Republicans were against taxpayers not having their say in government.”

In May of last year, Davis was re-elected to the council. Three months later, she announced her candidacy for Brimer’s senate seat. Davis and other Democrats saw District 10 as being ripe for change for two reasons. First, a poll by their party’s Washington-based Lone Star Project found that 20 percent of District 10 voters gave Brimer an unfavorable rating and another 50 percent knew so little about him that they couldn’t even rate him.

The second factor was the change in the area’s demographics. District 10 covers the southern half of Tarrant County (with a few fingers extending into the northeast suburbs), and the Democratic leadership was interested in the increasing numbers of minority voters moving into cities like Arlington, Mansfield, and Crowley.

“While it had been a very strong Republican district in the past, we began seeing the population changes,” said Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairman Steve Maxwell. “We knew if we had the right candidate we could win this.”

But before Davis could win the election, she had to fight numerous lawsuits launched by Brimer. State law prohibits an official still serving in one public office from running for another state office. But Fort Worth’s rules said a council member wasn’t allowed to resign his or her seat until a successor was sworn in. Because of a runoff, her successor, Joel Burns, wasn’t sworn in until early January. In order to stave off any legal questions, Davis then resigned her council seat and re-filed for the senate race.

That started the fun. Three Fort Worth firefighters petitioned then-county Democratic chairman Art Brender to disqualify Davis from the election. Brender declared her eligible. The firefighters then took their case to the Texas Supreme Court, which sent it to a lower state court, which rejected the firefighters’ allegations. Brimer then took up the legal gauntlet and filed his own suit challenging Davis’ eligibility. He lost that case in state district court in July, appealed the ruling, and lost again in a Dallas appellate court in October.

The connector between Brimer and the firefighters may have been a big-time local campaign consulting firm, the Eppstein Group. Bryan Eppstein’s firm had been hired by the firefighters to help pass a charter amendment allowing them to do collective bargaining with the city. Eppstein has also handled Brimer’s campaigns in the past, and he was there again this year.

Eppstein may also have been a factor in Mayor Moncrief’s very public endorsement of Brimer. The mayor — who usually counsels his colleagues to stay out of partisan races — didn’t just allow his name to be used on campaign fliers; his face spent more time on TV screens than Brimer’s did, in Brimer’s broadcast ads.

Though the local Fort Worth council elections are nonpartisan, Moncrief had been a Democrat when he served as county judge and a state senator. Many wonder where his allegiance now lies.

Neither Brimer nor Moncrief returned calls or e-mails for this story. But others did comment on the endorsement. Brender termed Moncrief’s action “pretty disloyal, but it doesn’t surprise me, [given] how he has acted in the past.”

Davis said Moncrief had always advised council members not “to get involved in partisan political races, so it did surprise me. But we will work well together to meet the needs of Fort Worth residents.”

Current Democratic chairman Maxwell was less optimistic. “I have known the mayor for a very long time and consider him to be a friend,” he said. “But I was terribly disappointed in his decision to endorse Brimer the way he did. It was unimaginable to me that he would not endorse a person he worked with for all those years. [Moncrief] has made a statement he is not one of us anymore.”

The two candidates ran very different campaigns. Davis was out and about, while Brimer, a lot of the time, was nowhere to be found. The two did appear at candidate forums in Bedford and Arlington. But Brimer refused to appear on a long-scheduled “candidate conversation” on WFAA-TV, citing his dislike of their campaign coverage. He also failed to show at a League of Women Voters forum after indicating he would participate.

The Fort Worth Fire Fighters Association decided to schedule its forum on the same night as the WFAA event. Davis said she had already committed to the TV program but would do it any other night. The firefighters wouldn’t reschedule, so for that one, Brimer showed up alone.

Davis’ campaign accused Brimer of avoiding his opponent and the voters. “He basically didn’t show up for anything,” Maxwell said. “He acted like he was entitled to that job and didn’t have to tell voters why he was.”

Brimer aired some TV attack ads against Davis, but they did little to raise state issues. Davis was portrayed as a council member who voted against a senior citizen income tax freeze and supported foreign companies for building Texas toll roads. The most-played ad featured his grandchildren saying they loved their “paw-paw.” (That was also the tone of his campaign mailings, most of which featured various people saying Kim Brimer was their friend, their relative, their “paw-paw.”)

Davis, by comparison, went for the jugular. Her TV ads never even mentioned her name out loud, but focused on Brimer’s having defaulted on loans many years ago and using campaign contributions to buy a luxury condo in Austin. He was shown in grainy photos wearing sunglasses, with a stubby cigar hanging from his mouth. One Davis mailing accused him of having “spent his career getting rich at our expense.” Another said “Sen. Kim Brimer: Living the High Life.”

Davis defended her strategy. “We knew from the start we were running against a 20-year incumbent, and you have to let people know in specific terms why he needs to lose his job,” she said. “We needed to show voters that there were self-interest motivations going on in that seat and that he was harmful to the Tarrant County citizens in that district.”

At least the nasty race is over … right? More than likely, but Brimer has left the door open to a further challenge of Davis’ eligibility.

After Brimer lost the appeal on his eligibility challenge in October, his campaign sent out a press release stating that the question of eligibility could be “determined by action taken after the election.” The release said that a ruling by the Texas secretary of state could void the election, or action by the state attorney general, or a vote by the Texas State Senate not to seat an ineligible candidate.

Renea Hicks, an Austin attorney specializing in state political rules, said any of the methods theoretically could be used by Brimer, based on the state’s constitution and its election code. But he couldn’t recall any of those options having been used in more than 20 years.

“His case ... is very weak,” Hicks said. “It has been to court so many times, and Davis has won every one of them. Those rulings are going to be insurmountable, I would think.”

Hicks also pointed out that if the election results were to be voided, that would make it necessary to hold a special election for the seat — an election in which Davis could run. “It is far-fetched to think that Republicans in Austin would put so much on the line to save Brimer’s job,” Hicks said. “She would just beat him again and make them all look bad.”

Dallas County jails launch new system to check prisoners' immigration status

2008-11-12T13:09:00.003-06:00

08:14 PM CST on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
kkrause@dallasnews.com

The Dallas County jail system on Wednesday became one of the first in the nation to use a new federal database to identify illegal immigrants during the book-in process.

Normally, when prisoners are booked into jails, their fingerprints are run through a national database to check their criminal history. Under the new initiative, fingerprints also will be automatically run through a similar database to check the person's immigration status.

If the computer shows a prisoner is in the country illegally, he or she will be referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will determine whether to place an immigration hold on the person. The same applies to non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes while in the country legally.

After the person's criminal charges are resolved through probation or prison time, they will be referred to ICE for deportation.

"Nobody wants to live next to a criminal. It's all about making the communities safer," said Pablo Campos, assistant field office director for ICE in Dallas.

Currently, prisoners' immigration status is checked in jails only if they are referred to federal immigration agents or if they are questioned by agents who are stationed in the jails. For at least 10 years, Dallas County's main jail facility has had a small office for one or two ICE agents who randomly question prisoners to try to determine their immigration status.

The agents, however, would have to rely on prisoners truthfully answering questions about their name, place of birth and other information.

Now, as prisoners are being booked into jail, their fingerprints will be run through a database containing more than 90 million records – a process that is fast and accurate, Mr. Campos said.

The new database link is a key part of ICE's "Secure Communities" plan to identify and remove illegal immigrants from local communities.

The goal is to give all local jails in the U.S. a link to the federal government's databases. By next spring, ICE plans to make the database link available to more than 50 state and local law enforcement agencies.

The database, which includes people who were already deported by ICE, was created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.

Mr. Campos said ICE has increased its staffing to monitor computer terminals in anticipation of more referrals from local jails. The challenge, he said, will be to have enough space to hold prisoners before they're deported.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Secure Communities Program

Fact Sheet

Critics cry foul over DPS license checkpoint plan

2008-11-12T09:41:00.004-06:00

Some lawmakers say stops would unfairly target illegal immigrants

Looks very similar to the Texas Identification Card.

By JAMES PINKERTON and SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 12, 2008, 7:04AM

The state agency that imposed new rules barring illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses is requesting authority to set up statewide driver's license checkpoints, part of what several lawmakers suspect is a plan to crack down on illegal immigrants.

A number of state legislators argue the Department of Public Safety Commission overstepped its authority Aug. 25 by issuing new rules requiring applicants to prove they are here legally before they can obtain or renew a Texas driver's license. Their suspicions deepened when, two weeks later, the commission's chairman asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott if it was legal for the commission to set up driver's license checkpoints.

Staffed by state troopers or local police, the checkpoints would stop drivers to review their licenses, vehicle registrations and proof of insurance.

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, believes the two commission actions are taking aim at policing immigration.

''A state agency is making immigration policy for the state of Texas, and that is not their job," McClendon said.

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said when commission chairman Allan B. Polunsky asked Abbott's office about authorizing checkpoints, she figured the target was drunken drivers.

''But when I saw the driver's license regulations, I said, 'Maybe they're not after Texas' drunk drivers, but maybe they're after undocumented people and this is a mechanism to get them," Van de Putte said.

She and 14 other Texas lawmakers sent Abbott a letter asking him to ignore the commission's legal opinion request because the Legislature has not authorized a DPS checkpoint program. It's unclear when Abbott will issue his opinion.

Polunsky did not return calls for comment.

Gov. Rick Perry favors the checkpoints, said spokeswoman Allison Castle. ''Police officers and law enforcement believe this is an important technique in protecting the public, and to that end, the governor supports providing our law enforcement officers with the tools they need to ensure public safety," Castle said.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said license requirements were tightened for security reasons, changes other states have made since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

''We are not enforcing the federal immigration laws," Mange said. "We are ensuring that applicants for Texas driver's licenses and ID cards have legal presence in the United States."

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, called checkpoints a ''tremendous asset" that could cut down on drunken driving, car theft and motorists whose licenses have been revoked.

''For the people who want to erase our borders, for people who don't care if our laws are broken, and for people who are driving illegally, and for those who think that's fine, yes, this could be a problem," Riddle said.

Random traffic stops illegal
Checkpoints have not been allowed in Texas since the state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 1994 they must be authorized by a ''politically accountable governing body at the state level." That case involved a sobriety checkpoint in Arlington.

In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that random traffic stops to check driver's licenses, where officers did not have reasonable suspicion, were unconstitutional.

However, the ruling does not prevent state ''spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion," the justices wrote. ''Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative."

DPS Capt. Jerome Powell, who supervises driver's license offices in Houston, said the new regulations won't stop illegal immigrants from driving.

''They have to survive and go to work," Powell said.

No official tally exists of how many of Texas' estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrants have a driver's license.

DPS officials say nearly 3 million noncitizens are among the approximately 20 million Texas residents who carry state documents. They include 1.81 million noncitizens with licenses and another 1 million immigrants who have been issued state identity cards.

One indicator of the undocumented component of Texas license holders may be the nearly 380,000 applicants who filed DPS forms since June 2003 indicating they did not have a Social Security number.

Concerns about profiling
Activists worry that the new immigrant driver's licenses, along with checkpoints, are a recipe for profiling immigrants.

''Our number one concern is the potential for profiling since it puts the immigration identifier on the license," said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "It leads to potential profiling, whether it's a police officer who is going to scrutinize someone closer, or a landlord who may not want to rent out a property."

One person who could get caught in the checkpoints is Susanne Dennis, a 40-year-old legal immigrant from Germany.

In 2005, she came to the U.S. on a fiancé visa after falling for her now-husband, Michael Dennis, a 43-year-old security technician she met on the Internet. After they married in Maryland, Susanne was granted a provisional green card and obtained a Maryland driver's license.

Then Michael was transferred to Houston, and the coupled settled in Spring.

On Oct. 29, Susanne tried to apply for a Texas driver's license at DPS office in Humble, only to discover she didn't have acceptable proof of legal status.

Susanne had been granted a one-year extension so she could work in the U.S. while awaiting a permanent green card. But the form showing her extension was not on the list of accepted documents, so DPS turned her away.

Susanne, who works in Montrose, now drives into the city each morning fearful of being stopped by police. She feels lucky to still have a valid Maryland license and car insurance through her husband.

She's upset that she can't comply with Texas law requiring a driver's license within 30 days of moving to the state.

''What if a state trooper pulls me over?" Susanne said. ''What do I show him?"

james.pinkerton@chron.com

susan.carroll@chron.com

Drug bust charges 41 people, nabs $22 million

2008-10-29T22:46:00.000-05:00

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Federal authorities said Wednesday that 41 people had been indicted for their role in a drug trafficking and money laundering operation stretching from Mexico and South Texas to Georgia.

The two-year investigation dubbed "Operation Pay Cut" yielded $22 million in drug proceeds, 223 kilograms of cocaine and more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, authorities said.

Three indictments naming the participants were unsealed in federal court in Atlanta on Tuesday, but many of those arrested were in the Rio Grande Valley.

"This is another case of a major cartel-related Mexican organization that processed huge amounts of illegal drugs and money through metro Atlanta to many other parts of the country," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said in a statement.

Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in San Antonio, said the indictment of so many would seriously disrupt operations.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Atlanta | Georgia | Mexico | San Antonio | Customs Enforcement | Mercedes | Drug Enforcement Administration | Immigration | South Texas | Rio Grande Valley | Mission | Gulf Cartel
"There's a level of frustration that's increasing," Robinette said. He would not name the cartel those indicted were associated with, but said that an organization of this size with such complex operations indicate a connection to one of the major Mexican cartels. The most prevalent in the Rio Grande Valley is the Gulf Cartel.

One of the major cash seizures came in January 2007, when then-Hidalgo County sheriff's Deputy Emmanuel Sanchez was pulled over in Georgia with a pickup full of heavy equipment. Sanchez, of Mission, allegedly showed his badge hoping to end the stop, but officers found $950,000 in cash hidden in the truck. Sanchez, 48, is no longer a deputy.

Sanchez faces three charges related to money laundering and drug possession with intent to distribute. It was not immediately clear Wednesday if Sanchez had an attorney, and a phone number for him could not immediately be found.

Six months later, Georgia authorities found $13.7 million hidden in a large truck hauling livestock. A father and son from Mercedes, Texas, were driving.

Federal authorities also seized numerous properties and bank accounts from those believed to have benefited from drug proceeds. Two auto sales and auto parts businesses in Texas allegedly laundered much of the drug money.

Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies including ICE, the IRS, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration participated in the investigation.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Residents indicted in Georgia money laundering case

2008-10-29T22:32:00.001-05:00

By Jeremy Roebuck, The Monitor

A former Hidalgo County sheriff's deputy is among several Rio Grande Valley residents and four Brownsville residents named in a series of federal money laundering and drug trafficking indictments unsealed in Atlanta this week.

Emmanuel Sanchez, 48, of Mission, smuggled cash between the Valley and Atlanta for a multi-state criminal organization working with Mexico's Gulf Cartel, prosecutors said in a statement issued Wednesday.

A federal grand jury in Georgia has indicted 40 other men and women from cities such as Brownsville, Palmview and Mercedes as well as Atlanta and its suburbs for their alleged involvement with the group.

The charges stem from a two-year investigation dubbed "Operation Pay Cut," aimed at disrupting the flow of money fueling the organization's illicit activities.

"Drug trafficking is all about the money," U.S. Internal Revenue Service agent Reginael D. McDaniel said in a statement. "Seizing the dirty cash and the assets of these illegal organizations hits criminals where it hurts and deprives them of their profits."

In all, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal and local agencies involved in the investigation seized more than $22 million, 6,000 pounds of marijuana and 490 pounds of cocaine.

But the criminal organization's drug proceeds are believed to extend well beyond that, according to the indictments. Their value exposes what Jerry Robinette, head of ICE's San Antonio office, describes as a growing illegal trafficking network between Georgia and South Texas.

Atlanta, in particular, has emerged over the last several years as a leading hub city for drug traffickers hoping to move narcotics to the Eastern Seaboard, he said.

Valley smuggling organizations bring contraband in from Mexico, ship it to Georgia and distribute it north. Once drugs are sold, runners ship the proceeds back south.

"The same factors that make a city like Atlanta attractive for legitimate business - such as an expansive highway system and proximity to other locations - also makes it an attractive place for drug smuggling and money laundering," Robinette said.

Georgia State Police believe the nearly $1 million they found hidden in the door of former Hidalgo County deputy Sanchez's Ford F-350 dually during a traffic stop in January 2007 came from drug transactions between the two regions.

After officers stopped Sanchez on an interstate outside of Atlanta, he reportedly displayed his badge in an attempt to avert further investigation. But once they had found the money, Sanchez said he found it behind the dumpster of a nearby Hooter's.

Officers seized the cash but let Sanchez go. He resigned his position with the sheriff's office soon after.

The former deputy now faces three counts of conspiracy and money laundering in the indictments unsealed Tuesday. It was not clear whether he had retained an attorney.

In a separate incident, officers found $13 million in alleged drug proceeds hidden in a livestock trailer driven by a Mercedes father and son duo.

Jesus Flores Sr. and his son Jesus Flores Jr. reportedly hid their cash in a compartment underneath live cows and concealed with a complex pulley system, investigators said.

They also face conspiracy and money laundering counts.

