No prison time for imam in New York subway plot

But Afghan-born cleric Ahmad Wais Afzali, accused of lying to police about tipping off a suspect in the case, must leave the U.S.

By Tina Susman

April 16, 2010

Reporting from New York

A Muslim cleric accused of double-crossing law enforcement officials investigating a scheme to blow up New York subways was spared jail time at his sentencing Thursday after he told a judge he never meant to help the "idiots" involved in the plot.

But the imam wept as he was ordered to leave the United States within 90 days and never come back.

Ahmad Wais Afzali, 38, who came to New York from Afghanistan as a child, pleaded guilty to lying to authorities investigating the September 2009 plot, which prosecutors have said was one of the most serious threats to U.S. security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The lie stemmed from a phone conversation Afzali, acting as a police informant, had with Najibullah Zazi last fall.

Prosecutors charged Afzali with lying after he denied tipping off Zazi that law enforcement authorities had been asking about his activities.

In his plea, Afzali acknowledged he had told Zazi that police were inquiring about him, but he said it was an innocent comment and not aimed at derailing the investigation.

"Honest to God, it was never my intention to help those idiots," Afzali said, referring to Zazi and two other suspects arrested in connection with the case.

Under terms of the plea deal, Judge Frederic Block sentenced Afzali to time already served -- from his arrest Sept. 20 until his release on bond Sept. 24 -- and ordered him to remain under electronic surveillance while he arranges to leave the country.

"You're going to have to make peace with yourself outside of the United States," Block told Afzali, who dabbed his eyes with a tissue as his attorney patted him on the back. Afzali's brother, father, mother and wife sat in the courtroom.

Defense attorney Ronald Kuby repeated his assertion that Afzali had done nothing wrong and was simply doing as he was asked by New York police when they came to him last fall and asked him to use his contacts in the Muslim community to fish for information about a suspected bombing plot.

Zazi was living in the Denver area at the time. Afzali knew Zazi, 25, because they once lived in the same Queens neighborhood.

Kuby denied that Afzali's chat with Zazi had prompted Zazi to abort the bomb plot and try to dodge authorities. He said law enforcement blew its cover when police pulled Zazi over for a supposed traffic violation last September in New York.

Zazi, who pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and other terrorism-related charges, has said the traffic stop alerted him that he was being watched. As a result, Zazi said, he disposed of his bomb-making materials, called off the plot and fled New York.

He was arrested after he returned to Colorado, and he was brought back to New York to face charges.

Afzali arrived in court on his own, dressed in a dark suit and white skullcap, his bushy beard reaching to his chest. He chatted briefly with his family and friends before going before the judge and reading his statement, which spoke of his shame at being known as a "lying imam" and his heartbreak at leaving the United States.

"He will never, ever be able to return," Kuby said, calling it "punishment enough" given Afzali's ties to the country.

Prosecutors had not sought jail time, but they rejected the portrayal of Afzali as an innocent unwittingly caught up in a conspiracy, and said he had tried to be a double agent and then lied when he was caught.

Outside the courthouse, Afzali said he was struggling to accept his deportation order and didn't know where he would go. "I'm going to start shopping around. I'm sure some good country is going to host me," he said.

Zazi faces possible life imprisonment when he is sentenced in June. Two alleged co-conspirators, Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay, both 25, have pleaded not guilty.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-imam-sentence16-2010apr16,0,7746035,print.story

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New rules on terror custody being drafted

The Obama administration guidelines aim to help decide whether captured suspects are tried or face indefinite detention, U.S. officials say.

By David S. Cloud and Julian E. Barnes

April 15, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration is for the first time drafting classified guidelines to help the government determine whether newly captured terrorism suspects will be prosecuted or held indefinitely without trial, senior U.S. officials said.

The draft document envisions that a small number of suspected terrorists captured in the future could be detained and interrogated in an overseas prison, several of the officials said. At least in the short term, Bagram air base in Afghanistan would be the most likely prison to hold the suspects, they said.

But approval of the guidelines is being delayed, primarily by State Department officials who are concerned that formalizing the rules will lead inevitably to greater use of long-term detention by the administration under conditions similar to those at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, which President Obama has pledged to close.

The debate over the rules emerged from the task forces set up by Obama to study detainee issues after he signed executive orders last year abolishing many of the practices instituted during the George W. Bush administration. Officials crafting the replacement policies said the government has to rethink how to respond if a senior Al Qaeda member is captured overseas.

"There's a process of working out procedures," a senior official said. The end product will probably be a secret document that "articulates that if tomorrow we capture a person, what do we do with him and how do we make that decision."

The deliberations are also part of a larger internal fight over how far Obama will go in replicating detention practices used by President Bush, a trend that human rights groups and even some officials working in the Obama administration are attempting to halt.

The guidelines were not directly requested by Obama, but senior advisors believe that without them, they might be forced to make a hasty decision on how to handle a captured suspected terrorist.

A former State Department official said that the Obama administration, by not laying out a clear policy for holding terrorism suspects, is resorting to airstrikes and other covert tactics in an effort to kill militants. "We are inadvertently creating incentives for people to be killed rather than captured," said John B. Bellinger III, a State Department legal advisor during the Bush administration. "And that may be why we are seeing relatively few people captured."

Obama administration officials deny that they are opting for killing over capturing, but acknowledge that clearer guidance for how future captives will be handled is needed.

The internal discussions cover not only what types of prisoners will be placed in long-term detention or prosecuted, but also where to hold them, how interrogations will be handled and other issues, the officials said.

Administration officials who are skeptical about the proposed guidelines argue that the government may never encounter a situation in which captured suspected militants would need to be held without trial. Even top Al Qaeda figures could be legally interrogated and then prosecuted, either in civilian or military courts, or turned over to a foreign government, they argue.

There is no need for guidelines, these officials say, until the military or CIA actually captures someone. Spelling out guidelines beforehand will only make it more likely that additional prisoners will be imprisoned without access to U.S. courts, said an official involved.

But officials who favor the new rules, including at the Pentagon, say they will ensure that all options are considered whenever intelligence is developed on the whereabouts of a wanted terrorism suspect.

