Map shows 50 new California faults

The surface faults have been discovered over the last two decades. Placing them all on one map will help educate the public and aid in planning and quake readiness.

By Hector Becerra, Los Angeles Times

April 28, 2010

• MAP: Southern California faults
  
  
• MAP: The new state fault map

More than 50 new surface earthquake faults have been discovered in California over the last two decades, according to a new state map that officials hope will help guide future development decisions and emergency planning.

The state's fault activity map, produced by the California Geological Survey, is the first in 16 years and offers a sober reminder of California's quake risks.

The new faults range from small ones that don't pose much threat for major temblors to very large ones, like that responsible for the 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake that shook Southern California in 1999.

Most of the faults have been known to researchers, and information on them is contained in scientific files. But state officials and quake experts hope that putting all the faults on one map will educate the state about quake risk zones and help residents grasp the geography of the fault lines.

"I think every classroom in California should have these maps on the wall," said Caltech seismologist Lucy Jones. "I don't think we do enough to educate the general public about these features. We turn it into something for the specialists, as if science is only for scientists. But if you're going to buy a house, would you like to know what fault is under your house?"

About 50 new faults might not seem like a lot in a state with thousands of them. But experts say the new maps point to a basic fact of seismology: The more scientists study quakes in California, the more faults — and dangers — they find.

"These maps are used to make a lot of other maps, to map landslides, areas where you have liquefaction because of earthquakes, for tsunami coastal mapping," state geologist John Parrish said. "They can be used to make decisions on where to build schools and hospitals, where you need a higher standard of construction. They can tell you what kind of a surface you're building on, and how close you are to a fault."

The release of the map comes amid an increased interest in quakes in California and beyond. Last month's 7.2 quake south of Mexicali produced thousands of aftershocks, including dozens registering above magnitude 4.0. As a result, officials said 2010 is shaping up to have significantly more quakes greater than 4.0 than any year in the last decade.

Parrish said the map represent the state's best efforts at compiling information on the faults across California and will hopefully be used to enhance earthquake preparedness.

With the new digital images as a base, The Times has produced its own map of Southern California's earthquake exposure, showing the potential magnitude of quakes. The Times map couples the surface faults on the state map with estimates in the 2007 Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, a study of the likelihood and probable magnitude of quakes.

Parrish and others stressed that residents should not necessarily be alarmed if they live or work near one of California's estimated 15,000 faults. Many of those are fairly short, and experts have found no evidence that they have generated sizable temblors.

But others can produce major quakes. Some of the new faults were discovered after a large quake erupted there. Scientists, however, found others through research and say they have a history of major seismic activity that could date back thousands of years.

The new faults are spread across the region and include some along Santa Monica Bay and the Orange County coast as well as some — including Hector Mine — in the Mojave Desert. One new fault of concern to seismologists is the Maacama, which runs along the coastal mountains of Northern California.

Parrish said one goal of the new maps was to make them easier for the public to understand. The map uses color-shaded relief to better show the paths of fault lines and contours of the geology around them.

"The 1994 map was very good for the time," he said. "But there's been a lot of mapping done in the intervening years, with more details here and there. New areas have been mapped, with new interpretations."

The map shows only surface faults; those below the surface, such as the one that caused the Northridge quake, are not included. The California Geological Survey also released a new geology map, identifying the composition of rock and soil across the state — key to how earthquakes inflict damage — for the first time since 1977.

Formed because of the Gold Rush, the office that became the survey was initially created to provide detailed information about mining. Despite numerous devastating earthquakes over the years, it wasn't until a 7.3 magnitude quake struck Kern County in 1952 and killed a dozen people that the office got involved in public safety.

The fault activity map is the fourth the state has released.

Wally Lieu, engineering section manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said his agency is eager to review the new map. He said that the MWD already uses seismic maps in planning projects but that the state map provides additional useful information.

"Anything they have is of interest to us, especially in electronic form," Lieu said.  "We have a mapping team in engineering, and they have responsibility for updating our maps as we collect information."

Parrish said the digital version of the new maps should be updated far more rapidly than in the past. If a new fault is discovered, it could be only months before its location is reflected electronically, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/topstories/la-me-california-faults-20100428,0,4260672,print.story

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Case of teenage militant moves toward tribunal trial

Omar Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo, where he says he was abused and forced to give a false confession. The U.S. says he killed a U.S. soldier.

By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau

April 28, 2010

Reporting from Washington

After Omar Ahmed Khadr was captured in Afghanistan in 2002, his American interrogators gave him a Mickey Mouse book, which he clutched to his wounded chest as he slept. He even brought it to Guantanamo Bay, where he asked for other coloring books and pictures of big animals. He cried out for his mother.

At 15, Khadr, a Canadian by birth, was among the youngest taken to the U.S. naval base prison in Cuba. But in Afghanistan, the U.S. government alleges, he was anything but childlike. In a crude mud-walled fort outside the tiny village of Ab Khail, he allegedly shouldered an assault rifle, slung on an ammunition vest, and as his comrades lay dying tossed a grenade that killed one U.S. soldier and partially blinded another.

In affidavits, he said his eight years in U.S. captivity have been like a bad dream, marked with beatings and threats of rape that led to what he claims was a coerced and false confession to charges of murder, conspiracy and terrorism.

"I continue to have nightmares," he said two years ago. "I dream about being shot and captured. I dream about trying to run away and not being able to get away. I dream about all that has happened. About feeling like there is nothing I can do."

On Tuesday, a military tribunal started hearings into whether the confessions Khadr made to interrogators were obtained under duress, and are therefore inadmissible when he stands trial this summer in the first military tribunal under the Obama administration."I always just told interrogators what I thought they wanted to hear," Khadr said in the 2008 affidavit. "I did not want to expose myself to any more harm."

Tabitha Speer, who is expected to testify at the trial, has had her own nightmare. She is the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, the Army Special Forces soldier killed by the grenade.

"I saw in a dream what appeared to be Christopher walking down a winding country road," she said in a court affidavit. "Christopher looked back at me, smiled and walked a few more steps before looking back again. He appeared to be concerned about whether he should continue down the road."

Speer, left to raise two small children, says Khadr, regardless of his age, is "one hateful individual."

Omar Khadr, now 23, was born in Toronto. His father, Ahmed Said Khadr, moved his family to Pakistan when Omar was 2, where according to the U.S. he raised money for Al Qaeda. He encouraged his four sons to fire machine guns and to throw knives, the U.S. says. The boys said he taught them that martyrdom is the greatest test of faith.

According to law enforcement officials, Osama bin Laden attended the 1999 wedding of Omar's sister, Zaynab. Two years later, some members of the Khadr family were present at the wedding of Bin Laden's son, Muhammed.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the elder Khadr headed for the mountains with his 14-year-old son. According to U.S. authorities, Omar met Bin Laden and trained at Al Qaeda camps. Military prosecutors said soldiers found a videotape that shows him with Al Qaeda operatives planting roadside bombs. They said he admitted the bombs were "to kill U.S. forces."

In his contested confession, Khadr described a $1,500 bounty for each dead soldier, and said, "I wanted to kill a lot of American[s] to get lots of money."

On July 27, 2002, a U.S. Special Forces unit attempted to approach hostile forces in a small fort near the Pakistani border. A grenade killed Speer and wounded Staff Sgt. Layne Morris, blinding him in one eye. When the Americans finally fought their way inside, they found half a dozen Al Qaeda corpses and a wounded boy.

Khadr had been shot in the upper body and the head. Through the hole in the boy's chest a U.S. medic could see the boy's heart still beating. In perfect English, which stunned the Americans, he told them, "Kill me! Kill me!"

