Outreach program to encourage citizenship for immigrants

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joins a federal official in announcing partnership offering information at libraries and recreation centers.

By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times

June 11, 2010

Immigrants who are interested in learning English and becoming citizens can now access information at libraries and recreation centers throughout Los Angeles under a new partnership between local and federal officials.

The goal of the program — the first in the nation — is to promote citizenship and strengthen integration through education, outreach and civic participation.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced the partnership Thursday during a citizenship class at Evans Community Adult School near downtown. The class, which began with the Pledge of Allegiance and the "Star-Spangled Banner," included students from 13 different countries.

"It's important that we integrate as many of our new Americans as possible so that you have a voice," Villaraigosa told the students while they snapped photos with their cellphones.

One of the students, Li Hua, from Taiwan, immigrated to the United States five years ago and hopes to take her civics test next year. She asked Mayorkas to explain more about U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but first she welcomed the speakers and said, "I have never been talking with so important people as you. You see, I'm shaking with nervousness."

Mayorkas applauded the students for learning English and applying for naturalization, and said he hoped many more would do the same as a result of the partnership between Los Angeles and Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"We are joining our resources together to pave as smooth a path as possible for those who seek that cherished dream," he said.

Villaraigosa and Mayorkas signed a letter of agreement in January pledging to work together to increase awareness of the naturalization process, and citizenship rights and responsibilities. Los Angeles plans to reach out to immigrants through information sessions and its local public access station. The mayor's office also plans to develop an outreach campaign, using the materials from the immigration agency, targeted at parents of public school students.

Immigration officials hope that with accurate information more readily available, immigrants will be less likely to seek guidance from notarios , unscrupulous attorneys who prey on illegal immigrants. In addition to the integration effort, Mayorkas said, he also plans to unveil an initiative soon to address the unauthorized practice of law and notario fraud and ensure that law enforcement takes the problems seriously.

Los Angeles was chosen for the citizenship outreach initiative in part because of its diversity — immigrants from 140 countries who speak more than 200 languages live within the city. Villaraigosa said he wanted the city to be the pilot site so more immigrants will become voters. In addition, he said, integration is key for the city's economy and workforce.

"If we don't train them in the English language, if we don't give them the skills they need to compete, then Los Angeles won't be competitive," he said.

Mayorkas said he and others would evaluate the program and consider replicating it in other cities across the nation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0611-immig-english-20100611,0,3888510,print.story

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

He flips, spins, turns his life around

Deported from the U.S., a former Long Beach gang member makes a name break dancing in Cambodia and becomes a role model.

By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

June 10, 2010

Reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

His arms and chest coated with gangland-style tattoos, his eyebrow pierced, Tuy "K.K." Sobil sits in a cafe in Phnom Penh beside his 5-year-old son, Unique, adopted from drug dealer parents who couldn't cope.

"I'm trying to get him to eat his vegetables," he said. "He gets his bad habits from me."

K.K., short for "Krazy Kat," knows all about bad habits: The onetime member of the Long Beach Crips served eight years in prison for armed robbery before being deported in 2004 to Cambodia, his parents' homeland.

Now, six years after he found himself abandoned, impoverished and largely unwelcome in an ancestral land he'd never seen, the 32-year-old has tapped into long-forgotten break-dancing skills to become one of Cambodia's unlikeliest role models.

His goal: to keep thousands of street children from making the same mistakes he did.

K.K.'s life was upended by a U.S. law that authorized deportations of noncitizens with any criminal conviction, from murder to shoplifting. Although he was born in a Thai refugee camp, never visited Cambodia and lived in the United States since he was 4, neither K.K. nor his illiterate parents formally applied for citizenship after he turned 18.

But K.K. reckons the deportation pulled him out of a life that probably would have led him back to prison, or possibly to his death by now. "Doper, may he rest in peace, Doper passed away," he said of one former gang member.

When K.K. landed, shellshocked, in Phnom Penh and looked around at the impoverished, war-torn country, the last thing he envisioned was a return to break dancing, which he hadn't done since he was 13. But after another deportee who knew of his reputation spread the word of his skills, street urchins badgered him until he finally agreed to give lessons in his living room.

"There were 40 kids in the room every night," said Michael Otto, K.K.'s best man at his wedding to a Cambodian woman. "It was like a sauna."

Working with youngsters left little room for self-pity. Sure, he'd had it tough. But at least the United States had public schools and welfare departments, both sorely lacking here.

"I realized I needed to help out," he said.

Before long, he left his job at Korsang, a nonprofit drug treatment center, to start the Tiny Toones youth center, housed in a run-down building with surging electricity, rats and leaking walls. Poverty, gangs, drugs and family abuse, a legacy of decades of war and dysfunctional government, left thousands of orphans and street children badly in need of help.

Although rapping, break dancing, beat boxing, and deejaying — and K.K. — are the center's trademark, its real mission is to empower youngsters, help them kick drugs, and teach basic language, arts and computer skills.

"K.K.'s my hero," said Sun Makara, 19, who grew up on the street scrounging garbage, stealing and doing drugs.

Makara, who sports a pierced left eyebrow and wears exposed underwear over low-hanging pants, has turned his life around and is teaching break dancing to troubled youths at Korsang and Tiny Toones.

At the center's large outdoor dance floor, young wannabe hip-hop stars do headstands, back flips, one-hand hops and windmills to a pounding boombox, while around back, new tracks are being cut in a makeshift recording studio.

The center is partly funded by grants from charitable foundations, individual donations and money earned selling T-shirts, hats, stickers and a short Tiny Toones album mixed on aging equipment. Funders say the group needs to get more organized to help more youngsters, and hire more support staff. K.K. acknowledges that administration isn't necessarily his strong suit.

"K.K.'s story is very inspirational at many levels: himself, the children and Cambodia trying to come back," said Hoa Tu Duong, a program officer at the charity Global Fund for Children. "We see enormous potential, but we also see there's lots of work to do."