In those situations, Obama and his advisors would have to decide, sometimes quickly, whether CIA or special operations forces should seek to capture or kill the individual. If a suspect is to be captured, they must decide where he will be held and whether he should be eventually prosecuted.

Until recently, there had been little agreement within the government on where to send a newly captured suspected Al Qaeda member whom the U.S. wanted to interrogate but lacked the evidence to prosecute.

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. alluded to the continuing discussions about detention during congressional testimony Wednesday. Asked hypothetically where a newly captured Al Qaeda member would be detained, he replied: "I think we have to come up with options," but did not elaborate.

A senior official involved in the discussions said the issue of where to hold newly captured prisoners "has been discussed and some conclusions have been reached."

Bagram air base is the most likely location, other officials said, in part because prisoners there do not currently have access to U.S. courts, although that question is being litigated. Other sites also are being considered. Under Supreme Court rulings, if brought to the U.S. or to Guantanamo, a detainee could challenge his detention in U.S. courts.

Without the option of holding prisoners indefinitely outside the United States, the administration has three choices when it locates terrorism suspects: bringing them to the U.S. for prosecution, turning them over to foreign governments, or killing them, using armed drones or other covert methods.

Obama said last year that he might use long-term detention for new terrorism suspects -- a practice initiated by the Bush administration at Guantanamo Bay -- but he has yet to place any new prisoners in Guantanamo or Bagram since taking office.

For future captures, Obama intends to rely more than Bush did on prosecution, in civilian or military courts, while holding long-term detention "in reserve," as one senior official put it.

But the recent captures of several militants with suspected ties to Al Qaeda, including Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who allegedly sought to set off a bomb on a flight to Detroit, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a senior Taliban military commander captured in Pakistan, highlighted the need for clearer procedures, one congressional official said.

The decision to prosecute Abdulmutallab rather than place him in indefinite detention for interrogation was criticized by Republicans in Congress. Administration officials respond that Abdulmutallab has provided useful intelligence under questioning, even after being designated for prosecution and read his rights against self-incrimination.

In the case of Baradar, Pakistan has kept him in its custody and handled his interrogation, with CIA assistance.

But that arrangement has yielded little useful intelligence so far from Baradar, who is believed to have extensive knowledge of Taliban operations, finances and dealings with Al Qaeda. To some military officials, Baradar's case is an example of why the U.S. should take custody itself of high-level militants who may have useful intelligence.

"Right up until the day Baradar was detained, he was running the war for the Taliban," said a senior military official. But "the value of any intelligence he might have diminishes rapidly each day he is held" by the Pakistanis, the official said.

Officials are guarded about which militants they may choose to hold without trial. Last year, the Justice Department said Al Qaeda members and those who provided "substantial support" to Al Qaeda would be candidates for indefinite detention, a standard meant to show that Obama would be more discriminating than his predecessor about who was held without trial.

The administration has not explained publicly what constitutes providing substantial support to Al Qaeda. "It's case by case," said a senior official.

In practice, officials said, long-term detention probably would not be used for Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan, who are treated as war prisoners. It also is unlikely to be used for the most senior Al Qaeda leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, who probably would be prosecuted if captured.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-detention16-2010apr16,0,3167700,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Obama signs $18 billion unemployment benefits bill

WASHINGTON — Just hours after Congress passed an $18 billion bill to restore unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, President Barack Obama made it the law of the land.

The measure comes as welcome relief to hundreds of thousands of people who lost out on the additional weeks of compensation after exhausting their state-paid benefits. They now will be able to reapply for long-term unemployment benefits and receive those checks retroactively under the legislation.

The bill also restores full Medicaid payments to doctors who were threatened by a 21 percent cut and refloats the flood insurance program.

Obama signed the bill when he returned to the White House on Thursday night from fundraisers in Miami and a speech earlier in the day at Cape Canaveral, presidential spokesman Bill Burton said.

Obama thanked Congress for passing the temporary extension, saying it was critical to help struggling families make ends meet.

"Millions of Americans who lost their jobs in this economic crisis depend on unemployment and health insurance benefits to get by as they look for work and get themselves back on their feet," Obama said in a statement. "But as I requested in my budget, I urge Congress to move quickly to extend these benefits through the end of this year."

The legislation cleared both houses of Congress on Thursday night. The House passed the bill 289-112 just two hours after it emerged from the Senate on a 59-38 vote that capped an unusually partisan debate. Republicans largely chose to take a stand against the legislation for adding to the $12.8 trillion national despite backing it by wide margins in December and again recently.

"It increases the deficit by $18 billion, a cost to be paid for by future generations," said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. "This legislation is yet another unfortunate example of business as usual in our nation's capital."

Several other popular programs had also expired, including federal flood insurance, higher Medicare payment rates for doctors and generous health insurance subsidies for people who have lost their jobs.

The situation became more urgent Thursday afternoon when Medicare announced that it would start paying doctors' claims at a 21 percent lower rate. That won't be necessary now.

Thursday's measure provides up to 99 weekly unemployment checks averaging $335 to people whose 26 weeks of state-paid benefits have run out. It's a temporary extension through June 2 that gives House and Senate Democrats time to iron out a measure to fund the program through the end of the year.

Fewer than 1 in 3 House Republicans voted for the measure. Just three Senate Republicans did. The sole Democrat to oppose it was longtime budget hawk Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee.

The bill also extends a program created under last year's economic stimulus bill that gives unemployed people a 65 percent subsidy on health care premiums under the so-called COBRA program.

On successive votes earlier in the day, Democrats narrowly turned back two amendments by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that would have paid for the measure over time by cutting spending and raising almost $10 billion in revenues with a variety of Democratic-backed ideas to tighten the tax code. One of Coburn's amendments was killed by a 50-48 vote.

The topic of providing additional weeks of jobless benefits in the midst of bad times had been regarded as routine. But with conservative voters and tea party activists up in arms about the deficit, conservative Senate Republicans upset about the deficit have twice caused interruptions of jobless benefits and other programs.

In February, Jim Bunning, R-Ky., single-handedly blocked an extension of unemployment benefits in an unsuccessful bid to force Democrats to pay for them. The measure passed on a 78-19 vote after Republicans were smacked by a public relations backlash.

