Obama to send 1,200 additional National Guard troops to the border

The troops will target the trafficking of people, money, drugs and weapons, but won't make arrests or otherwise intervene directly, officials say.

By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau

May 26, 2010

Reporting from Washington

President Obama will send up to 1,200 additional National Guard troops — and request $500 million in additional funds — to support law enforcement efforts along the Southwest border, the White House said Tuesday.

The move was widely seen as offering the president political cover for his pursuit of immigration reform.

The National Guard will target the trafficking of people, money, drugs and weapons, national security advisor James L. Jones and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said in a letter to Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), noting that more than 300 troops were already on the ground. The troops won't make arrests or otherwise intervene directly, according to an administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The White House said the money would allow the U.S. Border Patrol to zero in on more smuggling routes, and it would fund more prosecutions in overstretched federal courts along the border.

"This is the latest step in an ongoing effort to ensure the federal government fulfills its responsibility to secure the Southwest border," the official said.

The move comes a month after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate committee that the U.S.-Mexico border "is as secure as it has ever been" and pointed out that crime rates on the U.S. side had declined, despite a spate of drug-related violence on the Mexico side.

Republicans criticized her remarks, and have been demanding that the administration step up efforts to tackle illegal immigration and border violence.

Obama's announcement also comes as illegal immigration is believed to be at its lowest levels in years. Apprehension rates, considered the best available indicator of illegal border crossings, have steadily declined over the last decade. The Border Patrol arrested 556,000 people last year, down from a high of 1.6 million in 2000.

But Republicans have been hammering Obama on the issue. In a letter to the president last week, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Republicans, called for sending at least 6,000 National Guard troops to the border.

A Gallup poll released May 5 showed that two-thirds of Americans wanted the federal government to do a better job of securing the border. Concerns about border security helped drive the passage of the recent Arizona law empowering local police to help identify, arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

Obama argues that the answer to concerns about immigration rests in a new law that combines tough enforcement with a path to legalization for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. President George W. Bush tried and failed to pass such a measure in 2007, and many observers think there is even less chance of it succeeding this year, with midterm elections approaching.

The deployment of additional National Guard troops undermines the Republican assertion that the White House is lax about strengthening the border, said a second Obama administration official, not authorized to speak on the record.

"They're running out of excuses," the official said. "For those who are making the case that we have to be more vigorous about enforcing the law, it does call the question."

At a news conference in Phoenix, Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, a Democrat who is running for governor, called the border initiative "an important commitment of national attention to the real problem that we are facing here in Arizona and throughout the Southwest, and that is the violent crime fomented by the criminal drug cartels."

The announcement from the White House came after Obama lunched at the Capitol with Senate Republicans, urging them to come on board an immigration bill without mentioning his new enforcement plan. Republicans said Obama's announcement was a good step, but an insufficient one.

"It's simply not enough. We need 6,000," McCain said Tuesday on the Senate floor. "The situation on the border [has] greatly deteriorated during the last 18 months."

In 2006, President Bush sent 6,000 National Guard members to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. Their presence was meant to step up security while the Border Patrol expanded its ranks. They stayed from June 2006 until July 2008.

Napolitano, then Arizona governor, was among those who called for sending the Guard in 2006. The Border Patrol more than doubled in the last eight years, and now stands at 20,000.

However, there is no evidence that National Guard deployment impeded illegal immigrants, said Wayne Cornelius, director emeritus of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego.

In Cornelius' 2007 survey of potential immigrants, the National Guard's presence on the border was cited as a major concern by just 5% of interviewees — "the same proportion who were concerned about being robbed en route to the U.S. by Mexican police," he said. "That's even more revealing because a majority of our interviewees believed, incorrectly, that the National Guard troops were armed and authorized to shoot."

Obama's decision, Cornelius said, "looks very much like an election-year ploy."

And poor strategy, said Janet Murguía, president and chief executive of the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Latino civil rights organization in the United States. "Taking this step without any concurrent announcement on next steps or even a timeline for a comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system is both inadequate and deeply disappointing," she said.

Some who favor tough enforcement also questioned Obama's motives. In Arizona, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said the president's move appeared to be "little more than political posturing."

"It's welcome on the other hand, because we've been crying for help for years," he said. "Something is better than nothing."

He criticized the Pentagon's long-standing policy that precludes troops from directly policing the border, instead relegating them to support roles.

"You either secure our borders or you don't," he said.

Thad Bingel, who was chief of staff of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Bush administration, said it would be unwise to have Guard troops patrolling the border with rifles at the ready.

"What we discovered … is that the Guard was a helpful stopgap, but it's not a long-term solution; it doesn't solve all your problems," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-border-20100526,0,4340517,print.story

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

U.S. offered crucial evidence in Pakistani meeting on Times Square plot

U.S. officials, in an urgent visit, sought to convince Pakistan that Washington would be under intense pressure to respond if another plot with ties to the Pakistani Taliban led to American casualties.

By Christi Parsons and David S. Cloud

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

May 26, 2010

Reporting from Washington

Senior U.S. officials used an urgent meeting with Pakistan's president to present a dossier on terrorism suspect Faisal Shahzad, including a detailed chart describing his contacts with the Pakistani Taliban before his attempt to detonate an explosives-laden vehicle in New York City's Times Square, officials said.

The evidence was part of an emphatic American warning that there would be "inevitable pressure" on the United States to take action if there was an attack traceable to Pakistan that resulted in U.S. casualties, officials familiar with the talks said.

The warning was delivered last week in a visit to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, by White House National Security Advisor James L. Jones and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, who said Pakistan needed to intensify its crackdown on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP, and other militant groups.

Originally, officials in Islamabad denied that the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group based in the country's tribal regions, was involved in the May 1 bombing attempt. But in the days since Jones and Panetta met with President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders, Pakistani officials have begun to acknowledge that the group provided support to Shahzad.

The Taliban initially claimed responsibility for the attempted attack, though it later backed away from the claim and denied even knowing Shahzad.