Many of the songs coming out of the center have a social message; one, "Huff Gow," is about sniffing glue. They often integrate modern vocals and beats with 1960s Cambodian oldies, which took their inspiration from Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and big band music.

Break dancing, which started in the 1970s in the U.S., has expanded worldwide, especially in Asia, with a global Battle of the Year dance competition featuring top contestants from around the world.

As Tiny Toones' reputation has grown, other doors have opened. American hip-hop group Jurassic 5 has stopped by, and six top dancers whom K.K. taught toured the U.S. last year.

As a deportee, K.K. couldn't accompany them. But he followed them on YouTube as they showed off their moves and out-danced competitors in formal and informal matchups in Madison, Wis., New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Seeing them perform without him by their side was bittersweet.

"It made me sad, but also proud," he said.

Tiny Toones dancers will represent Cambodia at the regional Battle of the Year in Singapore this summer. (In a strange coincidence, during a previous performance overseas, in Hong Kong in 2008, K.K. ended up sitting beside former President Clinton, who had signed the deportation law.)

Tiny Toones' success is a reflection of K.K.'s charisma and his connection with youngsters, said Holly Bradford, an American who was his employer at Korsang.

"He has a magic to him that continues to amaze me. He's done right, he's proven himself. It's America's loss in my book."

K.K., the oldest child of impoverished onetime farmers, started hanging out on the streets of Long Beach early and drifted into break dancing when he was 8.

Over the next few years, he developed a reputation for his hip-hop moves as far south as San Diego.

"We had no fear," he said.

At 13, he joined the Crips, drifted into crack and dropped break dancing, leading to his armed robbery conviction at 18.

He insists that he wasn't guilty, but he's not making excuses.

"What I didn't do, I got caught for," he said. "Everything I did do, I didn't get caught. What comes around goes around."

He was deported in 2004, a few weeks after his release in 2004, leaving behind his estranged former partner and son Kayshawn — now 10 or 11, he's not sure — with whom he stays in periodic phone contact.

Gang life in Phnom Penh and the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is similar, he said, but Cambodia is more violent. Police here often respond slowly or not at all, and it's more a knife than gun culture.

Although he understands the code of the street among gang members, K.K. said he's become increasingly worried about getting caught in the middle when he's called to break up a fight.

"You try to be a role model, but it gets scary," he said. "Over here, there's no insurance, no benefits. And I have a family now."

His growing fame has attracted critics. Some Cambodians assume from his looks that he must be a drug dealer. Others accuse him of undermining Khmer culture.

His response: "Everywhere in the world you have hip-hop. Don't forget your culture, but you got to learn new things."

He's made peace with the move here and now considers Phnom Penh home, though he misses his parents and three siblings.

During his proteges' U.S. tour, someone put his mother, whom he hasn't seen since 2004, on the phone without warning. Although he's talked to her often, emotion overwhelmed him and the tough street guy broke down.

"She cried," he said. "Then I cried. Everyone started crying."

As he looks back, his biggest regret is not being a better father to his American son.

"Every day I ask forgiveness; I made big mistakes," he said. "But I've fallen in love with what I'm doing: Tiny Toones is now my life, my family. Let these kids have a chance."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cambodia-breakdancer-20100611,0,1782173,print.story

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

More than 2,200 arrested in crackdown on Mexican drug cartels

The United States has arrested more than 400 additional suspects -- for a total of 2,200 over 22 months -- as part of its crackdown on illegal drugs coming from Mexico, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Thursday morning.

The latest arrests come as the Obama administration has stepped up efforts to deal with security along the U.S.-Mexican border, promising to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the region to deal with the smuggling of drugs and people. Obama also pledged to beef up security when he met recently with Mexico President Felipe Calderon.

In announcing the latest arrests, Holder praised Project Deliverance, the name of the overall operation that has targeted the Mexican drug cartels and the smuggling of drugs, weapons and cash across the border.

"This inter-agency, cross-border operation has been our most extensive, and most successful, law enforcement effort to date targeting these deadly cartels," Holder said. "Our aim was to target not just cartel operations, but the networks of individuals across the United States the cartels tap to distribute drugs in our country and smuggle cash and guns out of it."

The latest wave of arrests was Wednesday, Holder said, describing how about 3,000 agents and officers fanned out in 16 states. The action led to the arrest of 429 individuals and the seizure of more than 90 pounds of heroin, more than 2,900 pounds of marijuana and other illegal drugs. More than $5 million was also seized, he said.

With Wednesday's arrests, Project Deliverance has resulted in criminal charges against more than 2,200 individuals, including Carlos Ramon Castro-Rocha, the alleged leader of the Castro-Rocha drug trafficking organization. It has also led to seizure of more than $154 million; tons of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine and more than 500 weapons, Holder said.

Holder noted that the latest attack on the drug cartels was just part of a continuing effort.

"Without question, these arrests and seizures will disrupt drug cartel operations and impact the ability of traffickers to move narcotics into the United States," Holder said. "This operation has struck a significant blow against the cartels, but make no mistake: We know that as successful as this operation was, it was just one battle in what is an ongoing war. These dangerous cartels will continue to attempt to wreak havoc on both sides of the border, and we will continue to target them with every resource available to the federal government and our state and local partners."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/06/more-than-2200-arrested-in-crackdown-on-mexican-drug-cartels.html

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

Minority population growing in the United States, census estimates show

Minorities now make up about 35% of the country's population, and about 57% of the population in California. Meanwhile, the white population continues to decline.

By Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times

June 10, 2010

Across the nation, the number of minorities continues to rise and the white population continues to decline, according to U.S. census estimates released Thursday.

Minorities now make up about 35% of the population in the United States, an increase of 5% from 2000, reflecting demographic changes seen most powerfully in the Golden State.

"More of the country is going to be like California," said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. Minorities make up 57% of the population in California.