Khadr said he remembers nothing. "The pain was taking my thoughts away," he told his interrogators.

He alleges in an affidavit that when he arrived at Guantanamo, in October 2002, guards told him, "Welcome to Israel." He also said: U.S. soldiers threatened to have him raped if he did not cooperate. They shackled him to chairs and the floor. They grabbed him by the neck, lifted him in the air and dropped him back onto the floor. They left him for hours bent over on the floor until he urinated on himself. They poured pine oil on the floor and over him, and then, "with me lying on my stomach and my hands and feet cuffed together behind me, the military police dragged me back and forth through the mixture of urine and pine oil on the floor."

The U.S. has denied all those charges. But in any case, Khadr talked.

Muneer Ahmad, one of his first attorneys, said that at their first meeting at Guantanamo, Khadr asked for coloring books, car magazines and pictures of big animals. He played with the ink pens and Ahmad's digital watch. He gave him a note for his mother. "I miss you very much and I hope I can see you in the nearest time.… Don't forgat me from you pray'urs."

In February 2003, Canadian interrogators came to see Khadr. Within minutes, a video of the interview shows, he cried and twisted his hair. He pulled up his shirt and exposed his wounds. He cried for his mother. "Help me, ya ummi ."

"You want a chocolate bar or something?" they asked him.

"I want to go back to Canada," he said.

At the trial, scheduled to start in July, Khadr's second defense, after innocence, will be his youthfulness. His lawyers say he was a child under his father's control.

"How could anyone think he was possibly making up his own mind?" asked Kristine A. Huskey, one of his former attorneys.

"Think of where Omar comes from," said Dennis Edney, who currently helps represent Khadr. "How could he challenge his father? Who was he to challenge him?"

His lawyers have also argued that Khadr should be considered a "child soldier" protected under international law. Another of Khadr's attorneys, Barry Coburn of Washington, said the trial would reveal embarrassing details of how the U.S. handles detainees, including the young.

"The administration will be making a grievous error" in pursuing the case, he said. "Facts emerge during trials. We are going to see things that are very problematic for the prosecution, the Department of Defense and the government generally."

According to his lawyers, Khadr has suffered from mental illness as a result of his situation.

A 2005 report by psychologist Eric Trupin found that Khadr "suffers from a significant mental disorder, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In addition, he appears to be having both delusions and hallucinations."

But the hardest part, they say, is the uncertainty of his fate.

Coburn said Khadr keeps a neatly trimmed beard, reads a lot, and "for all his extreme isolation and emotional deprivation, he has this feeling of aloneness that in ways is harder to handle than anything else."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guantanamo-prisoner-20100428,0,7724166,print.story

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Mexico issues travel alert on Arizona

Mexicans spending time in Arizona are urged to be careful and to avoid protests by those for and against the state's tough immigration measure. There are calls for a boycott of Arizona-based entities.

L.A. Councilwoman Hahn calls for boycott of Arizona after recent passage of tough immigration law

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From the Daily News

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Arizona's immigrant law draws ire, possible referendum

By Jonathan J. Cooper

The Associated Press  

04/28/2010

PHOENIX — Politicians weighed in on Arizona's tough new immigration law Tuesday, while Mexico cautioned its citizens about an "adverse political atmosphere" in the state and a Phoenix man said he was aiming to get a referendum to repeal the measure on November's ballot.

In California, Meg Whitman, the Republican front-runner in the California gubernatorial primary, said that Arizona is taking the wrong approach to with its tough new law.

"I think there's just better ways to solve this problem," Whitman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

But Sen. John McCain told CBS's "The Early Show" that his state needed such a law because the Obama administration has failed to "secure our borders." The Arizona Republican called the situation in his state "the worst I've ever seen," and that ineffective border enforcement has resulted in drugs pouring into the southwestern United States from Mexico.

In Mexico, the Foreign Relations Department urged Mexicans in Arizona to "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws" and said that the law's passage shows "an adverse political atmosphere for migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors."

Meanwhile, Jon Garrido, who produces a Hispanic website and ran unsuccessfully last year for Phoenix City Council, said he's been flooded with inquiries and that he's optimistic about putting a referendum to repeal the law on Arizona's November ballot. Qualifying a referendum requires submission of at least 76,682 voter signatures within 90 days after the current legislative session.

Opposition to the law has grown since it was signed Friday by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, with civil rights leaders and others demanded a boycott of the state.

Brewer has said Arizona must act because Washington has failed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs from Mexico. The state is the nation's busiest gateway for people slipping into the country.

The measure - set to take effect in late July or early August - would make it a crime under state law to be in the U.S. illegally. It directs state and local police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.

"If you look or sound foreign, you are going to be subjected to never-ending requests for police to confirm your identity and to confirm your citizenship," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which is exploring legal action.

Currently, many U.S. police departments do not ask about people's immigration status unless they have run afoul of the law in some other way.

Under the new Arizona law, immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the U.S. could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500. That is a significant escalation of the typical federal punishment for being here illegally - deportation.

People arrested by Arizona police would be turned over to federal immigration officers. Opponents said the federal government could thwart the law by refusing to accept them.

Supporters of the law said it is necessary to protect Arizonans. The state is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants. Brewer has ordered state officials to develop a training course for officers to learn what constitutes reasonable suspicion that someone is in the U.S. illegally.

The crux of opponents' arguments is that only the federal government has the authority to regulate immigration.

"If every state had its own laws, we wouldn't be one country; we'd be 50 different countries," said Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14972422

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Health clinic is a comfort to LA's needy

By Susan Abram, Staff Writer  

04/27/2010

Although his mouth was stuffed with blood-soaked wads of cotton, Gilbert Ortega called Tuesday his lucky day.

He'd had five decayed teeth pulled and was being tested for new eyeglasses to replace those that were so old, it was difficult for him to read or drive.

"It's all been good ... so many people have come to help me," mumbled Ortega, 53, of Culver City. "I should have done all this when I had health insurance."

The phrase "when I had health insurance" seemed as common as cotton swabs at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, where the first day of a week-long mega-clinic drew 1,500 people for free vision, medical, and dental care.

It was the second year that organizers with Remote Area Medical brought their operation to Los Angeles. And while hundreds of dentists, family practitioners, internists, acupuncturists, opthamologists, nurses and aides volunteered their time, there were still not enough to treat all those deemed "medically indigent."

"The finest healthcare technology and finest practitioners are here in the United States, but unfortunately that technology and those practitioners are not reaching many people," said RAM founder Stan Brock, best known as the burly animal wrestler on TV's "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" in the 1960s.

In Los Angeles, where the unemployment rate hovers at 12 percent, at least 2.2 million list themselves as underinsured or lacking any coverage at all.

Tennessee-based RAM is best-known for providing health care to Third World countries. But when nearly 6,400 people flocked to last year's RAM clinic at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Brock and others knew they had to return.

Brock, dressed in his trademark khakis, escorted California's First Lady Maria Shriver around the Sports Arena, where she saw women waiting for their first-ever pap smears and mammograms, and rows of senior citizens holding prescriptions for eyeglasses.

By far, the greatest need was for dental care among those who scored a wristband on Sunday that guaranteed entry into the clinic on Tuesday.

"I just saw a lady with several broken, cracked teeth," said Dr. Orest Bauer, a Navy dentist based in Oxnard.

"We're seeing that, along with wide cavities."

Shriver deflected any irony in her presence even though last summer Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made cuts to the state funded Denti-Cal as a result of the budget crises.

