18 gunmen die in attack on two army bases in Mexico

Seven assaults in two northern states take place almost simultaneously, apparently marking a major escalation in Mexico's drug war.

The Associated Press

March 31, 2010

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico

Dozens of gunmen mounted rare and apparently coordinated attacks targeting two army garrisons in northern Mexico, touching off firefights that killed 18 attackers.

The attempts to blockade soldiers inside their bases -- part of seven near-simultaneous attacks across two northern states -- appeared to mark a serious escalation in Mexico's drug war, in which cartel gunmen attacked in unit-size forces armed with bulletproof vehicles, dozens of hand grenades and assault rifles.

While drug gunmen frequently shoot at soldiers on patrol, they seldom target army bases, and even more rarely attack in the force displayed during the confrontations Tuesday in the border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon -- areas that have seen a surge of bloodshed in recent months.

The violence mainly involves a fight between the Gulf cartel and its former allies, the Zetas, a gang of hit men. The cartel -- which has apparently formed an alliance with other cartels seeking to exterminate the Zetas -- has been warning people in the region with a series of banners and e-mails that the conflict would get worse over the next two to three months.

Gunmen staged seven separate attacks on the army, including three blockades, Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas said Wednesday. He called the attacks "desperate reactions by criminal gangs to the progress being made by federal authorities" against Mexico's drug cartels.

Villegas said gunmen parked trucks and SUVs outside a military base in the border city of Reynosa trying to block troops from leaving, sparking a gun battle with soldiers. At the same time, gunmen blocked several streets leading to a garrison in the nearby border city of Matamoros.

Another gang of armed men opened fire from several vehicles on soldiers guarding a federal highway in General Bravo, in Nuevo Leon state.

Troops fought back, killing 18 gunmen, wounding two and detaining seven more suspects. One soldier suffered slight injuries.

Soldiers also seized 54 rifles, 61 hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, eight homemade explosive devices and six bulletproof vehicles used by the attackers.

Mexico's northern states are under siege from the escalating violence involving drug gangs.

The U.S. consulate in the northern city of Monterrey warned American citizens who may be traveling for Easter week about recent battles in the states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Durango. The consulate said U.S. citizens traveling by road from Monterrey to Texas "should be especially vigilant."

One of the clashes between soldiers and gunmen killed two gunmen on the highway connecting Monterrey and Reynosa, which is across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Less than two hours before that shootout, Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina had assured citizens that authorities regained control over the state's highways.

"I've found the highways calm. We ask that if citizens have plans to go out and enjoy these vacations, they should do so," Medina said.

Also on Wednesday, authorities in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco announced that the nephew of one of Mexico's most-wanted drug gang leaders was captured, together with a police chief accused of protecting a notorious cartel in a key port city.

Federal police detained Roberto Rivero Arana, who identified himself as the nephew of reputed Zetas gang leader Heriberto Lazcano, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

He was arrested along with Daniel Perez, the acting police chief of Ciudad del Carmen, an oil hub in neighboring Campeche state. The statement alleged Perez received 200,000 pesos ($16,000) a month for protecting the Zetas.

The arrests come as the Zetas are under pressure from a bloody turf war with their former ally, the Gulf cartel. Authorities blame that fight for contributing to a surge of violence in Mexico's northeastern border states north of Tabasco and Campeche.

Perez was acting chief pending a permanent appointment, Ciudad del Carmen Mayor Aracely Escalante said Wednesday.

"He's an agent who had been with the police force long before we took over the town government," Escalante said. "We had given him our trust."

The two men were found with 10 assault rifles, a grenade, ammunition, drugs, police uniforms and worker suits with the logo of Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, the Attorney General's Office said.

Last week, Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier warned that the arrests of several suspected Zetas over the past several months could stoke turf battles in his region. He asked the federal government to send troops.

Meanwhile, the Mexican government announced that federal police will take over the anti-crime campaign currently headed by the army in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The army deployment has come under criticism from those who say soldiers are not trained for police work, and complaints they conducted illegal searches and detentions. But perhaps more important is the fact that killings have continued apace, even with troops in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas.

An unspecified number of soldiers will remain in Juarez to help combat drug gang violence that killed more than 2,600 people last year, and 500 more so far this year in the city of 1.3 million.

Starting Thursday, "the Mexican army will start gradually transferring responsibility for public safety to civilian authorities, to federal authorities at the beginning and gradually to state and local" forces, the Interior Department said in a news release.

The statement said 1,000 federal officers will be added to the police deployment in the city, bringing the number of federal agents to 4,500.

More than 7,000 troops had arrived in Juarez by mid-2009.

The department said the change was part of a new strategy to focus on social programs as an answer to the continuing violence.

Elsewhere, four severed human heads were found early Wednesday in Apatzingan, a town in the western state of Michoacan. Residents found the heads, with eyes still blindfolded, lined up at the foot of a monument along with a threatening message, state prosecutors said.

In Morelia, the Michoacan state capital, police reported finding the bodies of three young men who had been shot to death. The bodies had messages stuck to their chests with knives, The contents of the messages were not released.

Police in the border city of Nogales reported finding the bullet-ridden bodies of three men, including a city transport official, on a rural road along with three burned-out vehicles.

Wednesday marked the beginning of Mexico's Easter Week vacation, and police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero reported that gunmen had held up two motorists on the highway leading to the resort of Acapulco. The gunmen stole the victims' vehicles, but they were not injured.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-mexico-army1-2010apr01,0,7495388,print.story

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Eight not-guilty pleas in Christian militia case

A ninth suspected Hutaree member is denied bond and ordered transferred to Detroit for arraignment.

Times Wire Services

April 1, 2010

Detroit

Not-guilty pleas were entered here Wednesday on behalf of eight of nine members of a Christian militia that prosecutors say plotted to kill police officers and kick-start a violent revolution.

The eight, including alleged ringleader David Brian Stone, 45, were among nine members of the Hutaree militia arrested after a series of raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio over the weekend. They face charges including seditious conspiracy and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

An undercover FBI agent and a cooperating witness were part of the inquiry, a court document said.

At a hearing for the ninth man in Indiana, prosecutors said 46 guns, military survival equipment and thousands of rounds of ammunition had been seized at the home of Thomas Piatek, 46.