But many Republicans believe it was a stand worth taking, including Coburn, who blocked a vote last month on another short-term extension.

By the time Senators returned from a two-week recess on Monday, only four Republicans - Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Scott Brown of Massachusetts and George Voinovich of Ohio - voted with Democrats to defeat a GOP filibuster of the bill. Only Voinovich, Collins and Snowe voted for the bill on Thursday.

Democrats said it was the wrong topic for Republicans to take a stand on the deficit after voting for tax cuts, wars and a new Medicare drug benefit without paying for them.

"They seem to have discovered fiscal responsibility when it comes time to extend unemployment benefits but not when it came to paying for tax cuts for the rich and the Iraq war," said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich.

Twenty-one Senate Republicans voted for the earlier extension last month and House GOP leaders opted against even forcing a vote. But Thursday's vote came after senators spent two weeks among their constituents - and as thousands of tea party activists came to Washington to protest on deadline day for filing taxes.

"I think people spent two weeks out listening to people about spending and debt," Coburn said.

The House has twice this year approved short-term extensions of jobless benefits and other expired programs.

The various programs in the longer-term legislation represent much of the Democrats' remaining agenda on job creation. One of the reasons the short-term legislation was needed is that House and Senate Democrats are having difficulty resolving their differences on how to pay for a package of expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

Other elements of the jobs agenda such as cash to build roads and schools and help local governments keep teachers on the payroll, remain on the shelf for a lack of money to pay for them.

Democrats said deficit-financed jobless benefits not only needed to help people unable to find work but that they are one of the most effective ways to pump up the still-struggling economy.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14894499

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From the New York Times

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Nuclear Fear of Cold War Now Applies to Terrorists

WASHINGTON — The top secret National Intelligence Estimate did not mince words. The United States faced an enemy with “no scruples about employing any weapon or tactic,” it said, and nuclear weapons smuggled across porous borders threatened to devastate American cities. Sleeper cells, the document warned, might already be inside the country.

Or so the Central Intelligence Agency told President Harry S. Truman . The year was 1951.

It has become conventional wisdom, repeated by President Obama at the nuclear summit meeting this week , that the cold war danger of huge strikes by thousands of nuclear missiles has given way to a new threat: terrorists killing tens of thousands of Americans with a stolen or homemade nuclear device. A broad range of security experts agree that nuclear terrorism may well be the most serious danger the United States faces today.

But it is not new. In fact, almost from the invention of the atomic bomb, government officials were alarmed by the threat that compact nukes would be smuggled into the United States by Soviet agents and detonated.

“Officials regard the possibility of atomic sabotage as the gravest threat of subversion that this country, with its virtually unpatrolled borders, has ever faced,” The New York Times reported in 1953, telling readers that the Eisenhower administration was preparing to alert the public to the danger from “valise bombs.”

Hundreds of pages of declassified documents from the 1950s, obtained by The New York Times from the F.B.I. under the Freedom of Information Act, lay out a strikingly familiar story, in which Communist agents played the role of today's Al Qaeda .

Then, as now, investigators searched for agents they feared were in the United States awaiting orders to attack. Then, too, the government spent millions to install radiation detectors at airports and seaports despite doubts about their effectiveness. (In those days, false nuclear alarms were set off by radium watch dials, once hidden in a woman's corset.)

Nor is the worry in recent years about nuclear material crossing the permeable Mexican border new. An F.B.I. memo from 1953 warned that “a saboteur could easily pose as a Mexican ‘wetback' and get into the country without detection, presumably carrying an atomic weapon in his luggage.”

Micah Zenko , a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who has written on nuclear history, said: “The fear of a clandestine nuclear attack on American soil goes back to the very beginning of the nuclear era. There's certainly nothing new here, even if they didn't call it terrorism back in the '50s.”

Even before the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, security officials studied the threat from smuggled weapons. But secret reports concluded that the Soviet Union was likely to try such an attack only as a prelude to total war. An all-out attack, American experts believed, might even begin with the detonation of nuclear weapons smuggled into Soviet diplomatic offices in New York and Washington.

Intelligence officials feared that bomb parts might be delivered in diplomatic mail pouches, carried by international air travelers in their luggage or delivered by boat or submarine to an isolated beach.

Communist agents already in the country might then assemble, plant and detonate the weapons. “Surveillance of all Communist Party members and sympathizers is impossible and impractical since numerically they exceed by many times the total Special Agent force of the F.B.I.,” a bureau memo complained. J. Edgar Hoover , the F.B.I. director, who was intensely focused on the smuggling threat, proposed increasing manpower to cope.

Among many potential nuclear saboteurs, F.B.I. field offices identified the proprietor of a left-wing bookstore in Seattle, a reporter for the Soviet news agency Tass and even a representative of the American Council for a Democratic Greece.

When the Polish consul to Detroit arrived in the United States in the mid-1950s with four big boxes, F.B.I. agents surreptitiously searched them for nuclear material. They found 24 bottles of cherry cordial but “no article or part thereof that could be construed as a portion of a weapon of mass destruction,” their secret report solemnly declared.

The press, too, got in on the act. In 1954, a reporter for The Los Angeles Mirror, a tabloid newspaper, wrote a splashy story headlined “I Smuggled Mock A-Bombs into L.A.,” accompanied by a diagram of a man carrying a “baby A-bomb” in a suitcase.

The smuggling fears began to fade in the late 1950s with the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which posed an incomparably greater threat of surprise attack. But in the half-century that followed, the worry never entirely went away.

Security officials later speculated about whether China might set off a smuggled nuke in the United States and make it look like a Soviet attack, provoking devastating war between its rivals. Later, as portable tactical nuclear weapons proliferated in both Eastern and Western Europe, there were periodic alarms about their security.

After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian agents at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, American officials shifted their focus to terrorists. Their concern increased immeasurably after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, when reports that Al Qaeda had actively sought a nuclear weapon since the early 1990s took on a chilling significance.