Instead, she called the collision of the healthcare and economic crises a national issue and praised volunteers with her organization, We Connect, as well as the agencies, universities, and non-profit agencies that donated time and talent to care for the needy.

"It's a great day for L.A., but also a sobering, humbling moment in L.A. and the state," Shriver said. "I'm sorry we have this need in the state and in the country."

Outside the arena, hundreds of people with orange wristbands waited in the chilly, overcast morning to hear their numbers called to go inside.

Woodworker Joe Sanchez, 59, of San Dimas, said he lost his job - and his health insurance - in December. As luck would have it, two lower teeth began to ache just after he was let go.

"I think we're lucky to have this," he said of the clinic. "I wasn't around during the Depression, but I can only imagine how much those people then suffered."

Marcie Flores lives rent-free as a result of her job as an apartment manager, but still can't afford the cost of dental insurance.

"It's strange to come here, but it's a comfort," the 34-year-old Hollywood resident said. "When I got my wristband on Sunday, I felt relieved, even better."

Don Manelli, who produced the clinic at the Forum last year and again this year, said the Los Angeles event was made possible because of volunteers and in-kind cash to support the effort. He hopes nearly 8,000 will be served this time.

"This is the L.A. community helping its own," he said.

Brock and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, meanwhile, say they are urging Congress to allow physicians to be able to volunteer their time across state lines.

He said more volunteers would be needed as the clinic continues through next week.

"We hope to come again, perhaps go to the beach and not treat people because (by then) the (healthcare) problem will have been solved," Brock said.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14971511

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New law doesn't cancel `reasonable suspicion'

DID Arizona just end civil liberties for Latinos? In a word, "no."

Arizona's new law states, "where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person."

If you haven't had the pleasure of spending three years in law school, you may think the term "reasonable suspicion" is a meaningless, contrived term.

In fact, "reasonable suspicion" is a legal standard that dates back to 1968, when the United States Supreme Court adopted it in a case called Terry v. Ohio.

That case established that the police need "reasonable suspicion" before detaining or "patting down" a person. An experienced detective detained and patted down three men who appeared to be "casing" a store to rob it. Lo and behold, they were carrying guns. The court held that the detective's conduct did not violate the Fourth Amendment's proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures.

But how does the "reasonable suspicion" standard apply to illegal immigration?

There are cases galore on that subject. For decades, federal, state and local law enforcement officials have been questioning, detaining and arresting people they suspected of violating federal immigration laws. As a result, there is a body of law describing what does, and does not, constitute "reasonable suspicion" of immigration law violations.

In 1975, for example, the Supreme Court ruled, in United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, that border officers on a roving patrol could not stop a car merely because "its three occupants appeared to be of Mexican descent." The court did, however, identify other factors that could justify stopping a car based on suspicion of immigration violations, including: proximity to the border; erratic driving or obvious attempts to avoid officers; information about recent border crossings; an extraordinary number of passengers; and observing persons trying to hide.

There have been many other cases decided in the 35 years since then, but you get the idea. "Reasonable suspicion" is not some completely goofy, arbitrary term. Rather, it is a legal standard used to establish when and to what degree the government may intrude upon our privacy to enforce our laws.

The police cannot lawfully detain you merely because of your race, the political view expressed on your bumper sticker, etc. It takes more than that to meet the "reasonable suspicion" threshold.

Is it possible that in the future, a court will find that some Arizona police officer lacked reasonable suspicion before detaining someone he or she suspected of violating our immigration laws? Of course. But does that mean we must forgo the enforcement of our immigration laws and sit idly by while millions of people break those laws? Of course not.

The mere possibility that sometimes people who are here legally may have to endure the "burden" of producing a valid driver's license does not mean we, as a nation, must forgo enforcement of our immigration laws.

Bottom line: We can have a legitimate debate about Arizona's new law, and about immigration generally. But the "show us your papers" nightmare scenario is a ruse. "Reasonable suspicion" is nothing new. It has been established law for over 40 years now. So let's put a "Terry stop" to the "show me your papers" argument.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14972113

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Arizona leads the way with new immigration law

One down, 49 to go.

When Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation's first substantive anti-illegal immigrant law, the Copper State set the gold standard for defending the sovereignty of our country. If only California could muster the courage to follow Arizona's lead, Jamiel Shaw II would not have died in vain.

America's leading hypocrite, Cardinal Roger Mahony, immediately jumped into the battle and dropped the N-word on Arizona, "Nazi." It's the old "show me your papers" gambit. Pathetic.

Attention Mahony! Every police officer has the authority to haul any of us in if we don't have our "papers." Why? Because many bad people have outstanding warrants, including warrants for horrific crimes like murder and child rape – oh right, Mahony doesn't care about child rape. The "show me your papers" argument isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

The second red herring is the alleged unconstitutionality of "reasonable suspicion." The open-border crowd and civil libertarians claim the Arizona law will result in rampant racial profiling and arbitrary stops by the police. However, "reasonable suspicion" has been settled law for more than 40 years.

In "Terry v. Ohio" the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution (prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures) is not violated when a cop makes a stop without probable cause as long as the police have a "reasonable suspicion" that the person has committed a crime. Memo to Mahony: Being in the country illegally is illegal. Duh!

The caterwauling over Arizona will reach epic proportions because unlike previous attempts to manage a political problem or mollify a cranky base, this law has teeth. Coupled with aggressive workplace enforcement, including the arrest of employers who knowingly hire illegals, Arizona will re-establish order to a chaotic mishmash of arbitrary enforcement-versus-sanctuary policies.

Every nation has an obligation to control its borders or it is a nation in name only. Mexico vigilantly protects her southern border. We are not villains for protecting ours.

We have another reason to thank Arizona. By taking this action, the people of Arizona have forced the immigration debate into the open. A real debate. It's no longer possible for fakers to hide behind the sophistry of saying immigration is a federal issue while at the local level they provide sanctuary laws that actively encourage illegal border crossings.

From now on you have to pick a side.

Mahony's shameless Nazi crack was predictable since the Cardinal is literally shameless. No surprise, San Francisco has called for a boycott of Arizona – this coming from a city that advertises its sanctuary policies on buses and billboards.

L.A. City Council members Janice Hahn and Ed Reyes have joined the growing boycott chorus. Others will quickly follow, including Mayor Failure who is, I'm sure, topping off his righteous indignation tank as we speak. Of course calling for a boycott of Arizona is risk-free for any L.A. politician. On their watch, the entire nation is already boycotting Los Angeles.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14971219

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From the New York Times

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Report Calls Zambia's Prisons ‘Death Traps'

JOHANNESBURG — For punishment, inmates in Zambia 's prisons are commonly stripped naked and held in solitary confinement in small, windowless cells, sometimes for days on end, in ankle-to-calf-high water contaminated with their own excrement, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch and two African human rights groups.

Prisoners routinely live in overcrowded cells where there is no room to lie down at night, leaving them to sleep in shifts, pressed against one another, according to the report, which describes Zambian prisons as “death traps” beset by overcrowding, malnutrition and rampant disease.

Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison, built in 1950 for a capacity of 400, held 1,731 inmates, the report said. Lusaka Central prison, built in 1923 for 200, contained 1,145 people. Prisoners told investigators that their bodies were “packed like pigs,” “squeezed like logs in a pile,” or “like fish in a refrigerator.”

On a continent afflicted by widespread poverty and fierce competition for government resources, prisons have long been neglected, and prison conditions are often abominable. For the newly released report, human rights researchers visited six prisons in central Zambia and interviewed 246 prisoners and 30 prison officers.