In addition to cash seizures made during the investigation, prosecutors initiated criminal forfeiture proceedings against several vehicles, homes, bank accounts and businesses believed to have been paid for with drug money, including an Hidalgo car dealership and auto parts stores in Brownsville and Donna.

Investigators believe Sur Plaza Auto Sales and the two GLG Collision Auto Parts locations were incorporated solely to launder money for the drug trafficking organization. Phone calls to all three businesses went unreturned Wednesday.

Gustavo Lopez, the 35-year-old owner of the auto parts business, faces indictment in the investigation. It remains unclear whether anyone involved in the Hidalgo car dealership has been charged.

VALLEY RESIDENTS INDICTED AS PART OF ‘OPERATION PAY CUT'

>> Gracie Priscilla Medina, 25, of Brownsville

>> Daniel Marillo, 37, of Brownsville

>> Dimas "El Guerro" Gonzalez, of Reynosa

>> Gustavo "El Licendiado" Lopez, 35, of Palmview

>> Luis Miguel, 31, of McAllen

>> Marco Antonio "El Tigre" Gamboa, 29, of Pharr

>> Maria Cantu, 22, of Hidalgo

>> Juan Manuel "Meme" Quesada, 40, of Brownsville

>> Emmanuel "Sheriff" Sanchez, 48, of Mission

>> Jesus Flores Sr., 55, of Mercedes

>> Jesus Flores Jr., 28, of Mercedes

>> Jack Padilla, 31, of Brownsville

Be Back Soon to post October's News.

2008-10-28T23:19:00.001-05:00

Be Back Soon to post October's News.

Indicted former Starr County sheriff is refused bail

2008-10-20T22:53:00.000-05:00

By LYNN BREZOSKY
San Antonio Express-news

BROWNSVILLE — Reymundo Guerra's resignation as Starr County sheriff didn't convince a federal magistrate judge to set bail for the former lawman, who is accused of using his position to assist high-ranking members of a drug cartel.

Defense attorney Philip Hilder said Guerra would appeal Monday's bail denial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos. Unless overturned by a district court, Ramos' decision means Guerra will remain behind bars pending trial in early December.

Guerra, who had been sheriff for the past decade, submitted his resignation over the weekend after Ramos expressed concern about his return to the office he allegedly abused.

The Starr County Commissioners Court approved the resignation during an emergency meeting Monday morning.

Guerra has been in federal custody since being arrested at his Rio Grande City office last Tuesday.

He is one of 15 defendants in a 19-count federal indictment alleging conspiracy to move cocaine and marijuana from Mexico into the interior United States.

He has pleaded not guilty to three charges including conspiracy, accessory after the fact, and using a telephone to further a drug conspiracy. He faces 10 years to life in prison, plus a $4 million fine on the conspiracy charge alone.

An FBI agent testified during a detention hearing Friday that Guerra asked a sheriff's department investigator to reveal intelligence to a man Guerra said had ties to Mexican law enforcement.

The man, 31-year-old Jose Carlos Hinojosa, was named along with Guerra and 13 others in the indictment and is believed to be a leader in the Gulf Cartel.

Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said the sheriff's office would for now be under the command of Chief Deputy Rene Fuentes, who is next in the chain of command.

Since Guerra was running unopposed in the Nov. 4 election, he effectively starts a new term as sheriff in January, Vera said.

"At that time, the topic will come up again," Vera said.

If convicted, Guerra will join a list of other border law enforcement officials, including predecessor Eugenio "Gene" Falcon, who have fallen amid alleged drug crimes or corruption.

Starr County Sheriff indicted on drug charges

2008-10-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

The Monitor
McALLEN -- A federal grand jury indicted Starr County Sheriff Rey Guerra on drug charges, officials announced today.

Guerra is named as a defendant in a 19-count indictment handed down Wednesday. FBI agents arrested Guerra at his office in Rio Grande City. He is expected to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos in McAllen.

Prosecutors will seek to keep Guerra behind bars pending a hearing on its request to detain him without bond before his trial.

Guerra, also known as Tio, is accused along with several others - many with previous arrests and charges - of participating in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute both cocaine and marijuana.

The charge relates to an offense allegedly committed by three co-conspirators - Jose De Jesus Hernandez; Hernandez's wife, Mayra Trevino Flores; and Jose Carlos Hinojosa - involving possession with intent to distribute approximately 692 pounds of marijuana and more than two pounds of cocaine found at a residence owned by Flores, as alleged in count four of the indictment.

Guerra allegedly assisted Hernandez by helping produce fraudulent lease documents in an effort to hinder and prevent the apprehension of Hernandez, according to the indictment.

Hernandez, 29, is a resident alien from Mexico who resides in Houston. Flores, 25, also lives in Houston; and Jose Carlos Hinojosa, aka Sobrino, 31, is a resident alien from Mexico who lives in Roma. All three have all been previously arrested and are pending trial. Hernandez, Flores and Hinojosa are among those also named with Guerra in count one of the indictment.

Guerra is also charged in count 10 with facilitating the drug trafficking conspiracy via telephone on Oct. 13, 2007.

Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, as alleged in count one of the indictment, carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment upon conviction, as well as $4 million fine.

If Guerra is convicted of being an accessory after the fact, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $2 million fine.A conviction for using a telephone to further a drug conspiracy carries a maximum four-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.

In addition to Guerra and the other three defendants named above, the following 11 individuals also named in the second superceding indictment have been arrested and are pending trial:

Raymundo Edgar Gonzalez, 37, of Miguel Aleman, Tamps., Mexico
Sergio Ivan Olivarez-Flores, a Mexican citizen, 24, of Miguel Aleman, Tamps, Mexico
Saul Mendez Jr., 31, of Rio Grande City
Mario Alberto Mascorro, 33, of McAllen
Jesus Fabiel Mendoza, 29, of Richmond, Texas
Jaime Herrera, 33, of Edinburg
San Juanita M. Garcia, 55, of Garciasville
Tarsila Villarreal Vidal, 37, of Salineno
Yanira Barrera, 33, of Houston
Jorge Alberto Ramos, 29 of Roma

FBI special agents, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, officers of the Houston Police Department and the Hidalgo County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force participated in the investigation that led to the charges.

"We shall continue to address public corruption, a major priority in the Southern District of Texas," United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle said in a statement.

Lawmaker: In-state college tuition for illegal immigrants violates federal law

2008-10-01T18:56:00.000-05:00

By PATRICK McGEEpmcgee@star-telegram.com

A former Arlington City Council member turned anti-illegal immigrant crusader in the Texas House is trying to scrap Texas’ college tuition benefits for illegal immigrants.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has asked for a Texas attorney general’s opinion on the legality of a Texas law that allows illegal immigrants to receive state financial aid and in-state tuition.

Berman asked for the opinion after a California appellate court ruled Sept. 16 that such college benefits for illegal immigrants in California conflict with federal law.

"If it’s in violation in California, I would assume that we are also in violation here in Texas," Berman said. "I’m hoping to make people realize that we are a nation of laws. We have to obey our laws, and if we’re in violation of federal laws then we have to correct it."

Texas became the first state to offer such college benefits to illegal immigrants in 2001, and at least eight states have followed suit. Efforts in Congress to make federal financial aid available to illegal immigrants have stalled.

Berman served on the Arlington City Council from 1979 to 1985. In the 2007 legislative session he fought for anti-illegal immigration bills that ultimately died under opposition from business interests and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Berman said he will try again in January by introducing bills that, among other things, would tax money transfers to Mexico and challenge the citizenship of children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents.

House District 96 race focuses on education, immigration, state road plan

2008-09-30T01:16:00.000-05:00

By TRACI SHURLEY

A first-time candidate for state office is challenging three-term incumbent Bill Zedler for House District 96 in a race with statewide implications and education as a key issue.

Challenger Chris Turner will meet Zedler at 6:30 tonight at the Arlington League of Women Voters forum in the Arlington school district administration building on West Pioneer Parkway in Arlington.

The district includes south Arlington, Crowley, Kennedale and parts of Fort Worth, Mansfield, Forest Hill and Burleson. Libertarian Todd Litteken is also running.

A victory for Zedler would boost Republicans who are struggling to hold onto power as state demographics shift to a minority-majority state, said Harvey Kronberg, editor of the Quorum Report, an online newsletter about Texas politics.

The increasingly younger and more ethnically diverse district could help Turner, he said.

Zedler is considered "one of the two or three most vulnerable incumbents out there because of the changes in the district," Kronberg said.

Issues

Turner, a former campaign manager and district director for U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, has focused much of his campaign on education. He believes changes to the state funding formula made during 2006 have been an "abysmal failure for local school districts and districts across the state."

Zedler, who has been endorsed by, among others, anti-abortion groups and the Texas Municipal Police Association, is proud of his work. He believes it’s important for lawmakers to continue to drive down local property taxes and favors requiring schools to rely on state funding. He also wants to limit government growth.

Illegal immigration is also a big issue with him. He wants to get rid of what he calls "sanctuary cities" by encouraging local law enforcement to more aggressively enforce immigration laws. He cited Houston as an example.

Turner agrees that getting control of the state’s borders is important. He said, however, that state legislators shouldn’t mandate decisions about immigration enforcement.

Transportation and healthcare are also likely to get the candidates’ attention. Turner has mailed out fliers criticizing Zedler’s 2003 vote to support the Trans-Texas Corridor. Zedler said he initially supported the bill but has since been a leader in efforts to stop the Texas Department of Transportation from moving forward with the project.

Litteken, an information technology specialist who lives in Arlington, said he, too, questions the project.

"I’m against using any tax dollars for things that do not directly benefit people, the individual, and even then it is something that should be reined in," he said. "I’m so tired of paying high taxes for just about everything."

Support

Turner is one of seven Texas House candidates to be endorsed by the bipartisan Texas Parent PAC, based in Austin. That organization, formed after the 2005 legislative session, backed state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, in her 2006 upset victory over longtime District 94 Rep. Kent Grusendorf.

Carolyn Boyle, chairwoman of Texas Parent, said Zedler’s stand on the state education funding formula is wrong.

She believes Turner will do better.

"He is so smart and articulate and grounded and mature, and he really gets these issues and he really cares," Boyle said.

Ron Wright, district director for U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, and former Arlington mayor pro tem, said Zedler’s "consistently conservative" voting record will help him win.

"I think the district is still a Republican district and Bill still represents the values of the majority of people in that district, low taxes and limited government," Wright said.

Money

Zedler reported more than $157,000 in contributions on hand for the Jan. 1 through June 30 reporting period. Turner had more than $173,000.

Zedler’s big supporters during the first half of the year included San Antonio executive James Leininger, who gave $10,000 to the campaign in June, and the PAC Texans for Rick Perry, which gave $10,000 as well. Leininger is a proponent of school vouchers.

Turner reported a $15,000 contribution from Bernard Rapoport of Waco and $7,500 from Texans for Insurance Reform. Rapoport, founder of American Income Life Insurance Co., supports Democratic candidates at the state and federal level.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

House District 96
Bill Zedler

Party: Republican

Age: 65

Residence: Arlington

Education: Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business Administration, Sam Houston State University

Experience: Retired from sales career in healthcare industry; first elected to the House of Representatives in 2003; vice chairman of the public education committee; serves on business and industry and House administration committees; served as precinct chairman, election judge and poll watcher

Military: Served in the Army in Vietnam

Family: Wife Ellen, three adult children and five grandchildren

Web site: www.billzedler.org

Study: U.S. Hispanics say they're frequently stopped and asked status

2008-09-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

Nearly one in 10 Hispanics in the United States report that police or other authorities have stopped them in the last year and asked them about their immigration status, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report released today.

Also Online
Link: Pew Hispanic Center
The finding comes amid the biggest crackdown in decades illegal immigration — one that’s been highly visible in Texas, the No. 2 destination for such migrants. Municipal police in several suburbs of Dallas, including Irving and Carrollton, have stepped up cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Nationally, deportations or removals of Mexicans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans from the interior of the United States have doubled since 2005, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Renato de los Santos, a Latino leader in Dallas, called the survey’s finding alarming and suggested that racial, ethnic or language profiling should be stopped unless it involves a terrorism suspect.

“It is the only way we as U.S. citizens should tolerate that,” said Mr. de los Santos, a North Texas district director for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

In Washington, the report’s co-author Mark Lopez characterized the finding as surprising but declined to speculate on causes as survey follow-up questions weren’t asked.

The report by the nonpartisan research center surveyed about 2,000 Hispanic adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Hispanics constitute about 15.4 percent of the U.S. population, or 46 million people. Roughly 30 million are over 18 years of age. About half of the adult population is foreign-born.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment.

In Irving, where Latinos and the regional Mexican consul complained loudly last year about police procedures, police spokesman David Tull emphasized that Irving police officers don’t carry out deportations. But in booking at the jail, citizenship is established, Officer Tull said. If officers believe ICE should be called to do further inquiry, the agency is called, he said.

Cleanup spurs labor need

2008-09-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

Undocumented workers will be linchpin in efforts
By JENALIA MORENO and SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 25, 2008, 7:12AM

Video: Ike's aftermath See Houston's recovery from the devastating hurricane.

IMMIGRATION CHRONICLES BLOG
Thoughts on the slower rate of immigration All across southeast Texas, roofs need repair, debris must be discarded and towns hope to rebuild.

Hurricane Ike's destruction is sparking one of the largest rebuilding efforts the state has seen in decades, but at the same time is highlighting a thorny facet of the region's labor force: A lot of the recovery work will be done by illegal immigrants.

Homeowners have already turned to day laborers — many of whom are undocumented — to help clear brush, tent roofs and repair other storm damage. Contractors have hired them to rebuild or restore businesses and the city's infrastructure.

And the major work of rebuilding small towns along the Gulf Coast or big homes in Galveston will likely be aided by undocumented workers.

But this tug and pull of the labor force highlights an uneasy dilemma: The region needs the muscle of undocumented immigrants, but simultaneously is a cog in a broader crackdown of illegal immigrants at worksites.

"There's just no mechanism in place right now to provide those important laborers work authorization," said Leigh Ganchan, a Houston immigration attorney with Haynes and Boone. "It's a shame that employers can't tap into a whole segment of society that's willing and capable to provide those services. Our nation is more vulnerable than it would like to admit, I think. Vulnerable, meaning we need people to help us rebuild our infrastructure after major disasters like this."

Carlos González, Mexico's consul general in Houston, expects the area's existing immigrant population will do the rebuilding work, a key difference with what happened post-Katrina. New Orleans experienced an influx of Hispanic immigrants because it did not have as large of an immigrant population as Houston.

"You will find the immigrant community — as they always have — will play a very big role," said Laura Murillo, president of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

However, Americans devastated by the storm should have the option of doing the rebuilding, said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for a Washington, D.C.-group that seeks to stop illegal immigration.

"Those people should have first crack at the reconstruction jobs," said Mehlman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "I'm sure there are an awful lot of people who can use the jobs and use the paychecks to get themselves back on their feet."

The looming demand for immigrant labor for rebuilding efforts illustrates how dependent Texas industry and commerce are on undocumented workers.

According to a 2006 study by the Greater Houston Partnership, construction is the largest employer of undocumented workers in the city, employing nearly 36,000 people.

"The storm hasn't done anything but point out again how badly these workers are needed and how much they contribute," said Angela Blanchard, president and chief executive officer of Neighborhood Centers Inc.

Chase Duhon, with an Austin-based company that contracted to remove brush and debris across Houston, said he's having trouble finding legal local workers to help with hurricane cleanup. He posted an ad online to find more workers.

"We don't hire anyone who's illegal," said Duhon, a Houston native. "We want to keep it local. We want to use people here in Texas, but there's so much work, there are people coming from Michigan and Massachusetts."

Paralyzed by politics, immigration reform has yet to be approved by Congress despite years of hot debate. Supporters of reforms — such as a guest worker program — say storms like Ike prove how hard it is for employers to fill certain jobs.

"We need the labor. These people want to work," said Norman Adams, co-founder of Texans for Sensible Immigration Reform and president of Adams Insurance Service. "I don't think anybody has enough workers here."

Adams said the contractor repairing his water-damaged office building in the Heights area after the storm hired immigrant workers.

Honduran immigrant Esteban Valle, 49, said construction work has picked up since Ike hit.

"I think there's more work," said Valle, a legal permanent resident who previously lived in Dallas. "But it's easier for me because I have papers."

At one of the city's most popular day labor sites, the competition was stiff, with those skilled in trades like roof repair and hanging plaster wallboard often getting picked first.

"It's difficult because we don't have papers, and there are so many people," said 22-year-old Emanuel Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant from southern Mexico, gesturing to three dozen men gathered at the corner of Shepherd Drive and 11th.

Staff writer Jim Pinkerton contributed to this report.

jenalia.moreno@chron.com susan.carroll@chron.com

We the People - Shapleigh gripe

2008-09-23T23:44:00.002-05:00

This is in response to Eliot Shapleigh's call for a change in "real leadership" to ameliorate the underfunding of basic mental- health programs such as MHMR.

I agree with his principle that Texas should find a way to increase funding to serve more constituents in these programs.

I do not agree, however, in bloating the El Paso county hospital's coffers, whether by state funding or county taxes, to provide assistance to every undocumented immigrant who wants to reside in El Paso.

I want to remind voters that Mr. Shapleigh proposed instituting a state income tax back in the 1990s.