Last year, minorities helped the overall U.S. population grow by 2%, boosted by a surge in births and people who identified themselves as multiracial. In 2009, 5.3 million Americans classified themselves as multiracial, up 26% from 3.9 million in 2000.

The figures released Thursday come from estimates based on data collected last year. "As we get closer to the 2010 census, we're seeing a decade where the white population is aging," Frey said.

In 42 states, numbers show a loss of non-Hispanic whites under age 45. Nationally, this group declined by 8.4 million.

In contrast, the number of states in which the majority of children under 15 are minorities has increased, with Florida, Maryland, Georgia and Nevada bringing the number of such states to 10.

Much of the nation's demographic change is seen among children. In California, minorities make up 72% of those under age 15. In 2000, they made up 65%.

Nationally, 46% of children under 15 are minorities, compared with 40% in 2000.

In 2000, the District of Columbia and three states — Hawaii, New Mexico and California — had minority populations which exceeded 50%. In 2009, Texas joined that group.

"That's just the barometer of things that are likely to come over the next decade," said Michael Stoll, a professor of public policy at UCLA.

"Much of the future of labor supply, of leadership in the United States is going to come from groups that historically have not received attention," Stoll said.

Among Latinos, there are nine births for every one death, according to census data. For whites, the ratio is 1-1. "That's a huge difference," Stoll said.

There are still 16 states in which the child population is more than 75% white, including Utah, South Dakota, Missouri, West Virginia, Maine and Vermont.

The estimates released Thursday are the last sets to be released before the 2010 census is completed.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-census-20100611,0,2571067,print.story

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

Man is sentenced in teenage prostitution case

A 29-year-old man who admitted to arranging for two teenage girls to work as prostitutes in Los Angeles and Orange County was sentenced Thursday to 17 1/2 years in federal prison, authorities said.

Dwayne Lawson, a Washington, D.C., resident, met one of the teenage girls on MySpace.com in fall 2008 and promised to make her a "star," according to the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

As part of his plea, Lawson admitted that he brought the girl from Florida to Orange County and Los Angeles to work as a prostitute, prosecutors said. She was arrested on prostitution charges in April 2009 by Los Angeles police officers. She was 17 at the time, prosecutors said.

Lawson drove the second girl from Miami to Orange County in 2008 and had her engage in sex acts in "various counties and states," according to the plea agreement.

Lawson pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to one count of sex trafficking of children but admitted that he directed both girls to work as prostitutes, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/oc-and-la-prostitution-case.html#more

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

From the New York Times

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

Heated Opposition to a Proposed Mosque

A church may be a church, and a temple a temple, but through the prism of emotion that still grips many New Yorkers almost a decade after 9/11, a mosque can apparently represent a lot of things.

In the last few months, Muslim groups have encountered unexpectedly intense opposition to their plans for opening mosques in Lower Manhattan, in Brooklyn and most recently in an empty convent on Staten Island.

Some opponents have cited traffic and parking concerns. But the objections have focused overwhelmingly on more intangible and volatile issues: fear of terrorism, distrust of Islam and a linkage of the two in opponents' minds.

“Wouldn't you agree that every terrorist, past and present, has come out of a mosque?” asked one woman who stood up Wednesday night during a civic association meeting on Staten Island to address representatives of a group that wants to convert a Roman Catholic convent into a mosque in the Midland Beach neighborhood.

“No,” began Ayman Hammous, president of the Staten Island branch of the group, the Muslim American Society — though the rest of his answer was drowned out by catcalls and boos from among the 400 people who packed the gymnasium of a community center.

Yasmin Ammirato, president of the Midland Beach Civic Association, which organized the meeting in an effort to dispel tensions, bellowed into her portable microphone in the first of many efforts to keep control during the subsequent three hours: “Excuse me! This is a civic association meeting! Everybody have a little respect!”

Opposition to new mosques has become almost commonplace. A similar uproar erupted during a Lower Manhattan community board meeting on May 25 over plans to build a mosque near ground zero. Protests also have broken out in Brentwood, Tenn.; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and Dayton, Ohio.

Recent cases of so-called homegrown terrorism, like the Times Square car bomb episode, have increased anxieties, experts say.

But organizations like the Muslim American Society, a Washington-based nonprofit group that helps plant new mosques in communities throughout the country, have adopted a strategy of engagement that they say they hope will eventually build mutual understanding.

“We are newcomers, and newcomers in America have always had to prove their loyalty,” said Mahdi Bray, the society's executive director. “It's an old story. You have to have thick skin.”

That admonition was tested on Wednesday, as irate residents took turns at the microphone, demanding answers from the three Muslim men who had accepted the get-acquainted invitation of the civic association.

“I was on the phone this morning with the F.B.I. , and all I want to know from you is why MAS is on the terrorist watch list,” said Joan Moriello, using the acronym for the Muslim American Society. Her question produced a loud, angry noise from the audience.

Mr. Hammous, a physical therapist who lives on Staten Island, exchanged a puzzled look with two other Muslim men who had joined him on the podium, both officers of the society's Brooklyn branch, which operates a mosque in Bensonhurst and faces opposition to opening another in Sheepshead Bay.

“Your information is incorrect, madam,” he replied. “We are not on any watch list.” The other men, Mohamed Sadeia and Abdel Hafid Djamil, shook their heads in agreement.

The State Department maintains a terrorist watch list for foreign organizations, and the Justice Department has identified domestic groups it considers unindicted co-conspirators in various terror-related prosecutions. The American Muslim Society is on neither of those lists.

But more than a dozen speakers, including Robert Spencer, a writer whose blog, Jihad Watch , is widely read in conservative foreign policy circles, said that the society and its national director, Mr. Bray, had ties to Hamas , Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. The first two are on the State Department's list.

“Will you denounce Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations?” Mr. Spencer demanded. “Yes or no?”

Mr. Hammous said he denounced “any form of terrorism, any act of terror — by individuals, by groups, by governments.”