The Zambian Prison Service has recently completed its own internal audit, appointed a new medical director and allowed the human rights workers access to its facilities. The report's authors credit prison authorities with “a desire and openness to improvement,” and called on the government to institute a range of reforms that would reduce overcrowding, end abusive punishments and improve conditions.

A dozen prison officials and medical workers attended the release of the report in Lusaka on Tuesday. Dr. Chisela Chileshe, who took over as head of Zambia's prison medical services in September and is the sole doctor for prisons that hold a combined 16,666 inmates, said by that the prison service welcomed the report. It is endeavoring to change a punitive, colonial-era system to a rehabilitative one.

“We don't have the muscle, the stamina to accomplish this without help from the government itself to increase budget allocations and from donors to come help,” he said.

The researchers found that prisoners were often malnourished because they were not given enough food of nutritional value. Tuberculosis has thrived, and many prisoners are weakened by hunger and exhaustion. It is this disease that has turned a prison term into a death sentence for some, the report said.

Many of those incarcerated have not been convicted of a crime, but have been held, sometimes for years, waiting for their day in court. At Lusaka Central Prison, more than half those incarcerated are awaiting trial. The report described one man who said he was incarcerated for three and a half years before he made an initial appearance before a magistrate. The report advises Zambia to increase the use of bail rather than relying on pretrial detention, which would ease overcrowding and help ensure the innocent are not held for long periods in appalling conditions.

Overworked guards in understaffed prisons have effectively delegated discipline to “cell captains,” inmates who hold their own courts and carry out punishments for violations of prison rules. The hierarchy of inmates encourages violent abuses of power, the report said.

The report likened work conditions for inmates to slave labor. Prisoners are required to work seven days a week for no pay, cell captains beat those seen as working too slowly, and water or toilets are often unavailable. Some inmates are also forced to work on prison officers' farms.

“The complete unavailability of water for inmates doing hard labor in the hot sun all day is an especially serious health concern,” the report stated.

The Prisons Care and Counseling Association, based in Zambia, and AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, headquartered in Namibia, joined Human Rights Watch in issuing the report.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/world/africa/28zambia.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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In Lawsuit on Adoption, Focus Is on Disclosure

Scores of complaints have been made in recent years against adoption agencies by people claiming they were inadequately informed or ill-prepared for problems their children turned out to have.

Many state laws and the Hague Convention now require agencies to disclose “reasonably available” records. But it can be unclear, especially in international cases, how assertive they are expected to be in getting such information.

The case of Chip and Julie Harshaw of Virginia Beach is, in some ways, the reverse of the now-familiar story of a Tennessee mother who put her Russian-born child on a plane home: The Harshaws are committed to raising their Russian son, even though they say they would not have adopted him had they known how severely impaired he was.

But when they decided to adopt, the Harshaws told their agency they could care only for a child with minimal health problems and “a good prognosis for normal development ,” according to notes in the adoption agency's paperwork.

They rejected one child because he had abuse-inflicted burns. But when a toddler in a Siberian orphanage appeared to fit their criteria, they brought the boy, Roman, home. “ ‘A beautiful, healthy, on-target, blond-haired boy' was what they had quoted to us,” Ms. Harshaw said.

After the adoption in 2004, Roman began showing “uncontrollable hyperactivity ” and aggression, Ms. Harshaw said. He has threatened their 5-year-old biological daughter with a steak knife and a two-by-four, and held her underwater in a pool. Their 13-year-old biological son has felt so much stress that he has required therapy.

Therapeutic programs have ejected Roman for kicking, biting, hitting and, most recently, on his 8th birthday, pulling out three of his teeth using a pen cap, fork or spoon.

Doctors finally diagnosed fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, brain damage and neuropsychiatric problems in Roman, whose I.Q. is 53. He was recently placed in an institution and is not expected to ever live independently, one of his doctors said.

The Harshaws are suing the agency, Bethany Christian Services , seeking compensation for the care Roman will need.

After Roman's problems were diagnosed, the agency offered to end the adoption, to try placing Roman with another family. The Harshaws refused. “He's not a dog; you don't take him to a pound,” Ms. Harshaw said.

The family claims that Bethany indicated, inaccurately, that a Russian doctor working for the agency had examined Roman, and that Bethany gave them incomplete medical information when more detailed records were available. (Such records were produced by Bethany more than two years later.)

Bethany, which calls itself “the nation's largest adoption agency,” disputes most of the claims .

“Bethany is a highly respected adoption agency that provided all the appropriate information for consideration by the Harshaws,” said Mark Zausmer, a lawyer for Bethany, based in Michigan. “Bethany provided this family counseling, extensive documentation, opportunities to consult with physicians, medical records and other materials from which they could fully evaluate how to proceed.”

No organization tracks the number of cases against adoption agencies, and academics and industry officials say many are settled out of court and sealed, so the outcomes are unknown.

But these days, “a far greater percentage of these wrongful adoption suits relate to international adoptions ,” said Marianne Blair , a University of Tulsa law professor.

Chuck Johnson, acting chief executive of the National Council for Adoption , an advocacy group, said, “There have been a growing number of families that have sued when they adopted a child from another country.”

Some lawsuits, Mr. Johnson said, come from families “expecting you to do the impossible when you did all you could,” but he said there had also been “agencies that have purposely concealed information.”

Issues of disclosure have drawn increasing attention in recent years. Lawsuits erupted in the 1980s over domestic adoptions in which histories of abuse and other problems were kept from adoptive parents.

“The philosophy was the blank slate, that adoption is a new start,” Professor Blair said. Now, she said, experts believe that “disclosure of health information is vital.”

As a result, many states enacted disclosure laws, followed by similar requirements in the Hague Convention, which apply to countries that ratify the treaty, as the United States did in 2008. Russia has signed the agreement but has not yet ratified it.

Those regulations were developing as the Harshaws' adoption was proceeding, and at most agencies, “the atmosphere was definitely an emphasis in getting what could be obtained and making sure that they disclose that,” said Joan H. Hollinger , a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley , who is serving as an expert witness for the Harshaws. Agencies were also focused on “preparation of adoptive families for what they might encounter,” Professor Hollinger said.

Bethany says it clearly advised the family that children from Russia could have problems, including serious ones, and that records might be inaccurate.

While the Harshaws' pediatrician raised overall risks after reviewing a video of Roman and a two-page medical summary, observing that some of the notations could indicate learning disabilities, she saw no specific indications of severe problems on the pre-adoption records provided. She noted a lack of detailed, up-to-date information and said she could not see Roman's face clearly. (Facial characteristics may provide clues to health deficiencies.)

“They were warned about generalities,” said their lawyer, Samuel C. Totaro Jr. , but the agency caseworker told them a Russian-trained doctor based in New York had “gone over there and seen him, and you have a healthy, on-target child, and the family took great reassurance from that.”

In a deposition, the caseworker acknowledged she had said that the doctor, Michael Dubrovsky, visited the orphanages to “see the children” and review pictures, videos and medical information. The agency says the Harshaws misinterpreted that to mean Dr. Dubrovsky had examined Roman.

In a deposition, Dr. Dubrovsky said he had never seen Roman, had not practiced medicine for years and was a facilitator for Bethany, not a medical screener.

The agency also suggests that the fetal alcohol syndrome was unlikely to have been detected before the adoption, noting that the Harshaws did not receive that diagnosis until two years later.

Mr. Zausmer said the agency did not conceal information and provided a translated synopsis of the Russian medical records that was standard at the time.

“We don't believe that there was anything in the Russian records that would have materially affected any adoption decision,” Mr. Zausmer said.