I'm assuming his calls for a change in "real leadership" is a reference to a Democratic-controlled state Legislature and governorship.

I am an Independent. I supported Mr. Shapleigh long before he endorsed a state income tax. I have never supported him since; I simply don't trust him.

Voters beware: Once you have a state income tax, you will never be able to get rid of it.

Michael P. Skindell / East El Paso

Republican seeks sheriff post to fight corruption

2008-09-23T23:32:00.002-05:00

By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 09/22/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- George Rodriguez Stoltz, the Republican candidate for El Paso County sheriff, will be the first to admit he's the underdog.
Stoltz will face Democratic candidate Richard Wiles, a retired police chief, in the general election Nov. 4.

Stoltz, 42, has spent the last 18 months in Iraq as a contracted police adviser, and returned to El Paso on Sept. 14. Stoltz said that since then, he has hit the ground running to make strides in his campaign, which carries the motto "international experience for an international community."

"I have to," Stoltz said. "It's been an uphill battle to get things started with my campaign. It's hard to campaign when you're thousands of miles away."

Stoltz said he decided to run for sheriff because he tired of seeing "crime and corruption going out of control."

While he was in Iraq, Stoltz said, he would keep up with his hometown by visiting the Web sites of media outlets such as the El Paso Times and reading stories on the FBI's public corruption investigation and the area's crime trends.

"I went from (hearing) Americans saying Iraq was corrupt to seeing graffiti (in El Paso) going out of control and community leaders under investigation," Stoltz said. "I believe in my heart that El Paso deserves better, especially our outlying areas."

Although Stoltz may still be unfamiliar to many county residents, Wiles said he knows Stoltz very well. Stoltz was an El Paso police officer for 18 years before he resigned to work as a civilian
contractor in Iraq. Wiles said he was unable to grant Stoltz a leave of absence because it isn't commonly approved in the department.

Before becoming an officer, Stoltz was a U.S Marine who graduated from Ysleta High School in 1984. Stoltz said his family has roots in the Lower Valley, where he still lives with his wife, Nancy, and three children -- Nicole, 20; George Anthony, 17; and George Eric, 15. His two sons attend Socorro High School, where Stoltz is a member of the football team's booster club.

George Stoltz said he shares views similar to late Sheriff Leo Samaniego's on enforcing immigration laws. Last year, Samaniego was criticized for allowing deputies to check on the immigration status of drivers during traffic checkpoints.

Wiles said he doesn't believe local law enforcement should enforce federal immigration laws, and added that immigration laws should be enforced by officers specifically trained in immigration law.

Stoltz said he is against consolidating aspects of the Sheriff's Office and the Police Department and implementing DIMS, or District Attorney's Information Management System, which allows crime suspects to be jailed before appearing in front of a magistrate judge. Wiles said he supports both those issues.

Sammy Carrejo, who is involved with Stoltz's campaign as a publicist, said he decided to support Stoltz because of his position on DIMS and other issues Wiles has supported.

Stoltz "is doing this for the safety of El Paso. He's not worried about making his next career move like his opponent is," Carrejo said. "Wiles is not the type of person we need."

Wiles said he questions Stoltz's campaign motto, and is concerned that Stoltz is comparing Iraq to El Paso.

"I don't think Iraq can compare to El Paso. It's best to have actual experience here on an international border," Wiles said.

Eastsider Ann Marie Giron said she supports Wiles' campaign because she believes he's the most qualified based on his past experience as police chief.

"All citizens (have) benefited from his ability to manage not only a police department, but theÊadditional responsibilities therein, which affected our lives daily, such as budgetary constraints andÊthe development of aÊmore trusting relationship between citizens and the Police Department," Giron said. "These are the criteria that are relevant, not party-affiliation, gender, raceÊor ethnicity."

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com;546-6117.

Wiles file

Name: Richard Wiles

Age: 46.

Experience: Retired El Paso police chief. Worked for 27 years for the city of El Paso, initially as a firefighter and then in various jobs in the Police Department. Retired in December.

Education: Master's in criminal justice from Sul Ross State, where he was named outstanding criminal justice graduate student. Bachelor's in criminal justice from the UTEP. Graduate of Andress High School.

Web site: www.wilesforepcounty.com.

Stoltz file

Name: George Rodriguez Stoltz

Age: 42.

Experience: Eighteen years experience as an El Paso police officer. Last assignment was with department's Gang Task Force. Resigned from the department to serve 18 months in Iraq as a contracted international police adviser. Former U.S. Marine.

Education: Attended Sul Ross State, where he was a cornerback on the school's football team, from 1985 to 1987. Studied criminal justice at El Paso Community College and American Military University, an online university.

Web site: www.georgestoltz.com.

Judge to fast-track Farmers Branch case on renting to illegal immigrants

2008-09-23T23:06:00.000-05:00

DALLAS — A federal judge agreed Monday to fast-track the legal challenges to a Farmers Branch ordinance that bans illegal immigrants from renting homes.

U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle agreed to push the case through the courts. The last time opponents challenged the housing rule it took nearly two years to reach a conclusion. That case ended last month when a federal judge ruled that the ordinance was unconstitutional.

But by then the suburb had drawn up a similar ordinance, which led to two other lawsuits by opponents seeking to stop it. Those lawsuits were consolidated into one case.

Boyle approved an Oct. 29 deadline for motions in the case. She didn’t set a trial date, but both sides have agreed to Dec. 8 or sooner. This month, the judge issued a temporary restraining order stopping the latest law from being enforced. She agreed Monday to continue halting the ordinance from taking effect while legal challenges continue.

The latest ordinance would require house and apartment tenants to seek a rental license. City officials want to check the names of license applicants who aren’t U.S. citizens against a federal database. The city would penalize landlords who rent to tenants lacking licenses.

Migrant students visit capital

2008-09-21T23:27:00.002-05:00

Summer leadership program provides encouragement for future goals

BY TARA BOZICK - TBOZICK@VICAD.COM
September 21, 2008 - 10:12 p.m.

Sixteen-year-old Dulce Perez vows to overcome all obstacles to improve her life.

Dulce, a junior at Calhoun High School, comes from a family of eight kids – two girls and six boys. As the oldest, she and her brother help watch the younger siblings, often helping them with their homework. Dulce’s mom has survived on being a migrant worker, traveling to the jobs.

The family has lived in Port Lavaca the past three years, and Dulce’s mom hopes to find a job at an area plant. Before coming to this city, they lived in Seadrift and the Valley.

Her mom wants Dulce to be independent.

“She doesn’t want us to suffer like she did,” Dulce said.

While her mother always encouraged her to get good grades so she could get grants and scholarships for college, a summer training program really inspired her to focus.

Dulce and three other students who live in migrant families – Xavier Puentes from El Campo ISD, Elizabeth Luna from Boling ISD and Luz Stephanie Jaime from Palacios ISD – traveled to Washington, D.C., July 20 to 26 for a leadership program hosted by the Bert Corona Leadership Institute, which serves youth living in migrant families and farm communities.

The students went with the Texas Migrant Interstate Program in Region III Education Service Center, which helps 216 students in 11 counties, migrant recruiter Mary Lou Canales of Victoria said.

It marked the first time Region III migrant students went to such a program, Canales said. Students in migrant families, both Mexican and Vietnamese, have always moved from one town to another in search of work.

With the higher gas prices, the families seem to be staying in one place longer and at least wait till the end of semesters before moving, Canales said.

“I’ve been telling my friends,” Dulce said about the trip. “They never thought a Mexican or Hispanic girl would go all the way to Washington, D.C.”

Her favorite part was meeting U.S. Representative Ruben Hinojosa, who represents District 15, which includes DeWitt, Goliad and Refugio counties.

The teenagers asked the congressman what he would do to help after school programs, improving aid for higher education and outsourcing jobs to other countries. Dulce had the job of thanking him for his time, which she stepped up to do even though she was nervous.

She was so surprised Hinojosa handed them his business card and told them to write.

The students did the same for aides with Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn.

“Oh, it was so wonderful,” Dulce said, adding she loved visiting the White House and Capitol. “I was the only visually impaired person there and I still got to see everything.”

The trip definitely boosted Dulce’s self-esteem, Canales said. Dulce is blind in one eye and needs glasses for the other. Canales always tells her students that everyone has a disability of one kind or another, but not to let it hold them back.

Other limitations for these migrant students include getting school supplies. The students needed help getting tennis shoes, clothes and suitcases for the trip.

Even so, the trip inspired them to become more active in the community and to keep learning. Dulce, born in Mexico, is working on getting citizenship.

“Your vote is where your voice is,” Canales told the students. “Don’t let what you’ve learned – don’t put it on a shelf as a souvenir. Inspire someone else.”

That’s what Dulce hopes to do as a teacher someday. A blind teacher taught her life skills in the Valley and was an encouraging example. He moved and acted like he wasn’t even blind, she said.

“If we work hard, we can achieve what we want,” Dulce said.

Border no boundary for some students

2008-09-20T01:05:00.002-05:00

09/20/2008

By JEREMY ROEBUCK / Associated Press

Adrianna Gomez wakes her 14-year-old son before dawn every morning, lays out his coat and tie and drives him across an international boundary just to go to school.

With a full day of classes at Pharr's Oratory Academy followed by soccer and tennis afterward, he often won't return to his spacious Reynosa, Mexico, home until nearly 12 hours later.

Angelita Martinez Morales also hoped her children could attend Rio Grande Valley schools. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested her Aug. 10 as she guided them across the river near Pharr.

She later told a federal magistrate judge she had to get her children — all U.S. citizens — back into the country before the start of the school year.

The two women may be divided by economic status, but ultimately both want the same thing for their children: the best educational opportunities they can provide.

Like hundreds of other families just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, they adjust their schedules, idle in bridge traffic every morning and sometimes break the law — all to send their children to U.S. schools.

"It's a sacrifice," said Gomez, 36, in Spanish. "But the river is inconsequential. It's just a problem of geography."

Some more affluent families like Gomez's attend legally by paying tuition to private schools or even buying homes to establish residency in public school districts. Her son, Ernesto, has his student visas in order and has been preparing to enter U.S. schools since his first English classes in kindergarten.

Plenty of others, though, ignore the rules. They provide fake addresses to enroll at public schools or — like Martinez — enter the country illegally in hopes of staying the whole school year.

While cities in the interior United States have only begun to seriously address this increasing immigrant population at their schools, this daily migration has been a way of life in the Valley for decades.

"In so many families, the community is not divided by a border like the land," said Elaine Hampton, a University of Texas-El Paso professor who has studied educational systems on both sides of the border. "It makes it hard to peg exactly where you live. What constitutes a permanent address?"

UNCERTAIN ENROLLMENT

Nobody knows exactly how many Mexican residents attend schools in the Valley, but some districts estimate they make up as much as 10 percent of their total enrollment.

A 1982 federal court ruling bars public schools from inquiring into the legal residency of students, but those enrolling must prove they live within the district — usually by providing a utility bill.

Some parents are so eager to have their children attend school here they will send them to live with an aunt or grandparent during the week and pick them up to spend their weekends in Mexico.

Others, however, "borrow" the addresses of relatives and friends to enroll their students even though the Mexican family never actually lived there.

"If they come and register with an address that's in the district, we can't deny them," McAllen schools spokesman Mark May said.

But the signs of illegal enrollment are everywhere.

Minivans with Mexican plates stack the pick-up and drop-off lines at schools in Hidalgo, La Joya and Brownsville. Each day, students in school uniforms groggily amble away from the Roma-Miguel Alemán international bridge.

In the predawn fog, teenagers loaded down with book bags avoid eye contact with passersby because of past problems they have had with their district residency.

LACKING RESOURCES

The proliferation of maquiladoras in many Mexican border towns in the past decade has brought dozens of families to cities like Reynosa and Matamoros looking for work, but the region's public school system has not kept up with the growth. Students in Mexican schools attend half-days in cinderblock buildings and go to class in shifts because of school overcrowding.

Parents must pay for uniforms, bus fare and supplies, and in some cases are expected to supplement the school's operating budget.

And a lack of secondary schools prompts many students to drop out after the elementary level. Only 66 percent of 15-year-olds south of the border attend classes on a daily basis, according to a 2003 Mexican government survey.

IT'S NOT FAIR

While some students know they are breaking the law, small districts like Roma don't always look at the students as a problem.

They are often more eager to learn and their parents are more involved because of the effort their families have undertaken to secure their education, district spokesman Ricardo Perez said.

"It's not like they're dumping their kids over here," he said. "They're actively seeking out a better education."

And the higher the school's enrollment, the more state and federal money the district receives.

But larger, more affluent districts like the McAllen school system can't afford to allow students who live outside the district to attend its campuses, said John Wilde, director of student support services for the district.

In addition to straining school resources, students with limited English speaking abilities routinely score lower on standardized tests.

"It's a significant issue," he said. "Imagine if you're paying taxes on a half-million-dollar home because you want your child to go to Garcia Elementary, and then we have to transfer you to another school because Garcia's too crowded. "It's not fair that there may be people that don't live in the district taking your child's spot."

Wilde's office investigates dozens of cases each year of students suspected of lying on their enrollment papers. Using returned mail, reports from other parents and red flags from campus administrators, his employees drop by the listed addresses in the early morning hours to see who really lives where they say they do.

Lying on a public document is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000, but the district rarely seeks prosecution against the parents. Expulsion is a more likely response.

A week into the school year, Wilde had already received 30 to 40 red-flag reports that the district will investigate.

GREATER OPPORTUNITIES

Angelita Martinez, the mother arrested for bringing her children across the river, never even got that far. A federal judge sentenced her to 10 days of confinement in a federal detention center. The fate of her children — all of whom she said were U.S. citizens — remains unknown.

Adrianna Gomez, meanwhile, hopes to send her younger children to Oratory's school in Pharr once they reach seventh grade.

She says she has already seen the payoff for her family's sacrifices in her teenage son, Ernesto. A confident 14-year-old who can speak eloquently in Spanish and English, he hopes to go to Yale University and become a lawyer after graduation.

"You can see a big difference between my friends here and over there," he said. "The opportunities over here are just greater."

Farmers Branch and rule opponents offer agreement

2008-09-19T00:58:00.000-05:00

By ANABELLE GARAY / Associated Press

Opponents of a Dallas suburb's latest attempt to oust illegal immigrants and the city of Farmers Branch have agreed to extend an order halting enforcement of a controversial rental housing rule.

Attorneys for Farmers Branch and lawyers representing a group of apartment operators and a former council member suing the city sent a letter Friday to the federal judge in the case. In it, they propose to fast-track the case and agree to extend by 30 days a temporary restraining order halting the city from requiring home and apartment tenants to seek a rental license.

City officials had wanted to check the names of rental license applicants who aren't U.S. citizens against a federal database. Farmers Branch planned to revoke the rental license of those who couldn't prove they lived legally in the country and penalize landlords who rented to tenants who didn't have a current license.

But U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle stopped the rule from being enforced last week by granting a temporary restraining order. The judge also scheduled a hearing to consider requests for the preliminary injunction for Monday.

"It does signal a recognition on their part that it was unlikely ... that there would be a different result come Monday," Bill Brewer, who represents opponents of the ordinance, said of the agreement.

Both parties ask for a trial to begin Dec. 8 or soon after if one is necessary, according to the letter sent by Bickel & Brewer Storefront, the law firm that represents the opponents. The letter was signed by an attorney representing Farmers Branch.

Call to attorneys for the city were not immediately returned Friday evening.

If the judge agrees to the proposed schedule, Farmers Branch would consent to turn the restraining order into a preliminary injunction — which would continue stopping city officials from trying to implement the rule.

Farmers Branch has battled advocacy groups for nearly two years over measures attempting to keep illegal immigrants from living in the city of about 28,000.

"It's turned out to be years. We want these issues resolved," Brewer said. "We think these types of ordinances are unconstitutional."

The original ordinance approved in Farmers Branch was met by lawsuits and protests before it was repealed and replaced by a redrafted one. The second attempt was challenged in court as well, with a federal judge eventually ruling it unconstitutional. That ruling triggered a 15-day countdown to enforcement of the latest ordinance, which is now hung up in court as well.

Latino advocates and a civil liberties group also are suing Farmers Branch over the rule. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project sent a separate letter proposing a different schedule that would bring the case to trial in March if necessary.

Even before the temporary injunction was issued, Farmers Branch did not have permission from the federal government to access the database it proposed using. The city applied earlier this month to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, but U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had not yet responded. An attorney for the city has said the temporary restraining order issued last week will keep USCIS from considering Farmers Branch's application.

Lawmakers hear about border law concerns

2008-09-19T00:49:00.000-05:00

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- Border sheriffs described their homes as war zones where officers are under nearly constant attack from drug cartels and potential terrorists, while police chiefs told lawmakers their border cities are safe places and crime is falling.

"Everything is not negative," Laredo Police Chief Carlos Maldonado said. "The picture is not black; the picture is not bleak."

Their accounts of life on the U.S.-Mexico border differed, but their message to legislators was the same: Local police agencies need more money for patrols and they don't want the responsibility of enforcing federal immigration law.

Border officials talked with the Texas Senate International Relations and Trade Committee about stemming illegal immigration and drug and human trafficking. The committee is preparing a report on border security and immigration before the legislative session begins in January.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said violence from Mexico has spilled over the border.