The plan to make a mosque out of the convent building on the grounds of St. Margaret Mary church — which would be used only for Friday prayers — is still in its initial stage. The church's pastor, the Rev. Keith Fennessy, signed an agreement last month to sell the property to the society. The deal must still be approved by the parish board of trustees, which is made up of the pastor, two lay trustees and two officials of the Archdiocese of New York, including Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan . It is also under review by a State Supreme Court justice, as required under New York's Religious Corporations statute, said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the archdiocese.

The timetable for completing all that, he added, was “not known at this time.”

But for the near term, Wednesday night's meeting indicated that the questions of neighborhood residents may take some time to answer.

Among them: “Is Sharia law better than democracy in your view?” “How do you feel about the role of women in society?” “What are your views on Israel?” “Can you point to any single statement in the Koran that you would consider to be incorrect?”

The tenor of the inquiry became so fraught that the meeting eventually collapsed in shouting around 11 p.m., prompting the police and security guards to ask everyone to leave.

But just 20 minutes earlier, as Bill Finnegan stood at the microphone, came the meeting's single moment of hushed silence. Mr. Finnegan said he was a Marine lance corporal, home from Afghanistan, where he had worked as a mediator with warring tribes.

After the sustained standing ovation that followed his introduction, he turned to the Muslims on the panel: “My question to you is, will you work to form a cohesive bond with the people of this community?” The men said yes.

Then he turned to the crowd. “And will you work to form a cohesive bond with these people — your new neighbors?”

The crowd erupted in boos. “No!” someone shouted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/nyregion/11mosque.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1276257602-KMNyjxCWUiitWLeRvbe1Ig

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

Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Test Scores

The staff of Normandy Crossing Elementary School outside Houston eagerly awaited the results of state achievement tests this spring. For the principal and assistant principal, high scores could buoy their careers at a time when success is increasingly measured by such tests. For fifth-grade math and science teachers, the rewards were more tangible: a bonus of $2,850.

But when the results came back, some seemed too good to be true. Indeed, after an investigation by the Galena Park Independent School District , the principal, assistant principal and three teachers resigned May 24 in a scandal over test tampering.

The district said the educators had distributed a detailed study guide after stealing a look at the state science test by “tubing” it — squeezing a test booklet, without breaking its paper seal, to form an open tube so that questions inside could be seen and used in the guide. The district invalidated students' scores.

Of all the forms of academic cheating, none may be as startling as educators tampering with children's standardized tests. But investigations in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Virginia and elsewhere this year have pointed to cheating by educators. Experts say the phenomenon is increasing as the stakes over standardized testing ratchet higher — including, most recently, taking student progress on tests into consideration in teachers' performance reviews.

Colorado passed a sweeping law last month making teachers' tenure dependent on test results, and nearly a dozen other states have introduced plans to evaluate teachers partly on scores. Many school districts already link teachers' bonuses to student improvement on state assessments. Houston decided this year to use the data to identify experienced teachers for dismissal, and New York City will use it to make tenure decisions on novice teachers.

The federal No Child Left Behind law is a further source of pressure. Like a high jump bar set intentionally low in the beginning, the law — which mandates that public schools bring all students up to grade level in reading and math by 2014 — was easy to satisfy early on. But the bar is notched higher annually, and the penalties for schools that fail to get over it also rise: teachers and administrators can lose jobs and see their school taken over.

No national data is collected on educator cheating. Experts who consult with school systems estimated that 1 percent to 3 percent of teachers — thousands annually — cross the line between accepted ways of boosting scores, like using old tests to prep students, and actual cheating.

“Educators feel that their schools' reputation, their livelihoods, their psychic meaning in life is at stake,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest , a nonprofit group critical of standardized testing. “That ends up pushing more and more of them over the line.”

Others say that every profession has some bad apples, and that high-stakes testing is not to blame. Gregory J. Cizek , an education professor at the University of North Carolina who studies cheating, said infractions were often kept quiet. “One of the real problems is states have no incentive to pursue this kind of problem,” he said.

Recent scandals illustrate the many ways, some subtle, that educators improperly boost scores:

The Georgia scandal is the most far-reaching in the country. It has already led to the referral of 11 teachers and administrators to a state agency with the power to revoke their licenses. More disciplinary referrals, including from a dozen Atlanta schools, are expected.

John Fremer, a specialist in data forensics who was hired by an independent panel to dig deeper into the Atlanta schools, and who investigated earlier scandals in Texas and elsewhere, said educator cheating was rising. “Every time you increase the stakes associated with any testing program, you get more cheating,” he said.

That was also the conclusion of the economist Steven D. Levitt , of “Freakonomics” fame and a blogger for The New York Times, who with a colleague studied answer sheets from Chicago public schools after the introduction of high-stakes testing in the 1990s concluded that 4 percent to 5 percent of elementary school teachers cheat.

Not everyone agrees. Beverly L. Hall, who, as the superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools has won national recognition for elevating test scores, said dishonesty was relatively low in education. “Teachers over all are principled people in terms of wanting to be sure what they teach is what students are learning,” she said.

Educators ensnared in cheating scandals rarely admit to wrongdoing. But at one Georgia school last year, a principal and an assistant principal acknowledged their roles in a test-erasure scandal.

For seven years, their school, Atherton Elementary in suburban Atlanta, had met the standards known in federal law as Adequate Yearly Progress — A.Y.P. in educators' jargon — by demonstrating that a rising share of students performed at grade level.

Then, in 2008, the bar went up again and Atherton stumbled. In June, the school's assistant principal for instruction, reviewing student answer sheets from the state tests, told her principal, “We cannot make A.Y.P.,” according to an affidavit the principal signed.

“We didn't discuss it any further,” the principal, James L. Berry, told school district investigators. “We both understood what we meant.”

Pulling a pencil from a cup on the desk of Doretha Alexander, the assistant principal, Dr. Berry said to her, “I want you to call the answers to me,” according to an account Ms. Alexander gave to investigators.