But Dr. Ronald S. Federici , a neuropsychologist who diagnosed Roman's illness, said the full 10-page medical record the agency produced after the adoption, at the parents' urging, would have shown that “the boy had fetal alcohol syndrome.”

The Harshaws hope the institution can stabilize Roman enough to send him home; either way, he will need extensive lifetime care.

“What we've been through and what we've lost,” Mr. Harshaw said. “Every day is ‘Groundhog Day,' a repeat of the stress and anger and frustration.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/28adopt.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Authorities Vow to Close Mines Found to Be Unsafe

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators told Congress on Tuesday that they would become more aggressive in enforcing mine safety laws, vowing to close mines with repeated safety violations and shut down sections of mines when inspectors find serious violations.

At a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — the first since a West Virginia mine explosion left 29 miners dead earlier this month — Joseph A. Main, who leads the Mine Safety and Health Administration , said too many mining companies appealed violations rather than corrected the problem.

“The current system provides a financial benefit for delaying tactics,” Mr. Main said, adding that regulators have compounded the problem by failing to close mines that repeatedly violate safety rules.

To reduce stalling, he called for a law requiring mine operators to pay penalties into escrow accounts before appeals were settled. He also called for his agency to be granted subpoena power to require companies to turn over documents promptly, and for lawmakers to strengthen criminal penalties carried by some mining violations so the threat of jail time became real.

Lawmakers and regulators strongly criticized Massey Energy, the company that owns the Upper Big Branch mine, where the miners were killed. They cited new data highlighting the company's recalcitrance in correcting dangerous conditions.

“There is unfortunately a population of employers that prioritize profits over safety and knowingly and repeatedly violate the law,” said Senator Tom Harkin , Democrat of Iowa and the committee chairman.

Mr. Harkin and several other speakers said the Upper Big Branch mine was cited 515 times by federal regulators last year and 124 times this year.

The mine safety agency said its inspectors ordered the evacuation of three other West Virginia mines owned by Massey this month after receiving anonymous complaints and conducting surprise inspections. The inspectors took control of company phone lines at two of the mines to ensure that mine foremen were not tipped off about the presence of inspectors above ground.

All three inspections, two on March 24 and one on April 9, resulted in violations that reflected “a serious disregard for the safety and health of the miners who work at these operations,” the agency said in a statement.

In a news release on Monday, Massey officials acknowledged that some conditions at the mines did not meet industry standards. As a result, the company said, it has fired eight employees, including supervisors, and suspended three.

Bruce Watzman, senior vice president for regulatory affairs at the National Mining Association, an industry group, urged the committee not to impose increased regulation.

“Regulations alone are not sufficient to see continued improvement,” Mr. Watzman said, arguing instead for a more cooperative relationship between the industry and its regulators.

He said a subjective approach by mine inspectors in issuing citations and a lack of alternatives to appeals for contesting these citations was largely to blame for the backlog faced by regulators.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/28mine.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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Reform for Wall Street Means Consumer Protections for Everybody

The Wall Street Reform that is now pending in Congress is critical to ensuring that the U.S. never again finds itself in the midst of a massive economic collapse that is in large part due to failures of the regulatory system.  President Obama strongly supports this legislation because it contains four key components.  First, it takes steps to put an end to taxpayer bailouts.  Second, it brings new transparency to complex financial markets.  Third, it gives shareholders more power in the financial system.  

Fourth, the reform creates a consumer financial protection agency that would look out for the interests of everyday Americans and stop the most abusive practices associated with mortgages, credit cards and access to financial services.  This is particularly important to minority communities that are often victims of predatory lending, costly payday loans and excessive fees from financial institutions.

As an example, during the housing boom of the previous decade, African Americans saw rapid growth in homeownership as the percentage of home owners grew from 42 percent in 1995 to 50 percent in 2004.  However, there was a problem.  Many of these homes were purchased using exotic, high-priced predatory loans with low teaser interest rates.  Recent reports show that African Americans and other minorities were three times more likely to receive higher-priced loans when purchasing a home.  Even when refinancing, African Americans were twice as likely to receive these exotic home mortgages. 

These loans were the equivalent of ticking time bombs in African American communities as once the loans re-set, usually with a higher monthly interest payment, many consumers found themselves with a mortgage they could no longer afford.  At the end of 2009, over 40% of subprime mortgages were at risk of foreclosure, partially due to unscrupulous and irresponsible lending practices.  The overall impact of tight credit and high foreclosure rates have led to a drop in homeownership rates for African Americans to 46 percent in 2009. 

How would the consumer financial protection agency have prevented the abuses in the marketplace that led to these unfortunate foreclosures?  First, the President is calling for fair and transparent financial services that are easy for everyday consumers to understand.  Anyone who has ever purchased a home or taken the time to read the fine print in their credit card statement appreciates how tough it can be to navigate the most basic financial matters.  Further, by promoting and supporting financial literacy for all, this agency will empower consumers with clear and concise information when they are making financial decisions.   This will help ensure that all Americans, especially those new to financial markets, understand the basic principles of personal finance which are essential to true financial independence.

In addition, for the first time the federal government will be able to oversee alternative financial services, such as payday lenders and cash checking outlets where minorities make up nearly 40 percent of the customers.  These businesses play an important role in the market and should be accessible when needed.  However, consumers also need to understand clearly the terms on which they are borrowing and have the protections afforded those that borrow from more traditional financial institutions.  The new agency will also monitor credit card companies and banks to protect us from excessive fees and overdraft charges.  Critically, the consumer financial protection agency is designed to enforce fair lending and end discriminatory practices against African Americans and other minorities. 

President Obama has put the nation on a path to reforming our financial system by calling for the strongest consumer protections ever, bringing opaque markets out of the shadows, giving shareholders a stronger voice, and ending taxpayer bailouts once and for all.   The President understands the value of a free market, but that doesn't mean having free license to take whatever you can get however you can get it, particularly from those in our most vulnerable communities.

Cecilia Rouse is a Member of the Council of Economic Advisers

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/27/reform-wall-street-means-consumer-protections-everybody

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Dr. Biden Thanks 2010 National Teachers of the Year

On Monday evening, Dr. Jill Biden hosted the 2010 National Teachers of the Year reception to congratulate teachers across the country for making a difference in their students' lives. She was joined by the Department of Education's Undersecretary Thelma Melendez and Chief of Staff Margot Rogers.

Dr. Biden said being surrounded by teachers at the reception made it one of her “absolute favorite events of the year”:

Just like each of you – I see day in and day out in my classroom the critical importance of education to the lives of Americans and the success of our nation. 

I love being a teacher because I see that I can make a difference in the lives of my students.  Regardless of the subject I'm teaching, my goal is to impart a sense of confidence in my students that will give them the strength to move in a positive direction.

I know each of you here tonight could share similar stories about your students who have been inspired by something you have taught them – and have, in turn, inspired you.

You stand here as the best of the best – each being honored this week for going above and beyond for your students, and our country.

So – on behalf of myself, my husband the Vice President, and President and Mrs. Obama – I want to say Thank You.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/26/dr-biden-thanks-national-teachers-year

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Testimony by Secretary Janet Napolitano, before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, on Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security

Release Date: April 27, 2010

Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.
(Remarks as Prepared)

Chairman Leahy, Senator Sessions, and members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to testify today; I appreciate the great interest this Committee has in homeland security and law enforcement issues. Today I will focus on Southwest border security and the results of our enforcement efforts over the past fifteen months. Before I begin my testimony, I would like to thank Congress for their continued support on this critical homeland security and law enforcement priority. With your assistance, the resources dedicated to this mission through the Department's Southwest Border Initiative, and the unprecedented partnerships we have forged with the Mexican government and federal, state and local law enforcement, I believe we have the right strategy, the right partners and the necessary commitment to continue making unparalleled progress in creating a safe and secure Southwest border, while facilitating legitimate trade and travel.