U.S. officials have become convinced that the TTP, after primarily focusing on attacks against the Pakistani government, is increasingly seeking ways to strike U.S. targets. The group has formed closer links with Al Qaeda and has seemed to adopt the terrorist network's goal of striking the United States on its own territory.

"We have been lucky in the past, but our luck will run out and in the future, we are likely to face successful attacks," said a senior U.S. intelligence official, who, like several others, was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The evidence, which included photographs of militants suspected of assisting Shahzad, was shown to Zardari and Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief of staff, along with other Pakistani officials, U.S. officials said.

Jones and Panetta were attempting to convince the Pakistanis that the U.S. had hard evidence that Shahzad had received support from the Pakistani Taliban, the officials said.

The chart, which was assembled by U.S. intelligence agencies, "showed who all he had contacts with," one official said, and drew "clear links between Faisal Shahzad and the TTP leaders in Pakistan."

Jones and Panetta did not spell out action the United States might take, the official said. The delegation did not rule out military action, for example, but it didn't talk about it specifically, he said.

Whether the U.S. would respond militarily or with lesser steps would depend on the circumstances of an attack and the strength of the evidence implicating militants in Pakistan, several officials said.

The White House originally considered warning Pakistan about the consequences of another attack in a confidential letter from President Obama to Zardari, but it decided to dispatch Jones and Panetta to deliver the message in person.

In addition to that visit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned publicly in the days after the Times Square attempt that Pakistan faced "very severe consequences" in the event of another plot originating in Pakistan. Her comment provoked a strong backlash in Pakistan.

The Obama administration has been pleased with recent Pakistani military offensives undertaken in the tribal areas. U.S. officials want Islamabad to do more, especially in North Waziristan, but they acknowledge that Pakistan's military already is stretched.

A U.S. campaign of attacks launched by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan's tribal belt has been intensified since Obama took office. Pakistan is highly resistant to more than a token U.S. military presence on its territory, and American officials say there are few additional options for unilateral action against militant groups in Pakistan.

But if a terrorist attack launched from the Pakistani tribal belt did result in U.S. casualties, the pressure on the White House to act could be overwhelming, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official and a terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution.

"Professions by the Pakistanis that they are trying hard won't cut it anymore," Riedel said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-us-pakistan-20100525,0,5963921,print.story

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

North Korea cutting all ties with South Korea

The North says it is also expelling workers from a jointly run industrial park near the DMZ as it ratchets up its response to the South's efforts to seek redress for the sinking of a ship.

By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

May 26, 2010

Reporting from Beijing

A defiant North Korea said late Tuesday that it would sever all ties with South Korea, cut off communications and expel workers from a jointly run industrial park in a bellicose response to the South's efforts to seek redress for the sinking of one of its ships.

Although South Korea has said it will not retaliate with force, instead seeking sanctions before the U.N. Security Council, Pyongyang earlier in the day accused Seoul of making a "deliberate provocation aimed to spark off another military conflict."

In Beijing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States stood firmly behind South Korea and urged China to join in condemning North Korea's behavior, as Beijing did last year when the North tested a nuclear weapon.

"We expect to be working together with China in responding to North Korea's provocative action, and promoting stability in the region," Clinton said at the conclusion of two days of talks with Chinese officials. The talks were supposed to concentrate on economics, but ended up being overshadowed by the Korean crisis.

Clinton is to fly Wednesday to Seoul for meetings with Japanese and South Korean officials. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is also headed to Seoul to meet Friday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

After Clinton's meetings with the Chinese, U.S. officials could claim no progress in persuading Beijing to support U.N. deliberations on North Korea's alleged attack, but said talks would at least continue.

Philip J. Crowley, chief State Department spokesman, said North Korea's decision to sever ties with the South was odd, given the potential benefits to the impoverished state of stronger ties to its wealthier neighbor.

The South Korean naval vessel Cheonan was on patrol in the Yellow Sea on March 26 when an explosion ripped apart the hull, killing 46 crew members. Investigators last week declared what was already widely believed in South Korea: The sinking was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack.

The Chinese already have signaled their reluctance to punish North Korea, infuriating both the South Koreans and the Americans.

"It is disgusting the way the Chinese just sit on their hands and do nothing. This backward and clumsy behavior is not fitting their supposed place as the predominant power in Asia," said Victor Cha, a former National Security Council Asia director who now is at a Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China's cooperation is important because it can block or water down any U.N. resolution by virtue of its permanent seat on the Security Council and because almost everything North Korea imports or exports has to cross China's borders.

North Korea shows no signs of flinching in what is increasingly a battle of nerves with South Korea.

Pyongyang issued a flurry of threats during the day. It accused South Korea of dispatching "dozens" of warships across the maritime border and said that it would "put into force practical military measures to defend its waters."

North Korea said it had given permission for its soldiers to shoot at South Korean loudspeakers, a response to an announcement Monday that Seoul would resume broadcasting propaganda across the demilitarized zone that divides the peninsula.

The strongest measure, announced late in the day, was the severing of all relations and communications with South Korea. As a practical matter, that would mean closing an industrial park in Kaesong, just north of the DMZ, which was once the showcase for cooperation between the Koreas. More than half a century after the 1950-53 Korean War, there is still no telephone or postal service between the countries.

The threats looked like a tried-and-true North Korean maneuver: escalating the tensions to remind South Korea how vulnerable its economy is to any hint of renewed conflict on the peninsula. The Korean won dropped to its lowest level in 10 months and stocks throughout Asia sank, in part on fears of war.

"The North Koreans have an advantage here in that the South Koreans have a greater fear of war," said Scott Snyder, an Asia Foundation expert who co-wrote a book about North Korea's negotiating behavior.

Although the South Korean public is outraged about the sinking of the ship, it has no appetite for a military response to the North.

"This has been characterized as South Korea's 9/11," Snyder said, "but people know that any military response would just bring them greater pain."

On the other hand, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il might be able to exploit rising tension with South Korea to distract his nation's citizens from the abysmal state of their economy. His popularity has suffered because of a botched currency reform late last year. The ailing 68-year-old leader is also in the process of trying to install his youngest son, who is in his 20s, as his successor.