In the 1950s the United States knew its adversaries had weapons; the mystery was whether they might use them. Today, said Jeffrey T. Richelson, a historian of nuclear weapons, the situation is reversed: Qaeda leaders have suggested publicly that they would use a nuclear weapon, “but as far as we know, Al Qaeda hasn't even come close to building a bomb.”

Most security experts believe the focus in recent years on destroying or locking up nuclear material is far more effective than sealing American borders. The global effort to reduce the threat was advanced at the summit meeting in Washington this week, with commitments from many countries to destroy or secure supplies of plutonium and highly enriched uranium.

Knowing the history of periodic panics about smuggled nukes offers a kind of reassurance in the face of a horrifying danger, said Mr. Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“If you consider that the threat has been around for more than 60 years,” he said, “you don't get overwhelmed by fear.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/16memo.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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Immigration Raids Focus on Shuttle Vans

PHOENIX — With sweeps on both sides of the border Thursday, American and Mexican authorities delivered what they called their most serious blow toward dismantling human smuggling organizations that have brought thousands of illegal immigrants to the United States.

The investigation, which used 800 law enforcement officers, the largest deployment in a human smuggling investigation, focused on what the authorities said were suspicious companies running shuttle vans that provide a crucial link in the transportation chain that moves illegal immigrants from the border to cities across the United States.

But the sweep was also the biggest example of what immigration agency officials said was a heightened effort to curb illegal immigration by focusing more on breaking up the criminal organizations that transport people and the businesses that facilitate these networks than on simply making large-scale arrests of illegal immigrants and deporting them.

“What we are trying to do is rip this thing out by the roots,” John Morton, the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said in an interview here. “We are taking out the whole industry and giving such a shock to individuals that they won't recover as they have in the past.”

While some 47 people were arrested Thursday, including some in Mexico in what officials called exceptional cooperation with officers there, only about 17 were illegal immigrants being smuggled, and some of them will be granted permission to remain in the United States to serve as witnesses in the case, Mr. Morton said. A similar raid in Houston in February included the arrest of 80 illegal immigrants found when the businesses were raided.

Mr. Morton acknowledged that the arrests would not end smuggling. That would be an ambitious goal: more people are ferried across the border here than in any other state. But Mr. Morton predicted the raid would disrupt a pipeline that has accounted for a “significant amount” of the illegal immigrants traveling deeper into the United States.

The announcement of the arrests, which focused on four shuttle van businesses in Tucson and one in Phoenix, comes at a time when the federal government has been under fire over its role and performance in immigration enforcement.

Two weeks ago, a rancher near the border was killed, and the police suspect he encountered a smuggler. An outcry has risen over whether the federal government is doing enough to secure the border. This week, the Arizona Legislature moved closer to adopting what is widely believed to be the most stringent immigration enforcement bill among the states, giving local police agencies broad powers to check people's legal status.

Immigrant advocacy groups on Thursday denounced what they called a climate of fear and criticized the ICE operation for coming at the same time as the legislation. A handful of protesters outside the United States attorney's office here chanted, “We are going to beat back John Morton's attack.”

In response to their concerns, Mr. Morton said the agency's activity often generated “rumors and wild conjecture” but that no intimidation was intended.

Mr. Morton said the crackdown on the shuttle-service industry stretched back more than a year and was not related to the legislation or the anger over the rancher's killing.

But he reiterated the Obama administration promise to take up an overhaul of immigration law and said the arrests represented an effort to attack smuggling organizations by going after the leaders.

“That is what this is all about, border security,” Mr. Morton said.

For nearly a decade, federal immigration authorities have been stymied by a fleet of shuttle vans, similar to those that carry people to airports and the like, that they say have operated under a veil of legitimacy.

When stopped, even if the passengers were found to be illegal immigrants, drivers would profess not to know the legal status of their passengers, and prosecutors doubted a charge would succeed.

“That has been a very hard defense to overcome,” said Matthew Allen, who directs immigration and customs in Arizona. “Now, we have been able to get past that and show they do know.”

Smugglers would guide people, typically on foot, across the border. A car or sport utility vehicle would pick them up and take them to Tucson, where in “very quick handoffs,” an immigration official said, the immigrants would board the shuttle vans to Phoenix. From there, after having paid fees of several thousand dollars — $75,000 in the case of some Chinese immigrants — to be taken into the United States, they would transfer to private cars and head to destinations across the United States.

Mr. Allen said that agents had made extensive use of surveillance, technology and leads from people in the United States and Mexico to build the case, which began about a year ago.

He said agents had recovered extensive records, including fake tickets the passengers would show law enforcement officers in case the van was stopped for an immigration check. In those situations, it has been difficult to prosecute the drivers because it was nearly impossible to prove they were aware their passengers were in the country illegally.

Agents on Thursday morning searched the offices of Sergio's Shuttle on a busy street lined with mechanic shops, bodegas and small businesses. Two vans, with a tiger emblem on the side, sat in front of an office that advertised a schedule to several cities on both sides of the border.

No one answered the phone number listed on the side of the van or the office.

Alfonso Quintero, who owns a muffler repair shop nearby, said he often saw people coming and going from the vans at all hours but nothing raised his suspicions.

“I didn't see anything illegal,” Mr. Quintero said. “Looked like they just wanted a ride.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/16raid.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From ABC News

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Cops Search Florida River for 5-Year-Old Haleigh Cummings

Haleigh Cummings Has Been Missing Since February 2009

April 13, 2010

A Florida river has again become the focal point for a search of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, who went missing more than a year ago.

Investigators today combed the St. John's River for Haleigh, who disappeared from her father's home in Satsuma, Fla., in February 2009. Satsuma is just 60 miles south of Jacksonville.

Calls into the Putnam County Sheriff's office were not immediately returned but, Lt. Johnny Greenwood told ABC News affiliate WTLV in Jacksonville that they were acting on a tip, but he declined to provide more details because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

The search ended for the day at 8 p.m., but police said investigators would be back at the river on Wednesday to resume the effort.

"No, we haven't found Haleigh," Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy told WTLV , but he said police would continue the search for "as long as it takes."

Hardy said he met today with members of the young girl's family.

"The conversations we had were between me and the family," Hardy said.