Strategy for the Southwest Border

When I first assumed office at DHS, drawing on my law enforcement and security experience on the Southwest border – first as the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, then as Arizona Attorney General and later as Governor of Arizona – I ordered a review of the Department's Southwest border enforcement efforts. That review helped generate our new strategy for the Southwest border and the Southwest Border Initiative. This strategy emphasizes three essential aspects of border security: personnel, technology, and infrastructure. Simply put, we must strategically deploy our border security personnel in the roles and locations where they are best able to counteract illegal smuggling of goods, people, drugs, weapons, and currency – while simultaneously supplementing their efforts with the right mix of technology and infrastructure so that they can do their jobs effectively.

Because our border security efforts are inextricably tied to the efforts undertaken by the Government of Mexico, our strategy also focuses on forging unprecedented partnerships with Mexican law enforcement as we work together to combat the shared threats to our mutual security. Mexico, under the strong leadership of President Calderón and his administration, has been conducting a valiant campaign to disrupt and dismantle the drug cartels that pose the threat of cross-border violence. To do our part to address this shared threat, DHS has deployed its resources to maximize the pressure we put on smuggling organizations with the goal of disrupting and dismantling their operations.

The Administration's increases in border security personnel, technology, and infrastructure; our interagency Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy; and our Department's continued efforts to combat drug cartels based in Mexico seek to stem the transnational threats that these organizations pose along the border. The cartels that Mexican authorities are confronting are the same criminal organizations that put drugs on our streets and use violence as a tool of their trade. The tragic murders of three people connected to our consulate in Ciudad Juarez and of longtime rancher Rob Krentz near Douglas, Arizona only serve to remind us of how drug violence can directly affect Americans and our nation's interests. Later, I will detail how the Department has surged resources in the areas of the border where these murders took place.

Our strategy also emphasizes collaboration with our state, local and tribal law enforcement partners – increasing information and intelligence sharing, providing additional federal support and coordination wherever possible, and ensuring we are maximizing all available resources in our collective efforts to bolster security at our borders.

Taking Action and Seeing Results

In March 2009, DHS and other supporting federal agencies began executing our Southwest Border Initiative – deploying unprecedented resources to combat transnational crime and drug-related violence along the Southwest border to help ensure the security of both the United States and Mexico. Over the past year, this historic, collaborative effort has resulted in major progress in combating the cartels that threaten the safety of both our nations. It is important to note that the Southwest Border Initiative not only increases the resources dedicated to combating cartel violence at the border, but it also deploys these resources strategically to ensure we are utilizing proven, effective methods and maximizing every taxpayer dollar spent on border security.

Manpower

DHS has put more boots on the ground at the border than ever before. Today, the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its 85-year history, having nearly doubled the number of agents from around 10,000 in 2004 to more than 20,000 in 2009.

In addition, over the past year, DHS doubled the number of agents working on Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BESTs) in the Southwest border region. BESTs are law enforcement task forces that combine federal, state, local, and international personnel to tackle border crime – including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Attorney's Offices, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and state, local, tribal and foreign law enforcement agencies. The BEST model has proven extremely effective not only at interdicting illegal activity, but also at building criminal cases that lead to high-value prosecutions. Doubling DHS personnel assigned to Southwest border BESTs has aided an increase in contraband seizures over the past year and has helped make the enforcement actions DHS undertakes more strategically focused and effective.

DHS also quadrupled the number of ICE agents in the Border Liaison Program. This program allows ICE to mOre effectively identify and combat cross-border criminal organizations by providing a streamlined information- and intelligence-sharing mechanism between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement.

The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis has tripled the number of intelligence analysts who are focused on the Southwest border – part of our efforts to build a more intelligence-based approach to combating drug smuggling and cartel violence, and in turn focus our resources more effectively.

DHS has also increased ICE Attaché personnel in Mexico by 50 percent, strengthening coordination with Mexico by locating more attaché personnel in Mexico City, Tijuana, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, and Monterrey.

Finally, during the past year, CBP has deployed additional Border Patrol agents to augment outbound inspections at ports of entry, and has deployed three additional Mobile Response Teams of 25 CBP officers each to assist operations at ports of entry where needed. CBP also introduced 12 "dual-detection" canine teams – which are trained to detect both weapons and currency – as part of a strategy to detect outbound cash smuggling and weapons smuggling.

Technology

In addition to manpower, DHS has increased the amount of proven, effective technology deployed at the border. CBP currently has 30 Z-Backscatter (ZBV) mobile X-Ray units – used in a mobile inspection capacity to identify anomalies in passenger vehicles – on the Southwest border, an increase from a total of nine in March 2009. These machines greatly assist CBP officers in inspections.

On top of this, the FY 2010 President's Budget included support for the expansion of CBP's License Plate Reader program, which assists in combating southbound firearms and currency smuggling. CBP has license plate readers at 52 southbound lanes at 16 Southwest border crossing sites, a number which will grow in the coming year.

Last year, Congress provided $20 million for CBP to acquire Non-Intrusive Inspection Equipment (NIIE), which has enabled CBP to significantly increase southbound seizures. CBP now has 117 large-scale NIIE systems deployed to ports of entry on the southwest border – systems that have greatly improved the ability of our agents to find contraband quickly and to process a higher volume of travelers and shipments.

Thanks to investments that have been made in other technology at the border, CBP currently has a total of 21 low energy mobile imaging systems deployed to our ports of entry along the Southwest border. Two more systems will be deployed to our Southwest border ports of entry by the end of June 2010. Since receiving its first Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in 2005, CBP has increased the number of Predators Bs based along the Southwest border to three.

New technologies have allowed us to begin engaging in new tactical border security strategies. In particular, for the first time ever, the Border Patrol is screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments for cartel-related contraband. This practice augments the longstanding practice of screening 100 percent of northbound rail shipments.

Infrastructure

This year, DHS finished constructing nearly all of the border fencing provided for by Congress. As of last month, all 298.5 miles of vehicle fencing had been completed, and only 5.7 miles of pedestrian fencing remained to be constructed. DHS operations will also benefit from $720 million in Recovery Act funding provided to CBP and the General Services Administration for critical security upgrades to bring the alarmingly outdated infrastructure at our land ports of entry up to date with post-9/11 operational standards. This comes on top of $260 million the Recovery Act provided for border security technology and improved tactical communications equipment. These improvements will provide for more efficient operations at our ports of entry and enhance the ability of DHS personnel to do their jobs.

Increased Support to State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement

DHS has formed true two-way partnerships with state and local law enforcement in the border region in our efforts to combat cartel-related crime. Last year, we awarded $90 million in Operation Stonegarden funding to support state, local and tribal law enforcement along the border, expanding eligible expenses to include additional law enforcement personnel, operational overtime expenses, and travel or lodging for deployment to the Southwest border. More than 84 percent of Operation Stonegarden funding went to the Southwest border (as opposed to the Northern border) in 2009, up from 59 percent the year before.

In addition to providing this kind of funding, DHS has greatly expanded its operational partnerships with state, local, and tribal law enforcement. We are strengthening law enforcement at that level through information sharing, which is aided by the expansion of the DHS intelligence enterprise.

CBP and ICE have established a presence at several institutions that serve to coordinate intelligence and operations between DHS components, other federal agencies, and state, local, and tribal government. CBP and ICE have established positions at the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), which is a major component of building an intelligence-based approach to combating cartels on the southwest border. There is also ICE and CBP presence at the Organized Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Fusion Center, which allows participating agencies to facilitate the collection, analysis, and dissemination of actionable drug-related intelligence.