The principal erased bubbles on the multiple-choice answer sheets and filled in the right answers.

Any celebrations over the results were short-lived. Suspicions were raised in December 2008 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , which noted that improvements on state tests at Atherton and a handful of other Georgia schools were so spectacular that they approached a statistical impossibility. The state conducted an analysis of the answer sheets and found “overwhelming evidence” of test tampering at Atherton.

Crawford Lewis, the district superintendent at the time, summoned Dr. Berry and Ms. Alexander to separate meetings. During four hours of questioning — “back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,” Dr. Lewis said — principal and assistant principal admitted to cheating.

“They both broke down” in tears, Dr. Lewis said.

Dr. Lewis said that Dr. Berry, whom he had appointed in 2005, had buckled under the pressure of making yearly progress goals. Dr. Berry was a former music teacher and leader of celebrated marching bands who, Dr, Lewis said, had transferred some of that spirit to passing the state tests in a district where schools hold pep rallies to get ready.

Dr. Berry, who declined interview requests, resigned and was arrested in June 2009 on charges of falsifying a state document. In December, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation. The state suspended him from education for two years and Ms. Alexander for one year.

Dr. Lewis, now retired as superintendent, called for refocusing education away from high-stakes testing because of the distorted incentives it introduces for teachers. “When you add in performance pay and your evaluation could possibly be predicated on how well your kids do testing-wise, it's just an enormous amount of pressure,” he said.

“I don't say there's any excuse for doing what was done, but I believe this problem is going to intensify before it gets better.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/education/11cheat.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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

Pope Pleads for Forgiveness Over Abuse Scandal

VATICAN CITY — Addressing the sex abuse crisis for the first time from the seat of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness on Friday, saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from abusing children.

“We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict told thousands of priests and faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square for celebrations marking the end of the Vatican 's Year of the Priest.

The pope's remarks did not substantively go beyond what he had already said in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with victims of sex abuse on Malta in April, but it was the first time Benedict had mentioned the crisis from Saint Peter's Basilica, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests.

“In this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope said.

He added that the church, “in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life's dangers.” The pope did not mention any specific actions the church was planning to take to combat abuse, as some had hoped, and victims' groups said Benedict's remarks did not go far enough.

“The root cause of this horrific and on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis remains the nearly limitless power of bishops,” said Barbara Blaine, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement.

“There must be a world-wide Catholic policy against clergy sex crimes and cover ups that is widely enforced. And we still don't have it,” she added.

Yet the pope's remarks on Friday seemed to signal a growing awareness of the extent of the crisis. They came weeks after the pope had said in Portugal that the greatest threat to the church came from “the sin inside the church” rather than outside., and added that “forgiveness is not a substitute for justice.” The Vatican hierarchy has also begun to shift its tone. Earlier this spring, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, dismissed media reports questioning the pope's role handling abuse as archbishop of Munich in 1980 and as prefect for the Vatican's doctrinal office as a calumnious “attack.”

On Thursday, it said in a front-page editorial that, “the infidelity, even profound, of some priests in some parts of the world has in fact cast a shadow over the credibility of the church in the eyes of many people.”

“The wound will take time to heal and nothing will be as if nothing had happened,” it added.

“Some have called it an ‘annus horribilis,' but in reality it has been a year of grace,” the paper wrote, because “the seed of the priests' inner renewal that has been planted and their more incisive witness of the Gospel will bear fruit.”

In Saint Peter's Square on Friday, the Rev. Innocent Jooji, a priest from Abuja, Nigeria, said he welcomed the pope's remarks on the sex abuse crisis, and wished he would say more. “This is not only the problem of the west, it is a global problem,” Father Jooji said.

“He should go around to a few continents to talk about sex abuse, and the impact would be more,” he added of Benedict. “It's a problem to face. We need more conversation.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/world/europe/12pope.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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

Surprising Immigration Crackdown Advances

BOSTON — Lawmakers were tangled in budget talks inside the Massachusetts Statehouse this week, but a 19-year-old college student spent even more time at the gold-domed building on Beacon Hill.

Andres Del Castillo, who just finished his freshman year at Suffolk University in Boston, is holding a vigil on the Statehouse steps to protest what could be the state's harshest crackdown on illegal immigrants in decades. The plan, already approved by the Senate , must survive budget negotiations with the House to become law.

And while Arizona's tough new immigration policy seemed largely irrelevant here when it passed in April — both legislative chambers are controlled by Democrats who typically pay scant attention to the issue, and Bill O'Reilly of Fox News has derided Massachusetts as a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants — ripple effects hit almost immediately.

Five days after the Arizona measure became law, the Massachusetts House came close to passing a Republican proposal to block public benefits for illegal immigrants. A similar bill failed overwhelmingly just a year earlier. But supporters said the Arizona law — and pockets of anger here over the case of President Obama's Kenyan aunt , who had been living in public housing in Boston while fighting a deportation order — turned the tide.

“It's all part of the same stew we're in,” said Representative Denise Provost, a Democrat from Somerville who said her office was inundated with hostile calls after she voted against the crackdown in April. “It's partly Arizona, partly the economy, partly radio show hosts being obsessed with these issues.”

By the time the Senate moved to tighten restrictions on illegal immigrants last month, a Suffolk University/7 News poll had bolstered the position of Republican lawmakers like Representative Jeffrey Perry, who is running for Congress on a platform of curbing illegal immigration. The poll of 500 registered Massachusetts voters found that more than half supported the Arizona law.

The poll, which had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, also found that 84 percent want the state to require proof of citizenship before approving benefits like public assistance.

Mr. Perry said news accounts about Mr. Obama's aunt, and about a person suspected of being an illegal immigrant who rear-ended another state lawmaker last month, helped ignite the issue here. He also pointed to last month's arrest of two Pakistani men here on immigration charges in connection with the attempted bombing in Times Square.