"Dictatorships undergoing internal political turmoil generally manifest belligerent external behavior," the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report released Tuesday.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-koreas-20100526,0,3311496,print.story

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

Detectives seek public's help in killing of 19-year-old whose nude body was dumped near 105 freeway

Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives asked for the public's help Tuesday in their investigation into the brutal death of Edwinta Hereford , 19, whose nude body was found dumped on the side of the 105 Freeway in Paramount nine days ago.

The Times' Homicide Report correspondent Sarah Ardalani reported from the scene of a news conference outside the sheriff's homicide bureau in Commerce:

Next to a poster-sized image of Edwinta Hereford -- the 19-year old whose nude body was found alongside a Los Angeles-area freeway earlier this month -- sheriff's homicide detectives gave an account Tuesday of her final days in the hopes of generating leads in a killing they said has left them puzzled.

Hereford's body was found about 5:40 a.m. May 16 on the shoulder of the eastbound 105 Freeway at Garfield Avenue in Paramount. A passerby "saw small feet" and pulled over to see if it was a child, according to Det. Phil Martinez, who is handling the investigation.

At first, detectives did not even know her name. She was found unclothed without any identification, other than a tattoo on her back that read: "Kenaya Faith Morgan."

Martinez said evidence suggested that her body was discovered within an hour of being thrown from a vehicle, but they had little else to go on.

Tips from the public and fingerprints led them to her identity, but the circumstances leading up to her killing remain unknown.

Hereford suffered massive blunt force trauma, said Lt. Don Slawson, but had no signs of being stabbed or shot. The autopsy has been completed by the coroner's office, he said, but investigators are still waiting for additional lab tests to determine the cause of her death.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear case in 1999 Valley hate-crime shooting

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to take up the case of the mother a postal worker slain in the 1999 North Valley Jewish Community Center shootings. The high court's denial ends her lawsuit against gunmaker Glock and wholeseller RSR, which she accused of recklessly marketing and distributing firearms.

Lilian Ileto, the mother of Joseph Ileto, had sought to challenge the constitutionality of a 2005 law that bars claims against manufacturers and distributors of firearms for crimes committed by a third party using their weapons.

Buford O. Furrow Jr., a white supremacist and avowed neo-Nazi who was a convicted felon with a history of mental instability, used at least seven illegally obtained firearms to shoot Ileto in Chatsworth and five others in Grenada Hills during a racially-motivated rampage. Ileto, a Filipino American, was killed by a 9-millimeter Glock pistol that Furrow bought at a pawnshop.

Surviving shooting victims and families first sued in 2000, alleging that the companies sold more firearms than the legitimate market demands to take advantage of guns being resold to illegal buyers.

The 9th Circuit also found, however, that the survivors' lawsuit against a third manufacturer, China North, can go forward because that company is not federally licensed.

The office of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, now a Supreme Court nominee, defended the law in filings with the high court.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/05/us-supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-case-in-1999-valley-hatecrime-shooting-.html#more

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

Amber Dubois' parents unveil four bills aimed at finding missing children more quickly

Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, announced the proposed measures Tuesday at a noon news conference in Long Beach. Their daughter went missing on Feb. 13, 2009, after last being seen walking to class at Escondido High School.

Assemblymen Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) are sponsoring the four measures.

Amber's parents spent the last year meeting with police and sheriff's officials around the state and learned there was no single, consistent way that police respond to a report of a missing child.

"They believed that had there been better protocols and practices, that their daughter could have been found alive," Nava said of Amber's parents.

One bill would establish a missing child rapid response team in the state attorney general's office that would help local law enforcement agencies search for and recover abducted children in a timely manner.

The third bill would require the state to establish training courses and a checklist for how to handle cases of missing children and require state officials to provide local law enforcement with a list of all sex offenders within a five-mile radius of an abduction within two hours of it being reported.

The fourth bill would require law enforcement agencies to report credible reports of missing adults and children to state and national databases within two hours, up from the current law of four hours.

John Albert Gardner III, a registered sex offender, was sentenced to life in prison this month for raping and killing Amber and Chelsea King, 17, who also was from northern San Diego County. King, a senior at Poway High School, went missing on Feb. 25 after going for a run near Lake Hodges.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/05/amber-dubois-parents-unveil-four-bills-aimed-at-finding-missing-children-more-quickly.html#more

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

From the New York Times

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

U.S. Pledges to Help South Korea in Bid for U.N. Action

SEOUL, South Korea — With political and military tension increasing daily on the Korean Peninsula, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that Washington would stand beside Seoul as it seeks redress at the United Nations Security Council over North Korea 's apparent sinking of a South Korean warship.

But Mrs. Clinton stopped short of detailing what measures would be sought at the Security Council, where China, a veto-wielding member and a North Korean ally, was likely to block attempts to impose new sanctions on the isolated North.

“We're very confident in the South Korean leadership, and their decision about how and when to move forward is one that we respect and will support,” Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference after meetings with the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak , and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. “I believe that the Chinese understand the seriousness of this issue and are willing to listen to the concerns expressed by both South Korea and the United States.”

She acknowledged a complicated task facing Washington and Seoul when she said the allies have to work on two tracks simultaneously. She spoke of the “immediate crisis” of the sinking that “requires a strong but measured response” and of a “longer-term challenge of changing the direction of North Korea, making a convincing case to everyone in the region to work together to achieve that outcome, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and offering the opportunities for a better life for the people of the North.”

North Korea has denied any role in the sinking of the ship and the loss of 46 South Korean sailors.

She also endorsed President Lee's “right approach” in trying to avoiding “escalation and a broader conflict” while seeking international support to punish the North.

“The key word” during the South Korean leaders' meetings with Mrs. Clinton was her strategy of “strategic patience,” said Lee Dong-kwan, President Lee's spokesman.

“Another way to put it is that time is on our side,” the spokesman said after the president's meeting with Mrs. Clinton. “We shouldn't go for an impromptu response to each development but take a longer-term perceptive in shaping the situation around the Korean Peninsula.”