"It's coming to a neighborhood near you whether you want to believe it or not," he said.

Gonzalez and Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores described executions and kidnappings and said cartel "thugs" threaten deputies.

Asked whether terrorists were crossing the border, Gonzales said, "We don't know how many we've caught."

In a phone interview, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Deputy Jesse Tovar said that raging violence in Juárez has not spilled north, but that if it did, the department was ready to respond.

El Paso Mayor John Cook also told the committee that the Juárez violence was not seeping into the city. And police chiefs from Laredo, McAllen and Del Rio said their cities were not under siege.

"The sky is not falling," McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said.

Cook and other officials, including Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Stan Clark, urged lawmakers to allow immigration enforcement to remain a federal responsibility.

Last year, some legislators proposed requiring agencies to enforce federal immigration laws to get access to state funding.

"The federal government needs to do their job," Cook said.

Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.

More funds sought for fence on border

2008-09-19T00:45:00.001-05:00

The border fence, a structure made of bricks, mortar and pandering, is only half-built, despite appropriations of $2.7 billion since 2006.

And now the Bush administration is asking for another $400 million to complete the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and even that figure may not get the job done by the end of 2008, according to government investigators.

What is even worse, the $400 million, which requires Congressional approval, had been set aside for other projects, including border surveillance, which are far worthier than the fence, which is a prime example of politics trumping common sense.

“If we run out of money, unfortunately the construction will have to stop,” Jayson Ahern, the deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

The budgetary problems illustrate what a fiasco this has been from the start, a project that would do nothing to alleviate the problem that has sparked so much invective and vitriol among those who use unauthorized workers as scapegoats.

Unauthorized immigrants, their desperation matched only by their ingenuity, will continue to find a way into this country, fence or no fence.

And while it does nothing to alleviate the problem it was intended to solve, it will have the unfortunate consequence of creating ill will between sister cities, such as Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, that have traditionally relied on each other for commerce.

“Most folks who speak about this issue are from places that have a lot less to lose than the state of Texas,” state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, told the Brownsville Herald.

“Let's be clear about something: The state of Texas, out of any state in the nation, has the most at stake in this debate,” he added.

Both presidential candidates have been too timid to touch the issue of comprehensive immigration reform during the campaign, but once the new administration is sworn in, it should tackle an issue that will only get worse until it is addressed courageously and intelligently.

Immigration laws could be expanded to include family members of service members.

2008-09-18T23:50:00.000-05:00

Touchy debate pits "support for the troops" against "amnesty" claims.

By Michael Board
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Congressman Lamar Smith, who represents San Antonio, has failed in his bid to stop a House Resolution that would give citizenship to the illegal immigrant families of American soldiers, serving in a war zone.

"I understand that, in a time of war, the American people feel an enormous debt of gratitude to the U-S military service members and their families," he said in the House Judiciary Committee. "However that gratitude is no reason to offer immigration benefits to nearly every person related to someone who has served in the armed forces."

Smith (R-TX) feels H.R. 6020 goes too far, offering citizenship to even remote family members.

The bill was introduced as an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act, by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).

"We can't have soldiers and sailors, deployed to the gulf, living in fear that while they're are gone, their husbands... their wives.. their children will be deported."

The resolution passed the House Judiciary Subcommittee, late yesterday, 16-12. It now goes to the full House.

Thousands in Drugs Found in Car Bumpers

2008-09-18T00:11:00.000-05:00

Drug Seizure

No one arrested

PROGRESO - Customs officers seized $27,000 worth of drugs at the Progreso International Bridge.

A drug dog alerted officers to the marijuana. It was hidden in a car's front and rear bumpers.

A 38-year-old Los Fresnos man was driving the car. He was accompanied by a woman. The two weren't arrested.

But the driver is scheduled to appear before a U.S. immigration judge. We're told he'll also have to pay a fine.

Police Blotter - Mineral Wells

2008-09-18T00:03:00.000-05:00

Thursday Blotter

Information in this column is gathered from the Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Office incident reports and any related public documents. Not every incident leads to a charge under the law. If charges should be filed, innocence or guilt is determined by a court of law.

Arrests

Carlos Gonzales, 31, of Dolores, N.M., was arrested Tuesday on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Gerardo Pererez, 25, of Mexico, was arrested Tuesday on an ICE hold.

Judith Sanchez, 22, of Mexico, was arrested Tuesday on an ICE hold.

Alton lays down firm rules for bustling flea market

2008-09-17T22:50:00.002-05:00

Sara Perkins

In 1996, Norma Ochoa's father opened a flea market on 4 Mile Line because he wanted to help undocumented immigrants who couldn't find jobs.

The market grew in the manner of many local pulgas, attracting people who wanted to make a little money and sell their goods without the regulations and costs imposed on more formal businesses. For as little as $5 a day, nearly anyone can have a stall at Ochoa's Flea Market, which Norma now runs.

Shoppers came, looking for bargains or hard-to-find goods.

Unlike most of the Rio Grande Valley's flea markets, however, Ochoa's is within the borders of a city. And the Alton city government is tightening its enforcement of a variety of laws and regulations that, in this informal marketplace, have held little sway.

"We want to make it more attractive, more people-friendly, and try to (make) a quality area for our residents," said Ricardo Garza, a member of the City Council and president of Alton's economic development corporation.

Garza and city staff insist Ochoa is 100 percent on board with a new ordinance that would further tighten sanitation, building and licensure requirements.

"Our vision is not to run the flea market out," said planning director David DeLeon. Indeed, they hope to make the market a major attraction that will draw business into town. "Any given Sunday, they've got in excess of 200 vendors out there. That is significant for a town like ours."

Ochoa is less enthusiastic about her discussions with the city - "It's whether we want to or not" - and about the new regulations, which would allow the underdeveloped city to reap a windfall in sales taxes and fees, but at her expense.

The new ordinance must pass one more reading before it is approved. Among its new requirements:

>> The market must purchase a $500 yearly operating permit and pay the city $10 per vendor monthly.

>> Ochoa must collect names, addresses, phone numbers and identification numbers from every vendor.

>> Vendors must purchase their own permits from the city, at $20 per year, after proving they have registered with the state comptroller's office and, if selling prepared food, the Hidalgo County Health Department.

>> Vendors cannot sell knockoff, black-market or pirated goods. (Police have raided the market several times and arrested those selling pirated material.)

>> Unpainted or broken tables and shelves cannot be used in stalls.

>> No extension cords or garden hoses - vending stalls must have their own electrical and plumbing systems.

Conditions violating some or all of these standards are common even in upscale flea markets, and Ochoa's is no exception. Flea markets operate more like group garage sales than brick-and-mortar stores.

DeLeon estimated between 10 and 20 percent of the vendors at Ochoa's have permits from the state.

Ochoa said her attempts to cooperate with the city have led to enormous headaches - and costs. Connecting a single potato vendor's regular stall to the city's sewer system, for example, ended up costing the vendor about $4,000 and required other vendors to move around so crews could punch through the asphalt.

She said she cannot stomach that hassle with more food vendors, which may mean that those who regularly sell food from trucks and trailers will be unwelcome once the ordinance is passed and strictly enforced.

Meanwhile, code enforcement and police officers from the city regularly inspect the market, sometimes three or four times a day, she said.

"Sometimes I just want to give up," Ochoa said Wednesday. She has threatened to buy land in unincorporated county areas, where Alton officials would not have authority to inspect her vendors.

Her father started the market when the plot by Conway Avenue was still in county territory; he voluntarily allowed the flea market to be annexed soon after, Ochoa said, but he exacted a promise that city leaders wouldn't bother him too much.

Now, she said, "I'm losing customers ... because they're getting so strict on it."
____

Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.

For the poor, hard times get harder

2008-09-17T22:45:00.001-05:00

Chase Davis and Leslie Casimir - Houston Chronicle

HOUSTON — They pulled together Tuesday and used kitchen knives and brute strength to rip out sopping carpet and the padding beneath it.

Their belongings, a pile of wet clothing and children's toys, mingled in a stinky mound outside their apartment.

The Suarez family members weren't in Galveston or anywhere near the Gulf Coast. They live in North Houston, home to many gritty neighborhoods that know suffering.

Now, days after Hurricane Ike tore off roofs and overturned lives, tough times have gotten tougher.

The Suarezes, like many families, are taking matters into their own hands.

“If there is no more water, we'll be OK,” Maria Suarez, 40, said reassuringly as she took a break from the work.

In her complex alone, the roofs of 15 apartments caved in, destroying those units and the ones below.

Across Houston, unauthorized immigrants like the Suarezes, who already live on the fringes of society, are afraid to ask for help for fear of being arrested.

At the same time, citizens who've lived here all their lives are desperate for help and can't figure out who to call or grow weary waiting on busy help lines.

Mayor Bill White said the City Council today will consider establishing a roof-repair program for people who lack insurance and whose homes were severely damaged.

He issued something akin to an ultimatum to landlords: fix the roof or stop collecting rent.

“The first issue we're going to deal with is people who have holes in their roof from the hurricane,” he said. “If you have a hole in your roof, you're not up to code.”

The city has been in touch with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has a program to place temporary covering over holes in rooftops.

For some, the help can't come soon enough.

Warehouse worker Mario Calderon said he and his family, including three children, moved to his now destroyed East End apartment from Katy earlier this year.

The inside of his place was wet and musty in the late morning warmth. Debris carpeted his apartment after crashing through the now-skeletal ceiling.

Calderon and his wife want to apply for financial aid, but they've been greeted by constant busy signals and long waits on hold.

“They tell us to apply on the Internet, but how are we supposed to get on the Internet?” he asked. “They tell us to call, and we call and call, and they say it's too busy.”

“I understand that a lot of people had debris fly around and some people lost a roof,” he added, “but I lost everything. If there's somebody that needs help, we need help ASAP.”

In an open courtyard in front of his apartment sat a molding pile of his family's ruined possessions: mattresses and blankets, the splintered black hull of a DVD player, shoes and clothes from his three young children mixed with chunks of drywall and pink insulation.

“I tell (my children) the bogeyman came and tore everything down,” Calderon said. “What else can I say?”

The Third World arrived in the Fifth Ward, where Hurricane Ike toppled trees, shattered windows and caved in roofs of old row houses and bungalows.

At Wipprecht and Farmer streets, retiree Anopawuia Spinks sawed branches from downed trees for firewood.

“I'm using tree branches to cook up some sausages,” said Spinks, 60. “I don't think they are spoiled.”

On block after block, rooftops were patched with plastic sheets.

Tiffany Jackson, 24, who's unemployed and married to a man who's disabled, was mopping bleach water on the hardwood floor, the sky beaming down into her 2-year-old son's bedroom.

“I lost everything in my son's room,” Jackson said.

Soaked mattresses and a sofa were piled outside to dry. So was a television, but as it dried out in the daylight sun, someone stole it.

Houston Chronicle Staff Writers Matt Stiles and Bradley Olson contributed to this report.

Appeals court upholds Arizona immigration law

2008-09-17T22:43:00.001-05:00

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 09/17/2008 01:46:24 PM MDT

PHOENIX—A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld an Arizona law that penalizes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants and requires them to verify the employment status of their workers.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision rejected a challenge by business and civil-rights groups that contend the law infringes on federal immigration powers.

The law, intended to lessen the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak into the country, imposes civil penalties on employers by suspending or revoking their business licenses when they are found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

While it upheld the law, a three-judge panel of the court left the door open for other challenges, saying no one has been accused of violating the law since it took effect nine months ago.

Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, the author of the law, said the ruling is a big win for the movement to get state and local governments to crack down on illegal immigration.

"Locals are just as responsible for the crisis in America in this invasion (of illegal immigrants) as the federal government," Pearce said.

The civil-rights groups that challenged the law are considering whether to appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jonathan Weissglass, an attorney for the groups, said the law and the ruling could create problems for employers who have operations in more than one state because states could have different sets of hiring rules.

"What the 9th Circuit has allowed is everyone can enact its own laws regarding immigrant employment, which would create chaos," Weissglass said.

It's unclear whether the business groups that challenged the law will seek an appeal. Two lawyers representing the groups were unavailable for comment Wednesday because they were out of the country.

Lawyers for the state argued that while a similar federal hiring law prevents states from imposing civil or criminal penalties against businesses for illegal hirings, the federal law lets states take licensing actions against violators. The appellate court agreed with that argument.

A lower-court judge upheld the law in February.

Mom pleads guilty to smuggling cocaine, daughters to be tried next month

2008-09-17T22:10:00.001-05:00

September 17, 2008 - 12:55PM

Diana Eva Maldonado
The Brownsville Herald
A Mexican national living in Brownsville pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute nearly 20 pounds of cocaine.

Maria Venegas Vda. De Trevino, 60, and her three daughters were arrested June 18 when she attempted to smuggle $1 million worth of cocaine through the B&M International Bridge.

United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle says Trevino-Venegas, a resident immigrant from Mexico, admitted to hiding the drugs on her body.

During a secondary inspection agents say the woman and her daughters tried to run back across the bridge into Mexico, but were arrested before they reached the mid-point.

Aside from the nearly 20 pounds of cocaine Trevino-Venegas had strapped to her body, agents say they discovered another 17 pounds of narcotics in the 2006 Mercedes ML350 being driven by one of the sisters.

Laura Trevino, 31, Adriana Trevino, 23, and Evelia Trevino, 27, are all accusedof conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Evelia and Adriana Trevino are also charged with possessing with intent to distribute cocaine.

The three sisters will go on trial next month. Their mother is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals and will be sentenced Jan. 12, 2009. She faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life in prison as well as a $4 million fine.

Previous Articles

Federal judge rules no bail for mother, 3 daughters

Mother and three daughters arrested for smuggling cocaine

Mother and daughters caught smuggling drugs into U.S.

Violent crimes surge after illegals invade Texas

2008-09-17T12:32:00.001-05:00

Aliens flee strict immigration policies for friendlier Lone Star State

Posted: September 17, 2008
9:03 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

While illegal aliens flee strict immigration enforcement policies in several states and settle in Texas, the state's budget is suffering and violent crime, soaring.

News reports indicate a flood of illegal aliens is coming from states such as Arizona and Oklahoma – where immigration crackdowns have made life more difficult for them. In the meantime, Texas' violent crime rates have taken a turn for the worse.

WND researched FBI crime statistics from years 2006 to 2007 for 29 of Texas' largest cities with populations of more than 100,000. The Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report reveals two of the state's well-known sanctuary cities with "don't-ask-don't-tell" policies, Houston and Austin, have surging violent crime rates. Houston experienced an additional 314 violent crimes in 2007 compared with 2006 figures. Austin had 213 more violent crimes reported to law enforcement than the previous year.

According to the stats, overall, the 29 most populous Texas cities had 1,083 more violent crimes committed in 2007 than in 2006. While arrest records usually do not indicate suspect citizenship status, the crime trend matches a migration wave of illegal aliens coming from locations such as Arizona and Oklahoma – states with strict immigration enforcement policies and declining violent crime rates.

Getting tough on illegals

Since 2006, Oklahoma has passed laws cutting off benefits such as welfare and college financial aid to illegal aliens. Thousands of Hispanics fled the Tulsa, Okla., area in the shadow of a 2007 state law that limits benefits and mandates deportation for illegal aliens, according to a report from KTUL television in Tulsa.

The news report said in East Tulsa, where a community of Hispanics had grown over recent years, there was a sudden drop in population.

Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office went through training to handle apprehension and deportation procedures, and prepare them to perform multiple duties of both deputy sheriffs and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told KTUL in 2007 that the impact of the illegal alien population was evident everywhere in the state, especially in jails.

"We see the effects of gangs, we see the effects of illegal immigrants, we see the effects of drugs, we see the effects of methamphetamines," he said.

According to the FBI preliminary crime report, Tulsa experienced 264 fewer violent crimes in 2007 than in 2006.

Oklahoma law eliminates most taxpayer subsidies for illegal immigrants, allows state and local law enforcement officers to verify the residency status of those arrested and makes it a felony to shelter or transport illegal aliens.

Likewise, Arizona passed strict laws in 2007 requiring employers to verify the immigration status of employees – including one that suspends business licenses of people who hire illegal aliens. The crackdown prompted an exodus from that state.

"I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day," Elias Bermudez, founder of Immigrants Without Borders and host of a daily talk-radio program aimed at undocumented immigrants, told Arizona Republic.

The news report said it's impossible to count exactly how many illegal aliens have fled because of the law, but interviews with immigrant advocates, community workers and real-estate agents confirm the number is significant.

"Some are moving to other states, where they think they will have an easier time getting jobs," the report said. "Others are returning to Mexico, selling their effects and putting their houses on the market."

According to FBI figures, overall, Arizona's largest cities with populations of more than 100,000 experienced 765 fewer incidents of violent crime in 2007 than in the previous year.

Impact of illegal immigration on Texas

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates more than 1.7 million illegal aliens live in Texas. The state has a reputation for welcoming illegals, and it has not passed a law targeting employers who hire them.

Ortiz, a Mexican illegal alien, told the Associated Press he recently left Phoenix to find employment in Houston.

"Here, they let you work," he said. "Over there, they won't. There is a lot of racism, but here there isn't – it's better."