“How much more egregious can it be than the president of the United States' relative, who happens to be illegal, getting a housing subsidy?” Mr. Perry said. “All these stories go against the contention of folks on the other side of the issue that we don't have a problem.”

The Senate measure passed 28 to 10, as an amendment to the chamber's budget bill, a day after the poll was released. It would strengthen or expand existing rules that block illegal immigrants from public health care, housing and higher education benefits.

The measure would also require the state attorney general to set up a telephone line for people to anonymously report people suspected of being illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them, and to investigate any such reports. And it would require companies doing business with the state to confirm that their workers were here legally.

“We never expected to have to be on the lookout for something like this in Massachusetts,” said Mr. Del Castillo, who has barely left the Statehouse since Sunday and said he would stay until the Senate withdrew its legislation. “It's creating anti-immigrant sentiment within our communities, our schools and our work environments.”

Mr. Del Castillo and a small group of others conducting the vigil are especially concerned with a provision that would codify into law an existing policy that bars illegal immigrants from qualifying for resident tuition rates at state colleges. Most of them are students themselves, and their group, the Student Immigrant Movement , has also rallied for federal legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who arrived here before they turned 15 to apply for legal residency.

Most drivers sped past the group Wednesday as it huddled on the rain-slicked Statehouse steps. A few honked in support, and one leaned out the window of his pickup truck to shout “Get 'em out of the country!”

“Someone walked by today and said they were going to call ICE,” said Renata Teodoro, 22, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement .

The six lawmakers charged with budget negotiations are meeting privately, and while the three senators involved all voted for the new restrictions last month, no clues have emerged about their fate.

Gov. Deval Patrick , a Democrat seeking re-election, has refused to say whether he would veto the measure. And but for the group on the steps with their signs, candles and blankets, there appeared to be little focus on the issue this week; a banner across the Statehouse facade cheered on the Boston Celtics, who are facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association finals and are dominating public attention here.

Jose Palma, 22, said he felt obliged to camp out at the Statehouse and buttonhole passers-by about the crackdown to dispel a perception that it would only strengthen existing rules.

“It's not just reinforcing what already exists,” said Mr. Palma, who left El Salvador in 1998 and has temporary protected status. “That's why some of us are sacrificing to be here 24/7 — because we want everybody to understand what it is.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/us/11boston.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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

Gay Couples Gain Under Violence Against Women Act

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has decided that federal prosecutors should enforce criminal provisions in the Violence Against Women Act in cases involving gay and lesbian relationships, a newly disclosed memorandum shows.

In a seven-page legal analysis, David J. Barron, the acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, concluded that federal prosecutors may use the law in cases of interstate stalking and domestic violence regardless of whether the victim or the defendant is a man or a woman.

“The text, relevant case law and legislative history all support the conclusion” that the law's criminal provisions “apply when the offender and the victim are the same sex,” Mr. Barron wrote.

The memorandum was addressed to the acting deputy attorney general, Gary Grindler, who had apparently asked the Office of Legal Counsel to consider the question. The document was posted on the Justice Department's Web site on Wednesday.

Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said that the office's conclusion had been sent as guidance to federal prosecutors around the country.

Ms. Schmaler said she could not answer questions about the context of the request because it was a matter of internal deliberations.

But Brian Moulton, the chief legislative counsel of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian advocacy group, said his group asked the Obama transition team after the 2008 election to have the office “clarify” for prosecutors that the Violence Against Women Act covers violence that might arise in same-sex relationships.

“It's a step towards equality and recognizing that our relationships exist and are subject to the same sorts of issues that face other committed couples,” Mr. Moulton said. “Unfortunately, sometimes that is domestic violence and other issues that need to be dealt with through the criminal justice system.”

Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. Among other things, its provisions made it a federal crime to cross state lines with the intent of committing domestic violence, stalking, or violating a protection order. Lawmakers have since expanded the act several times.

The federal government's treatment of gay and lesbian relationships has been a matter of sharp dispute against the backdrop of efforts to legalize same-sex marriage .

A 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, requires the federal government to define legal terms like “marriage” and “spouse” as categories that can exist only with a union between one man and one woman.

But Mr. Barron argued in the memorandum that although the Violence Against Women Act defines possible victims as including the “spouse” of the abuser, the act also includes terms not covered by the Defense of Marriage Act, like “dating partner” and “intimate partner.”

Moreover, he noted, the text of the act uses gender-neutral language, like saying “another person” instead of “a woman.” He cited such language as proof that Congress intended the protections to cover same-sex couples as well as heterosexual ones.

“It is true that the statute is entitled the Violence Against Women Act, but other provisions of the Act make clear it applies to conduct perpetrated against male, as well as female, victims,” Mr. Barron wrote.

Several social conservative commentators who have opposed same-sex marriage rights did not respond to requests for comment.

But John P. Elwood, who worked in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, said that he thought Mr. Barron's analysis was correct as a matter of statutory interpretation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/us/politics/11gender.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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

Real Justice for Juveniles

Gov. David Paterson of New York has sent the Legislature a juvenile justice bill that would achieve two urgently important goals. It would improve the quality of the leadership and care in the state's often dangerous and inhumane juvenile facilities. And it would ensure that only children who need to be institutionalized — because they present a risk to the public — end up in the facilities.

Albany's lawmakers must finally stand up to unions that are more interested in preserving jobs than in doing what is best for children.

The argument for closing down the worst facilities and treating low-risk children in their home communities is irrefutable. In a report last year, the Justice Department found that young people in state detention facilities were frequently hit and abused; emotionally disturbed children rarely got the help they needed. Governor Paterson's juvenile justice task force found that more than half the children sent to these facilities were guilty of minor, nonviolent infractions.

In addition to the emotional toll on young people, the cost of institutionalization is prohibitive: as much as $200,000 per child, per year. That is more than 10 times the cost of successful local programs that provide monitoring, guidance and help to troubled families.