Misty Croslin, who was the last person to see Haleigh and who was being held on unrelated drug charges at St. John's County Jail, was taken by investigators to Putnam County, St. John's jail spokesman Sgt. Chuck Mulligan told ABCNews.com.

Mulligan said he did not know more details about why Croslin, who was Haleigh's father's girlfriend at the time the little girl disappeared and is now his ex-wife, might have been wanted for questioning.

The little girl disappeared from the home of her father, Ronald Cummings, Tuesday, Feb. 10. He reported her missing in an desperate 911 call.

"I just got home from work and my 5-year-old daughter is gone," he told a dispatcher. "If I find whoever has my daughter before you all do, I'm killing them. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life in prison."

Ronald Cummings had left Haleigh and her 3-year-old brother in the care of Croslin, who was 17 at the time.

"She was sleeping right next to me," Croslin told the Palatka Daily News. "I can't believe I didn't hear anything."

Ronald Cummings told police that when he returned from work early Tuesday morning, the back door was propped open and Haleigh was gone.

Haleigh Cummings: New Search for Missing Girl

"Somebody came in my back door, broke into my home and stole my daughter," he said.

"I don't know why somebody would take her," said Crystal Sheffield, the girl's mother. "I'm scared for her. She is probably scared and cold and hungry."

Even though an Amber Alert was issued and police received some 4,000 tips, the girl has not been found and no suspect or person of interest has ever been identified.

Throughout the ordeal, Haleigh's family has shown similar dogged determination.

"If I lost hope, what does she have left then?" Ronald Cummings, told ABC News' Orlando affiliate WFTV in February 2009. "Like I gave up on her? I'm not giving up on her. Never."

Florida police treated Haleigh's disappearance as an abduction, investigators said early on in the investigation, after concluding she did not simply wander off alone.

"All the world is a suspect," Detective John Merchant of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office told reporters at the time of her disappearance. "We are going to treat everybody, every family member, every associate, like a suspect until we eliminate them."

As police launched a massive search effort that included divers and K-9 units, Crystal Sheffield, begged for her daughter's return.

"Whoever has her, I know you're watching," Crystal told "Good Morning America" in February 2009. "She ain't done nothing wrong. Please bring her back."

In June 2009, vowing to leave no stone unturned, investigators dug up much of the 30-acre Glen St. Mary home of Haleigh's grandmother, Marie Griffis, but only recovered animal remains.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cops-search-florida-river-missing-haleigh-cummings/story?id=10365897

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From the White House

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Giving Back to Students

Cross-posted from the Department of Education Blog .

Today, as hardworking Americans across the country file their taxes or await their return, middle class families and students paying for college loans will find a larger refund coming their way. The American Opportunity Tax Credit alleviates up to $2,500 of federal income tax owed for individuals paying for college loans and making up to $90,000 a year or for couples making up to $180,000.

This is just one of the many ways this Administration is giving back to students. When President Obama signed into law historic healthcare legislation, he not only improved the availability and quality of health care services for thousands of uninsured and under-insured Americans, he made a tremendous investment in our nation's students. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 ended wasteful subsidies to banks and freed up nearly $68 billion dollars for college affordability and deficit reduction. Over the next 10 years, the Act will make important investments in higher education, help make college more affordable for hardworking Americans and give back to the American tax payer by:

• Expanding the Pell Grant program by $36 billion.
  
  
• Investing $2 billion in community colleges.
  
  
• Increasing support for minority servicing institutions by $2.55 billion.
  
  
• Investing $750 million to bolster college access for students over the next 5 years.
  
  
•  Reducing monthly payments under the Income-Based Repayment Program—capping monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of the borrower's discretionary income. For graduates entering public service (such as teachers), remaining loans will be forgiven after 10 years.
  

Without this legislation, as many as eight million students could have seen their current aid cut by 50 percent. That would've been absolutely devastating, especially at a time of economic rebuilding when education can mean better jobs and a better future for families and the nation. By making college more accessible and affordable, we can educate our way to a better economy.

I encourage you to take full advantage of these opportunities for higher education and career training. For more information on these programs, go to http://studentaid.ed.gov and http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=211309,00.html .

Arne Duncan is the Secretary of Education.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/15/giving-back-students

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A Resilient Nation

Over the past year and throughout my career, I've visited communities hit by natural disasters across the country and spoken with a number of Americans dealing with the aftermath of terrorist attacks.

What always strikes me about the days and months that follow these tragedies is the resilience that emerges in the communities that are affected. The recovery in New York after 9/11, in New Orleans after Katrina, and in Greensburg, Kansas after the devastating tornado in 2007 all demonstrate the extraordinary ability of citizens to come together after disasters to rebuild stronger than before.

This resilience displayed by individual American citizens persists long after the cameras are gone, and it's every bit as important to our security as the government's immediate response.

Tonight, I'll be speaking at the Kennedy School of Government about the Department of Homeland Security's approach to confronting the new and evolving threats we face – from terrorism and violent extremism to cyber attacks and natural disasters.

The public deserves a candid assessment of the threats America faces. And that includes talking about the shared responsibility for securing our nation.

The federal government cannot prepare for, respond to, and recover from major crises on its own. Our ability to effectively prevent, disrupt and respond to terrorist attacks, violent extremism, and other major disasters relies upon Americans working together – preparing emergency plans, notifying law enforcement when we see something suspicious, and helping our fellow citizens rebuild when disasters do strike.

As President Obama has said, and the experiences of New York, New Orleans, and Greensburg have shown, in confronting threats, the American people are the source of our greatest strength.

I hope you'll watch the address at the Kennedy School Forum tonight, and learn more about how we can all take steps to be more informed, ready, and resilient.  Watch live at 6:00 p.m. EDT at The Forum LIVE at Harvard.edu.

Janet Napolitano is Secretary of Homeland Security

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/15/preview-a-resilient-nation

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Announces Recovery Act Purchase of 1,200 Explosives Trace Detection Units to Bolster Aviation Security

April 15, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the purchase of more than 1,200 explosives trace detection units using $35.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding—improving explosives detection capabilities at airports nationwide while infusing Recovery Act dollars into local economies.