Between 8 percent and 9 percent of the Texas workforce is composed of illegal aliens – many who perform agriculture, restaurant and construction jobs. Critics say cracking down on employers who hire illegals could seriously hurt the state economy.

However, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, 44 percent of Texas' illegals use welfare programs including food stamps and Medicaid, while 70 percent are uninsured. It estimates the combined costs of education ($4 billion), medical care ($520 million) and incarceration ($150 million) of illegal aliens in Texas to be $4.7 billion each year.

While the uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Texas' state and county prisons amounts to about $150 million a year, it does not include local jail detention costs or related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of crimes that led to their incarceration.

The Texas migration is not likely to subside soon, experts say. FAIR estimates, "Without any change in immigration policy or enforcement, i.e., with the current trend in large-scale legal and illegal immigration, the state's population is likely to increase from today's about 23 million residents to around 41 to 43 million persons in 2050."

Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report

We the People - Church stance is way off base

2008-09-17T01:05:00.002-05:00

When did political activism and civil disobedience become part of the curriculum for children preparing for their First Communion?

The El Paso Catholic Diocese is urging catechism teachers to become activists for illegal immigration, to speak out against the proposed border fence, and is calling upon teachers attending its orientation retreat to teach people to go over or under the bridge.

The Catholic Church has become increasingly outspoken in its political stances, and often the viewpoints expressed by members of the clergy and diocesan representatives no longer reflect the opinions of many Catholics.

The Masses For Peace and Justice are thinly disguised anti-military demonstrations, and the call to this kind of activism encourages citizens to ignore the law.

When the line is blurred between personal opinion and public advocacy, the church risks the continued alienation of its parishioners. It is time for us to let them know we are proud to be part of the greatest, most generous country in the world. We support legal immigration and strongly oppose the use of the bully pulpit to promote their views.

When a church teaches its members to disregard the law, it is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Martha Boone / Upper Valley

Side Step - Reynosa 'alligator' could be a crocodile

2008-09-16T01:20:00.000-05:00

An "alligator" found by Reynosa officials could actually be a crocodile.

Officials from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville said the Monday evening story that aired on Action 4 News and KGBT4.COM caught their attention.

Zoo officials have not examined the animal but said photos and video clearly show the animal has physical features of a crocodile.

A herpetologist from the zoo said the animal could be a Morelet's crocodile, a species native to Tamaulipas south of San Fernando.

He said the animal could be an escaped pet or may have been captured in the wild and brought to Reynosa somehow.

Mexican authorities recently posted signs on their side of the Rio Grande to warn swimmers and immigrants about alligators seen in the Rio Grande.

Mexican national sentenced for robbing bank

2008-09-16T01:17:00.001-05:00

EL PASO, Texas -- A Mexican national was sentenced to 64 months in federal prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to robbing a credit union and illegally re-entering the United States after deportation, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced.

On March 17, 23-year-old Ramon Aguirre-Gueta allegedly approached a bank teller at the Greater El Paso Credit Union and handed the teller a note indicating he was armed and demanded money. The bank teller handed him money, officials said.

Aguirre-Gueta fled to Mexico, and on April 12, he voluntarily surrendered to Customs and Border Protection officers at the Paso Del Norte port of entry, officials said.

Immigration records show that Aguirre-Gueta had been deported in March 2006 after a federal conviction for illegal re-entry.

Aguirre-Gueta pleaded guilty to the bank robbery and illegal re-entry charges on July 15.

In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo also ordered the defendant to pay $843 in restitution to the Greater El Paso Credit Union, officials said.

The case was investigated by the FBI together with the El Paso Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Lewis, Jr., prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

2008-09-16T01:08:00.000-05:00

Dallas County jury finds Hector Medina guilty of killing his two children

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 16, 2008
By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News
tellis@dallasnews.com

It took about six minutes Monday for a Dallas County jury to decide that Hector Medina was guilty of capital murder for killing his two children.

That same jury began hearing evidence less than 30 minutes later for the punishment phase of the trial to determine whether Mr. Medina, 29, should be sentenced to death or life in prison with no opportunity for parole.

Mr. Medina's guilt was not disputed during his four-day trial. Attorney Donna Winfield told the jury the first day of the trial last week that her client was responsible for the shooting deaths of Javier, 3, and Diana, 8 months, in March 2007.

But Ms. Winfield asked the jury to consider that Mr. Medina's girlfriend, who is the mother of the children, had been having an affair with one of their housemates. Elia Martinez-Bermudez left Mr. Medina less than a week before the shooting.

Ms. Martinez-Bermudez testified during the trial through a Spanish interpreter that Mr. Medina told her he would kill her, their children and himself if she ever left him.

"Ladies and gentleman, he carried out most of that plan," prosecutor Josh Healy told the jury during closing arguments Monday. "He ended the lives of two individuals, who together did not equal 4 years old.

"Hector Medina took this gun and this ammunition ... and goes to his 3-year-old child," Mr. Healy told the jury, pointing the gun at the floor.

"Bam. In the head. Bam. In the neck.

"He doesn't stop there," Mr. Healy said, turning to Diana's wooden crib in the center of the courtroom. "He then turns to the 8-month-old and puts two shots into the baby, killing her instantly."

Afterward, Mr. Medina told one of the four roommates living in the house to call Ms. Martinez-Bermudez and tell her she could pick up the kids, according to testimony.

Then he went outside the Irving house and shot himself in the neck and head. He was hospitalized for about a week and still has one of the bullets lodged in the back of his neck, Ms. Winfield has said in court.

Ms. Martinez-Bermudez was the first witness to testify for the prosecution when the sentencing hearing began Monday afternoon.

She told the jury that Mr. Medina physically restrained her and forced her to have anal sex. He also hit her, threw clothes and appliances and tore a bedroom door off its hinges during one incident the week before the shooting, she said.

Ms. Martinez-Bermudez is an illegal immigrant. She received a special visa exception through the Violence Against Women Act, which helps illegal immigrant women who are victims of abuse come forward – and remain in the United States.

Ms. Winfield questioned why Ms. Martinez-Bermudez had never told police that Mr. Medina raped or abused her before she filed for a protective order two days before the shooting on March 4, 2007.

Under cross examination, Ms. Martinez-Bermudez denied making up the abuse reports to be able to live here legally. She said she just wanted to get her children away from Mr. Medina.

"I don't know how to explain it," Ms. Martinez-Bermudez said, her voice breaking. "He took the most precious things in my life."

The punishment phase is scheduled to continue this morning.

Migrant education effort lands contract

2008-09-16T01:03:00.000-05:00

San Marcos — The Center for Migrant Education at Texas State University-San Marcos has landed a five-year, $3.1 million contract from the U.S. Department of Education to run the Migrant Education Coordination Support Center.

This is the second time the Center for Migrant Education has won this contract. The previous award was for $2.8 million and was awarded from 2003 until now.

The Center for Migrant Education, a component of Texas State’s College of Applied Arts, won the contract in a highly competitive bidding process, beating out several other universities and institutions. The contract will allow the Center for Migrant Education to continue assisting the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Migrant Education in the support and improvement of interstate and intrastate coordination of activities, programs and agencies concerned with the education, health and welfare of migrant children.

The Center will continue to work closely with education officials from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico. In addition to coordinating and facilitating migrant education programs, the Center will also work to strengthen cooperation with the Binational Migrant Education Program, which includes teacher exchange initiatives with Mexico. This continues and expands the work already under way with various states in Mexico, as well as with Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This contract also provides direct services to migrant students and their families.

We the People -

2008-09-16T00:46:00.003-05:00

Lack of urban civility

Re: Sept. 6 article "Hit-and-runs leave families wondering why."

Eleven people have been killed in 151 hit-and-runs in Austin that caused injury or death through July 28. Grieving families ponder the "unthinkable" and "unimaginable" violence while police comment that drivers "made a very bad decision" and "just panic" amidst problems of insurance, immigration or intoxication.

A more accurate explanation of this significant "quality of life issue" is the carbarian culture of civic narcissism and road rage, which is an index of the lack of urban civility in Austin, where the self-centered and self-absorbed come to fall in love with themselves (and their metal monsters) in a childish, selfish city of self-indulgence and egotistical lack of concern for others.

Gene Burd

Austin

Hit-and-runs leave families wondering why

Protest to be held against potential Nac MTC prison

2008-09-15T00:53:00.001-05:00

By: Nicole Newby

A group of local citizens, including some SFA students, will stage its first protest against building a federal prison in Nacogdoches at 5 p.m. Tuesday downtown in front of city hall.

In response to the decision to build the prison in Nacogdoches, Dr. Paul Risk, a retired SFA agriculture professor, created the group Citizens Opposed to Prison Site. "COPS is a place where people can have a unified voice to speak out against it," said Whitson. "We are trying to preserve the oldest town in Texas," Currid said.

Nacogdoches is known for being the oldest town in Texas and the home of SFA, but a new entity may soon become another signature characteristic of the East Texas town.

The Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation and the city and county commissioners unanimously backed a proposal for a private federal prison that would house illegal immigrants to be built inside Loop 224 on Northwest Stallings Drive. The prison would be owned by the Management and Training Corporation, which aims to provide the necessary skills for convicted criminals to become productive members of society.

The facility would provide some benefits for the community, such as 300 jobs and $11 million in annual salaries. In addition to the opportunities for employment specifically with the prison, construction jobs would also be created for the projected 14-month building time as well as opportunities for SFA internships. The city is also confident that the prison would bring in more tax income.

However, some are worried that the addition of a prison could negatively affect tourism in Nacogdoches, one of the town's primary industries. Other concerns include light pollution, property values, town safety and SFA enrollment.

"SFA is the pumping organ of this town. Do we really want to shift the attention to a prison?" said Ashley Whitson, Fairfield graduate student.

"The city voted and gave two days for other citizens to vote, but kept it quiet because they knew people would object," said Ashlee Currid, The Woodlands junior. "Even the people who sold the land didn't know who they were selling it to. They heard from a local that it was for a private prison."

Since the prison would be privately owned, it would not have to abide by the Freedom of Information Act, which allows citizens to know who is in the facility and why.

MTC's prisons have been known to be overcrowded and to not offer legal aid or medical care, according to various Internet reports. Also, instances of unsanitary conditions have been reported.

MTC is linked with prisons in Iraq and Canada, as well. "They are constantly breaking human rights laws," Whitson said.

There have been federal charges filed against the company for smuggling illegal immigrants using a company van to bring to the prisons. "The fact that a prison is a business-that is the problem," Currid said. "They give these people false hope who want to come to America for jobs and opportunities, and instead they put them in these prisons so they can make money off them."

COPS meets in Liberty Hall on Main Street They also encourage people opposed to the prison to write emails to city commissioners and to the local daily newspaper.

For more information about COPS, visit www.stopnacprison.com.

nnewby@thepinelog.com
© Copyright 2008 Pine Log

Man sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy to smuggle drugs

2008-09-15T00:41:00.000-05:00

EL PASO, Texas -- A man convicted of a drug/bribery conspiracy charge was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison on Monday, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said.

On June 13, 37-year-old Saulo Reyes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import 100 kilograms or more of marijuana. By pleading guilty, Reyes admitted that he paid $4,250 on January 15, plus another $15,000 on January 16, to an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who he believed was a port inspector, to allow a vehicle loaded with over 400 kilograms of marijuana through the Paso del Norte port of entry without inspection.

In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez ordered that Reyes pay a $50,000 fine and be placed under a 20-year supervised release after his prison term. Martinez also approved the forfeiture of $19,250 and a 2005 Volkswagen Touareg that were derived from Reyes' criminal actions.

Reyes' co-defendant, 27-year-old Karina Tarango of El Paso, is serving a 30-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 kilograms of more of marijuana. Authorities arrested Tarango at a stash house in Horizon City used in the smuggling scheme.

This case was investigated by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Victim of domestic violence gets special visa after children killed

2008-09-15T00:33:00.000-05:00

One of my co-workers told me about a federal policy that makes it possible for illegal immigrant women to receive special visas to encourage them to go to authorities when they are abused, particularly in cases of domestic violence.

Elia Martinez-Bermudez benefited from this policy. She is the ex-girlfriend of Hector Medina, who is on trial for killing their two children at their Irving home when she left him in 2007. She has also told police that Mr. Medina raped and assaulted her.

The Hector Medina capital murder trial resumes today in the 282nd state district court. He faces the death penalty.

Ms. Martinez-Bermudez testified that she came to Texas from Mexico illegally in 2000. After her children were killed, she received a special visa under the Violence Against Women Act, which helps illegal immigrant women who are victims of abuse come forward. Lalon Peale, one of Mr. Medina's defense attorneys, told state District Judge Andy Chatham outside the jury's presence that Ms. Martinez-Bermudez was about to be deported before this came about.

Mr. Medina, who is a citizen of El Salvador, had been here illegally. But he was able to buy the couple's Irving house after he received temporary protective status because of the wars in El Salvador.

2 more groups sue Farmers Branch over rental ban

2008-09-15T00:30:00.000-05:00

STAR-TELEGRAM
Most-read stories

Two more groups have filed suit against the city of Farmers Branch, on the heels of Friday’s ruling by a federal judge that the city will have to hold off on implementing its ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union teamed up in a federal lawsuit filed against the city on Friday.

The same day, U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle issued a temporary restraining order that prevents Farmers Branch from implementing the ban. That stemmed from a lawsuit against the city filed by apartment owners and tenants in Farmers Branch.

These groups also had lawsuits against the city for an earlier version of the rental ban. That case ended with a defeat for Farmers Branch last month when a federal judge ruled the ban was unconstitutional.

Big Spring Prisoner Riot and Fire Still Under Investigation

2008-09-14T19:24:00.001-05:00

by Roma Vivas
NewsWest 9

BIG SPRING- Questions still remain unanswered after a prisoner fire and riot on Friday night. Facility officials are being very cautious of what information is being disclosed.

Big Spring authorities rushed to the scene of a riot and fire from the Flightline Correctional Center near the Big Spring airport. The facility takes prisoners from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services, but since it is a privately owned facility the plan for police was to secure a perimeter.

"The only reason we are here, our only purpose is if spills outside of the fenced facility," Sergeant Tony Everett, with the Big Spring Police Department, said.

In total, about 15 police officers stayed outside managing traffic while Big Spring firefighters went inside.

"My understating is that may be one or two buildings were on fire," Everett said.

Several ambulances left the scene towards Scenic Mountain Medical Center where family members were advised not to disclose any information. But the mother of one of the injured employee was thankful to hear her son was doing better.

"I feel a whole lot better, I feel relieved that he is O.K. Like I said earlier, I just left it in the hands of God and he is the one who pulled me through," Inez Heins, Mother of a facility Employee, said.

NewsWest 9 also received a couple of calls from relatives who say that seven facility staff were injured and were treated for minor injuries. According to officials from the correctional center the riot never posed danger to the public.

River draws a muddy line on Texas' unfenced border

2008-09-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

By DAN KEANE / Associated Press

The Rio Grande takes a wide southern detour when it hits West Texas, as if unwilling to draw too straight a line between the U.S. and Mexico. Locals along this remote stretch of shallow river share the feeling.

People living on both sides of the Big Bend, as the curve is known, are glad to be mostly skipped over by plans for 700 miles of new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border — even if their unspoiled desert boundary risks drawing more illegal traffic as the rest of the line is sealed off.

"The river doesn't divide us here," said local historian Enrique Madrid, raising his voice over the joyful screams of kids, from both sides of Rio Grande, whacking at a pinata during a recent birthday party in the tiny river hamlet of Redford.

"We've crossed it long before the United States existed," he continued. "And we'll be crossing it a long time after the United States disappears."

New walls are doubling up existing barriers in California, closing wide desert valleys in Arizona and New Mexico and fencing off more populated areas of the South Texas riverbank. The new construction will leave some 630 miles along the Big Bend as the longest unfenced piece of southern U.S. frontier.

Here the Rio Grande cuts an elegantly simple border, splitting the two countries into cane-choked banks or towering limestone cliffs. The wet line in the sand means nothing to the desert's circling buzzards and migrating black bears, but it complicates life for the two-nation families and isolated local economies that need both halves of this desert to survive.

Redford, a knot of adobe homes and alfalfa fields some 300 miles downriver from El Paso, made headlines in 1997 when U.S. Marines on a secret anti-drug mission mistakenly gunned down a local high school student, Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., as he herded goats along the Texas bank.

His death prompted the cancellation of U.S. military anti-drug operations amid heated debate over whether soldiers trained to kill foreign enemies can sort friend from foe along America's often uncertain edges.

The alliances are tangled even within Hernandez's own family: A brother has pleaded guilty to smuggling immigrants, while a nephew is applying to the Border Patrol.

Such is life along this skinny stretch of the river, where native peoples built the first settlement on the site of present-day Redford around 1200 A.D.

Local residents crossed freely with the Border Patrol's tacit permission until 2001. Following the 9/11 attacks, agents declared the crossing closed and blockaded its bank with a few small boulders.

The rocks do not stop Amado Bustamante, 79, who lives across from Redford in the Mexican village of El Mulato, from wading across once a month to buy a box of lard.

"It's cheaper" on the Texas side, he said with a smile. "And they haven't caught us yet."