CBP also recently established its first Intelligence Operations Coordination Center (IOCC) in Tucson, Arizona. Unlike the previous centers I mentioned, the IOCC is distinctly focused on the enhancement of field-level operations. One of its roles is to serve as the one-stop shop for coordinating field-level operations and sharing information between CBP and other federal, state, local and tribal partners. The Tucson IOCC will bolster our efforts to strengthen law enforcement in the border region through effective information sharing.

On top of these efforts, the Border Violence Intelligence Cell (BVIC) supports the national effort to combat weapons smuggling and stem the surge in violence along the United States-Mexico Border. This unit facilitates timely information sharing with state, tribal, local, foreign, and other federal law enforcement agencies, and serves as the focal point for analyzing all-source intelligence. The BVIC has provided critical support to BESTs in the past year to focus their efforts against weapons smuggling in an intelligence-based way.

Our goal is to ensure that we are acting in concert with state, local, and tribal authorities, as well as with our federal partners, in our efforts to secure the southern border region. We have also begun unprecedented outreach to local law enforcement in border communities, which includes regular conference calls to brief local police and sheriffs' offices on DHS activities along the border. I know from my own experience in state-level law enforcement that coordinating with the local officials in the region who have fought border-related crime for years will be critical to our success.

Unprecedented Cooperation with Mexico

An important part of our strategy is to strengthen law enforcement on both sides of the border through intensive coordination with Mexican authorities. The current level of cooperation between the United States and Mexico on combating cartels in the border region is unprecedented in the history of the two countries.

Conducting a coordinated campaign against cartel violence is absolutely essential to the success of our efforts. I have visited Mexico five times since the launch of the Southwest Border Initiative, and have met with President Felipe Calderón on multiple occasions – most recently last month as part of the U.S. delegation for the Merida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative group. President Calderón, his administration, and state and local authorities in Mexico have been dedicated, brave, and essential partners in our efforts. We are working with the Mexican government to build new collaborative efforts that will strengthen border enforcement by improving cross-border communications, coordinating enforcement against drug smuggling, improving the security of shared ports and of the aviation system, increasing law-enforcement-related information sharing, expanding law enforcement training, and strengthening trade.

Our expanded collaboration has produced several highlights. In February, I signed a Declaration of Principles of Cooperation with Mexican Secretary of Public Safety (SSP) Genaro García Luna, which allows for the expansion of coordinated intelligence sharing and joint strategic, intelligence-driven plans — already being implemented in the border region of Sonora and Arizona — to other border areas at high risk for transnational criminal activity.

Last month, I signed a memorandum of cooperation with both Secretary García Luna and Mexican Interior Secretary Fernando Francisco Gomez-Mont that will enable DHS to electronically share some criminal history information with Mexican law enforcement about Mexican nationals who are being repatriated from the United States and who have been convicted of felonies in the United States – enabling the seamless transmission of vital information regarding possible cartel operatives.

These instruments come in addition to other partnerships and collaborations that have been formalized since the launch of the Southwest Border Initiative. In September 2009, the United States and Mexico signed a bilateral agreement initiating a new cross-border communications network for public safety and law enforcement organizations. This will improve security along the U.S.-Mexico border by allowing participating federal, state, local and tribal public safety organizations to coordinate incident response. In August and December, I signed declarations of principles with the Mexican Secretary of Finance – the head of the ministry that controls Mexico's ports – to create a joint U.S.-Mexico framework to improve security along the Southwest border and facilitate the flow of legitimate travel and trade at our ports.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of the unprecedented cooperation that has been taking place every day by law enforcement officials from both countries on the ground. These collaborations strengthen this day-to-day operational cooperation, which is a cornerstone of our border security initiative now and for the future.

Using Border Security Resources Wisely

While improving the technological capabilities of law enforcement at the border will always remain a critical part of border security, DHS must remain vigilant in ensuring all border security resources are going to the best use. The continued and repeated delays suffered by SBI net – the system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border launched in 2006 – have raised fundamental questions about the program's viability. The high cost of SBI net obligates this administration to conduct a full and comprehensive analysis of possible alternatives. In the meantime, we will use funds allocated to border security technology on proven, cost-effective border security measures that can be put in place now, rather than years down the road.

To that end, I announced last month that DHS is redeploying $50 million of Recovery Act funding originally allocated for Block 1 of SBI net to other tested, commercially available security technology along the Southwest Border, including mobile surveillance, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light detection, backscatter units, mobile radios, cameras and laptops for pursuit vehicles, and remote video surveillance system enhancements. I also announced that DHS is freezing all SBI net spending beyond SBI net Block 1's initial deployment to the Tucson and Ajo regions of the border until the Department-wide assessment of SBI net that I ordered in January is completed. This assessment is designed to identify if there are alternatives that may more efficiently, effectively and economically meet our border security needs.

Results: By the Numbers

In the first year of the Southwest Border Initiative, seizures of contraband rose in every major category – cash, drugs, and weapons – compared to the year before, while illegal crossings continued to decline.

Since March 2009, CBP and ICE have seized $85.7 million in illicit cash along the Southwest border, an increase of 14 percent over the same period during the previous year. This includes more than $29.7 million in illicit cash seized heading southbound into Mexico – a 39 percent increase over the same period during the previous year.

During the same period, CPB and ICE together seized 1,425 illegal firearms, which represent a 29 percent rise over the same period in the previous year. At the same time, CBP and ICE seized 1.65 million kilograms of drugs along the Southwest border, an overall increase of 15 percent.

Additionally, the San Diego DHS Maritime Unified Command – comprised of U.S. Coast Guard, CBP, ICE and other law enforcement partners – saw a more than six-fold increase in maritime drug interdictions in the Pacific waters extending from the Southwest border. The Command seized more than 26,000 kilograms of drugs in fiscal year 2009, compared to 4,029 kilograms seized in fiscal year 2008.

And while these numbers represent significant increases, they are only one part of our efforts across the country to crack down on transnational criminal networks, carry out drug and cash seizures, and undertake enforcement actions.

Resource Surge in Southeastern Arizona

Despite these successes, it is clear that our work to secure the border region is far from over. We were all reminded by this by the outrageous murder last month of Robert Krentz, a rancher in southeastern Arizona, who was killed on his land, most likely by a person who was in the U.S. illegally and was connected to cross-border smuggling.

DHS responded immediately to the murder. Immediately following the shooting, CBP deployed additional helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to the area of the murder. Border Patrol trackers located the footprint sign of the suspect and tracked him back into Mexico. The Border Patrol dispatched additional mobile surveillance systems to the area and supplemented regular manned aerial surveillance with two new helicopter flights per day. CBP also transferred additional Border Patrol agents into the area around Douglas, Arizona, for a total of more than 100 agents. These include teams on horseback and on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that can operate across the area's desert terrain.

In addition to CBP, ICE has dedicated several agents to this case full time, and has assigned a full time senior intelligence research specialist to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office. ICE has 25 additional agents in its Douglas office to assist, and ICE continues to offer a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. Both ICE and CBP are working closely with the Government of Mexico and the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.

As we continue our strategic approach to securing the Southwest border, this murder reminds us of the nature of the threat that we face along the border, and how we cannot rest on past successes.