"These state-of-the art technologies will strengthen security and streamline screening operations while making air travel more convenient for passengers," said Secretary Napolitano. "Explosives trace detection technology, enhanced inline baggage screening systems and improved surveillance capabilities are important elements of our layered aviation security strategy to protect the flying public from terrorism."

The Recovery Act funded explosives trace detection units announced by Secretary Napolitano today will effectively and efficiently screen checked and carry-on baggage for explosives residue. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has expanded the random use of explosives trade detection technology—which can also be used to screen the hands of passengers or their clothing—as part of the Department's efforts to strengthen aviation security at U.S. airports and around the world since the attempted terrorist attack on Dec. 25, 2009.

More than 7,000 explosives trace detection units are currently in use by TSA at U.S. airports.

In addition, $30.4 million in ARRA funding announced today will be used to expand an inline baggage screening system at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (MSP). Inline baggage handling systems use state-of-the-art technology to screen checked baggage for explosives more quickly, while streamlining the ticketing and boarding process. The systems also provide on-screen resolution capabilities for TSA officers screening baggage, reducing the number of re-scans and physical bag searches.

$6.1 million in ARRA funds will be used to purchase 135 chemical analysis devices to identify potential explosives in medically necessary liquids brought through security checkpoints at airports across the country.

On March 5, Secretary Napolitano announced the initial deployment of ARRA-funded advanced imaging technology (AIT) units to 11 airports—the first of many to receive this new technology as the result of the Recovery Act. AIT units are designed to bolster security by safely screening passengers for metallic and non-metallic threats—including weapons, explosives and other objects concealed under layers of clothing.

Last month, Secretary Napolitano highlighted nearly $600 million in ARRA investments devoted to securing the U.S. aviation system and creating jobs in local communities across the country since President Obama signed the bill into law on Feb. 17, 2009. ARRA committed more than $3 billion for homeland security projects through DHS and the General Services Administration (GSA). Of the $1 billion allocated to TSA for aviation security projects, $734 million is dedicated to screening checked baggage and $266 million is allocated for checkpoint explosives detection technologies.

To learn more about the DHS Recovery Act projects, visit www.dhs.gov/recovery .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1271361354030.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Thank you, Laurie [Robinson]. I'm proud to stand with you – and with Ron [Machen] and Joye [Frost] – and I want to thank each of you for your dedication to bringing hope, healing and justice to crime victims. Let me also welcome and recognize the great work of the Justice Department's Acting Deputy Attorney General, Gary Grindler, and the new Director of our Office on Violence Against Women, Sue Carbon.

It's an honor to be back here again this year, and to join all of you in commemorating National Crime Victims' Rights Week. These days of reflection are an important opportunity for us to come together in support of victims, to give voice to their suffering and to light the way toward a hopeful future.

I'm grateful to the many victims who've joined us. You are all examples of strength and resilience. But you are also proof that, unfortunately, too much cruelty remains in the world. And you remind us why our continued vigilance against violence and abuse is essential.

In particular, let me thank William Kellibrew for joining us and for sharing his story with us. His message of hope, which he delivers to children all across this city, provides a tremendous service to young people. Mr. Kellibrew's commitment to protecting victims and empowering survivors is shared by so many of you.

To the advocates and providers who are with us this evening, I want you to know it's a privilege to be able to thank you all for the contributions – and the sacrifices – you make to help crime victims. I often wonder how you do it; how you find the words and the ways to meet grief and pain with solace and hope. When crimes occur, your work is instrumental in the difficult healing process – both for individual victims and entire communities. Very often, it's also essential in the work of seeking justice. Many of you have helped victims find the strength necessary to hold their offenders accountable. And I want you all to know that the Justice Department is proud to count you as partners.

Today, we've seen that crime is down here in D.C., and in many of our nation's cities. Still, far too many of our neighbors live in pain and in fear. And far too many lives have been lost or destroyed by crime. The tragic shootings two weeks ago – just blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building, on South Capitol and Galveston Streets – serve as a painful reminder that we have much more to do in our work to ensure the safety and security of our communities.

In this recent tragedy, like so many fatal crimes, young people were overrepresented among the victims. All too often, our children are the direct victims of violence and abuse, or they bear witness to these crimes in their homes, school and communities. In either case, too many of our children have been forced to endure both the immediate and the long-term harm that – without support and treatment – can lead to tragic consequences. When our children suffer today, we know that our entire community will ultimately suffer as well.

For these kids – and for all victims – we must act. Tonight, I want to assure you that the Justice Department is committed to combating crime and bringing offenders to justice. This issue is deeply important to me. During a career spent as a prosecutor, a judge and a United States Attorney, I have seen the effects of abuse and violence – in the courtroom and far beyond. I understand how these crimes can devastate lives, families and communities. But, while I acknowledge these realities, I've never been more hopeful about our ability to make meaningful progress in ending crime and bringing hope to survivors.

So long as I am Attorney General, this Department of Justice will do everything in its power to prevent and combat crime and to help victims overcome its effects. This past Monday, the Department held an event to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month and to commemorate the 15 th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. We were joined by several victims of sexual abuse. These courageous survivors shared their experiences of facing violence and, then, of finding the strength to move forward, to speak out and to fight back. Their stories – like William Kellibrew's story - and the many other stories that are represented here tonight – are reminders of why, in the face of crime, we cannot be quiet. And we must not be complacent.

In this spirit, the administration plans to make historic investments to combat violence and abuse. In the Justice Department's FY 2011 budget request, $25 million would be allocated for Community-Based Violence Prevention Initiatives and another $37 million for an initiative devoted to supporting children who have been exposed to violence. And an increase of nearly $30 million was requested for our Office on Violence Against Women.

We should all be encouraged by President Obama's commitment to shining a light on the problem of crime and to seeking new pathways toward prevention and justice. But we must also recognize that the federal government can't effectively combat the problem of crime on its own. The Justice Department can't either. Only with the help of state and local authorities – along with community activists, advocates and service providers – can we truly assist crime victims and secure our communities.

I'm committed to this progress. I'm proud to count you all as partners in this work. And tonight – as we light our candles, bow our heads and share a moment of silence – let us reflect upon what we can, and what I know we will, accomplish together to further victims' rights.