With only 373 agents to cover 510 miles of river, the Border Patrol's Marfa Sector tends to play its defense well behind the line, focusing on highway checkpoints between the border and Interstate 10, a hundred miles or more to the north. Agents also patrol back roads through mountain ranges stretching as much as 5,000 feet above both sides of the river. They visit traditional crossings like Redford as time permits.

"Nature has kindly fenced a lot of this area for us," says Chief Patrol Agent John Smietana. "We're not able to cover, or even get to, the river in a lot of places on a regular basis. So it is possible to cross the river very easily in some of those places. The hard part is then getting from the river up to one of the roads to get away."

Anecdotal evidence suggests more migrants and smugglers may be willing to try.

Trend-spotting is difficult in the Big Bend since its relatively small enforcement numbers can be tipped by one big bust. But marijuana seizures are up 16 percent this year while the Border Patrol has rescued 11 stranded migrants — more saved than any year on record, though still a trickle compared to the hundreds rescued each year farther west in Arizona.

Other indicators are harder to miss. Ojinaga, a small Mexican border city across from Presidio, just upriver from Redford, has seen an unheard-of 10 drug-related killings so far this year — the last two in a midday hail of bullets on a main street.

The violence has kept to the Mexican side, even as the smuggling crosses over. In March, Border Patrol investigators broke up a local migrant smuggling operation that employed Francisco Hernandez, brother of the late Esequiel, and his wife, Paula.

Hernandez admitted bringing at least 29 migrants through the Redford crossing over the last three years, allegedly receiving $400 per person from the ringleader, Jose Franco of Odessa. Franco then paid a local cowboy to drive them on ranch roads around a Border Patrol checkpoint, according to court documents.

The cowboy was released without charge after helping investigators set up the sting that brought the group down. In August, Franco received a reduced 21-month sentence after testifying against the Hernandez couple, whose small Redford home faces likely government seizure. Both pleaded guilty to transporting illegal aliens, and face sentencing this month. Court documents allege Paula gave dry clothes to migrants after they crossed the river.

The cowboy — who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from others involved — said word had spread quickly of an easy crossing on the Big Bend's back roads, where migrants did not need to risk a long desert hike or crowd dangerously into sealed tractor-trailers.

"Word of mouth would get around that not only was it safe, but they were treated well," the cowboy said. Migrants generally rode north on the floor of a Chevy Suburban with a sheet over their heads, he said. "They weren't wrapped up in carpets. They were fed. They were able to go to the bathroom."

Smuggling wages are tempting in Presidio County, one of the poorest in the country, where a third of the 8,000 residents live in poverty.

A year after Esequiel's death, the Hernandez family won a $1.9 million wrongful death settlement from the government. But the money was set aside to care for his aging parents, and Francisco never saw much of it, according to his older brother Margarito Hernandez, Sr., a police officer in Presidio.

Francisco "doesn't have a steady job, and he's got five kids," said Margarito. "Those are factors people will take advantage of, if they know you're in need."

The Border Patrol now plans to double its Marfa Sector agents and install vehicle barriers at 30 illegal Big Bend crossings, including Redford's. Six miles of proposed fence flanking Presidio have been postponed after construction bids came in over budget.

But these barriers will not stop locals from splashing through a boundary their forebears have crossed for centuries.

Margarito Hernandez Jr., son of the Presidio policeman, remembers pedaling bikes with his cousins into the Rio Grande "just to see who could actually get to the other side."

Chatting at the birthday party, Margarito, 19, said he has applied to the Border Patrol and dreams of being posted to his family's often unpatrolled hometown as an agent who understands just how muddy a line the river can be.

He nodded his cowboy hat towards a low rise over the river where a white cross marks the spot Esequiel was killed.

"I don't see why an agent couldn't be up there on that hill."

McCain, Obama avoid talk of immigration reform

2008-09-13T23:56:00.000-05:00

By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 09/13/2008 04:19:04 PM MDT

EL PASO - As the presidential race heads toward Nov. 4, both candidates continue to avoid talking about immigration and immigration reform - a politically-charged national issue that has real life implications in El Paso and other border cities.

Whether the strategy of avoiding this topic helps Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is unknown, but the issue is one which will have to be dealt with by whoever wins the general election in November, experts said.

"it is an issue they are both trying to avoid," said Eli M. Kantor, a California immigration lawyer. "Both candidates are pretty much pro-immigration reform however it is not a popular issue to talk about right now."

The reason immigration reform isn't popular on the campaign trail is because people on both sides of the debate have very strong opinions, experts said. Those who live along the border and who have current family members who might be here illegally want families to be reunited and for all immigrants to be treated humanely.

But, those who live in others parts of the country want the border secure, they want immigration eliminated and they put homeland security issues first, said Kantor, who is the media liaison for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"It is easier right now to just talk about securing the borders," Kantor said. "The candidates have to appeal to all the voters, so they don't want to alienate anyone on either side of the issue."

During President

Bush's Administration several attempts at passing an immigration reform bill died. Bush's immigration reform bill increased security along the border, while at the same time fining businesses that hired undocumented workers, which upset some people.
The bill was disliked by others because it had a guest-worker program and it gave some those in the U.S. illegally the ability to become naturalized citizens.

"Most of us come here to work and get better, not to do any harm," said Rigo Orozco, who was outside the Border Farm Workers Center in South El Paso this week. "If there was a way for me to work and stay here, I would do it."

It is estimated that anywhere from 12 to 20 million people are working in the United States illegally.

An economic study issued earlier this year by Americans for Immigration Reform stated that the U.S economy could lose nearly $1.8 trillion a year if undocumented workers left the country. Texas, which has an undocumented immigrant population of about 1.4 million, could lose more than $220 million if all undocumented workers were ousted.

"The system has been broken for a while now and only a political band-aid has been put on it," said University of Texas at El Paso political science professor Charles Boehmer. "The new president will have to tackle the issue. No one is happy with the status quo."

Texas Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who has been working for years to improve the trade corridor between Mexico and the U.S. because it directly affects El Paso and its people, said the problem must be addressed soon.

"What we need, what the country needs is a comprehensive framework," Shapleigh said. "The right talks about walls. The left talks about fair trade. But all these issues are linked. Security is linked to trade; trade is linked to labor; labor is the key to prosperity. And all these issues need to be on the table if we are to succeed."

But, Shapleigh, too, sees that both candidates are trying to avoid the issue while on the campaign trail.

"Both parties need a dose of courage," he said. "Obama knows that a comprehensive framework is the key - but will not deal realistically with free trade. McCain lost his courage when he veered right to win his primary. If these guys want to lead, now is the time for leadership."

Prior to being the Republican party nominee, McCain teamed with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to sponsor a comprehensive immigration bill. The bill allowed employers to hire foreigners under a temporary visa program if they can prove they are unable to hire American workers for the same job and it allowed workers to stay in the United States.

While the immigration reform package did not pass, it shows that McCain has a clear concept of what he wants to do with the issue, said Michael Moore, chairman of the El Paso Republican Party.

"Sen. McCain knows where the border is and he has been here several times," Moore said. "He has the experience in Congress to solve the issue and he knows what the problem is and how to fix it."

Ramon Bracamontes may be reached at rbracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6142.

Irving ISD enrollment has grown despite worries of a decrease

2008-09-13T17:10:00.001-05:00

By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
kunmuth@dallasnews.com

Irving school enrollment appears to be growing slightly instead of taking a hit as officials had feared.

Last year, the school district suddenly began losing hundreds of students at the end of September, after the deportation of illegal immigrants arrested by local police frightened residents.

Several substandard apartment complexes were also shut down by the city, prompting families to move.

Though the city's Criminal Alien Program and crackdown on code enforcement continue, school enrollment appears to be strong.

Officials counted 33,183 students on Friday, the 14th day of class. That's 35 more students than on the same day last year. District officials had predicted a peak enrollment of 32,764 this year, and a loss of about 425 students.

"I think those worries proved to be unfounded," school board president Jerry Christian said. "If kids left, somebody came in to take their place."

The school district always compares its peak enrollment, the point of highest enrollment, which usually happens within the first six weeks of school. The current enrollment is almost equal to last year's high.

The district's peak last year, which occurred on Sept. 25, was 33,189 students. Shortly after, enrollment quickly dropped. At the time, Superintendent Jack Singley expressed concerns that parents were pulling their children out of schools because of fears about immigration enforcement.

"People just picked up and left the district because they had concerns about what was going on at the city level," said Whit Johnstone, the district's director of planning, evaluation and research.

Officials cautioned that it's still early in the year and enrollment trends are still shifting. But so far the district is gaining a lot of older students. There are about 433 more middle- and high-school students than predicted, while there are 15 fewer elementary students.

Irving officials continue to focus on substandard complexes where many of the district's students live. The week before school started, they shut down the Vista Del Lago apartments.

But school officials worked to make sure homeless students could continue to attend nearby John Haley Elementary.

They also believe that some families affected by apartment closures are moving to different school attendance areas within the district.

Suit to fight border fence is dismissed

2008-09-13T03:05:00.000-05:00

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times

EL PASO -- A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by El Paso County, the city of El Paso, environmental groups and others against the controversial border fence, County Attorney José Rodríguez's office said Friday.

The lawsuit argued that Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff did not have the authority to waive 30 environmental and other laws to construct the fence, described as the "border wall" by its opponents.

U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo ruled that the waivers to expedite the construction of the fence were constitutional "because 'Congress constitutionally delegated its authority in the Waiver Legislation.' "

Rodríguez said in a statement that plaintiffs have 90 days to file an appeal to the Supreme Court, and that an appeal by the firm Mayer Brown LLP of Washington, D.C., was already being prepared Friday.

El Paso Mayor John Cook said he and other mayors of Texas border cities are not necessarily opposed to fences.

"But we are opposed to them putting them in without local input," Cook said.

The border fence in El Paso, which stands 15 feet tall, has been the target of marches and protests, including a small demonstration Friday evening where a section of fence is being installed near Yarbrough Drive.

Proponents of the fence said that it would help secure the border by stopping drug-loaded vehicles from driving across, and that, if the fence didn't stop undocumented immigrants, it would at least slow them long enough to give Border Patrol agents time to catch them.

Fence opponents call it a costly eyesore that sends an unfriendly message while damaging the environment.

"The wall is an environmental disaster," said Bill Addington, who's on the executive committee of the Rio Grande Sierra Club Chapter and whose family owns land in Hudspeth County near the border.

"It is immoral -- an immoral crime for anyone to put up a barrier or wall between animals that need it (the Rio Grande) for drinking water," Addington said. "You are also fragmenting habitat. All these animals that have traditionally gone back and forth cannot pass."

Wednesday, Homeland security officials told Congress that the 670-mile fence might not be finished this year and that it was $400 million over budget because of increased fuel and steel costs and limited available labor.

About 340 miles of fence has been built. Congress so far has approved $2.6 billion for constructing the fence.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

Two men accused of abducting five illegal immigrants

2008-09-13T03:02:00.001-05:00

By BILL MURPHY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Two men were arrested Friday after they bound and adbducted five illegal immigrants from Honduras outside Cleveland, the Liberty County Sheriff's Department said.

The Liberty County District Attorney's office will likely bring abduction — or kidnapping-related charges — against the two men, also illegal immigrants from Honduras, said sheriff's department spokesman Hugh Bishop.

Sheriff's department detectives and the district attorney's office haven't had time to investigate the matter completely because of Hurricane Ike.

A sheriff's department detective was patrolling Friday afternoon when he approached a home in the Five Oaks subdivsion outside Cleveland because he had seen suspicious activity, Bishop said.

"When he got up close, he saw the five Honduran men bound and taped," Bishop said. "Apparently, the two men were trying to extort money from the five others or their families."

The five victims were being held in the county jail until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement picks up the men.

bill.murphy@chron.com

Brownsville Man Arrested with 300 Pounds of Marijuana

2008-09-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

Hundreds of pounds of marijuana are seized Friday afternoon along with thousands of dollars in cash.

Multimedia Watch The Video
31 year-old Benjamin Vasquez was taken into custody by Cameron county Sheriff's after he got busted with more than 300 pounds of marijuana and $27,000 dollars in cash at his home on 455 Esperanza street in Brownsville.

The Cameron county district attorney's special operations group, along with other law enforcement agencies investigated Vasquez and another man for a month before Friday's bust. When agents went into the home they found bulks marijuana in black bags, cash and a press machine in one of the bedrooms.

Investigators were surprised to find that type of press machine which is used to compress the drug into smaller blocks for distribution. Officials say Vasquez and the other man distributed the pot outside the state and would also sell ounces on the streets in the Valley.

Vasquez is charged with a first degree felony, possession of marijuana and possible money laundering, but more charges may be added since he was conducting this illegal activity right across from a school.

The other man was taken by the Border Patrol because he was an undocumented immigrant. He is not facing any other charges, since Vasquez accepted full responsibility.

Report says immigrant backlash a myth

2008-09-12T18:43:00.000-05:00

Hernán Rozemberg - Express-News A handful of conservative states with a recent influx of immigrants have drawn national attention for passing “punitive” immigration laws, but the reality is that most state legislatures are quietly welcoming newcomers, according to a report released Thursday.

The Progressive States Network, a pro-immigrant group founded three years ago in New York City to lobby states, weighed in on the immigration debate, concluding that the public has been wrongly led to conclude that most states have suddenly turned into immigration law enforcers.

“We hear a lot about an anti-immigrant movement spreading through states, but facts don't bear it out,” said Joel Barkin, the group's executive director. “Pro-immigrant forces are actually winning the fight, though it's far from over.”

Backers of increased immigration restrictions vehemently contested the report, countering that it's more states are cracking down on illegal immigration due to inaction in Washington.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which began tracking immigration bills filed in state houses across the country in 2005, a record-setting 1,562 bills were introduced last year — up from 300 three years ago.

The report focused on where unauthorized immigrants live. Just 11 percent live in states that passed immigration enforcement laws this year — such as Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Utah.

By contrast, the report noted, more than half of unauthorized immigrants live in “integrative” states such as California, Illinois and Texas, places that have enacted laws providing benefits for migrants.

The report's key conclusion is that states tackle immigration differently according to their experience with the issue: Where it's a newer phenomenon, there's an immediate reaction to oppose change.

“States that have had experience with immigrants for multiple generations like Texas have taken the most positive approach,” said Nathan Newman, the network's policy director, who wrote the report.

Her own participation on NCSL's immigration task force backs the report, said Texas Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio.

There's no denying that efforts by state lawmakers to get involved in immigration laws have intensified in recent years, but not all pushed enforcement, and of those only a few succeeded, Van de Putte said.

“Some were extremely mean-spirited, but thankfully few saw the light of day,” she said.

Look for that few to quickly grow into a ton, warned state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, who led a fight in the House last year for a slew of immigration enforcement bills that never made the floor.

As he sees it, the new report tries — unsuccessfully — to put a pro-immigrant spin on an issue that some illegal immigration foes have already seized.

Just wait until the session opens next year, said Berman, who promised better results for an expected 35 or more enforcement bills he and his supporters will introduce.

“They're illegal aliens with allegiance to another country,” he said. “We need more of these state laws or else we're not abiding by our oath of office and we're aiding and abetting illegal immigration.”

S.A. case shows gap in anti-terror shield

2008-09-12T18:36:00.002-05:00

Guillermo Contreras - Express-News A man from India who caused an evacuation at San Antonio's airport two weeks ago because security screeners thought he was carrying a bomb had no connection to terrorism, officials confirmed, but his case highlighted holes in the safety net for catching terrorists.

Besides the suspicious device, authorities found the man, Manoj D. Kargudri, had a box cutter in his suitcase and some powder and was about to board a one-way flight from San Antonio to Washington, D.C. They also learned he had a fraudulent visa.

As it turned out, the “bomb” was a homemade battery for his MP3 player and the powder was a drink mix.

After further investigation, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, uncovered 10 others who had tried to use similar fraudulent visas to get from India to the U.S., and their scheme showed how exposed the country could be. Two of the 9-11 hijackers entered the country by gaming the system with phony visas.

“Hostile foreign intelligence services, terrorist organizations and organized crime have used these visas as a mechanism to gain entry into the U.S. for their sinister operatives,” said retired agent Bill West, who headed the national security unit in Miami for ICE, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

On Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, Kargudri appeared in federal court in San Antonio to face charges of making false statements to get a visa. Kargudri, 36, came to the U.S. in 2005 on an employment visa. He extended his stay in August with a student visa, but didn't show up at the college, court records show. A judge determined agents had probable cause to arrest him, and he was ordered held pending trial.

Kargudri was apparently relocating from Sherman, north of Dallas, to Washington when a screener in San Antonio alerted airport police to a “possible improvised explosive device (I.E.D.)” in one of his bags. The item had an electric razor with wires connected to an MP3 player. Travelers were evacuated from the area until officials confirmed the object was not a bomb. Investigators also seized a suitcase Kargudri transported on another flight.

ICE agents later realized Kargudri was one of two people who entered the U.S. as part of a fraud scheme the State Department had warned officials about in 2005 involving L-1 employment visas. The visas allow foreign specialized employees of a firm with U.S. operations to transfer to America for three years and up to seven.

The scheme was discovered after a man was arrested in India on Sept. 22, 2005, with a questionable visa application, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed against Kargudri. The affidavit said that 10 others were involved, including Kargudri, and they falsely claimed to work for Honeywell International.

