Manson follower Leslie Van Houten loses another appeal for freedom

Van Houten, 60, was convicted in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home in Los Feliz. She has sought parole more than a dozen times -- and has always been rejected.

She has sought release from prison more than a dozen times -- and each time has been rejected.

Van Houten, a former homecoming princess from Monrovia, became alienated from her family as a teenager and said she was introduced to Manson by a boyfriend. She said she came to view Manson as Jesus Christ and believed in his bizarre plan to commit murders and blame African Americans in hopes of sparking a race war.

"I'm deeply ashamed of it," she told a parole board in 2002. "I take very seriously not just the murders but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson."

Van Houten has been characterized by supporters as the least culpable member of the so-called Manson family. She did not take part in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others at Tate's rented Benedict Canyon home.

She did, however, willingly join Manson and others the following night when they invaded the LaBianca home, chosen at random. She held down Rosemary LaBianca while an accomplice stabbed her and, when told to "do something" by cohort Charles "Tex" Watson, she stabbed the woman about two dozen times in the back.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Kay told a parole board in 2002 that such "vicious" acts make parole for Van Houten at any time unwise. Kay, who took part in four of the Manson trials, has attended all 58 parole hearings for each of the five imprisoned killers.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-loses-another-appeal-for-freedom.html

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Obama and Netanyahu promise to pursue Mideast peace talks

Putting the rocky start to their relationship behind them, they emphasize their nations' ties in a meeting at the White House.

By Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times

July 6, 2010

Reporting from Washington

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to put the bad start to their relationship behind them and pledged Tuesday to work together toward face-to-face peace talks in the Middle East.

Netanyahu predicted that direct negotiations with the Palestinians could begin this summer, and he promised "concrete steps" to move the process along in a "very robust way." But neither leader indicated there had been significant progress during their White House meeting on the issues that hinder prospects for the talks.

The two did not mention the deadly Israeli raid in May on a flotilla trying to break through Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip or Israel's rebuff of international demands for an apology. They also avoided the potentially explosive issue of Jewish settlements.

A freeze on new settlements in the West Bank expires in September, the same month Palestinian officials say they will evaluate whether to continue with U.S.-brokered "proximity" talks, which the Obama administration hopes will lead to the two sides sitting down together.

Obama acknowledged "tensions and issues there that have to be resolved," but said U.S. and Israeli officials were working on them. He praised steps by Israel this week to ease its blockade of Gaza.

Israel says it restricts items allowed into Gaza to prevent Hamas, the militant group that controls the Palestinian territory, to rebuild its strength and rearm after an Israeli incursion 18 months ago. Under a new policy announced Monday, Israel said it would allow in consumer food products and most household goods. But construction materials, needed to rebuild after the conflict, will be permitted only on a case-by-case basis and under the supervision of the international community.

Israel's military also moved Tuesday toward punishment of soldiers for misconduct during the 2008-09 Gaza offensive. Some of the cases had already been highlighted by a U.N. investigation that accused Israeli forces as well as Hamas of committing war crimes. Israel rejected the charge.

The Israeli military said an infantry sergeant would be indicted on manslaughter charges in connection with an incident in which two Palestinian women were killed, reportedly while holding a white flag.

The military also said a battalion commander was disciplined for allowing his troops to use a Palestinian civilian as a human shield, and another officer was punished for ordering an airstrike near a mosque.

Netanyahu's U.S. visit is primarily about fence-mending after a rocky start to his relationship with Obama. The president said he was committed to Israel's security and pledged to "back that up, not just with words but with actions."

Netanyahu in turn praised the "depth and richness" of U.S.-Israeli ties, invoking Mark Twain in saying that the "reports of the demise of the special relationship … are just flat wrong."

The warm words distinguished the visit from Netanyahu's last visit, in March, when he was consigned with his aides to a White House work room while Obama dined with his family. The mood was so chilly then that television cameras weren't allowed up close to witness the personal interaction.

A few weeks earlier, Israeli officials had angered the White House by approving new Jewish housing in disputed East Jerusalem just as Vice President Joe Biden was arriving in Israel.

In recent days, the Netanyahu government sent different signals. In a Cabinet meeting over the weekend, Netanyahu publicly set direct talks with Palestinians as a top priority of his upcoming conversation with Obama.

In contrast to Netanyahu's last visit, the men this time sat by the hearth of the Oval Office, speaking warmly of each other and their nations' ties.