Thank you.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-1004151.html

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Remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Laurie, for those kind words and, more importantly, for your outstanding leadership. We're all fortunate – and I'm especially grateful – to have you back at the helm of the Office of Justice Programs. I also want to recognize the great work that Barney Melekian does as Director of the Justice Department's COPS office. Many of you also have the pleasure of working closely with Barney and his team, and I'm so glad he's with us today.

Let me thank my friend, Chuck Wexler, for inviting me to join you. It's good to be with you all. And it's great to be back in the same city, however briefly, with my old friend, Commissioner Ramsey. When I served as Deputy Attorney General, I had the chance to work closely with Chief Ramsey. It's no exaggeration to say that his tenure as D.C.'s police chief transformed our nation's capital. He had the guts it required, not only to achieve measurable results in combating crime, but also to reform, modernize, and strengthen the District's police department. The success he oversaw was extraordinary. And, here in Philadelphia, he's achieving the same results.

Today, we've come together to consider ways to make this type of success not just possible, but probable. PERF's commitment to this work is clear. Over the years, I've been privileged to work with many of you. And I've had the pleasure of watching this organization expand its membership, its outreach, its research and its impact – on police departments large and small, urban and suburban, Tribal and rural.

PERF has become a leading voice in establishing policies to reduce officer-involved shootings, to increase diversity in your ranks, and to bring a renewed focus on accountability and transparency within your departments. By advocating for cutting-edge tools and new technologies, as well as a return to fundamental community policing strategies, you've succeeded in combating violent crime across the country. Simply put, the people in this room have helped bring policing in the United States to a new and remarkable level. And the historic drop we have seen in the nation's crime rates are a function of policies you have espoused.

This morning, I'm eager to discuss the advances I know you'll continue to make. But I'm also here to ask for your help in building the future we all seek. In looking toward this future, I'm reminded of the timeless words of Philadelphia's all-time wisest citizen, Benjamin Franklin. "Today," he once said, "is yesterday's pupil."

So what did yesterday look like? For you – and for me – it began in 1976. That was the year PERF launched. It was also the year I joined the Department of Justice as a young prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section.

It was a difficult time for law enforcement everywhere, as those of us with a little gray in our hair can recall. In the 1960s and 1970s, America's crime rate had increased more than five-fold. Violent crime had nearly quadrupled. The murder rate had doubled. Illegal drug use had surged. And prisons were bursting at their seams.

In the face of these challenges, 10 leaders of American law enforcement agencies came together for the first time. They believed that, by fostering discussion and collaboration among police executives, they could build better police forces nationwide. They were right. And, just as important, they were optimistic – guided by a hopeful conviction that their profession could evolve.

Today, we see that their initial conversation has become a vibrant national dialogue. And that early spark of optimism has infected everyone in this room – and many far beyond. From D.C. to Buffalo, Indian Country to Santa Ana, PERF's leadership has measurably – and in many cases, dramatically – helped to improve the safety of our communities.

Even amid recession – and the budget challenges you talked about this morning – violent crime fell by more than 6 percent during the first half of 2009. Occurrence rates for nearly every category of crime declined. Murders dropped by 10 percent nationwide – by 20 percent in D.C., and by nearly 30 percent in L.A. Here in Philadelphia, major crimes fell to the lowest point in more than three decades, and violent crimes dipped to a 21-year low. These are historic achievements. They're also are proof that something is working – and working well.

But, as you know best, unless we understand exactly what that something is – and exactly why it is working – we risk losing our grip on the progress we've made. We risk reverting to a past we want to learn from, but not return to.

By supporting professional police research, experimentation and the exchange of ideas, PERF is spearheading a national effort to discover the answers we need. We've learned, for example, that some of our most successful police forces have made community outreach a top priority, working day-by-day, block-by-block to foster greater trust between officers and the citizens they serve. Your research provides powerful, actionable knowledge that encourages better policing. It has helped to create a safer nation, a more transparent and accountable system of justice, and – I'd argue – a more effective Department of Justice.

This work – like all good police work – is not done in isolation. It's done in partnership. By seeking more ways to work together, I know we build on what you've achieved. And I believe we succeed in meeting our shared goals.

For the Department of Justice, establishing the key goals for this year and beyond began with a straightforward objective: to get back to basics. We began by reinvigorating the Department's traditional missions and by re-instilling an ethos of integrity, independence and transparency in everything we do.

Of course, our top priority is protecting our national security and the safety of all Americans. But we are also focused on law enforcement's fundamental duties of fighting crime, protecting civil rights, preserving the environment and ensuring fairness in our markets. So far, we've made great strides in opening new channels of communication with other agencies, with our partners in the field and with many of the leaders gathered here today. In the months ahead, we also plan to put special emphasis on initiatives aimed at tackling economic crime, international organized crime, youth violence and the exploitation of children.

These projects, too, can only be effective if we engage our law enforcement partners. You are the first, and often best, antennas for detecting fraud, trafficking and violence. You are on the front lines. You know what works. You know what doesn't. And, quite frankly, we rely on the information and expertise that only you can provide.

In particular, we'll be soliciting your assistance in our reinvigorated drug enforcement efforts – work that is driving an enhanced focus on Mexico and on our southwest border. To date, the Department has launched a series of efforts aimed at confronting the threats posed by Mexican cartels, by sophisticated criminal organizations, by smugglers of guns, drugs and cash, and by those intent on illegally crossing into our country.

Some of you work along our southwest border. You know, as surely as I do, that we simply cannot afford to ignore the problem of illegal immigration. That's why we are working to ensure that the federal government lives up to its responsibility to create and enforce effective immigration laws. 

President Obama has signaled his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform. And the administration has taken important steps forward in working with the potential architects of the Senate's immigration legislation and with leaders at the grassroots level. I know PERF has been a part of this process, offering both research and insights on the unique challenges our broken immigration system poses for law enforcement. Your participation is important. And your perspectives will be critical in helping the administration find a workable solution for the millions who are in our country without lawful status.