A federal prosecutor outlined details of the Hutaree's training and inner workings during the detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Hammond, where a magistrate denied bond and ordered Piatek sent to Detroit for arraignment.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Dean Lanter told the court that Piatek was part of the "inner circle" of Hutaree and had participated in three training sessions for firearms and bomb-making in Michigan. He was identified in a picture of Hutaree members wearing camouflage and holding guns, Lanter said.

Piatek also was invited to attend a trip to Kentucky for a "militia summit" in February, Lanter said. The trip was cut short because of a snowstorm, but federal officials played an audiotape of conversations in the van during the trip, which included Stone professing his hatred of law enforcement.

Federal officials described the Hutaree as a group based in Lenawee County, Mich., that planned to fake a 911 call and kill the responding officer. Members of the group then planned to attack other officers at his funeral with improvised explosive devices, officials said.

But Piatek's friends and family, including his older brother, Stan, testified that he would never participate in violent acts against the government. They said he was a good-natured man and the primary caregiver for his schizophrenic brother.

Friends said guns were his lifelong hobby.

Lanter noted that the guns were all legally obtained, but said that the volume, type and other evidence pointed to a nefarious intention.

"This is not a collector," he said. "Nothing about that makes sense as a hobby. He is a danger to society."

Friends and family said that Piatek never expressed extreme anti-government views and that he often talked about his activities in Michigan, describing them as "playing army."

"I knew he went up there and played army, but I didn't know anything about the overthrowing of government," said a childhood friend, James Duha.

Piatek's attorney said his client is not guilty.

"Just because he hangs out with those guys doesn't mean he agrees with all of their views," Jerry Flynn said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-militia1-2010apr01,0,2241161,print.story

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A Nigeria 'Taliban' leader tells of a desire to fight the U.S.

The rebel group in Nigeria's Muslim north engaged in deadly clashes with security forces last year. It has gone underground and wants to shift its focus away from domestic targets, one of its leaders says.

April 1, 2010

Reporting from Maiduguri, Nigeria - Nigeria's "Taliban," named for its heroes in a far-off land, could provide willing recruits for attacks on American targets, one of the group's leaders boasted in a rare interview that had the trappings of a spy novel.

With equal parts bluster and chilling resolve, the slight 30-year-old explained why the militant Islamic group that set up its own "Afghanistan" base in northern Nigeria wants to shift its focus from domestic targets.

"The U.S. is the major target because it's the major aggressor against Muslims throughout the world," said the young man, who wore a bottle-green caftan and gave his name only as Musa. "America is the main aggressor, and I believe all these attacks against America are divine worship."

He gazed straight ahead as he spoke, never meeting the eyes of his interviewer.

"They are fighting Islam and we will also fight them, if we get the chance," he said.

The Nigerian Taliban has been regarded as a bit player in the jostling field of Islamic extremism, unlikely to pose a threat to Europe and the Americas. This West African nation, however, came under renewed scrutiny after a young Nigerian man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to detonate explosives concealed in his underpants on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.

The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has no relationship with the Nigerian Taliban, but his arrest initially raised fear of Al Qaeda activity in Africa's most populous country.

Musa said the Nigerian Taliban identified with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, but that it received ideological support from them, not financial. (Family members say the group raised substantial funds by having followers sell all their "sinful" possessions: furniture, vehicles, even the tools of their trades.)

"The only assistance we have received is ideological. The ideology is coming from there," said Musa, who was not specific on whether it was direct or indirect support.

"As far as we are concerned, the best assistance we can get is ideology."

Richard Moncrieff, West Africa analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank, said that though the Nigerian Taliban had a domestic goal when it formed, it could be drawn into global Islamist militancy.

The group "came from failings of the Nigerian state," Moncrieff said.

"That's its origin. It was not originally about international jihad. But the possibility of it, or bits of it, being turned toward international jihad is real," he said.

He also said there was a strong risk the Taliban and its grievances could be picked up by groups wanting to make the conflict international and indoctrinate the rebels in the belief that Nigeria's problems were part of a global clash between Christians and Muslims.

"There's a potential for that in northern Nigeria. I think there's a risk of it going that way."

The group mounted major attacks in four northern Nigerian states in July but was soon crushed by security forces. When the fighting stopped, 700 people were believed to have been killed, including the group's leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Human rights groups say his killing appeared to be an execution by security forces, who said he was shot while escaping.

After that defeat, the group split into cells and went underground, adopting an Al Qaeda-style structure that some fear will increase the likelihood of attacks.

A pool of recruits

The unemployment rate in northern Nigeria is high, and even educated people are often forced into menial work as traders, creating a vast pool of angry, alienated potential recruits, said analyst Haruna Wakili, a professor at Bayero University in Kano who has studied the organization.

"They're underground, they're everywhere, in every northern state. And they're armed," he said.

Musa, the young leader, said the group's setback was a "blessing" because its new underground operations had given it invisibility and freedom. "Before, we were living in a group in the community where the government was watching us and felt we were a threat. Now that we've dispersed we can conduct our activities without any monitoring or any surveillance."

Musa was highly conscious of security when meeting a foreign journalist in March at a park in a northern city.

The reporter arrived with a go-between, waiting while the Taliban leaders, still out of sight, watched to make sure no one was following. The reporter was led for 10 minutes through the park, at one point passing a group of men. Three men began following. Shortly after, the interview took place on a park bench.

Musa looked askance when The Times began posing questions about the group's defeat last summer and its foreign links.

"I'm getting to that," he said, with a tone of disapproval.

A woman's story

The Nigerian Taliban is so secretive that there was little information about it even before the group went underground. But one woman tells the story of how her husband, "an ordinary man," was drawn into the rebellion.

Hafsat Hassan said that 2 1/2 years ago, her husband, Al Amin Mohammad, grew an unkempt beard, banned his family from watching television or listening to radio and declared furniture a sin, selling every piece of it.

Then he pulled the children out of school. He took to wearing a turban, forbade his wife to go out, and finally gave up his work as a street trader.

"He would not allow me to go out," she said. "He said it was against Islamic values."

He spoke enthusiastically about Bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban for defending Islam against U.S. aggression. His face lighted up when he talked about the coming holy struggle to spread Islam across this religiously divided country. And he brought six guns home.