While in the U.S., Kargudri, an engineer by training, had worked at various jobs, the affidavit said. The whereabouts of the second person who made it into the U.S. was not disclosed.

Even though the State Department put out a bulletin in 2005 to watch for Kargudri, on Aug. 1 immigration officers granted Kargudri's request to change his L-1 visa to an F-1 student visa because, he claimed, he was accepted to Grayson County College in Denison. When he didn't show up, a spokeswoman said, the school reported him to DHS, under a new system implemented since the attacks.

“You have to give the administration credit for a lot of work done, like biometrics on the border, more robust watch lists, more robust information sharing, but the holes are still there,” said Janice Kephart, who was general counsel to the 9-11 commission, which was specially set up to investigate the attacks.

But, she added, terrorists “will find any vulnerabilities that exist and once those vulnerabilities are found, they exploit them until they can't exploit them anymore.”

CBP officers nab 60-year-old smuggling cocaine at EP port of entry

2008-09-12T18:21:00.001-05:00

EL PASO -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working at the Ysleta port of entry discovered 29.7 pounds of cocaine and 22.2 pounds of marijuana in a car being driven by a 60-year-old man, officials said.

Luis Vidal, 60, was arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents for prosecution.

The bust was made Thursday morning and was one of many busts made by CBP officers working at area ports during the week.

Officials said a Ford F-150 driven by Vidal entered the port shortly after 5 a.m. During the primary inspection of the vehicle, drug sniffing dog "Taxi" alerted officers to the truck. After a secondary search of the vehicle, agents discovered a hidden compartment in the backseat of the truck.

CBP officers also made 19 drug busts during the week. They seized a total of 1,685 pounds of marijuana in 18 seizures and 29.8 pounds of cocaine in one additional bust.

Officers also recorded 118 immigration violations at area ports. Imposters made up the largest group of immigration violators and made up 52 of the violations. Officials say they generally use a legitimate entry document assigned to another person and present it as their own. Violators generally lose their documents and are returned to Mexico.

Officers also nabbed 40 intended immigrants this week. In these cases, individuals will use a legally issued border-crossing card (laser visa) to live or work in the U.S. Officials said this is not authorized. They also lose their documents and are generally returned to Mexico.

Officers also nabbed 26 people who made false claims to U.S. citizenship, attempted to enter with counterfeit or altered documents, visa overstay violations, and those attempting to enter without inspection.

Juan Sánchez heads nonprofit that works with immigrant minors, at-risk juveniles.

2008-09-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

Mexico honors Southwest Key founder
By Juan Castillo

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Mexican government is honoring Juan Sánchez, who heads one of the country's largest care providers for unaccompanied immigrant children and at-risk juveniles from his nonprofit's headquarters in Austin.

Sánchez, 60, president and founder of Southwest Key Programs, will receive Mexico's Ohtli Award tonight at a reception to commemorate Dieciséis de Septiembre, the Sept. 16 Mexican Independence Day. Rosalba Ojeda, the consul general of Mexico in Austin, and her husband, Francisco Alba, will host the event.

The Ohtli honors individuals who work to improve the lives of people of Mexican heritage living abroad. Named for the Aztec Nahuatl word meaning "camino," or path, the Ohtli is given annually by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, an agency that promotes ties between Mexico and Mexican communities in the United States.

A native of Brownsville, the Harvard-educated Sánchez created the nonprofit in 1987 when it was known as Texas Key Program. Today, Southwest Key runs 55 programs in seven states for families and juveniles, including alternatives to incarceration and schools for students who have been expelled or are on probation. In addition, Southwest Key runs federally-contracted shelters for unaccompanied immigrant minors in Texas, California and Arizona.

Last October, Southwest Key opened the East Austin Community Development Center at 6002 Jain Lane, an $8 million, 31,000-square-foot complex that doubles as its national headquarters.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

Restraining order sought against new Farmers Branch rental ban

2008-09-11T17:56:00.000-05:00

By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News
ssandoval@dallasnews.com

Anyone who wants to rent a house or apartment in Farmers Branch will have to obtain a city license starting Monday unless opponents persuade one of two courts today to issue a temporary restraining order.

Attorneys for both sides will go before U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle at 2 p.m. for one hearing. The proceeding is part of a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the ordinance, the city's latest strategy for barring housing rentals to illegal immigrants.

The plaintiffs say the law discriminates against Hispanics and is unconstitutional. The city counters that it is aimed at lawbreakers, not any ethnic group.

It's not known what Judge Boyle will do. A different federal judge, Sam Lindsay, in May struck down a previous ordinance banning apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants and harshly criticized the new measure as "yet another attempt to circumvent ... prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution."

Cases are randomly assigned to judges in the federal court, and Judge Boyle drew the latest lawsuit.

Hedging their bets, the plaintiffs' attorneys, led by Bill Brewer, also petitioned in state District Court on Thursday for a restraining order.

That request is the latest motion in a previously filed lawsuit by a Farmers Branch resident alleging that the city violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in its discussion of the new measure, Ordinance 2952.

Filed with the request was a copy of an e-mail from Tim O'Hare – then a City Council member, now mayor – that included a draft ordinance similar to Ordinance 2952 but with substantially different wording.

City Manager Gary Greer has said the council didn't see the Farmers Branch ordinance until a few days before approving it in January. The plaintiffs say the O'Hare e-mail, sent to someone called "SWS" six months before the vote, shows the council improperly deliberated and discussed the ordinance in secret.

Mr. O'Hare denied the charge.

"There are model ordinances addressing this issue floating around all over the country," he said Thursday.

"We didn't do anything illegal. We've never done anything illegal, and any assertion that we have is just garbage."

If no restraining order is issued, renters starting Monday will have to get an occupancy license by paying $5 and declaring their U.S. citizenship or legal residency. The city plans to check the immigration status of non-citizens in a federal database called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE.

But the checks may have to wait. Chief building inspector Jim Olk said Thursday that the city hasn't reached an agreement with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services to access the database.

The city started the process in January, when Ordinance 2952 was adopted, but was turned down then because the ordinance was not in effect.

Judge Lindsay's rejection of the earlier ordinance, 2903, two weeks ago triggered a 15-day countdown to implement the new one. With implementation at hand, the city submitted paperwork again Monday for access to the database.

Maria Elena Garcia-Upson, regional media manager for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency hadn't yet received it. She could not say how long it might take to reach an agreement.

SAVE is designed for agencies that grant benefits or issue licenses to determine a non-citizen's immigration status.

"An agency qualifies for SAVE," Ms. Garcia-Upson said, "if the agency is a federal, state or local government agency or licensing bureau and provides a public benefit, license or credential or is otherwise authorized by law to engage in an activity for which verification of citizenship or immigration status is appropriate."

The city will require renters to obtain licenses even before it gains access to the database, Mr. Olk said. That can be done at City Hall, or by visiting www.farmersbranch.info.

"They can fill out the form and print their license right where they sit" and be billed for the $5, Mr. Olk said.

He said some apartment complexes plan to handle the application for prospective tenants.

"They're going to make that part of the overall process of doing their background and credit checks and fill that information out for them, and we'll bill the apartments for it," Mr. Olk said.

The city has 3,022 apartment units in 17 complexes and an estimated 1,620 single-family rental houses, Mr. Olk said.

Appeals court denies new hearing in convicted agents' case

2008-09-11T17:39:00.001-05:00

Associated Press

A federal appeals court has denied a request for a new hearing in the case of a pair of former U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and then trying to cover it up.

A three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied the request from Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean on Wednesday. In July, the same court upheld convictions against the men that required lengthy prison sentences.

The two-page ruling did not give any reason for the denial.

Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years in prison for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an illegal immigrant and admitted drug smuggler.

Aldrete was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison last month for his role in two drug smuggling efforts just a few months after being shot by Ramos and Compean.

Soldier gets 2 years for immigrant smuggling

2008-09-11T17:37:00.000-05:00

LAREDO, Texas (AP) - A federal judge in Laredo sentenced 27-year-old Army National Guardsman to two years in prison today for his role in an immigrant smuggling scheme.

Private First Class Jose Rodrigo Torres was arrested in June 2007 after driving through a Border Patrol checkpoint in a van loaded with 24 undocumented immigrants. Prosecutors say the van was leased by the Texas Army National Guard.

Torres and another guardsman pleaded guilty in August 2007 to conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants. He has remained in custody since his arrest. Sergeant Clarence Hodge Jr. of Fort Worth was sentenced in February to three years and two months in prison.

Another guardsman, Sergeant Julio Cesar Pacheco, has also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport immigrants but hasn't yet been sentenced.

Alien Smuggling Organization Dismantled

2008-09-11T17:25:00.001-05:00

Last two members sentenced

LAREDO - Manuel Sandoval, 25, and Juan De Dios Jimenez, 39, have been sentenced for their roles in the smuggling of an undocumented alien that resulted in the alien's forced detention, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today. Sandoval, a Mexican national, and Jimenez, of Laredo, are the last two of the organization to be sentenced.

The charges against Sandoval and Jimenez are the result of efforts conducted Jan. 22, 2008, by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempting to locate an undocumented alien being held against his will in and around Laredo, Texas. Relatives of the alien, who reside in New Mexico, reported to FBI that they paid an initial agreed smuggling fee of $800, but later received calls demanding an additional $4,000 be wired for the release of their relative. Smugglers threatened to kill the alien if the money was not received.

Through further investigation, ICE special agents located the recipient of the wire transfer, Alejandra Salazar, who worked for Sandoval's organization by picking up the money wired for smuggling fees. Agents subsequently located a residence on Mangana Hein Road where the alien had been held. Jimenez owned the residence and also worked for Sandoval in harboring the undocumented alien. Inside the residence, agents found the Mexican passport of the alien along with a handgun and ammunition. Investigation revealed that two juvenile members of the smuggling organization transported the alien to Jimenez's residence and kept him overnight in a locked room. The alien's hands were bound behind his back by the juveniles and he was made to kneel on tiled floor while smugglers contacted his family demanding payment for his release. During a series of phone calls, a gun was pointed at the alien while the alien begged his family to pay the ransom. The alien was repeatedly threatened and told that his dead body could be easily disposed in the surrounding land. Sometime during the late afternoon of Jan. 22, 2008, one of the smugglers entered the room, untied the aliens hands and told him to leave because people were looking for him. The alien found his way to the highway and located a convenience store from where he contacted his family about his release. ICE agents subsequently located him in the early hours of Jan. 23, 2008.

U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Sandoval to 85 months in federal prison, finding Sandoval was as a leader of a smuggling organization that had been operating in Laredo. Sandoval was held responsible for utilizing a minor in the commission of the offense and for involuntarily detaining the alien in connection with a demand for payment and for using a weapon to effect the detention. Jimenez, in turn, was sentenced to 27 months for allowing the use of his residence for the involuntary detention of the alien. Following their imprisonment, Sandoval and Jimenez will be on supervised release for three years. Sandoval is subject to deportation due to his illegal status.

Two other defendants have already been sentenced for their involvement in this smuggling operation. A male juvenile involved in detaining and threatening the alien was sentenced to custody until age 18. Salazar was sentenced to approximately seven months and was subsequently deported from the country.

This case was investigated by special agents from ICE with the support of FBI Laredo and FBI New Mexico,and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Diana Song.

Former Police Officer Behind Bars

2008-09-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

Reported by: Ashley Pontius
Video

Former Cactus Police Officer Jose Cadena will spend one year in jail for threatening to arrest two illegal immigrants if they did not pay him money. Cadena pleaded guilty to two counts of official oppression. He will also have to serve eighteen months probation and pay a $500 fine. According to his original indictment, Cadena made the threats back in May of 2006. A month later he was no longer working with the Cactus Police Department.

Border fence could be new president's problem

2008-09-10T17:17:00.001-05:00

By EILEEN SULLIVAN / Associated Press

The head of the agency that oversees the Border Patrol said Wednesday he cannot promise to meet President Bush's goal of completing a Southwest border fence when he leaves office in January.

The plan calls for finishing building 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end; so far, 344 miles are complete. But Ralph Basham, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, told lawmakers he only could assure that the remaining portions of fence would be under contract or under construction when the Bush administration is over.

He also said the agency needs an additional $400 million to complete the project. Basham cited higher costs for fuel, steel and labor.

"We face many challenges in achieving our goal," Basham told the House Homeland Security Committee.

The Sept. 11 attacks revived the immigration debate and advanced the idea of a border fence. Intelligence officials have said gaps along the southwestern border could provide opportunities for terrorists to enter the United States.

The fence is not intended to stop illegal immigration altogether, but make it more difficult for people to get into the U.S. illegally, administration officials say.

The overall plan for security on that border includes additional Border Patrol agents, more enforcement of immigration laws, the fence and a high-tech "virtual fence" with surveillance technology.

Boeing Co. has the contract for the technology portion of the fence, as well as for some construction work. Boeing's contract for the technology is up in 2009. If the administration is not satisfied with the work Boeing has done, the Government Accountability Office — Congress' investigative arm — suggested that a new contractor take over. According to the GAO, Boeing has $933 million worth of work on the project.

Since 2006, Congress has set aside $2.7 billion for the fence. But there's no estimate how much the entire system — the physical fence and technology — will cost to build, let alone maintain.

The technology portion has run into problems. It once was billed as a relatively easy plan to use off-the-shelf technology to help federal spot illegal crossers. When a GAO investigator toured a stretch of the "virtual fence" three months ago, it took 45 minutes to get the surveillance system up and running. The system includes towers with radar, cameras and communications equipment.

Basham told lawmakers, however, that the priority is to complete the physical fence.

___

South Texans allege passport bias

2008-09-10T14:04:00.003-05:00

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Residents of the Rio Grande Valley have filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government, claiming they are being denied passports because they are of Mexican descent and were born with the aid of midwives.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Refugio del Rio Grande Inc., and a law firm in Washington are aiding the nine named plaintiffs in the suit filed Tuesday in Brownsville. They say the problem appears to be limited to those with Hispanic surnames living along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"There's never been a question that they're U.S. citizens until they apply for a passport," said Robin Goldfaden of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.

Midwives often were used by border families who couldn't afford doctors and hospital care, but in the 1990s, dozens of midwives were convicted of forging birth certificates for children born in Mexico. So, the government has been demanding additional proof of citizenship.

State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson declined Wednesday to comment on the pending lawsuit but noted that the agency can't issue a passport — a document that means someone is legally a citizen — unless it has established the applicant is "more likely than not really a U.S. citizen."

The State Department has been hit with a crush of passport requests because new security rules will require everyone re-entering the United States from Mexico, even on day trips, to present a passport, passport card or similar federally approved document starting in July.

Sherman Man May Face Deportation

2008-09-10T12:09:00.001-05:00

Sherman police say they caught a man stealing, and then learned he had been living in the U.S. illegally.

25-year-old Jose Rodriguez-Gonzales of Sherman is now at the Grayson County Jail. Sheriffs deputies say he can't bond out until immigration officers arrive, and determine whether he should be deported.

Police say Rodriguez-Gonzales was caught loading tires and wheels into the back of a pickup truck at a vacant house on West Cherry Street in Sherman.

Reports show he gave officers a phony name, and while investigating him they learned he had been using false documents to get a job because he was in the U.S. illegally.

Sgt. Bruce Dawsey of the Sherman Police Department says lately immigration officers have been cracking down. "In the past, it was not usual for us to come across someone that we were pretty sure was here in the U.S. illegally, and it was a bit tougher to get a hold for immigration. Now it seems that it's easier."

The owner of the wheels has not been located. Officers say the house where the theft occurred was vacant.

Authorities say there's no telling how long Rodriguez-Gonzales will be held in jail. They say the closest immigration office is in Dallas.

Vanessa Bolano, KTEN News.

Feds: Evacuees' Immigration Status Won't be Checked

2008-09-10T11:55:00.000-05:00

Evacuee Concerns

Deportation fears may stop illegals from evacuating

WESLACO - Federal authorities say they won't check the immigration status of evacuees at loading zones or other checkpoints.

There's a big concern illegal immigrants may risk their lives by refusing to board buses, because they're afraid of being arrested or deported.

Officials say illegals have more to fear from a hurricane than they do the Border Patrol. They encourage everyone, regardless of immigration status, to leave if an evacuation order is issued.

Immigrants and the safety net

2008-09-10T11:47:00.000-05:00

Opinion Froma Harrop- Creators Syndicate

The conservative economist Milton Friedman famously said, “You can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.” He was right. You can’t flood our labor markets with illegal workers paying little in taxes — and provide good government benefits for everyone.

But perhaps the opposite is also true. Perhaps you can’t have open borders if you have a high level of benefits.

That’s the case in Canada and much of Europe. Canada has a large immigration program and guaranteed health care for everyone, including foreigners who are legal residents. Canada does not tolerate illegal immigration. It can’t afford to extend its expensive benefits to people who don’t belong there.

Conservative politicians often portray government programs as a magnet to illegal aliens, but almost never as an incentive to enforce America’s immigration laws. Rep. Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, last year voted against the popular bill to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. This would have helped more moderate-income families cover their uninsured children. When his Democratic foe, Kay Barnes, slammed him over the vote, Graves responded that the bill would have extended “free taxpayer-funded health care” to, among others, illegal immigrants.