Those comments followed an escalation of tension in the past week, with the South cutting off most trade with the North and the North responding by terminating all communications with the South and threatening to launch artillery shells across the border.

On Wednesday, the North Korean military threatened to “completely block South Korean personnel and vehicles” from a joint industrial park in the North Korean town of Kaesong if the South carries out its plan to resume its psychological warfare against the North, mainly through propaganda broadcasts across the border. Continuing its sharp language, it also said that it would attack and destroy the propaganda loudspeakers to be put up along the border by the South, calling them a “military provocation.”

Eight South Korean government officials returned to Seoul after they were expelled from Kaesong on Wednesday.

But the South Korean government noted that, despite the North's declaration that it was severing communications with the South, on Wednesday it followed its usual procedure of speaking through a military telephone line across the border to approve the entry of hundreds of workers from the South to work their regular shifts at the industrial complex.

Neither country seemed to take the final step, at least yet, of dismantling the Kaesong complex, the last sign of progress they made in improving relations over the past decade, and losing the tens of thousands of jobs it creates for the North.

Mrs. Clinton called for “a strong but measured response” but did not elaborate on what would be the appropriate action at the Security Council.

“This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond,” Mrs. Clinton said.

She spent only a few hours in Seoul, but speaking at the news conference alongside Mr. Yu, she said, “We will stand with you in this difficult hour, and we will stand with you always.”

China and the United States on Tuesday had wrapped up three days of high-level meetings in Beijing with a handful of trade and energy agreements but with little progress on the most pressing American priority: winning China's backing for new measures against North Korea.

In Beijing, Mrs. Clinton said China would take “a period of careful consideration in order to determine the best way forward in dealing with North Korea as a result of this incident,” suggesting that there was little expectation for joint action to condemn the attack.

China has been reluctant to hold North Korea responsible for the sinking of the South Korean ship last March.

Mrs. Clinton spent much of her time this week huddled with Chinese officials, arguing the case that North Korea was responsible for the attack and that its aggression demanded a response.

On Tuesday, she tried to put the best face on China's position, saying that President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had conveyed their “deep regret” at the loss of the crew. Mr. Wen will fly to Seoul on Friday to meet with President Lee, which she said might move things forward.

“We expect to be working together with China in responding to North Korea's provocative action,” Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference in Beijing after the meetings ended. “I think it is absolutely clear that China not only values but is very committed to regional stability.”

But Chinese leaders did not publicly mention North Korea by name during the meeting, and China's state councilor who oversees foreign affairs, Dai Bingguo, called on the United States and others to “calmly and appropriately handle the issue, and avoid escalation of the situation.”

On the economic side of the ledger, the Americans claimed some modest progress.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner took note of President Hu's reference to a coming reform of China's currency policy, saying, “We welcome the fact that China's leaders have recognized that the reform of the exchange rate is an important part of their broader reform agenda.”

But he added, “This is, of course, China's choice,” reflecting the fact that China has made clear it will not loosen the dollar peg on its currency in response to prodding by the United States.

Mr. Geithner also credited China for starting to shift its economic growth from exports to domestic consumption — praise that some economists say is premature, given China's continuing reliance on exports.

The sovereign debt crisis in Greece cast a smaller shadow on the meeting, with Chinese officials worried about how it would affect exports to Europe, their largest market. Mr. Geithner played down those jitters, saying, “Europe has the capacity to manage these challenges.”

The United States pointed to progress on two issues of importance to American investors: a change in Chinese rules on innovation that hurt foreign companies, and its pledge to submit a revised offer to join the World Trade Organization 's agreement on government procurement by July 2010. There were also agreements on issues like clean energy and shale gas exploration.

With few concrete policy agreements, the United States and China played up the personal side of the relationship.

Mrs. Clinton took part in a ceremony to promote student exchanges. The Chinese government agreed to help pay for 10,000 students to study for doctorate degrees in the United States, while President Obama has a goal of sending 100,000 Americans to China over the next four years.

The tone was even lighter in the encounters Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Geithner had with the Chinese news media. In a joint interview with Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, they were quizzed about child-rearing and movie-going habits. (She puts up with former President Bill Clinton 's taste for action films.)

On the CCTV talk show “Dialogue,” Mrs. Clinton was asked about the plans for the wedding of her daughter, Chelsea. She confessed that it was the most important thing in her life right now.

Nobody asked Mrs. Clinton about human rights, and she barely mentioned it this week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/world/asia/27diplo.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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

U.S. Is a Top Villain in Pakistan's Conspiracy Talk

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Americans may think that the failed Times Square bomb was planted by a man named Faisal Shahzad . But the view in the Supreme Court Bar Association here in Pakistan 's capital is that the culprit was an American “think tank.”

No one seems to know its name, but everyone has an opinion about it. It is powerful and shadowy, and seems to control just about everything in the American government, including President Obama .

“They have planted this character Faisal Shahzad to implement their script,” said Hashmat Ali Habib, a lawyer and a member of the bar association.

Who are they?

“You must know, you are from America,” he said smiling. “My advice for the American nation is, get free of these think tanks.”

Conspiracy theory is a national sport in Pakistan, where the main players — the United States, India and Israel — change positions depending on the ebb and flow of history. Since 2001, the United States has taken center stage, looming so large in Pakistan's collective imagination that it sometimes seems to be responsible for everything that goes wrong here.

“When the water stops running from the tap, people blame America,” said Shaista Sirajuddin, an English professor in Lahore.

The problem is more than a peculiar domestic phenomenon for Pakistan. It has grown into a narrative of national victimhood that is a nearly impenetrable barrier to any candid discussion of the problems here. In turn, it is one of the principal obstacles for the United States in its effort to build a stronger alliance with a country to which it gives more than a billion dollars a year in aid.

It does not help that no part of the Pakistani state — either the weak civilian government or the powerful military — is willing to risk publicly owning that relationship.

One result is that nearly all of American policy toward Pakistan is conducted in secret, a fact that serves only to further feed conspiracies. American military leaders slip quietly in and out of the capital; the Pentagon uses networks of private spies; and the main tool of American policy here, the drone program, is not even publicly acknowledged to exist.