The last time Hassan saw her 38-year-old husband was about midnight on a Friday in July as he hurried out the door of their Maiduguri house with a sack of homemade bombs and a bag of rifles.

Weeping, she begged him not to leave her and the six children. He ignored her protests. (He always did.)

"He said, 'If we are victorious, we will come back, but if we are killed, that's it. Let's forgive each other and bid farewell.' "

Reacting to attacks

Musa spoke in a low, soft voice, saying the group had been misunderstood and had never sought violence. It was just reacting to attacks on Islam and extrajudicial killings of Muslims by Nigerian security forces.

"Islam is the most peaceful religion in the world, despite all that's happening," he said.

Referring to his group's defeats last year, he said, "We are not saddened by what happened. Each death has been decreed by God, and you cannot add an extra moment to what has been decreed by God."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nigeria-taliban1-2010apr01,0,2841184,full.story

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Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants released after long detention

Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants who spent years in detention facilities after completing their sentences for assault convictions were released Wednesday by U.S. immigration authorities, officials said.

Jose Franco-Gonzalez, 29, of Costa Mesa and Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez, 48, of San Bernardino each spent more than four years in detention facilities because authorities had deemed them mentally incompetent, their attorneys said.

Their deportation cases were suspended in 2005 and 2006 and not reopened for years. The men were then shuttled through a network of jails, psychiatric hospitals and detention centers.

“We're very pleased [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] reached this decision, but it's a shame it takes a federal lawsuit to do the right thing and come to a common-sense result,” said attorney Talia Inlender of Public Counsel, one of a coalition of legal advocates that filed lawsuits on the men's behalf last week in federal court.

The lawsuits allege that the men's prolonged detention violated their constitutional rights. Their release came a day after The Times published a story about their cases. 

An ICE official said that after a review of the men's custody status and medical conditions and assurances from their families that the men would be safe and secure, the agency determined that the two immigrants should be released.

Both will be placed on electronic monitoring and will be provided with treatment in community health centers. They could still be deported.

“We have waited five years for this moment,” Ruben Franco, Jose Franco's brother, said in a statement. “This was such a long struggle that nobody should have to go through.”

Franco's family -- his parents are legal residents -- has a pending petition that would allow him to apply for a green card. He has moderate mental retardation. Gomez is a legal resident diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Franco was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and served a year in jail for throwing a rock during a fight between rival gangs, his attorneys said.

Gomez served one year of a two-year sentence for a 2004 assault conviction stemming from a scuffle over tomatoes he picked without permission.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/two-mentally-disabled-mexican-immigrants-released-after-prolonged-stays-in-detention-facilities-.html#more

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From the Daily News

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State freeing some violent inmates

SACRAMENTO — Inmates convicted of violent crimes are among those being freed early from California jails to save money, despite lawmakers' promises that they would exclude most dangerous prisoners and sex offenders.

An Associated Press review of inmate data shows that some of the freed criminals were convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, battery, domestic violence, and attacks on children and the elderly.

The early release program specifically forbids authorities from freeing prisoners convicted of about 150 crimes such as rape and murder. But any offense that is not specifically listed qualifies for release, and individual counties can then decide who gets out.

"This bill not only theoretically will result in a public safety catastrophe, it already has," said Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu, an outspoken opponent of the system who is running for attorney general. He wants to expand the list of excluded crimes.

The release of violent offenders does not technically violate the law, but it runs counter to lawmakers' promises about the plan when it was adopted.

Legislators approved the early release program last year as a way to cut costs and reduce crowding in state prisons and county jails.

At the time, both the Democratic Assembly Speaker, Karen Bass, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described the measure as a reform that would protect public safety while saving as much as $1 billion. Both denied that it even contained early release provisions.

But when the law took effect in January, the release of hundreds of inmates from local jails drew a swift backlash, especially after an inmate freed under the law was arrested within a day on suspicion of attempting to rape a female counselor. The Sacramento County inmate had been jailed for a probation violation, but his underlying offense was assault with a deadly weapon.

During the first few weeks of the early release program, more than 1,800 jail inmates were released statewide before they had served their full sentences, according to the California State Sheriffs' Association. Hundreds more have been freed since then, although the association has stopped keeping track.

California is not the only state to seek savings in early releases. New or expanded release programs began last year in a dozen other states: Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Gov. Pat Quinn suspended Illinois' program in December after the AP found hundreds of inmates were being released too early. About 200 of the paroled inmates were returned to prison within the first four months of the program because of violations.

In California, the AP used public-records requests to obtain lists of inmates who had been freed from several of the state's most populous counties. The lists were then cross-referenced with inmates' offenses.

Three of those counties - Alameda, Orange and San Bernardino - account for roughly 15 percent of the state prison population. The lists covered the first 2 weeks of the early release program, which started Jan. 25.

In Orange County, about 8 percent of the 278 inmates released early had been serving time for crimes that included assault, battery, corporal injury to a spouse, inflicting injury on a child, cruelty to a child, domestic violence, resisting arrest and possession of a switchblade.

In Alameda County, 15 percent of the 87 inmates released early had been sentenced for those crimes and others, including carrying concealed or loaded guns, attempting to take a gun from a police officer and displaying a gun in a threatening manner.

San Bernardino County provided jail records for 642 inmates released under the new law. The AP used booking numbers to link a 10 percent sample to court records. Of that sample, 29 percent had been convicted of crimes considered violent or threatening, from domestic violence and weapons charges to stalking and injury to an elder.

Los Angeles County, which has the largest population of jail inmates, has not granted any early releases under the law, although it has recently begun freeing inmates because it is running out of space.

At state prisons, corrections officials expect to save $500 million by granting early release to about 6,500 inmates this year. Most of those releases will not begin until later this year.

The law did not provide direction to county jails about how to evaluate inmates who qualify for early release.

"Some are no-brainers," said Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson. With others, "It's a slippery slope. Sometimes you have an attempted rape, but it's pleaded down to a misdemeanor. So now you're going to let that guy out early?"

Lieu wants to amend the law to exclude many of the crimes identified in the AP's research, as well as offenses such as solicitation to commit murder, various hate crimes and child abduction.

After the attempted rape arrest in Sacramento County, the Legislature also began considering amendments to the law, including a proposal to exclude county jails entirely from the early releases.

Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, a Democrat from Fremont who helped write the law and also is running for attorney general, said it was never supposed to apply to counties. When it passed in September, he praised the legislation as "a smart reform package."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14796585

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Earl Ofari Hutchinson: How many dead children will it take before reform?

HOW many more children must die under the supposed protective watch of the Department of Child and Family Services before the L.A. County Board of Supervisors says enough is enough?

The supervisors must get the big broom out and do a total top to bottom housecleaning of management and personnel for a full sweep of the grossly dysfunctional agency. It should start with the resignation or the dismissal of DCFS Director Trish Ploehn.

The long and well-documented list of agency sins could fill a book. The sad story is filled with countless reports, investigative articles and audits that fault the DCFS for failing to follow up on abuse complaints, poor to nonexistent record keeping, caseworker inertia and even indifference, bungled investigations, territorial squabbles and mismanagement. This has created a nightmarish climate for dozens of at-risk children in the care of the agency.

The grotesque numbers of children who have been put in harm's way as a result tells the sorry tale. In 2008, 14 children in L.A. County died as a result of neglect, abuse and maltreatment. Last year it increased to 17 deaths.

One victim, 2-year-old Viola Vanclief, was reportedly beaten to death with a hammer under dubious circumstances. Her death was followed in close order by the beating death of 2-year-old Deandre Fitzgerald Green.

DCFS can't slough off Green's death off with the traditional dodge that it was a communication breakdown, solely the fault of an inept, indifferent caseworker or a bureaucratic snafu. A Green family member screamed loudly - twice - to DCFS and Hawthorne police that Green was being abused. DCFS officials did nothing.

As in the past, the deaths of Vanclief and Green stirred public outrage. That in turn stirred the usual response: public saber rattling by the supervisors that they'll get to the bottom of things, followed by their pledging a big agency overhaul.

The supervisors promise that they'll demand better reporting, timely case follow-up, tighter management accountability and more thorough medical examinations of child abuse victims. The proposals sound good, but these promises have been made repeatedly. The dozens of child victims still paid a terrible price for the reform promises.

DCFS officials use the same template every time a child death occurs and ignites a loud public outcry. They shout that they are hamstrung by too little money and too little personnel, and that the public doesn't give them credit for providing a safe haven for thousands of children. These are weak, self-serving arguments that don't explain why children keep dying on their watch or why, in the deaths of Vanclief, Green and Daevon Bailey, who was beaten to death last August, the agency had reports about their abuse that were either lost in the agency pile or ignored.

In the business world, when the management of a company screws up, heads quickly roll. In this case we're not talking about a drop in stock prices or a company's earnings losses. We're talking about the loss of lives, at-risk-children's lives.

The removal of Ploehn and others in child and family services management will not absolve the supervisors of their responsibility to totally overhaul the operations of child services. But it will send a strong signal to whomever replaces them that a child's death - any child's death - on their watch is unacceptable and that they will be held strictly accountable to see that that doesn't happen. If it does, there will be immediate and dire consequences.

Unfortunately, the supervisors haven't given the slightest indication that they are even willing to go that far. Thus the tormenting question: How many children must die before the supervisors finally say enough is enough and get out the broom?

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14796036

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Wiretap by U.S. Illegal, Judge Says

A federal judge ruled that the government illegally wiretapped communications between an Islamic charity and its U.S. lawyers, rebuffing the Obama administration's efforts to stop a lawsuit over the case by claiming state secrets.

Wednesday's ruling challenges the legality of the Bush administration's now-defunct Terrorist Surveillance Program and could open the way for plaintiffs to seek damages from the government for violating restrictions outlined in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The case stems from a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Oregon branch of the Saudi al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, since closed, and two of its lawyers, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor.

The plaintiffs learned they were being wiretapped by the National Security Agency when the government accidentally turned over to them logs of intercepted calls.

The government demanded the logs be returned, and under the judge's orders, lawyers weren't allowed to use the content of the classified documents in their lawsuit against the government.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, chief judge of the northern California district, said the plaintiffs had established "aggrieved person" status and shown that "they were subjected to warrantless domestic national security surveillance."

The case puts the Obama administration in a bind, trying to shield a program of which President Barack Obama himself previously had been critical.

At the same time, the administration must defend the government from other possible claims that could arise from the surveillance program.

The Obama administration tried to block the al-Haramain case, claiming that allowing it to continue would potentially expose intelligence methods. The Bush administration had made similar arguments.

The judge rejected the government's attempt to use its state secrets privilege, saying that in this case the FISA law trumped the state secrets claim.

The Justice Department said Wednesday it was reviewing the judge's ruling and noted that the Obama administration had set new policies on the use of state secrets, aiming to use the privilege only sparingly and in important national-security matters. The department is likely to appeal.

"The attorney general has instituted key reforms to the department's state secrets policy to strike an appropriate balance between rebuilding the public's trust in the government's use of this privilege while recognizing the imperative need to protect national security," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.

Jon Eisenberg, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients would review their options, which he had previously told the court included seeking damages in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Mr. Eisenberg said he believed his clients had proof of at least 202 days of surveillance. The law allows penalties of $100 a day per violation per person, plus additional punitive damages.

"There's not a lot of money here but this case isn't about recovering money," Mr. Eisenberg said. "It's about presidential power. Kings, monarchs are above the law, not United States presidents; they don't have the freedom to ignore the act of Congress."

Companies that conducted the wiretapping on the government's behalf are shielded from lawsuits under an update to the FISA law passed by Congress last year.

The update, which President Barack Obama voted for as a senator, also included expanded powers for the government to conduct wiretaps without a warrant, incorporating some elements of the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575156164201126200.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5#printMode

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Truck, Bus Drivers Face Texting Ban

WASHINGTON—The Transportation Department on Wednesday proposed a ban on text messaging at the wheel by interstate truck and bus drivers, following up on its call to reduce distractions that lead to crashes.

The proposal would make permanent an interim ban announced in January by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, applying to drivers of buses and commercial trucks over 10,000 pounds. The drivers could face civil or criminal penalties.

The proposal "keeps our commitment to making our roads safer by reducing the threat of distracted driving," Mr. LaHood said.

As navigation systems, cellphones and mobile electronics have become ubiquitous in cars and trucks, safety advocates and the government have pushed for restrictions. The Transportation Department reports that 5,870 people were killed and 515,000 injured in 2008 in crashes connected to driver distraction, often involving mobile devices or cellphones.