As we encourage and pursue reforms, the Department will continue to focus on two key goals: fulfilling our obligation to enforce current immigration laws; and honoring our commitment to safeguard civil rights. However, effective enforcement, alone, will not be sufficient to solve current problems. We also need to gain the cooperation of the communities in which illegal immigrants, and others who violate the law, settle. This, of course, is achieved by the fair treatment of community residents.

Today, a growing body of research on procedural justice issues is showing us that legitimacy in the eyes of community members is central to effective policing. We're seeing that the outcome of police interactions matters far less to residents – and even to perpetrators – than the nature of these interactions. In other words, an arrest doesn't doom the law enforcement relationship with its public. But an unfortunate or unnecessarily heated interaction can. Laurie and her team are currently exploring this issue more deeply through their Evidence Integration Initiative. Within our COPS office, Barney has allocated resources to examine these issues more closely. And I know we will rely on the work that PERF is doing to inform our base of knowledge.

As we work together to meet our shared objectives, let me echo Laurie's pledge that the Department will also work to ensure you have the resources and support you need to do your jobs and meet your responsibilities. We're committed to your success, as well as your safety.

Earlier this year, I announced that $11 million from the Zylon settlement would go into our Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program. We expect this investment to provide some 26,000 additional bullet-resistant vests for law enforcement officials this year. I'm also pleased to report that the National Institute of Justice continues to make meaningful progress with its Body Armor Safety Initiative. As many of you know, PERF has been working closely with the Department on this issue. In fact, PERF conducted last year's National Body Armor Survey and has been awarded a NIJ grant to conduct additional body armor research this year.

That said, I want to be clear about one point: There is nothing more basic, or more important, to our work than keeping our law enforcement officers safe. At every level of the Department – and in every corner of the country – acts of violence against law enforcement will be pursued. They will be prosecuted. And they will be punished.

Protecting the safety of law enforcement, and those you serve, must always be a top priority for our nation's Justice Department. No one's summed up the reason why better than my friend, Chuck Ramsey. Two years ago, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee – a group I had the privilege to appear before just yesterday – that, and I quote, "No community prospers or even survives long without safety. Safety is why people come together to govern themselves in the first place."

But supporting safety, as Chuck knows best, is about more than simply moving money out the door or putting more eyes on the streets. That's part of it, of course. But, ultimately, it's nothing without the work you do every day to build smarter police forces, not just larger ones. It's work you call "developing best practices." But I call it "leadership."

With your brothers and sisters in uniform, I hope you will build on this leadership in the days ahead. I hope you will continue your strong and essential partnership with the Justice Department. And I hope you will agree with me that, together, we can build a better America.

Thank you all very much.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100415.html

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WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced that Paul Schlesselman was sentenced today on federal charges for conspiring to murder dozens of African-Americans, including then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, because of their race.

On Jan. 14, 2010, Schlesselman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon a presidential candidate, and one count of possessing a firearm. Today, U.S. District Judge J. Daniel Breen sentenced Schlesselman to 10 years in prison and three years supervised release. 

Schlesselman of West Helena, Ark., admitted that he conspired to murder several people, with a focus on targeting African-Americans. He stated that beginning on or about Sept. 1, 2008, and continuing until Oct. 22, 2008, he conspired to transport firearms and ammunition in interstate commerce, steal firearms from a licensed firearm dealer and transport in interstate commerce a short-barreled shotgun, all for the purpose of committing murders, robberies and burglaries. Schlesselman acknowledged that he intended to culminate his racially-targeted killing spree by assassinating then-Senator Obama.

"Our nation has made great progress in advancing civil rights, but this unthinkable conspiracy is a reminder that hate-fueled violence continues to be a very real problem in so many communities," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "Tragedy was averted thanks to the capable work of the Crockett County Sheriff's Department and their willingness to work with the ATF, the Secret Service and the FBI."

"Crimes committed against individuals because of their race will not be tolerated," said Lawrence J. Laurenzi, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. "I commend the work of the investigative agencies in thwarting what could have been a series of tragic events."

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Crockett County Sheriff's Office. The case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Larry Laurenzi, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Powell, and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-crt-425.html

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From ICE

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ICE, Mexican authorities meet and agree to prosecution plan for drug smugglers captured at the border

DHS, Government of Mexico announce new agreement to help curb narcotics smuggling

EL PASO, Texas - Leaders from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Mexico (PGR) on Thursday announced a new agreement that will help deter drug smugglers from bringing narcotics into the United States.

Alonzo R. Peña, deputy assistant secretary for ICE, and Bernardo Espino del Castillo Barrón, PGR deputy coordinator of delegations, met in El Paso April 15 regarding the newly created Illegal Drug Program. This agreement allows PGR to prosecute certain Mexican nationals under Mexican law.

Under the agreement, ICE will transfer to PGR any Mexican nationals caught trying to smuggle drugs into the El Paso ports of entry. However, the U.S. Attorney's Office will first review these cases for its prosecution discretion. Before this agreement, many of these drug smuggling cases were transferred to local law enforcement agencies for prosecution. Only violators who are Mexican nationals, excluding U.S. permanent residents, will be transferred to the PGR. PGR will prosecute the accused drug smugglers; those convicted and sentenced will serve their time in Mexican prisons.

"The Illegal Drug Program shows the commitment by both governments to reduce the smuggling and trafficking of narcotics by ensuring violators are prosecuted," said Peña. "This new partnership is especially significant in light of the escalating violence in Ciudad Juarez fueled by the destructive influence of the illicit drug trade."

With this additional cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican governments, the goal of IDP is to increase the certainty of punishment to further deter anyone who considers drug smuggling to make quick money. ICE, working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will determine which cases to present to PGR. PGR will accept any drug-smuggling case referred to it, regardless of the quantity, quality or type of controlled substance seized.

ICE works daily with Mexican law enforcement to share information that supports investigation into weapons smuggling, gang violence, human smuggling and trafficking, and drug trafficking. IDP is the most recent example of the coordination and cooperation between the United States and Mexico to seek innovative ways to combat old problems.

El Paso is the second border city to initiate IDP. In October 2009, ICE initiated IDP in Nogales, Ariz. Since then, PGR has prosecuted two cases, resulting in 10-year sentences for both defendants.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1004/100415elpaso.htm

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