“The linchpin of U.S. relations is security, and it's not talked about in public,” said Adnan Rehmat, a media analyst in Islamabad.

The empty public space fills instead with hard-line pundits and loud Islamic political parties, all projected into Pakistani living rooms by the rambunctious new electronic media, dozens of satellite television networks that weave a black-and-white, prime-time narrative in which the United States is the central villain.

“People want simple explanations, like evil America, Zionist-Hindu alliance,” said a Pakistani diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the delicate nature of the topic. “It's gone really deep into the national psyche now.”

One of those pundits is Zaid Hamid, a fast-talking, right-wing television personality who rose to fame on one of Pakistan's 90 new private television channels.

He uses Google searches to support his theory that India, Israel and the United States — through their intelligence agencies and the company formerly known as Blackwater — are conspiring to destroy Pakistan.

For Mr. Hamid, the case of Mr. Shahzad is one piece of a larger puzzle being assembled to pressure Pakistan. Why, otherwise, the strange inconsistencies, like the bomb's not exploding? “If you connect the dots, you have a pretty exciting story,” he said.

But the media are only part of the problem. Only a third of Pakistan's population has access to satellite channels, Mr. Rehmat said, and equally powerful are Islamic groups active at the grass roots of Pakistani society.

Though Pakistan was created as a haven for Muslims, it was secular at first, and did not harden into an Islamic state on paper until 1949. Intellectuals point to the moment as a kind of original sin, when Islam became embedded in the country's democratic blueprint, handing immense power to Islamic hard-liners, who could claim — despite their small numbers — to be the true guardians of the state.

Together with military and political leaders, these groups wield Islamic slogans for personal gain, further shutting down discussion.

“We're in this mess because political forces evoke Islam to further their own interests,” said Aasim Sajjad, an assistant professor of political economy at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

Lawyers in Pakistan have a strong streak of political Islam. Mr. Habib, who has had militants as clients, argues that Al Qaeda is an American invention. Their pronouncements are infused with anti-Semitism, standard for Islamic groups in the region.

“The lobbies are the Jews, maybe some Indians, working in the inner core of the American administration,” said Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, vice president of the bar association.

Liberals on Pakistan's beleaguered left see the xenophobic patriotism and conspiracy theories as a defense mechanism that deflects all responsibility for society's problems and protects against a reality that is too painful to face.

“It's deny, deny, deny,” said Nadeem F. Paracha , a columnist for Dawn, an English-language daily. “It's become second nature, like an instinct.”

Mr. Paracha argues that the denial is dangerous because it hobbles any form of public conversation — for example, about Mr. Shahzad's upper-class background — leaving society unequipped to find remedies for its problems. “We've started to believe our own lies,” he said.

For those on the left, that view obscures an increasingly disappointing history. For 62 years, Pakistan has lurched from one self-serving government to the next, with little thought given to education or the economy, said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physics professor at Quaid-i-Azam University. Now Pakistan is dependent on the West to pay its bills, a vulnerable position that breeds resentment.

“We acknowledge to ourselves privately that Pakistan is a client state of the U.S.,” Mr. Hoodbhoy said. “But on the other hand, the U.S. is acting against Muslim interests globally. A sort of self-loathing came about.”

There are very real reasons for Pakistanis to be skeptical of the United States. It encouraged — and financed — jihadis waging a religious war against the Soviets in the 1980s, while supporting the military autocrat Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, who seeded Pakistan's education system with Islamists.

But Mr. Hamid is more interested in the larger plot, like the secret ownership of the Federal Reserve, which he found on the Internet. After three years of fame, his star seems to be falling. This month his show was canceled, and he has had to rely on Facebook and audio CDs to make his points. But it is not the end of the conspiracy.

“Someone else will be front row very soon,” said Manan Ahmed, a professor of Pakistani history. “It is the mood of the country at the moment.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/world/asia/26pstan.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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

Bias Payments Come Too Late for Some Farmers

On a recent Sunday in rural Macon, N.C., John W. Boyd Jr., the president of the National Black Farmers Association, went to his fourth funeral in a week.

Mr. Boyd has been burying his group's members with bitter frequency, attending two or three funerals most weeks. Each death makes him feel as if he is running out of time.

Wrangling over the federal budget in Washington has delayed payouts from a $1.25 billion settlement that Mr. Boyd and several others helped negotiate with the federal government to compensate black farmers who claimed that the Agriculture Department had discriminated against them in making loans.

“I thought that the elderly farmers would get their money and get to live a few happy days of their lives,” Mr. Boyd, a Virginia farmer who is not a plaintiff in the settlement, said in an interview. “They deserve the money before they leave God's earth.”

A lawyer at one of the firms handling the farmers' claims said last week that a majority of eligible farmers were over 65 and most were in poor health. Younger relatives, she said, often filed claims for farmers who are ill or dead. The lawyer, who asked that her name and that of her firm be withheld because she was not authorized to speak on the matter, added, “We have a lot of death certificates.”

Their cases are an outgrowth of Pigford v. Glickman, a federal discrimination lawsuit brought by Timothy Pigford and about 400 other black farmers.

They alleged that from 1981 through mid-1997, Agriculture Department officials ignored complaints that they were denied aid comparable to what white farmers received because they were black.

In 1999, the government agreed to settle the suit and has paid just over $1 billion for nearly 16,000 claims while denying another 7,000.

An estimated 80,000 farmers were shut out of the case on the grounds that their claims were filed too late. In 2002, the judge presiding over Pigford decided not to admit their claims, which the farmers said resulted from insufficient notice by the government and clumsy work by their lawyers. But the judge warned the lawyers that their work was “bordering on legal malpractice.”

In 2008, Congress set aside $100 million to address late claims.

Then in February, the farmers and the Obama administration reached a settlement to pay out an additional $1.15 billion, and President Obama , who co-sponsored the 2008 measure as a senator, included the money in his proposed budget for the 2011 fiscal year.