Trucking and bus industry officials support the texting ban and many companies already have policies in place against texting behind the wheel. The government prohibition doesn't apply to onboard devices that allow dispatchers to send text messages to truck drivers, but industry officials say most of the devices have mechanisms preventing their use while a truck is moving.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia already prohibit all drivers from texting behind the wheel, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Another nine states restrict texting by novice drivers.

The government, industry and safety organizations have found common ground on texting and driving, concerned that typing out a message on a mobile device can take a driver's eyes off the road for a dangerous number of seconds.

Research by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shows that drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every six seconds while texting. At 55 miles per hour, that means the driver is traveling the length of a football field without looking at the road.

Texting has grown exponentially in recent years and become a favorite form of communication among teens. The wireless industry association CTIA reported that the number of text messages sent by its members' customers increased from 32.6 billion in the first six months of 2005 to 740 billion in the first six months of 2009.

John Walls, a CTIA spokesman, said the group supports a ban on texting for all drivers: "Those are two completely incompatible behaviors—texting and safe driving."

The public has until May 3 to comment on the Transportation Department's proposed ban, and after reviewing comments the department can issue its new rule.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing federal employees not to use text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles or with government-owned equipment, effective at the end of last year.

Congress has also shown interest in curbing distracted driving. Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey have introduced legislation to urge states to pass laws banning texting by all drivers. The bill would reduce federal highway aid by 25% to states that fail to enact bans.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575156120709552714.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5#printMode

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From the New York Times

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Militia Draws Distinctions Between Groups

ADRIAN, Mich. — The Stone family, and the fiercely militant Christian group that revolved around them at a ramshackle homestead outside of town here, were best known by their neighbors for their active use of guns and their increasingly heated talk about fighting back violently against the government.

But their biggest and most surprising adversary was practically next door: the local branch of the Michigan Militia.

From a distance, the two might seem like peas in a pod: both wear fatigues or camouflage, train in the woods with heavy weaponry and believe in threats to liberty from Washington.

But here on the ground the distinctions were crucial. The Michigan Militia, which in past years had links to extremist groups with neo-Nazi flavorings, has moderated over the years, according to members and experts who track the organizations. Meanwhile, the Hutaree (pronounced Hu-TAR-ay), as the Stone group was called, was going the other direction, with increasing talk of violence.

The crucial moment of that tension came Saturday night when one of the Stone family members — desperate and on the run from the law — called the local militia commander, Matt Savino, and begged for help in getting guns or shelter. Mr. Savino offered neither, not only refusing to help but in fact calling the State Police, who passed the call to the F.B.I.

“This was a new situation for us, and we did what we thought was right,” Mr. Savino said.

Led by a former high school marching band member, nine people in the Hutaree group have been arrested in raids since Saturday, linked to what federal law enforcement officials said was a plot to kill a police officer and then foment violence at the ensuing funeral. Eight pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in Detroit on Wednesday.

The decision to help the police corner the Hutaree — though Mr. Savino said he was not sure his tip made any difference — has drawn flak from some other militia members in Michigan and around the country, but Mr. Savino remains comfortable with his call.

“Some people have said, ‘Those are your brothers,' stuff like that,” said Mr. Savino, 34, a former assistant manager at a GNC nutrition and health products store, who is currently unemployed. “The problem is, most of those people aren't here, they don't know those people, and they don't know what that group is.”

A spokeswoman for the F.B.I. in Detroit, Sandra R. Berchtold, confirmed that agents spoke to Mr. Savino, but she declined to say what sort of information he provided.

The context of Hutaree life in and around Adrian, where guns and resentment of federal authority is fairly common, is crucial to understanding the Hutaree and the Stones, many people in the area say. Yes, they shot guns, did skirmish exercises on their land and hosted regular monthly meetings of people in militaristic clothing, said one neighbor. But they also kept to themselves, and their talk was deemed by many people to be just that.

“We never thought they were dangerous,” said Jane Ream, 68, who lives just up the road with her husband, Dick. “And lots of people shoot guns — that's normal around here so you don't pay any attention to it.”

Several people who have known the Stones for years said they were unsure what, if anything, might have transformed angry rhetoric into what the indictment released on Monday by the Department of Justice on Monday called an active conspiracy against law enforcement.

The retired principal at the school that David B. Stone Sr., 45, the patriarch and leader of the group, attended in this town of 21,000 people about 60 miles southwest of Detroit, remembered the young Mr. Stone as a child who “stayed in the middle and didn't get noticed,” or in trouble either.

The principal, Richard G. Butler, 79, who worked his whole career in Adrian schools, said Mr. Stone — pictured in a yearbook in the early 1980s with short hair and a flamboyant vest — loved motorcycle dirt bikes and played in the band all through high school, marching on the field and playing on stage as well.

Squinting at an old yearbook on a recent evening here on his porch overlooking the woods, Mr. Butler could not remember what instrument Mr. Stone played, and the band picture did not help since the young man stood in the back. But never, he added, did Mr. Stone seem like a person headed for trouble.

“Whatever happened to him happened after high school,” Mr. Butler said.

The Michigan Militia also changed over the years, Mr. Savino and other militia members said, especially since the early 1990s, when the name became associated with an earlier wave of antigovernment angst after the election of President Bill Clinton , a Democrat, in 1992.

Some militia groups in Michigan then had a strain of vehement anti-Semitism, in particular, that has mostly faded over the years as more radical members left, said Mark Potok, who tracks extremist groups at the Southern Poverty Law Center . People like Mr. Savino and his father, Jim Gulliksen, who is the local chapter's chief executive officer — and like his son, a Navy veteran — said they have worked since then to distinguish the group from its past. Estimates of statewide Michigan militia membership range from several hundred people to 500 or more.

“My goal is to get the militia name clean,” said Mr. Gulliksen, 60, who works as a manager in the paint and hardware department at the local Wal-Mart.

The strict Christian dogma espoused by the Hutaree does not fly as well these days either, at least in Adrian militia circles. Mr. Savino said that he converted to Islam in the late 1990s after a soul-searching separation from the Lutheran faith he had grown up with, and that he believed that he was the only Muslim in the militia.