Governor Paterson's bill seeks to fix this broken system. It would create an independent office to investigate the state's facilities and recommend ways to improve residential care. It would allow the state to seek out and hire the best qualified directors for juvenile facilities. Current law requires that they be chosen from the ranks of people who already work within the system.

Perhaps most important, it would seek to limit the number of children who are sent away. It would bar family court judges from placing young people in state facilities unless they have been convicted of violent felonies, sex offenses or are found to present a public safety risk.

Gladys Carrión, Governor Paterson's, commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, is rightly committed to closing empty, unneeded facilities and is a strong advocate of community-based programs. More than a dozen have been closed in the last three years, for an estimated savings of about $30 million. There are still another 26 facilities that hold about 730 young people. They employ around 1,900 people at an estimated annual cost of about $190 million.

By rights, the state should have used the $30 million it has already saved by closing facilities to help finance new community-based programs. It passed on only about $5 million, while the rest went into the general fund. It will have to put a lot more money into community programs for this new system to work.

The unions are already fighting the Carrión effort and will fight this bill, too. Governor Paterson and legislative leaders will need to push back even harder. New York cannot keep paying for a juvenile justice system that is so clearly failing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11fri3.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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

Deal for Ground Zero Workers

After the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of people worked heroically, searching for remains and clearing the rubble. Too many later paid a price for not having adequate respirators or other equipment. They grew sick, many with respiratory illnesses. Or they grew increasingly anxious about how the stew of noxious chemicals would affect their health in the years to come.

Finally, New York City has reached an effective settlement to help some of these valiant people. As Judge Alvin Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan told the courtroom on Thursday: “This is a very good deal.”

Judge Hellerstein's enthusiasm was in stark contrast to his reaction in March to an earlier deal to settle claims against the city's insurers from about 10,000 people. He was alarmed that workers were getting too little of the proposed $658 million in awards, while the plaintiffs' lawyers were taking too much at 33 percent.

The new deal increases the amount going to plaintiffs to $712.5 million. The lawyers are down to a still-exorbitant 25 percent.

To be valid, at least 95 percent of the plaintiffs must approve the agreement by Sept. 30. Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of the federal compensation fund for families of 9/11 victims, is part of the appeals process for this case. He promised to encourage workers to agree. He made the case in court this week that the payout is not perfect, but it is better than more time in court.

Mr. Feinberg and Judge Hellerstein are right, bearing in mind that it's impossible to fully compensate people who were harmed in their selfless efforts to help out after 9/11.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11fri4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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

From Google News

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

Police: No indication Oregon boy's disappearance is abduction

• Police: Case still considered missing child investigation
• Search is expanded
• Seven-year-old went missing last week
• Stepmother reported the boy missing

(CNN) -- One week after an Oregon boy vanished inside his school, police have no evidence to suggest the 7-year-old child was kidnapped.

"There's just no indication on anything we've got at this point that it was an abduction," Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton told CNN. "The child is still characterized as a missing child."

But Staton also warned that time was running out in locating Kyron Horman.

"We are still within our threshold limits to find this child alive and we are making every effort to continue that," the sheriff said. "But because we are into day 7, obviously the percentages of finding him alive are growing exponentially, and that is very concerning for us."

Horman's stepmother reported him missing on June 4 after he did not return home from school, authorities said.

The stepmother said she last saw Kyron walking down a hallway towards his second-grade classroom at Skyline Elementary School, according to police.

"The last time this child was seen was inside the school and was never seen leaving the school," Staton told CNN. "There was nothing to indicate any kind of disruption inside the school. This is why it's so concerning to us."

New search efforts are being expanded beyond a two-and-a-half mile radius of the school, Staton said. Along with the continued use of air support, canine units will assist in looking for Kyron.

In addition, Staton said search crews will focus on the overflow of streams and wells in the surrounding area.

For now, the case remains a missing persons investigation.

"We've got investigators that are looking at every aspect; looking at every area of criminal categories," Staton said. "At this point, it hasn't reached the level that we are looking at this as a crime."

Staton also praised Kyron's family for what he called being extremely cooperative.

"Based on the dynamics," Staton said, "people respond to this differently. Nothing unusual to the way they are responding to this."

In a statement released Wednesday, Kyron's parents urged the public to continue helping authorities look for their son.

"Please search your properties, your cars, your outbuildings, your sheds," the family said. "Also check with your neighbors and friends who may be on vacation or may need assistance to search their property.

"There are a lot of resources out there to help. Please don't stop."

Staton said at some point the family will want to step forward and speak in person.

"This has been very traumatizing for them," he said, "and they prefer to remain tightly knit at this point."

Staton called this case especially disturbing.

"We are talking about a school," he said. "This is not about a child walking away in the woods or from a store, this is a school and it should be one of the safest environments other than your home."

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Kyron Horman is asked to call the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office at 503-261-2847.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/11/oregon.missing.boy/

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

Judge Denies Bail for Terrorism Suspects in New Jersey

A federal judge denied bail Thursday for the New Jersey men charged with plotting to kill U.S. troops overseas, calling them a flight risk and a potential threat to the public.

The hearing marked the second appearance this week in Newark federal court for Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20 years old, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24. Neither spoke nor displayed emotion during the seven-minute proceeding.

During the hearing, federal prosecutor Andrew Kogan argued that the men—charged with conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap persons outside the country—would pose a threat if they weren't held in custody.

After defense attorneys for the men declined to object to the request, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo sided with the government. She cited the defendants' dual citizenships in her decision, saying it made them a greater flight risk.

Both men are U.S. citizens, but Mr. Alessa also has citizenship in Jordan, and Mr. Almonte in the Dominican Republic.

David Holman and James Patton, attorneys for Mr. Alessa and Mr. Almonte, respectively, declined to comment following the hearing. They waived their clients' rights to a preliminary hearing.

The judge also agreed with the government on the public-safety argument. "The charges here are of the most serious nature," she said.