That link is "unbreakable," Obama said, describing "the bond of two democracies who share a common set of values and whose people have grown closer and closer as time goes on." Netanyahu invited Obama to visit Israel, to which Obama smiled and replied, "I'm ready." No date was set.

As he completed his remarks, Obama reached over to Netanyahu for a protracted handshake.

Before they can make strides toward direct peace talks, the two sides must hash out a host of differences. But Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said Tuesday's imagery was meaningful.

The Israeli prime minister probably was moved in part by Obama's attempts to tamp down an international outcry in the wake of the flotilla raid and to promote subsequent talks between Israel and Turkey. Those killed in the raid were Turkish citizens.

That may have reminded Netanyahu that the "U.S. is a good ally to have," Alterman said, and that "alienating the U.S. is not good."

On Tuesday, they appeared to have decided it was time to act like adults in public, Alterman said.

"They thought about how to advance their interests," he said. "And that means making nice."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-obama-netanyahu1-20100707,0,5045288,print.story

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Obama administration sues to block Arizona immigration law

The federal government argues that states can't set their own policies on arresting illegal immigrants and that this law would disrupt federal efforts to target those who are dangerous.

David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau

July 6, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration launched its long-expected legal attack on Arizona's strict new immigration law Tuesday, arguing that only Washington can set the nation's rules for arresting illegal immigrants.

The government said Tuesday that its immigration enforcement policy "targets … dangerous aliens," including violent criminals, gang members, drug traffickers and others "who pose a danger to the national security and a risk to public safety," whereas the Arizona law would force federal officials to cope with a flood of illegal immigrants who pose no danger.

Entirely innocent Arizonans will suffer as well, the administration said. It foresaw "countless inspections and detentions" of people who do not have the correct papers. But U.S. officials did not contend that the state law violates federal civil rights laws or the equal-protection guarantee in the Constitution.

The lawsuit urges a federal judge in Phoenix to block Arizona's arrest law from taking effect as scheduled July 29. It adds new weight on the side of the pending suits by immigrants-rights advocates, who say Arizona's stepped-up enforcement would lead to racial profiling and harassment of Latinos.

The move raises the political stakes for the White House. President Obama made no public statement upon the filing of the lawsuit, but Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano — a former Arizona governor — said the state was out of line.

"Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration law is a national responsibility," Holder said. "A patchwork of state laws will only create more problems than its solves."

Republican leaders, reacting quickly, said Washington and the administration deserved the blame for failing to enforce the immigration laws over many years. "Suing the people of Arizona for attempting to do a job the federal government has utterly failed to execute will not help secure our borders," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

In April, the Arizona Legislature voted to "discourage and deter" illegal immigrants from staying in the state by requiring the police to question immigrants under some circumstances.

When an officer has "reasonable suspicion" that a person is not a legal resident, he is to ask questions and may take into custody those who cannot show they are legal residents. These illegal residents could be convicted of a state crime and then turned over to federal immigration agents.

But the administration officials said Arizona's policy "disrupts the national enforcement regime." Its legal brief explains what U.S. immigration officials have long acknowledged: They do not wish to arrest or deport the vast majority of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency said it was on track to deport about 400,000 people this year. But the agency said last week that it did not seek to deport illegal immigrants who were brought here as children or who are caring for children or close relatives.

The administration's lawsuit rests on the Constitution and its declaration that the laws of the United States are the "supreme law of the land." State laws that conflict with federal law are deemed to be "preempted."

The Justice Department argued that Arizona's law should be struck down because immigration "remains the exclusive province of the federal government." If the law were to be put into effect, the government said, it would disrupt federal efforts and upset the "careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities."

The lawsuit was cheered by a Latino community that has grown increasingly disillusioned with the Obama administration over the failure to revamp the immigration system. A Gallup poll showed that Obama's approval rating among Latinos dropped from 69% in January to 57% in May. Although Latino voters are unlikely to swing to the Republican Party in great numbers, they could damage the prospects of Democratic candidates in the midterm election in November by staying home. Over the past week, the Obama administration has taken steps to reenergize grass-roots Latino voters.

But nationwide polls have also found that 50% to 60% of Americans support Arizona's effort to arrest more illegal immigrants, and politicians elsewhere have proposed similar provisions in their states.

As of June 30, similar bills had been introduced in five other states, according to the National Council of State Legislatures: South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Michigan.

In Florida, Rick Scott, a Naples multimillionaire who has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign to be the Republican candidate for governor, recently issued a television ad blasting his primary opponent, Atty. Gen. Bill McCollum, over the Arizona law. McCollum says that he supports it but that it's not needed in Florida.