But people across the militia world, and people like Mr. Potok who study it, agree that anxiety within that world is rising — from economic frustrations growing out of the recession, or fear of the Democratic Party leadership in Washington, or both — and that small, outlier groups like the Hutaree are probably the ones to keep on eye on.

One longtime friend of the Stones who also got a call for help last weekend from a Hutaree leader did say yes.

The friend, Robert C. M. Dudley, 80, said he met Mr. Stone 10 or 15 years ago at a weekly dinner for people to talk about “what's wrong with the country.”

When Mr. Stone's son Joshua knocked on Mr. Dudley's door on Saturday night, seeking help, Mr. Dudley said he let him and the group of people he was with sleep in their van. But he said he thought it wise not to ask too many questions. “I figured it was none of my business,” he said.

Joshua Stone was ultimately tracked to the property and arrested on Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01michigan.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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U.S. Agent Infiltrated Militia, Lawyer Says

DETROIT — An undercover federal agent attended training exercises with the Hutaree militia for at least eight months before nine members of the militant Christian group were arrested last weekend and charged with plotting an uprising against the government, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The militia's leader, David B. Stone Sr., asked the agent to provide explosives that could be used to attack police officers and instructed him to make armor-piercing bombs using pieces of road signs as shrapnel, an assistant United States attorney, Ronald Waterstreet, said at a hearing Wednesday.

Citing the agent's reports and audio recordings of militia members, Mr. Waterstreet described the militia as a relatively small group of weapons fanatics planning to wage a war against the government and all law enforcement officers, as well as their spouses and children. Mr. Stone wanted to eventually own his own country and had assembled two nine-member squads, led by himself and his son Joshua, to begin by taking over several southern Michigan counties, Mr. Waterstreet said.

The authorities who searched Mr. Stone's ramshackle trailer, which his lawyer estimated was worth $500, seized 300 pieces of evidence, including explosive materials, bomb-making components and shrapnel, Mr. Waterstreet said.

In a recording played during the hearing, Mr. Stone described the government as a “terrorist organization” and told his followers, “Now is the time to strike and take our nation back.” The comments were part of a speech Mr. Stone planned to deliver during a meeting with other militias in Kentucky in February, before a winter storm forced the group to turn back in Indiana, Mr. Waterstreet said.

On the way back to Mr. Stone's home in Clayton, Mich., he spotted a police officer from a nearby town and said, “We're going to pop him, guaranteed,” Mr. Waterstreet said.

Joshua Stone, who was arrested Monday after fleeing to a neighboring county, pleaded not guilty at the hearing. The seven other defendants being held in Michigan stood mute and had not-guilty pleas entered on their behalf. Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer is expected to determine Thursday whether they can be released on bond.

A ninth defendant, Thomas Piatek, appeared in an Indiana court Wednesday and was ordered held without bond. Mr. Piatek is scheduled to be transferred to Michigan within about 10 days.

The defendants' lawyers said they were angry Wednesday that prosecutors presented their case without allowing them to cross-examine the undercover agent. They argued that the defendants, most of whom have no criminal records, have a First Amendment right to criticize the government and did not act violently against anyone.

“All you've got is a lot of talk from people who like to dress up in fatigues and carry around guns in the woods,” said Michael Rataj, the lawyer for Tina Stone, David Stone's wife.

Mr. Waterstreet said the agent won the group's trust to the point that the agent, whose identity was not released, was present at the weddings of David and Tina Stone in December and Joshua Stone in March. The men wore camouflage to the ceremonies and discussed plans to obtain explosives with the agent at the events, Mr. Waterstreet said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01militia.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Rushed From Haiti, Then Jailed for Lacking Visas

More than two months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti , at least 30 survivors who were waved onto planes by Marines in the chaotic aftermath are prisoners of the United States immigration system, locked up since their arrival in detention centers in Florida.

In Haiti, some were pulled from the rubble, their legal advocates say. Some lost parents, siblings or children. Many were seeking food, safety or medical care at the Port-au-Prince airport when terrifying aftershocks prompted hasty evacuations by military transports, with no time for immigration processing. None have criminal histories.

But when they landed in the United States without visas, they were taken into custody by immigration authorities and held for deportation, even though deportations to Haiti have been suspended indefinitely since the earthquake. Legal advocates who stumbled on the survivors in February at the Broward County Transitional Center, a privately operated immigration jail in Pompano Beach, Fla., have tried for weeks to persuade government officials to release them to citizen relatives who are eager to take them in, letters and affidavits show.

Meanwhile, the detainees have received little or no mental health care for the trauma they suffered, lawyers at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center said, despite an offer of free treatment at the jail by a local Creole-speaking psychotherapist.

Their plight is a result of the scramble to cope quickly with the immigration consequences of the quake's destruction and death toll. Some Haitians who arrived without papers were handed tourist visas, only to find that status barred them from working; the more fortunate received humanitarian parole, an open-ended status that permits employment. Those already in the country illegally were allowed to apply for temporary protected status, which shields recipients from deportation for at least 18 months and lets them work.

Almost at random, it seems, immigration jail was the ad hoc solution for these 30 survivors and for others still hidden in pockets of the nation's sprawling detention network. Some of the 30 have already been transferred to more remote immigration jails without explanation.

On Wednesday, after inquiries by The New York Times, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 30 Florida detainees were “being processed for release,” and that 35 others who had arrived since the Jan. 12 earthquake, some by boat, were also being held in detention centers around the country.

“In order to mitigate the probability that Haitians may attempt to make a potentially deadly journey to the U.S., we clearly articulated that those who traveled to the U.S. illegally after Jan. 12 may be arrested, detained and placed in removal proceedings,” the spokesman, Brian P. Hale, said in a statement. He added that Nina Dozoretz, acting director of the agency's Division of Immigration Health Services, had just approved counseling by the volunteer psychotherapist.

Advocates for the detainees said they had been told for weeks that deportation officers in Florida were waiting for senior officials in Washington to set a policy for the group. Most were ordered deported in February, but are eligible for release under an order of supervision until deportations resume.

“Their prolonged and unnecessary detention is only exacerbating their trauma,” the advocates wrote to the agency on March 19, after receiving no response to detailed, individual requests for release by two dozen of the detainees. “There is no reason to spend taxpayer dollars detaining traumatized earthquake survivors who cannot be deported and who have demonstrated that they are neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.”