Prosecutors say the men, arrested Saturday night at Kennedy Airport, were attempting to board separate flights to Egypt and were en route to Somalia in an effort to join Al Shabaab, which in 2008 was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

In the criminal complaint, the government alleges that the men watched a video about suicide vests on a computer and that documents promoting violence were found on Mr. Almonte's computer.

In explaining her decision to keep the defendants in custody, Judge Arleo said neither man was employed and noted that Mr. Almonte had been arrested before on an assault charge.

Mr. Alessa's parents, present at the first appearance on Monday, weren't at Thursday's hearing.

There were a few supporters present, though. A pair of women wearing hijab began sobbing audibly when Mr. Alessa—wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, an orange undershirt and shackles—was brought into the courtroom.

When Mr. Alessa tried to turn to say something to greet one of them, he was ordered to face forward by one of several U.S. marshals encircling him and Mr. Almonte.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312104575299152451266406.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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

From ICE

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

'Project Deliverance' results in more than 2,200 arrests in 22-month operation

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary John Morton of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Attorney General Eric Holder, acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Assistant Director Kevin L. Perkins of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division announced the arrest of more than 2,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges in the United States and the seizure of more than 74.1 tons of illegal drugs as part of a 22-month, multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as "Project Deliverance."

On June 9, 429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make the arrests. Law enforcement agents also seized $5.8 million in U.S. currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons and 85 vehicles.

"This operation represents one of the most powerful attacks the U.S. government has launched against the criminal organizations smuggling narcotics, weapons and cash across our borders," said ICE Assistant Secretary Morton. "The results of Project Deliverance clearly demonstrate the combined strength that federal agencies bring to bear in the battle against the cartels."

In addition, as part of the bilateral efforts between Mexico and the United States to disrupt drug cartel operations, Mexican law enforcement provided significant supportive actions for Project Deliverance. Among those arrested during the course of the operation was Carlos Ramon Castro-Rocha, an alleged heroin trafficker who has been designated a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT). A CPOT designation is reserved for significant narcotics traffickers who are believed to be the leaders of drug trafficking organizations responsible for the importation of large quantities of narcotics into the United States. Castro-Rocha was arrested by Mexican authorities on May 30, 2010, based on an arrest warrant from the United States. Castro-Rocha was indicted in U.S. District Court in the Western District of North Carolina and in U.S. District Court in the District of Arizona on drug trafficking charges.

Individuals indicted in these cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana; distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana; conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States; and other violations of federal law. Numerous defendants face forfeiture allegations as well.

Overall, in 22 months, Project Deliverance has led to the arrest of 2,266 individuals and the seizure of approximately $154 million in U.S. currency, and approximately 1,262 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.5 tons of cocaine, 1,410 pounds of heroin, 69 tons of marijuana, 501 weapons and 527 vehicles.

"This interagency, cross-border operation has been our most extensive, and most successful, law enforcement effort to date targeting these deadly cartels, and it is a direct result of our ongoing Southwest Border Strategy," said Attorney General Holder. "This successful operation, however, is just one battle in an ongoing war. So long as cartels and smugglers attempt to wreak havoc on our borders, we will continue to target them with every resource available to the federal government. This administration, working with law enforcement at all levels as well as our international partners, is committed to defeating these cartels, and we have proven the power of strong collaboration and coordination in achieving that goal."

"Project Deliverance inflicted a debilitating blow to the network of shadow facilitators and transportation cells controlled by the major Mexican drug cartels," said DEA Acting Administrator Leonhart. "Deliverance continues a deliberate and strategic effort to cut off and shut down the supply of drugs entering our country, and the flow of drug profits and guns to Mexico. The stakes are extraordinarily high, and this massive operation is a milestone in our tireless assault on these violent drug cartels."

"Violent drug distribution networks along the Southwest border pose a threat to our border security and thus a threat to our nation's citizens. By combining resources through operations like Project Deliverance, the law enforcement community will continue to disrupt and dismantle drug distribution networks and put those involved in the transportation of these drugs behind bars," said FBI Assistant Director Perkins.

This coordinated takedown is part of the department's Southwest Border Strategy, announced in March 2009, which uses federal prosecutor-led task forces that bring together federal, state and local law enforcement components to identify, disrupt and dismantle Mexican drug cartels through investigation, prosecution and extradition of their key leaders and facilitators, and seizure and forfeiture of their assets. Through continued joint cooperation at all levels of the Obama and Calderon administrations, the Department of Justice and its partners are actively working to stem the flow of illegal narcotics, weapons and bulk cash moving across the U.S./Mexico border.

During the course of this investigation, arrests were made and/or charges have been unsealed related to Project Deliverance in the following areas: District of Arizona, Eastern and Southern Districts of California, District of Colorado, Southern District of Florida, Northern District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, District of Maryland, Eastern District of Missouri, District of Montana, District of Nevada, District of New Mexico, Northern and Southern Districts of New York, Western District of North Carolina, Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, Middle District of Tennessee, Southern and Western Districts of Texas, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Washington and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

In a coordinated action, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 9, 2010, named two individuals and two entities linked to the international drug trafficking organization La Familia Michoacana as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers. This action targeted Wenceslao Álvarez Álvarez, aka Wencho, his frontman Ignacio Mejia Gutierrez and two entities, Mega Empacadora de Frutas, S.A. de C.V. and Importaciones y Exportaciones Nobaro, S.A. de C.V. Under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, any assets these individuals or entities may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. In addition, U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the designees.

The investigative efforts in Project Deliverance were coordinated by the multi-agency Special Operations Division, comprised of agents and analysts from ICE, DEA, FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as attorneys from the Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section. More than 300 federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies contributed investigative and prosecutorial resources to Project Deliverance, many of which were through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Forces and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs). Significant assistance for Project Deliverance was also provided by the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs.

An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100610washingtondc.htm

.