"Rick Scott backs Arizona's law. He'll bring it to Florida and let our police check if the people they arrest are here legally," the ad says.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer derided Obama's intervention as "nothing more than a massive waste of taxpayer funds. These funds could be better used against the violent Mexican cartels than the people of Arizona."

She also pledged to defend the measure, SB 1070, in court. "The truth is the Arizona law is both reasonable and constitutional. It mirrors substantially what has been federal law in the United States for many decades. Arizona's law is designed to complement, not supplant, enforcement of federal immigration laws."

The new lawsuit also puts vulnerable Democrats in a difficult spot, given the popularity of Arizona's tough new law. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), who is in a tough reelection fight, issued a statement Tuesday calling the lawsuit "a sideshow distracting us from the real task at hand."

The legal battle may be decided on a fast track. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has set a hearing for July 22 in Phoenix to hear arguments on whether to block the law from going into effect. If she issues a temporary injunction, the state can immediately appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and from there, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-lawsuit-20100707,0,6343345,print.story

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Missing luggage belonging to Israeli security detail found at LAX, but at least one gun is missing

Lost luggage that belonged to security officials for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been found by American Airlines officials at Los Angeles International Airport, but at least one handgun that was packed in the baggage is missing, officials said Tuesday.

American Airlines workers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York apparently misrouted the luggage, which was supposed to be placed on a connecting flight to Washington, D.C., where Netanyahu is meeting with President Obama at the White House.

Earlier news reports indicated that four Glock 9-millimeter pistols were missing, but airline officials say they believe there is only one weapon that remains unaccounted for.

The Israeli Consulate has referred all media inquiries to American Airlines.

“When you have a situation related to security, we allow the appropriate law enforcement agencies to handle the situation, and we refrain from commenting publicly, so that we don't hamper an investigation,” according to a prepared statement by the airline.

Port Authority police in New York are investigating to determine whether any of the weapons were stolen at JFK or at another airport along the way, including LAX.

Security protocols require airline passengers with firearms to pack them in their bags and check them in at ticket counters.

Sgt. Belinda Nettles, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles airport police, said the department has discussed the matter with American Airlines, but she could not provide further details.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/missing-luggage-belonging-to-israeli-security-detail-found-at-lax-but-at-least-one-gun-is-missing.html

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Border Patrol halts 2 illegal immigrant smuggling attempts off San Diego County coast

U.S. authorities foiled two maritime smuggling attempts Tuesday morning along the northern San Diego County coast, including one at a training facility at the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Eighteen illegal immigrants were arrested after coming ashore about 4:30 a.m. near an area where Marines train for amphibious landings.

They were caught while walking across the base toward Interstate 5, according to Michael Jimenez, an agency spokesman. Border authorities, who were alerted by military officials, were unable to find the smuggling boat, said Jimenez.

The other incident took place at a beach a few miles south, in Leucadia, where agents arrested 16 immigrants who were dropped off from a small panga boat. The vessel was spotted by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter about 2 a.m.

Mexican smuggling groups are increasingly trying to bring in illegal immigrants by sea, and several recent incidents suggest they are aiming to come ashore at beaches farther and farther north of the border.

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

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Authorities find 'suspicious device' attached to Hemet police car

Hemet Police on Tuesday found a "suspicious device'' attached to a city police car, just four days after arresting two men in connection with a series of violent attacks against authorities in the small Riverside County city.

The device, which the Sheriff's Department's bomb squad rendered safe, was found during a routine check of all police cars and could have been attached to the vehicle at any time over the past two months, said Lt. Duane Wisehart.

"Investigators believe they have the suspects in these attacks in custody and that this device was simply not discovered until today,'' Wisehart said in a statement released by Hemet police.

On Friday, police arrested Nicholas John Smit, 40, of Hemet on suspicion of attempting to murder a police officer and building a potentially deadly booby trap. Also arrested was Steven Hansen, 36, a convicted arsonist from nearby Homeland who was taken into custody on a parole violation for weapons possession.

The two are suspected of being involved in the attacks on Hemet police that started six months ago, including arson fires and a booby-trapped zip gun rigged to shoot an anti-gang investigator.

Dana said 78 officers, Riverside County sheriff's deputies and federal agents raided the two suspects' homes Friday. At least two other suspects remain at large, he said. Police Chief Richard Dana said physical evidence from the attacks led to the arrest of Smit and Hansen, who know one another, but he declined to discuss the nature of that evidence.