The government's actions have been especially bewildering for the survivors' relatives, like Virgile Ulysse, 69, an American citizen who keeps an Obama poster on his kitchen wall in Norwalk, Conn. Mr. Ulysse said he could not explain to his nephews, Jackson, 20, and Reagan, 25, why they were brought to the United States on a military plane only to be jailed at the Broward center when they arrived in Orlando on Jan. 19.

“Every time I called immigration, they told me they will release them in two or three weeks, and now it's almost three months,” said Mr. Ulysse, a retired carpenter and architectural designer who said he had always warned his relatives in Haiti not to come illegally on boats, but to wait for a green light from the United States.

On March 11, Reagan was abruptly transferred, and for days his younger brother did not know where he was. It turned out he had been taken to the Baker County jail, in Macclenny, Fla., six hours away. On Tuesday evening, a paralegal found him there in shackles, about to be transferred again; guards, following government protocol, would not say where.

“His brother is far away — he's waiting, waiting,” Mr. Ulysse said of Jackson. “He started to cry on the phone. It's very terrible.”

Jackson, who was trapped in the collapse of his family's apartment building in the quake, and pulled from under cinderblock by a cousin, lost many relatives in the destruction. His formal request for release, dated March 12, describes how even the sound of someone on the jail stairs makes him fear another earthquake and worry that because he is locked up, he will be unable to escape.

The jailed survivors' requests for release, prepared with help from law students volunteering on spring break, detail a variety of circumstances that led them to board the airplanes.

One man who was in a taxi when the earthquake hit was later placed on a military plane to Miami by a doctor from Texas who had treated him for severe back and leg injuries. He left the plane in a wheelchair.

Mike Kenson Delva, 21, asked a Marine for a job and was assigned to help board a young boy whose leg had been amputated, along with the boy's wheelchair-bound mother. Suddenly, the plane took off.

“That's my little nephew, my brother's son,” said his uncle, Reymond Joseph, 46, an American citizen and a supervisor with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles, who is ready to take care of him.

Another jailed survivor is Lunva Charles, 25, who hopes to be reunited with her 3-year-old son and his father, Paul Herver Sanon, legal permanent residents living with his parents in Irvington, N.J.

“I want to marry her, she wants to marry me,” Mr. Sanon, who works in a nursing home, said in French on Tuesday. “She's sad, she's so sad, she wants to see her child.”

The youngest detainee, Eventz Jean-Baptiste, 18, has no parents. “He is now responsible for his two younger brothers, who are homeless and living in a tent city in Port-au-Prince,” Charu Newhouse al-Sahli, the statewide director of the advocacy center, wrote in urging his release to his aunt and uncle in Coral Springs, Fla.

Mr. Jean-Baptiste describes putting his little brother and a cousin's baby on top of a collapsed concrete wall during the quake, as they all prayed and cried. Afterward, “we had nothing to eat or drink,” he said. “I thought if I stayed in Haiti any longer I would not survive, and my family would not survive, so I decided to try to board a plane.” No one asked him for papers until he reached Orlando, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01detain.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From ICE

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8 additional North Carolina counties join ICE Secure Communities initiative

Now the criminal and immigration records of all local arrestees to be checked

CHARLOTTE, NC - On Tuesday, law enforcement agencies in Union, Brunswick, Columbus, Dare, Halifax, Jackson, Lee and Transylvania counties in North Carolina began employing a new information-sharing capability that modernizes the process used to accurately identify criminal aliens in the community.

Developed by the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS), the information-sharing capability is the cornerstone of Secure Communities, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiative to enhance efforts to identify and remove criminal aliens from the United States.

Previously, local arrestees' fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information against the DOJ biometric system maintained by the FBI. With this new information-sharing capability, that fingerprint information will now be simultaneously checked against both FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by DHS.

If any fingerprints match those of someone in DHS's biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE, enabling the agency to take appropriate action to ensure criminal aliens are not released back into communities. Top priority is given to individuals who pose a threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.

"Secure Communities provides local law enforcement with an effective tool to identify criminal aliens," said Secure Communities Executive Director David Venturella. "Enhancing public safety is at the core of ICE's mission. Our goal with Secure Communities is to use biometric information sharing to prevent criminal aliens from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our law enforcement partners."

With the expansion of the information-sharing capability to these eight counties, there are now 21 North Carolina counties using this tool, including Buncombe, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cumberland, Duplin, Durham, Gaston, Harnett, Henderson, Mecklenburg, New, Orange and Wake. Across the country, 121 jurisdictions in 16 states have this capability. By 2013, ICE expects to make Secure Communities available nationwide.

Since its inception in October 2008, Secure Communities has identified more than 18,800 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping - more than 4,000 of those individuals have already been removed from the United States. Most of the criminal aliens who have been identified but not yet removed are completing their sentences. Additionally, ICE has removed more than 24,700 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 crimes, including burglary and serious property crimes, which account for 90 percent of the crimes committed by aliens.

Secure Communities is part of DHS's comprehensive plan to distribute technology that links local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems. DHS's US VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records.

"US VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are able to give federal, state and local decision makers information that helps them better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this plan, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division. "Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals."

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1003/100331charlotte.htm

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Secure Communities expands to Utah

Now the criminal and immigration records of all local arrestees to be checked

SALT LAKE CITY - Three Utah counties have become the first jurisdictions in the state to benefit from an initiative spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that modernizes the process used to accurately identify criminal aliens arrested in the community.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch and Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary John Morton, who oversees ICE, held a news conference here Wednesday morning to announce the expansion of ICE's highly successful Secure Communities initiative to Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties. The deployment of Secure Communities to those counties is a major advance in ICE's ongoing nationwide effort to ensure that serious criminal alien offenders who are arrested by local law enforcement are identified for deportation and not released back into the community.

"After months of careful examination, Utah's law enforcement community and I determined that the Secure Communities program will be an effective way to identify and remove criminal aliens from our state," Sen. Hatch said. "By tapping innovative technology and sharing information between law enforcement agencies, Utah now has one more tool in its arsenal to protect our streets from criminal activity. Today's announcement is certainly a step in the right direction, and in the near future, we hope to have even more Utah counties participate in the program."

The cornerstone of Secure Communities is the activation of new information-sharing capabilities developed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) that automatically alert local law enforcement and ICE when potentially deportable criminal aliens come into local custody. Salt Lake County came on line last week and Utah and Davis counties were activated Tuesday.