Conclusion

The steps we have taken over the last 15 months to bolster security on the Southwest border have put substantial pressure on cartels, making it much more difficult for them to thrive. However, we must also remember that the cartels themselves are adaptive; their tactics evolve in response to our enforcement efforts. This reality means that, for our own part, we must continue to evolve, and that our work is not done. The United States is committed to doing its part to combat this transnational threat, in addition to working with the Mexican government and our state, local and tribal partners to combat cartel activity and all illicit and dangerous activity along our borders. Continually enhancing border security is not only critical for border communities, but is a necessary part of any comprehensive attempt to fix our nation's broken immigration system to make it work for the 21st Century – a high priority for this administration.

I appreciate the support of Congress and of this Committee in helping the Department to secure our border, and I look forward to continuing to work with you on these critical issues. Chairman Leahy, Senator Sessions, and members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I am now happy to answer your questions on this or any other matter.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/testimony/testimony_1272383936754.shtm

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From ICE

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Get the Facts: Secure Communities

Background:

Secure Communities is a comprehensive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative to modernize the criminal alien enforcement process. It supports public safety by strengthening efforts to identify and remove the most dangerous criminal aliens from the United States. Congress appropriated $1.4 billion to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for criminal alien enforcement efforts.
Secure Communities is built on three pillars that address the frequent challenges associated with accurately identifying and successfully removing criminal aliens from the United States.

• Identify criminal aliens through modernized information sharing;
  
  
• Prioritize enforcement actions to ensure apprehension and removal of dangerous criminal aliens; and
  
  
• Transform criminal alien enforcement processes and systems to achieve lasting results.

Here's how it works:

When someone is booked into local custody, their fingerprints are taken. Those fingerprints are checked against FBI databases [DOJ's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)] for criminal history. With Secure Communities, those fingerprints will also be checked against the DHS databases [DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT)].

• When fingerprint submissions match immigration records, local ICE officers are automatically notified and can promptly determine if enforcement action is required.
  
  
• Criminal history and immigration information can also be shared with state law enforcement agencies. State law enforcement may provide this information to the local booking agency if the agency has the technical capability to receive such information.

Facts:

• Since its inception in October 2008, Secure Communities has identified more than 18,000 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping — 4,000 of whom have already been removed from the United States.
  
  
• At the root, Secure Communities is about information sharing with local law enforcement agencies so they and the federal government have all the facts about the people in their jails
  
  
• Secure Communities gets the job done without imposing a major cost or resource burden on local law enforcement.

Allegations of racial profiling:

• To date, ICE has not received any complaints of racial profiling.
  
  
• Secure Communities is a color blind system. Fingerprint-matching databases do not lie and they can not tell what race a person is.
  
  
• Secure Communities reduces the opportunity for allegations of racial and ethnic profiling because the fingerprints of every individual arrested and booked into custody are checked against immigration records, not just those manually submitted by local officers
  
  
• Also, because biometrics are unique and virtually impossible to forge, this means criminal aliens can no longer hide behind a long list of aliases.
  
  
• ICE encourages reporting of any allegations of racial profiling, due process violations, or other violations of civil rights or civil liberties related to the use of IDENT/IAFIS Interoperability. All complaints should be filed with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), on the CRCL complaint intake Web site .
  
  
• ICE regularly meets with NGOs, including those organizing this week's events such as the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, Immigration Policy Center, the ACLU and the Rights Working Group, among others.

Frequently Asked Questions:

If Secure Communities is prioritizing the identification and removal of criminal aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, why is ICE identifying and removing more aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 offenses?

• ICE is identifying more aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and Level 3 offenses because more individuals commit and are arrested for crimes falling under these levels. However, ICE prioritizes the removal of aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, which is demonstrated by the overall higher removal percentages for aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 offenses, versus the percentage of removals of aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 offenses.

Why does interoperability sometimes identify criminal aliens for potential removal who are simply charged with crimes instead of focusing solely on those actually convicted of crimes?

• ICE has the authority to take enforcement action toward any alien subject to removal.
  
  
• Interoperability identifies aliens charged with or convicted of crimes at the earliest possible opportunity—when they are arrested booked into jail or prison. By identifying these individuals early in the criminal justice process, ICE has the necessary time to determine appropriate enforcement action against aliens who pose a threat before they are released from local custody.
  
  
• Interoperability also reveals previous criminal history information to ICE officers which may make the individual in custody charged with a crime subject to removal based on prior conviction

ORLANDO, Fla. - Eight Florida counties have successfully implemented a new information-sharing capability made available by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - called Secure Communities - that will help identify and remove criminal aliens from the United States.

Law enforcement agencies in Escambia, Leon, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Sarasota, and Volusia counties will now use the system to check the criminal and immigration records of everyone arrested and booked into the local jails via the Secure Communities initiative.

"We want to make sure that our local law enforcement partners know as much as possible about the people in their custody," said David Bradley, ICE's acting deputy field office director for Miami Field Office of Detention and Removal, the office overseeing the Secure Communities initiative in Florida. "By using sophisticated biometrics, this tool allows us to quickly and accurately identify those criminal aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities."

Previously, local arrestees' fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) maintained by the FBI. Now, as part of the Secure Communities strategy, fingerprint information submitted by state and local law enforcement agencies will now be simultaneously checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics-based immigration records in the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).

If 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 the greatest threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.

"The Secure Communities strategy 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 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 24 Florida counties using this tool, including Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Duval, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Marion, Miami Dade, Monroe, Pinellas, St. John's, and St. Lucie counties. Secure Communities is now being used by 168 jurisdictions in 20 states across the country. ICE expects this capability to be available nationwide by 2013.

"This program maximizes the use of biometric technology to exchange critical public safety information," said Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Gerald Bailey. "FDLE is pleased to work with ICE and local law enforcement to help protect Florida citizens."

Since ICE began using this information sharing capability in October 2008, it has identified more than 21,700 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping-more than 4,900 of whom have already been removed from the United States. Most of the aliens subject to removal who have been identified but not yet removed are in legal proceedings or completing their sentences. Additionally, ICE has removed more than 28,400 aliens charged with or convicted of Level 2 and 3 crimes, including burglary and serious property crimes, which account for approximately 90 percent of the crimes committed by aliens.

The IDENT system is maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program, and IAFIS is maintained by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

"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 CJIS 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."

For more information, visit www.ice.gov/secure_communities .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1004/100426orlando.htm

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From the FBI

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U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Al Qaeda

Syed Hashmi, aka “Fahad,” pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda, announced Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Hashmi, 30, was arrested on June 6, 2006 at Heathrow Airport in London, shortly before he was to board a flight to Pakistan. He was later extradited to the United States; Hashmi is the first individual to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States on terrorism charges.

According to the superseding indictment filed in Manhattan, New York federal court and statements made during the guilty plea proceeding:

From January 2004 through May 2006, Hashmi provided material support or resources to al Qaeda by helping to provide equipment to others who then transported the equipment to al Qaeda associates in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Hashmi provided the equipment with knowledge that it would be used by al Qaeda to fight against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Hashmi also provided money to a co-conspirator who planned to transport the equipment to al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Hashmi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al Qaeda, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Hashmi is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska on June 7, 2010.

U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the investigative work of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of special agents and detectives of the FBI and the New York City Police Department. Bharara thanked the U.S. Department of Justice's National Security Division and Office of International Affairs. Bharara also expressed his gratitude to the British authorities and law enforcement community, including New Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service, for their cooperation in the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Bharara said: “This afternoon, Syed Hashmi admitted that he knowingly provided material support to al Qaeda. Having admitted his guilt, he will now face justice for giving aid to terrorists he knew full-well were dedicated to harming Americans.”

This case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office's Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brendan R. McGuire and John M. Hillebrecht are in charge of the prosecution.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo042710b.htm

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