The amount each farmer will receive will not be determined until all the claims have been vetted, said Andrew Marks, a lawyer with Crowell & Moring in Washington, one of the firms representing the farmers. Some 30,000 claims have been filed, he said, and lawyers expect a “significant” number of additional claims.

In the 1999 settlement, successful plaintiffs filing basic claims received $50,000 tax free. The money is half what the farmers sought, but the administration's promise of a quick resolution prompted them to accept the deal, Mr. Boyd said.

Congress missed a March 31 deadline set by the administration to provide financing, which would have allowed payments to start by the summer of 2011.

The farmers agreed to give the government an extension through May 31. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that includes the settlement.

The settlement has strong support across party lines, but some lawmakers are worried that the bill's costs have not been offset by corresponding cuts in spending.

If Congress misses another deadline, the farmers can withdraw from the settlement, which most are reluctant to do.

Mr. Boyd suggested that Mr. Obama circumvent Congress and pay farmers out of the same special Treasury Department fund used to pay Pigford claims.

So far, Mr. Obama has deferred to Congress. Some farmers have speculated that the president is shying away from the issue because it involves race. The White House said that was untrue.

“The president's approach to this is not based on the color of skin but because of what is right,” said Robert Gibbs , the White House press secretary.

One of the farmers who had filed a claim was Addie Haynes, who inherited an 18-acre tobacco and corn farm in Whiteville, N.C., when her husband died in 1958. She and their five children worked for years to pay off $56,000 in debt on the farm. The Agriculture Department turned down her 1983 request for a loan to help buy seed and equipment.

“That's when the trouble really began,” said her oldest daughter, Pauline Haynes-George. “All along my dad could do the farming and pay on his bill. But by my mother being a little black lady and a widow, it was just getting to be hard for her.”

Eventually, the Hayneses surrendered equipment and 14 acres to pay off the debt, which had grown to more than $80,000. Mrs. Haynes died in 2004.

“It would relieve her heart to know that her children could get a rebate from the hardship that she went though,” Mrs. Haynes-George, 69, said.

At 78, Harvey White wonders what might happen to his 200-acre soybean and cotton farm in Prentiss, Miss.

He said Agriculture Department officials told him every year from 1967 to 1986 that they could not lend him money for equipment, seed and fertilizer.

The settlement would help him to repay the loans he used to sustain the farm, build a home and put five children through college. Mr. White, who still farms, said he would also buy a car with air-conditioning to take his 76-year-old wife, Mary, to her thrice-weekly dialysis appointments.

“I just want to make a living off my farm,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/us/26farmers.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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

From the White House

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

Apply for the White House Internship Program Today

This Administration opened its doors to the first class of White House interns in 2009. Since that time, over three hundred promising leaders have come through the program and served a vital role in the White House. These individuals have participated in service project partnerships with nine D.C. high schools and a local soup kitchen. The professional development speaker series has remained a favorite pillar of the program, and interns have worked to build successful professional development groups centered around topics such as International Affairs and Communications.

The application for the Fall 2010 White House Internship Program will be closing on June 6. Don't miss your chance to apply to become a part of the next class of White House Interns! To learn more about the internship program, the application process, and who is eligible to apply for internships, visit the White House Internship Program page.

Melissa McNeal is the Director of the White House Internship Program

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/25/apply-today-white-house-internship-program

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

From the Department of Justice

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

Thank you, Laurie [Robinson], for your kind words and for your leadership in serving families, children and communities in need. You, and your staff in the Office of Justice Programs, have brought the Justice Department's capabilities and outreach efforts to a new level, at a time when they're needed most.

I also want to thank Jeff [Slowikowski] for his outstanding stewardship of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. I'm consistently impressed by, and grateful for, all Jeff and his team are doing to bring together families, advocates, law enforcement officers and policymakers – including many of those we're honored to have with us today.

I'm pleased to welcome each of you. And I'm especially grateful that Commissioner Pierluisi, Director Sullivan, Inspector General Bell, Director Clarke, Chief Postal Inspector Gilligan and Deputy Inspector General Stephens have joined us.

Let me also extend a special welcome to Ernie Allen. As all of you know well, Ernie's vision for and leadership of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has helped to build one of the country's – and, now, the world's – most effective and important nonprofits.

Last fiscal year alone, the National Center answered nearly 90,000 calls on its Missing Child Hotline and assisted in the recovery of nearly 14,000 children. Since its creation, it has helped to recover more than 145,000 kids.

The Justice Department is proud to count the National Center as a partner. And, today, I'm pleased to announce an award to the National Center of more than $30 million to support and continue its critical work.

As we consider how these new resources will enhance our future efforts, I am reminded that ten years ago today – May 25, 2000 – I spoke at that year's National Missing Children's Day, when I served as Deputy Attorney General. Although a full decade has passed, that afternoon stands out rather vividly.

“In my heart,” I said, “I believe the most enduring and important” work of the Department “is…protecting children. Our kids need safe homes, streets, and schools, where they can learn and grow into productive members of our society.” One decade later, I still believe that as strongly and deeply as ever. Fortunately, all of you do, too.

So many of you help to lead this work – both the award recipients we honor today, as well as the unsung heroes who work, day in and day out, to recover missing children and bring families back together. Many of the advocates here in this Great Hall have turned tragedy in their own homes into a commitment, and opportunity, to help others. Many of the officers have found ways to fuse cutting-edge technologies with traditional methods of law enforcement and recovery – harnessing the Internet in new ways while never losing sight of the value of knocking on doors and tacking up posters across town. And all of you have been strong, empathetic, and utterly determined in the face of devastating circumstances and difficult odds.

And you've made a difference. Today, we honor an FBI special agent who utilized every imaginable recovery technique in a heroic effort to find a 2-year-old girl who'd been taken from her parents; an Assistant District Attorney who summoned the compassion and courage necessary to ensure the recovery of a sexual assault victim and the imprisonment of her offender; and employees of a postal facility who went above and beyond the call of duty to recover an abducted 9-year-old.