In its first full week in operation, Secure Communities in Salt Lake County is credited with detecting more than 30 aliens in local custody who had been charged with or convicted of crimes. Of those, four were foreign nationals whose criminal records included arrests or convictions for the most serious types of crimes, Level 1 offenses, including forcible sexual abuse, sexual assault of a minor and aggravated assault.

"Secure Communities is a vital tool in ICE's enforcement strategy to partner with state and local law enforcement to promote public safety and prevent dangerous criminal aliens from returning to our streets," Assistant Secretary Morton said. "And by harnessing innovative technology, we're able to achieve this goal without putting any significant additional burden on state and local law enforcement."

Prior to the activation of the Secure Communities information-sharing capability, local arrestees' fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information against the DOJ biometric system maintained by the FBI. Under the Secure Communities strategy, that fingerprint information is now also being simultaneously checked against the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by DHS.

If any fingerprints match those of someone in DHS's biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE, enabling the agency to take appropriate action to ensure dangerous criminal aliens are not released back into communities. Top priority is given to individuals who pose the greatest threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery, and kidnapping.

"The "Secure Communities Initiative" represents an extremely important advance in coordinating efforts to identify and address serious non-resident alien offenders," said Salt Lake County Sheriff James Winder. "The program provides a great opportunity for local and federal agencies to work together."

"This program is revolutionary," said Davis County Sheriff Bud E. Cox. "It keeps personnel on the job and saves money and countless hours of training while helping to solve an issue at the forefront of public opinion by identifying and deporting those who have entered the country illegally."

Assistant Secretary Morton announced Wednesday that Secure Communities is expected to be deployed to three additional Utah jurisdictions - Cache, Weber and Box Elder counties - in the coming weeks.  Across the country, Secure Communities is now being used by 135 jurisdictions in 17 states. By next year, ICE expects Secure Communities to have a presence in every state, with nationwide coverage anticipated by 2013.

Since its inception in October 2008, Secure Communities has identified more than 18,800 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 crimes, more than 4,000 of whom have already been removed from the United States. Most of the criminal aliens who have been identified but not yet removed are completing their sentences.  Additionally, ICE has removed nearly 25,000 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 crimes, including burglary and serious property crimes, which account for 90 percent of the crimes committed by aliens.

Secure Communities is part of DHS's comprehensive plan to distribute technology that links local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems.  DHS's US VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records.

For more information on the Secure Communities program, visit www.ice.gov .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1003/100331saltlakecity.htm

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ICE agents help arrest 29 cyber criminals in Tampa area

"Operation Broken Heart" also rescues two children

TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) officials joined Attorney General Bill McCollum and law enforcement officials from 14 other Tampa agencies today in announcing the results of a six-week cybercrime operation targeting online child predators in the Tampa Bay area.

The operation, dubbed "Operation Broken Heart," was a cooperative effort resulting in 29 arrests, including one registered sex offender. The operation was initiated and led by the Attorney General's Tampa CyberCrime Task Force.

"Today's announcement should serve as a reminder to predators that the Florida Attorney General, ICE and the law enforcement community in Florida are united in its effort to protect the most vulnerable segment of our society -- our children," said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Tampa. "Together, we will use every tool and authority under the law to ensure that predators are taken off our streets and are put behind bars where they belong."

During the operation, 45 search warrants were executed and 29 arrests were made; charges range from possession and distribution of child pornography to sexual battery. Some of the images collected from the defendants depicted children as young as infants. Two girls were also rescued during the operation after disclosing they were the subject of sexual abuse. Several investigations are still pending.

"We know that cybercrime knows no geographical boundaries, which is why it is essential that we work together to maximize our resources," said Attorney General McCollum. "This operation proved that when we work together, Florida's children benefit."

 "Our greatest challenge is to protect children, and our greatest satisfaction is when those who prey on the innocent are identified, prosecuted and prevented from ruining any more young lives," said Sheriff David Gee. "These predators hide in the shadow of anonymity on the Internet. Operation Broken Heart will shine the light of law enforcement on them and their vile and disgusting acts against the most innocent among us."

The official launch of "Operation Broken Heart" was Feb. 8 and the operation concluded last night with two arrests. The Attorney General's Office CyberCrime Unit and the 15 law enforcement agencies involved are all members of Central Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC).

In addition to ICE agents at the Office of Investigations in Tampa, the other participating agencies included the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, the New Port Richey Police Department, the Clearwater Police Department, the Plant City Police Department, the St. Petersburg Police Department, the Kenneth City Police Department, the Bradenton Police Department, and the Sarasota Police Department.

A list of those arrested and preliminary charges is available online at http://www.myfloridalegal.com .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1003/100331tampa.htm

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From the DEA

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Major Drug Trafficking Kingpin Tied To Heroin Distribution In Ventura County

MAR 30 -- (Ventura, CA) - The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ventura County Sheriff's Department, Ventura County District Attorney's Office, Oxnard Police Department and Downey Police Department announced the arrest of drug kingpin Jose Antonio Medina a.k.a. Don Pepe in Michoacan, Mexico on March 24, 2010. Medina is connected to a drug distribution ring responsible for funneling large amounts of heroin into Ventura and Los Angeles County.

“The criminal organization targeted in this investigation was smuggling thousands of pounds of heroin into the U.S., some of which would up in neighborhoods in Ventura and Los Angeles counties,” said Timothy J. Landrum, DEA Special Agent in Charge. “By working in collaboration with our state and local law enforcement partners, this arrest will significantly impact the amount of these dangerous drugs flooding our communities.”

On January 29, 2009, an arrest warrant was issued for Jose Antonio Medina a.k.a. Don Pepe following a two-year joint investigation. Medina is alleged to have supplied two mid-level heroin dealers operating in Downey and Oxnard, California. Upon Medina's extradition from Mexico, he will face charges in Ventura County for conspiracy to transport narcotics for sale.

VCAT is a narcotics enforcement team that was formed in 1999 and is comprised of law enforcement officers from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, Oxnard PD, Ventura County District Attorney's Office, DEA, and other local law enforcement agencies. VCAT also works closely with other state and federal agencies such as BNE (Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement), the FBI, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2010/la033010p.html

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