Funny thing about “taxpayer-payer funded health care,” which, by the way, no one should ever call “free.” Billionaire retirees get it, as do the poor and members of Congress, including Graves and his kin.

Other Americans obtain private coverage through their employer or can buy their own, assuming they don’t have a sick family member. The only large uninsured group that doesn’t have health-care security is the working stiffs.

And what about illegal immigrants? They don’t have a government program, but they can show up in the nation’s emergency rooms. The care delivered there may be “free” for them, but not for others. It is subsidized by the taxpayers and by higher premiums charged on private health insurance.

In this country, threadbare government benefits are an essential element of the cheap-labor economy. Illegal immigrants provide low-cost labor and suppress the wages of workers who must compete with them, be they native-born or legal immigrants.

And as long as few benefits are flowing to them from Washington, the Bush administration can offer this gift to employers with little skin off its own back. Those who do pay most of the resulting costs are unskilled workers and the local governments that must provide services to people who contribute little to their coffers.

But suppose the federal government guaranteed health coverage for all workers and their families. Wouldn’t that make open borders a far more expensive proposition than it is now? It would.

Democrats have just dropped plans for another vote on the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Bush had condemned the bill as a perilous move toward “government-run health care for every American” — and has promised to veto the legislation as he’s already done twice before. (Bush’s concern about government-run enterprises must have had them rolling in the aisles on Wall Street this week, as the U.S. Treasury effectively nationalized the two financial companies responsible for three-quarters of new home mortgages.)

Singling out 10 million working-class children as the one group unworthy of a government insurance program would seem beyond the moral pale, but the Bush administration has always had a warped idea of right and not right. As for the immigration angle, the bill wouldn’t have covered legal aliens, much less illegal ones.

But beyond those particulars lies this argument: The more generous the social safety net, the more essential that the people using it are here legally and making enough money to help pay the costs. Milton Friedman didn’t like government, but he would have gotten the point.

Border Patrol nabs man with criminal record trying to enter U.S

2008-09-10T11:42:00.001-05:00

By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times

EL PASO - U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested one man with a criminal record and one man with charges pending trying to enter the United States illegally Tuesday, two days after agents spotted an illegal immigrant aiming a rifle at motorists on Paisano Drive.
Agents said at about 6:50 a.m. Tuesday, they arrested 44-year-old Jose Sergio Barraza-Rivas after he crossed illegally into Sunland Park N.M. Agents later discovered that Barraza-Rivas had previously been jailed on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault/family violence and marijuana possession with intent to distribute.

Agent Jose Romero, a Border Patrol spokesman, said Barraza-Rivas was also previously charged with assault with a firearm on a person, possession of stolen property, burglary of a dwelling and various drug charges. Barraza-Rivas was transported to the Otero County Detention Facility pending prosecution, Romero said.

A few hours later, agents in Fort Hancock conducting line-watch operations spotted 30-year-old Lorenzo Roman-Espinoza as he entered the U.S. illegally on a bicycle.

As agents were processing Roman-Espinoza, they discovered that he was wanted by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a previously removed criminal and aggravated felon.

Romero said Roman-Espinoza's criminal history includes sexual battery and theft. He was booked into the El Paso County Jail to await prosecution.

On Sunday, Juárez police arrested Cruz Perez Lara, 47, for being in an unauthorized area after agents using a Border Patrol surveillance camera spotted him aiming a rifle at cars on Paisano Drive. Agents said Tuesday that Perez had illegally crossed the Rio Grande near Asarco, but crossed back into Mexico after agents approached him.

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117.

Previous Story with Video

UNT targets funds for research, recruiting

2008-09-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

The University of North Texas is earmarking $25 million to expand research and recruit talented faculty, officials said Tuesday.

The university also announced that faculty will come together from many departments – from the arts to several areas of science – to work on research projects. Officials said they also plan to create a new research center focused on immigrant studies.

The $25 million investment comes from recent tuition increases, as well as state funding requested from the Legislature, said Vish Prasad, UNT's vice president for research and economic development.

UNT is one of seven public universities, including the University of Texas at Arlington and UT-Dallas, seeking to persuade state officials to designate them as top research universities and provide more resources.

Candace Carlisle,

Denton Record Chronicle

Ike predicted to hit Texas, Lubbock prepares for evacuees

2008-09-10T11:17:00.002-05:00

By: Matt Cobb

With Hurricane Ike steaming into the Gulf of Mexico, Texas emergency officials Tuesday stood ready to evacuate 1 million people from the impoverished Rio Grande Valley.

They put Lubbock on standby to provide refuge to what could be as many as 1,000 evacuees.

The Lubbock City Council appropriated $500,000 for emergency items to provide assistance and care to the evacuees, according to a statement made by the city. The state will reimburse all of the city's expenditures.

The Lubbock-based American Red Cross South Plains Regional Chapter is waiting to be notified by its national chapter before it begins to provide aid in response to the storm, said Megan Graham, fund development director of the chapter.

The chapter already is preparing to help with the evacuees and is waiting for proper notification, Graham said. It is planning to provide assistance both in Lubbock and wherever the storm makes landfall.

"We have a possibility of sending out an emergency response vehicle down to the coastline," Graham said. "It can feed up to 500 people at one time and could be down there for up to two weeks."

The City Bank Auditorium and Coliseum is set up to hold evacuees, Graham said, including 500 cots that were set up for evacuees expected to arrive after Hurricane Gustav. Necessary supplies also are in place.

The Texas Tech Police Department is preparing to provide security support to evacuees, said Gordon Hoffman, deputy chief of the department. They are planning to provide security to the coliseum and to aid with possible parking issues in any way they can if evacuees are brought to Lubbock.

"The word I've been given is that the city may get up to 1,000 evacuees," Hoffman said. "They could start arriving as soon as tomorrow, so we're preparing right now."

Emergency planning officials met all day Tuesday to decide if and when to announce a mandatory evacuation for coastal counties close to the Mexican border, according to the Associated Press.

With forecasts showing Hurricane Ike blowing ashore this weekend, authorities lined up nearly 1,000 buses in the region in case they are needed to move out the many poor and elderly people who have no cars.

Federal authorities gave assurances they would not check evacuees' immigration status at evacuation loading zones or inland checkpoints.

But residents were skeptical, according to the AP, and there were worries that many illegal immigrants would refuse to board buses and go to shelters for fear of getting arrested and deported.

"People are nervous," said the Rev. Michael Seifert, a Roman Catholic priest and immigrant advocate, according to the AP. "The message that was given to me was that it's going to be a real problem."

One reason for the skepticism: Back in May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the U.S. Border Patrol would do nothing to impede an evacuation in the event of a hurricane. But when Hurricane Dolly struck the Rio Grande Valley in late July, no mandatory evacuation was ordered, and as a result the U.S. Border Patrol kept its checkpoints open. Agents soon caught a vanload of illegal immigrants.

It would be the first mandatory large-scale evacuation in South Texas history. State and county officials let people decide for themselves whether to leave a hurricane area until just before Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Now county officials can order people out of harm's way.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said to the AP if an evacuation is ordered this time, county officials will visit immigrant neighborhoods and forcefully urge people to clear out.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, "There were a lot of immigrants who said, 'I'm not going to go,'" said Salinas, the county's top elected official. "It's going to be hard."

In Washington, Rear Adm. W. Craig Vanderwagen, assistant U.S. health secretary for preparedness and response, told reporters: "In storm events, if people are trapped it doesn't particularly matter to those of us in the humanitarian assistance world which side of that border they come from. We will do what we need to do to evacuate the people who need to be evacuated."

At 5 p.m. EDT, Ike was about 90 miles southwest of Havana, Cuba, moving northwest at 10 mph with sustained winds near 75 mph. It was expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening to a Category 3 with winds of up to 130 mph.

Forecasters said that it could hit on Saturday morning almost anywhere along the Texas coast, with the most likely spot close to the Corpus Christi area.

Areas from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi and south to Brownsville - about 250 miles of coastline - were told to prepare for possible mandatory evacuation.

On Tuesday, Ike roared across Cuba, ravaging homes, killing at least four people and forcing 1.2 million to evacuate.

The Rio Grande Valley is still soggy from Dolly, which flooded the region, damaging hundreds of homes but killing no one. Many homes still have blue tarps on their roofs.

The Rio Grande Valley's residents are among those least equipped to handle hurricane flooding. It is one of the poorest parts of the country, with one-third of all families living below the poverty line, compared with 10 percent nationally.

Colonias, or ramshackle communities often lacking sewer systems and paved streets, dot the Valley. Even an ordinary rainstorm can fill yards with disease-ridden sewage from flooded septic tanks. Many of the poor lack health insurance.

Mexican officials said more than a dozen dams in the northern state of Chihuahua were at capacity or spilling over, heightening fears of flooding on the American side of the border.

Gov. Rick Perry declared 88 coastal counties disaster areas Monday to start the flow of state aid, and began preparing for an evacuation, lining up "buses rather than body bags."

The Dallas-Fort Worth area sheltered about 3,000 Hurricane Gustav evacuees last week and is prepared for up to about 20,000 people this time, said Steve Griggs, a county official, according to the AP. The downtown convention center would again serve as the main shelter.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
© Copyright 2008 Daily Toreador

Texas officials weigh evacuations as Ike nears

2008-09-10T08:09:00.004-05:00

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — With Hurricane Ike steaming into the Gulf of Mexico, Texas emergency officials Tuesday stood ready to order 1 million people evacuated from the impoverished Rio Grande Valley and tried to convince tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that they have less to fear from the Border Patrol than from the storm.

Emergency planning officials were meeting all day to decide if and when to announce a mandatory evacuation for coastal counties close to the Mexican border.

With forecasts showing Ike blowing ashore this weekend, authorities lined up nearly 1,000 buses in case they are needed to move out the many poor and elderly people who have no cars.

Farther up the coast, officials in the county surrounding Corpus Christi planned to begin busing people who have special medical needs inland on Wednesday.

Federal authorities gave assurances they would not check people's immigration status at evacuation loading zones or inland checkpoints. But residents were skeptical, and there were worries that many illegal immigrants would refuse to board buses and go to shelters for fear of getting arrested and deported.

"People are nervous," said the Rev. Michael Seifert, a Roman Catholic priest and immigrant advocate. "The message that was given to me was that it's going to be a real problem."

One reason for the skepticism: Back in May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Border Patrol would do nothing to impede an evacuation in the event of a hurricane. But when Hurricane Dolly struck the Rio Grande Valley in late July, no mandatory evacuation was ordered, and as a result the Border Patrol kept its checkpoints open. Agents soon caught a van load of illegal immigrants.

It would be the first mandatory large-scale evacuation in South Texas history. State and county officials let people decide for themselves whether to leave a hurricane area until just before Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Now county officials can order people out of harm's way.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said if an evacuation is ordered this time, county officials will visit immigrant neighborhoods and forcefully urge people to clear out.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, "there were a lot of immigrants who said, `I'm not going to go,'" said Salinas, the county's top elected official. "It's going to be hard."

In Washington, Rear Adm. W. Craig Vanderwagen, assistant U.S. health secretary for preparedness and response, told reporters: "In storm events, if people are trapped it doesn't particularly matter to those of us in the humanitarian assistance world which side of that border they come from. We will do what we need to do to evacuate the people who need to be evacuated."

At 11 p.m. EDT, Ike was about 120 miles west of Havana, Cuba, moving west-northwest near 9 mph with sustained winds near 80 mph. It was expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening to a Category 3 with winds of up to 130 mph.

Forecasters said that it could hit on Saturday morning just about anywhere along the Texas coast, with the most likely spot close to the Corpus Christi area.

Areas from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi and south to Brownsville — about 250 miles of coastline — were told to prepare for possible mandatory evacuation.

On Tuesday, Ike roared across Cuba, ravaging homes, killing at least four people and forcing 1.2 million to evacuate.

The Rio Grande Valley is still soggy from Dolly, which flooded the region, damaging hundreds of homes but killing no one. Many homes still have blue tarps on their roofs.

The Rio Grande Valley's residents are among those least equipped to handle hurricane flooding. It is one of the poorest parts of the country, with one-third of all families living below the poverty line, compared with 10 percent nationally.

Colonias, or ramshackle communities often lacking sewer systems and paved streets, dot the Valley. Even an ordinary rainstorm can fill yards with disease-ridden sewage from flooded septic tanks. Many of the poor lack health insurance.

Mexican officials said more than a dozen dams in the northern state of Chihuahua were at capacity or spilling over, heightening fears of flooding on the American side of the border.

Gov. Rick Perry declared 88 coastal counties disaster areas Monday to start the flow of state aid, and began preparing for an evacuation, lining up "buses rather than body bags."

The Dallas-Fort Worth area sheltered about 3,000 Hurricane Gustav evacuees last week and is prepared for up to about 20,000 people this time, said Steve Griggs, a county official. The downtown convention center would again serve as the main shelter.

Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan in Washington, April Castro in Austin, Texas, and Jeff Carlton in Dallas contributed to this report.

Video shows border gunman

2008-09-10T07:52:00.004-05:00

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times

Video: A U.S. Border Patrol surveillance camera video shows a man who crossed the border with a rifle he aimed at motorists at about 1 a.m. Sunday on West Paisano Drive west of Downtown El Paso. The man was later caught by Juarez police as he tried to flee. (Courtesy of U.S. Border Patrol)

EL PASO -- A potentially dangerous situation arose Sunday when a man was aiming a rifle at cars on West Paisano Drive after illegally crossing the Rio Grande near Asarco, U.S. Border Patrol officials said Tuesday.

"It looked like he was getting ready to take random shots," Agent Jose Romero, a Border Patrol spokesman, said. "We don't know at who or why."

No shots were fired and no injuries were reported in the incident at about 1 a.m. that was filmed by night-vision cameras on the road along the border just west of Downtown, officials said.

The incident comes as El Paso law enforcement is on heightened alert due to a drug cartel war in Juárez and intelligence that narco-traffickers may go after targets in the United States.

A black-and-white video shows a man crouching, taking aim with a rifle and then making a pumping motion, as done with air rifles. The camera pans to show cars traveling on West Paisano.

Romero said agents blocked the road as a safety precaution and called Juárez police for help. As agents approached, the man retreated to Mexico and tossed the rifle into the river before Juárez police arrived. The rifle was not recovered.

Juárez police arrested Cruz Perez Lara, 47, for being in an unauthorized area, police officials said.

The incident occurred at a hot spot for immigrant and drug crossings.

Smugglers have been known to create diversions, including assaults on agents, for crossing attempts. A bullet-proof glass shield pocked with impact craters stands at a Border Patrol surveillance point.

West Paisano had a dangerous reputation years ago because bandits from Juárez would block the road to rob motorists at night. The banditry stopped due to fencing, lights and more Border Patrol vigilance.

Police lobby Congress for tougher immigration enforcement

2008-09-10T07:39:00.002-05:00

By Jeff McShan / 11 News
Video

HOUSTON -- It was an early Sunday morning in June when Houston Police Officer Gary Gryder was struck and killed by a driver. Hunt Troung drove through a construction barricade.

Gryder's fellow officer Joe Pyland was severely injured in the collision.
It was the second time in two years that an HPD officer died while in duty.

In 2006, Officer Rodney Johnson was gunned down after making a routine traffic stop and arrest.

In both cases, the suspects accused of killing the officers are illegal immigrants.

So, on Tuesday, Johnson's widow, Pyland and Houston's police union president Gary Blankenship flew to Washington. On Thursday – which incidentally will be Sept. 11 – they will testify before a U.S. House judiciary committee on the subject of illegal immigrants.

“And we need some federal funding. We are 1,500 police officers short in Houston,” said Blankenship. “We are certainly in a position where we need to prioritize, but we need to address this problem and we need help from the federal government.”

Critics have long called Houston a sanctuary city, one that does not aggressively enforce immigration laws.

However, since Johnson and Gryder were killed, the police department has taken a more aggressive approach towards illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes in Houston.

Last year HPD arrested about 77,000 people and ran their fingerprints through a national database.

Those searches turned up 111 illegal immigrants who were wanted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials. The illegals were processed and held until immigration officials came to pick them up.

So far this year, 122 illegal immigrants have been identified and picked up by ICE. It is unclear how many of those have actually been deported, though.

The Houston police representatives going to D.C. insist more money will help, but they also plan to tell the federal government that it is just as important to seal the borders first.

Ex-Oak Ridge police chief admits to extortion

2008-09-10T07:34:00.000-05:00

SHERMAN, Texas — A now-former North Texas lawman faces 18 months in prison for demanding money from suspected illegal immigrants to keep them out of jail. The U.S.
Attorney's Office in Sherman says 33-year-old ex-Oak Ridge police chief Michael Todd Lacey pleaded guilty to extortion.

Sentencing is pending for the Cooke County man. Prosecutors say Lacey in 2006, while in uniform and on duty, would stop Hispanic drivers on Highway 82 to determine if they were illegal immigrants.

Lacey would demand money from the motorists, in exchange for not ticketing them for alleged traffic violations or taking them into custody.

A federal grand jury in April indicted Lacey, whose plea agreement was announced late Tuesday.

Oak Ridge is a town of about 245, located 75 miles north of Dallas.