These examples, of course, are only a snapshot of what's been accomplished by the people in and beyond this room. There are so many encouraging stories; and there are countless inspiring examples. In every case, however, we see a common theme: people devoting their energy, time, and talent to help children and families in need.

It's worth saying again that supporting and advancing this work is, and will continue to be, a top priority for the Department of Justice. Before the media, before the experts, before anyone else, families in crisis turn – first – to law enforcement. In these officers, desperate parents, grandparents, and guardians place their trust, as well as their hopes of seeing their missing children again. It's an extraordinary responsibility – one that our law enforcement community meets with great speed, compassion, and determination.

Before I spoke at this event in 2000, we had spent the prior years laying important groundwork for transforming our approach to handling incidents of missing children. Following the foundation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, our nation saw the rise of grassroots charities in every state. And the Justice Department took bold action as well. In 1995, the Department launched the Federal Agency Task Force, and, in 1998, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. These efforts helped to solidify key partnerships between law enforcement, families, and advocates – and they led to a paradigm shift in our approach to solving this national problem.

But over the past decade, I'm proud to report that we've made even greater strides. For example, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program has grown from ten task forces in 1998 to 61 today. Last year's Recovery Act invested $50 million in Internet Crimes Against Children initiatives. And nearly a quarter of a billion dollars has been awarded to the task forces to expand the number of investigators, analysts, and support staff on the front lines of efforts to keep our kids safe.

The Federal Agency Task Force has seen meaningful growth, further streamlining our work to ensure that missing children are recovered quickly and their abductors are punished swiftly. There are now Missing Children Clearinghouses in every state, and the Department works with all of them to foster collaboration and communication. And we're continuing to update our resources and support literature for parents and families. That said, I'd like to recognize Patty Wetterling for her co-authorship of the original Family Survival Guide – which has been a service to so many families in need – and for her recent work to modernize the guide for 2010. Thank you, Patty.

In gatherings all across the country today, we not only celebrate our progress, but we also reflect on the one disappearance that started it all – and spurred our nation to long-overdue action: the abduction of six-year-old Etan Patz from Lower Manhattan, 31 years ago today. May 25 th , 1979, began like any normal day – breakfast around the table, gathering supplies for school. Then, as with so many tragic cases, “normal” rapidly devolved into “nightmare.” Etan's loss, and his family's heartbreak, helped to spark an historic commitment and inspired a national missing children's movement that has brought new legislation, new awareness, and new methods for tracking down missing kids and brining them home.

Today, each of you honors Etan's memory, and the lives of every lost and missing child, with your commitment and your selfless contributions.

The extraordinary efforts of our awardees – and the many advocates, policymakers, and law enforcement officials here today – have awakened family after family from these nightmares, and, when there can be no solace, helped them to recover from unthinkable loss.

On behalf of the Department, I am proud to call all of you partners. And I'm grateful for your help in achieving the progress that's been made over the past decade. As I said in 2000 – and as I continue to believe today – there is no more important priority that we, as stewards of our nation's justice system and protectors of our communities, have than bringing our kids home.

Thank you all. And congratulations to this year's awardees. 

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100525.html

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

Good afternoon and thank you Sue [Carbon] for that introduction. As Sue mentioned, in my role as the Associate Attorney General, I oversee our grant-making programs for state, local and tribal law enforcement and communities across the country. This includes the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), which administers critical funding to victim service providers and programs across the country. I also have the pleasure of being the department's point person in the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), so I'm especially pleased to be with you today to hear first hand about how federal the Recovery Act has made a difference in your communities.

I know that I am speaking to a group that has felt the pinch of the recent economic crisis. Just as the American people are facing economic hardships, state and local governments are feeling the strain of balancing their budgets. In some cases, they are faced with the unacceptable, yet very real, prospect of reducing funding or closing shelters and transitional housing facilities. The Recovery Act recognized this by including $225 million to support five of OVW's grant programs, including the Transitional Housing Assistance Program, which received $50 million.

We've all heard that the Recovery Act helped to stimulate the economy by directly saving and creating jobs across the country. But it has also helped the economy in the same way that you and your colleagues help the economy every day: by providing a safe place for victims to come home to. By giving their children an opportunity to sleep in a warm bed. We know that children cannot thrive when they are terrified in their own homes. We know that a victim cannot do her best at work and earn a living when she is not safe in her home. We know that safe communities are the building blocks of our economic recovery. Through efforts like the Transitional Housing Assistance Program, the Recovery Act has sought to meet the challenge of our struggling economy with solutions that will keep our country safe and keep us moving forward.

You have a lot to be proud of. OVW received 567 applications in response to the Transitional Housing Assistance Program, and 91 of you were selected for funding. This included two state agencies, two tribal governments, two units of local government, and 85 non-profit organizations. The applications that came in are indicative of both the tough times our states, cities and tribes are facing and the unyielding commitment of transitional housing providers and advocates. Thank you for the work that you do and your commitment to victims and their families across the country.

Sue explained that we are marking the 15 year anniversary of President Bill Clinton signing the Violence Against Women Act – or VAWA – into law with a public awareness campaign. Our goal is to do more than simply commemorate an anniversary. It is a time to recommit ourselves to ending domestic and sexual violence. Our government and this department have a responsibility to speak out and act on issues of violence against women.

So this year we have held events focused on diverse communities to raise public awareness, to make sure that survivors everywhere know that they have a place – and a voice – in this administration, and to build toward a future where domestic abuse and sexual assault are eradicated. We have created new alliances among rural, tribal, elder, youth and military communities to share lessons learned and new, innovative paths forward.

One of the things that has been so critical in this year's campaign has been the discoveries that we have made. After 15 years, much has been done, but we must now address new challenges. When VAWA was first drafted, there was no such thing as texting or sexting. We were scared about our children being abducted by strangers, but were not obsessing about who they were talking to or meeting on the internet. Stalking was something that happened in person, not on Facebook or Gmail or on a cell phone. We have learned – as you see every day – far more about the devastating impact of domestic and sexual violence on children, and their need for safety, housing and services along with their parent. We have learned far more about the corrosive effect that the epidemic of domestic and sexual violence has on tribal communities across the country, which may have rates of violence two, four or even 10 times the national average. And we know that domestic and sexual violence plague relationships gay and straight, regardless of race, regardless of class and many times, regardless of gender.