Smit already faces charges for cultivating marijuana, the result of an earlier arrest made by Hemet police, Dana said.

Since the attacks began in December, investigators have speculated that the crimes were the work of the Vagos motorcycle gang or a band of white supremacists . Police are still trying to determine whether Smit or Hansen are connected to any gangs.

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

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From the New York Times

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Arizona Law Causes Split for Governors Sharing Border

PHOENIX — For nearly 30 years, the governors of the states that line both sides of the United States- Mexico border have gathered to celebrate border bonhomie. They issue proclamations and pledges to work together, air grievances and concerns behind closed doors and pose for the cameras in symbolic showings of cooperation.

But this year the 28th annual conference has collided headlong with Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration , inspiring bitter recriminations among Mexican governors and rancor among some American ones.

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona has championed the new state law that gives local police officers broader authority to question people they stop about their immigration status. On Tuesday, the United States Justice Department filed suit to challenge the law.

Ms. Brewer happens by rotation to be the chairwoman and host of this year's conference, scheduled for September at a resort in Phoenix. But after all six Mexican border governors wrote to her to say they intended to boycott the gathering to protest the new law, Ms. Brewer sent a letter of her own last week to the governors on both sides of the border saying she was canceling the whole conference.

“I am disappointed by your decision,” she said in a letter June 30. “I sincerely believe the gathering of the governors in Arizona would have presented a great platform to initiate dialogue about the legislation and other topics of great importance to the border region.”

The Mexican governors had written that they would not step foot in Arizona because they considered the law, which Ms. Brewer signed in April and continues to promote, to be “based on ethnic and cultural prejudice contrary to fundamental rights.”

Their position is in line with that of President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, who has denounced the law on several occasions as a recipe for singling out Mexican citizens, lawfully in the United States or not, for harassment. It also coincides with a boycott announced by major civil rights groups in the United States and several cities and towns.

Now, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico has stepped into the fray, pledging to salvage the conference by finding a site in another state.

“Governor Brewer doesn't have the authority to cancel the Border Governors Conference,” Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Mr. Richardson said. “She may not want to host it for political reasons, but that's not a reason to sidestep the tough issues that border governors must address, including migration and border violence. Governor Richardson will look for alternative sites to host the conference, with or without Arizona's participation.”

Mr. Richardson, a Democrat and the nation's only Hispanic governor, had lobbied Ms. Brewer, a Republican, not to sign the law, and he has repeatedly condemned it.

A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who took particular pride in hosting the conference in 2008, said he also supported moving it.

It remained unclear if Ms. Brewer would attend the conference if it ended up in another state.

A call to Margie Emmerman, Ms. Brewer's adviser on border affairs and coordinator of the conference, was referred to the governor's press office, which did not respond to a call or an e-mail message on the subject.

Polls in the United States may show that a majority of Americans support the Arizona law, or at least the concept of a state's playing a greater role in immigration enforcement, but abroad the law is strongly opposed and has raised concerns at the State Department that it could strain diplomatic relations with Latin America.

On a recent tour in South America, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was peppered with questions about it at every stop, and she took the unusual step of disclosing that the Justice Department intended to legally challenge it even before government lawyers finished preparing the case.

For now, the conference Web site, hosted by the State of Arizona, shows no sign of the conflict. In fact, Ms. Brewer has a statement on it declaring, “I am excited to host this year's event.”

She adds: “We will continue to promote mutual prosperity for the states along the U.S.-Mexico border region, as we foster stronger relations between our two countries. The Border Governors Conference is the premier forum for analysis, dialogue and support for specific initiatives and policies that address the unique needs of our border region.”

The forums resemble any international summit, and raise similar questions over what tangible results come of them. A couple of years ago Mr. Schwarzenegger, serving as host in Los Angeles, took a delegation of governors on a fact-finding trip to the Universal Studios theme park.

But aides to the American governors say the conferences have produced concrete results, including agreements to share intelligence on gun trafficking, exchange information on the H1N1 virus and lobby the governors' respective federal governments to improve border crossing infrastructure and procedures and commerce.

There has been tension in the past, including a couple of years ago when all four American governors declared a state of emergency at the border over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Similarly, when Mr. Schwarzenegger urged in 2005 that the border be closed, his attendance at that year's conference in Torreón, Mexico, rankled Mexicans.