Today, we shine a light on the work that you are doing, and have invited our colleagues from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to discover with us. We need to hear from you what is working and where there are gaps. As we look to the reauthorization of VAWA later this year, we need to know about lessons learned and how we in the federal government can help you serve victims and their families.

We have our work cut out for us. But we 're not in this alone. One of the messages that we have sought to carry throughout the 15th anniversary of VAWA is that domestic and sexual violence are not just issues for the victim, or his or her family. They are everyone's problem. That's why I speak about domestic and sexual violence in front of every audience, whether it's a group of advocates, a bar association, a business group, or a group of students. It cannot be the work of the Department of Justice alone, or the criminal justice system, or state government or the advocacy and service provider communities. Leaders at all levels in the public and private sectors and each community must take an active role in responding to sexual assault and domestic violence.

Our goal is for all of these leaders to support you and the work that you are doing. As you leave here tomorrow feeling rejuvenated after this orientation, know that you leave with our strong support for your work. We at the department are committed to this cause and will work with state, local and tribal partners to ensure that all communities – particularly those that have been chronically neglected – are given the resources and support they need . We share your vision where men, women, boys, girls and communities can live in a world without the fear of domestic or sexual violence.

Thank you all.

http://www.justice.gov/asg/speeches/2010/asg-speech-100524.html

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

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced that Rodney D. King, aka "Shadow," pleaded guilty today to federal sex trafficking charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. King pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly causing a minor to engage in commercial sex; two counts of using force, fraud, or coercion to cause two other women to engage in commercial sex; one count of attempting to cause another woman to engage in commercial sex by force, fraud, or coercion; and one count of conspiring to commit sex trafficking of minors and adults by force, fraud, and coercion.

"For his own benefit, the defendant preyed upon vulnerable women and girls and forced them into prostitution by a variety of deplorable means," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Department of Justice will continue to devote its full efforts to prosecuting those who commit such exploitative crimes."

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the United States and the defendant agree that the defendant should be sentenced to 25 years in prison. If the court accepts the plea agreement, it will sentence King accordingly. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge David Ezra is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2010.

Assistant Attorney General Perez and U.S. Attorney Nakakuni commended the FBI and the Honolulu Police Department for their work in investigating this case and rescuing some of the defendant's victims. FBI Special Agents M.K. Itnyre and Kristin Lee investigated this case, and Trial Attorneys Edward Caspar and Kayla Bakshi of the Civil Rights Division and its Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching prosecuted this case for the United States.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/May/10-crt-615.html

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

From ICE

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

ICE works with local law enforcement to arrest 26 gang members in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Twenty-six men with ties to the violent Sureno-13 and Vatos Locos gangs are facing deportation and criminal charges following a three-day enforcement operation involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and local law enforcement agencies.

The arrests were made as part of an initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit dubbed Operation Community Shield. As part of the initiative, ICE partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational street gangs. Partnerships with local law enforcement agencies are essential to the initiative's success and they help further ensure officer safety during the operations.

This operation was spearheaded by ICE's Office of Investigations in Memphis, who worked jointly with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, the Memphis Police Department, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, ICE's Deportation & Removal Operations office, ICE's Field Intelligence Group and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Of the 26 subjects encountered and detained in this operation, 24 have been administratively charged and have been placed into removal proceedings. Two individuals were identified as having been previously deported and have had their removal orders reinstated. Their cases will be presented to the U.S. attorney's office for prosecution for the felony offense of reentry. There was also one false claim to U.S. citizenship and that individual's case will also be presented to the U.S. attorney's office for prosecution.

"Street gangs account for a significant amount of crime nationally and locally," said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in New Orleans. "ICE works closely with our local law enforcement partners to identify, locate and arrest these gang members to thwart criminal activity in our communities."

ICE's National Gang Unit identifies violent street gangs and develops intelligence on their membership, associates, criminal activities and international movements to deter, disrupt and dismantle gang operations by tracing and seizing cash, weapons and other assets derived from criminal activities.

Through Operation Community Shield, the federal government uses its powerful immigration and customs authorities in a coordinated, national campaign against criminal street gangs in the United States. Transnational street gangs have significant numbers of foreign-born members and are frequently involved in human and contraband smuggling, immigration violations and other crimes with a connection to the border.

Since ICE began Operation Community Shield in February 2005, more than 15,600 gang members belonging to more than 900 different gangs have been arrested nationwide.

More information on the National Gang Unit at ICE is available at: www.ice.gov .

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling the ICE toll-free hotline at: 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1005/100525memphis.htm

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

From the FBI

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

LOOKING FOR OUR CHILDREN

'National Missing Children's Day 2010'

05/25/10

Click here to see: MISSING CHILDREN'S PICTURES

These are just a very few of the children who are far away from home tonight.

Please take a minute to look at all the faces on our Kidnapping and Missing Persons webpage and see if you can identify Trenton, Allyson, and Georgina, or any of the other children listed there with their stories.

Please also take a look at the faces of the children who have been kidnapped by a parent —Mohamed Ali and the other 41 kids.

And we hope you'll visit our Crimes Against Children  page to learn all you can about what a dangerous world it can be for our kids…and our Resources for Parents page to learn how to protect them in today's world.

Last: join us in honoring the law enforcement officers and others recognized as part of National Missing Children's Day , including FBI Special Agents Michael J. Conrad, Catherine Koontz, and James T. Lewis. Also recognized at the Annual Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill were FBI Special Agents Charles Wilder, Barbara Cordero, and P. Michael Gordon and FBI Intelligence Analyst Vicki Pocock for their work on an international child pornography investigation called “ Operation Achilles .” 

Note: The children pictured or identified here may have been located since the above information was posted on this website. Please check our Wanted by the FBI website or contact your local FBI office for up-to-date information.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/may10/missingkids_052510.html

.