But aides to the governors said they could not recall any previous conference being canceled.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/us/07governors.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

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Talks on a Rapid End to Russian Spy Case

Less than two weeks after arresting 10 people suspected of being secret Russian agents, the federal government is in talks with lawyers for the defendants about a broad and rapid resolution to the case, according to people who have been briefed on the discussions.

The proposed resolution could allow all the defendants to plead guilty to fewer charges or charges carrying lesser penalties or even time served, and it could result in deportations or agreements that allow them to return to Russia.

The proposed resolution could lead to a series of relatively quick guilty pleas, allowing the defendants to receive some kind of legal benefit and the government to avoid a series of protracted trials.

All 10 defendants who are in custody have been charged with conspiring to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government, and eight were also charged with conspiring to commit money laundering. The eight could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Another defendant is at large.

Prosecutors have not accused the defendants of passing classified information to their Russian handlers. But a resolution would allow the United States government to avoid a long legal battle in which sensitive information about intelligence techniques could be exposed.

Such a deal would also eliminate the possibility that a high-profile case would serve as an irritant to relations between the United States and Russia. Although both countries have made clear they do not expect the charges to damage relations, the case has dominated worldwide news accounts in the past week, and indictments and potential trials could keep the case on the front pages for months to come.

Neither defense lawyers nor the federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan would comment on any such talks, and the talks may end up going nowhere. But court documents made public last week by the government show that some defendants were freely discussing their ties to Russian intelligence and perhaps that will ease the way to negotiated pleas.

According to prosecutors, one defendant, known as Juan Jose Lázaro Sr., a former professor at Baruch College , described his ties to the Russian S.V.R., a successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B. And prosecutors said two other defendants, in Arlington, Va., had admitted they were Russian citizens living in the United States under false identities.

The talks come as the United States attorney's office in Manhattan said Tuesday that it would appeal a magistrate judge's decision last week to grant bail to one defendant, Vicky Peláez. The judge said she could be released on $250,000 bond, and would have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and stay at home. She remains in jail.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/nyregion/07agents.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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Vatican Approaches New Abuse Rules

ROME — In an effort to rein in the sexual abuse crisis threatening the church, the Vatican is inching toward introducing changes to canon law to make it easier to discipline pedophile priests, Vatican officials say.

The changes will codify into canon law exceptions that already allow the Vatican's doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to defrock priests using faster administrative procedures rather than a full ecclesiastical trial.

Few other details have leaked out, but several reports and Vatican officials suggest that there are limited technical changes. If true, critics and victims are likely to find them inadequate for the scope of the crisis, though they will mark the first doctrinal modification since the abuse crisis hit Europe this spring and the United States a decade ago.

The changes are not expected to include adoption of the “zero tolerance” policy used by bishops in the United States and elsewhere, which remove a priest from ministry at the first credible accusation of abuse, as some victims' groups and critics had hoped.

But in the quiet battle raging deep inside Vatican City, they are likely to appear as a defeat for the many traditionalist members of the hierarchy who believe that anything short of a full canonical trial betrays the church's trust in a priest and deprives him of due process.

According to an article in The National Catholic Reporter on Tuesday, the changes are also expected to lengthen the statute of limitations in which abuse victims can come forward, to 20 years from 10 years, after the victim's 18th birthday. Vatican officials say they will also identify child pornography as a serious offense to be handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The changes would enshrine into universal law exceptions granted in 2003 by Pope John Paul II to a 2001 Vatican document governing abuse. That document immediately generated widespread confusion among bishops, who believed that it required full canonical trials, a response they deemed inadequate after the sexual abuse crisis that erupted in Boston in 2002.

The Vatican hinted at the changes in April, when it published online for the first time guidelines it said it advised bishops to follow in handling abuse, including reporting all cases to the Vatican and to civil authorities in countries that require mandatory reporting of crimes.

But those guidelines do not hold the force of law, and for years bishops have complained about confusion over how to handle abusive priests.

Vatican officials say that Pope Benedict XVI signed the change in a meeting last Saturday with Cardinal William J. Levada , his successor as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but that the Vatican is sending the document to the world's bishops before making it public.

Officials say the changes are expected to be announced within the next two weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/world/europe/07vatican.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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From the Department of Justice

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WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice challenged the state of Arizona's recently passed immigration law, S.B. 1070, in federal court today.  

In a brief filed in the District of Arizona, the Department said S.B. 1070 unconstitutionally interferes with the federal government's authority to set and enforce immigration policy, explaining that “the Constitution and federal law do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.”  A patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement.  Having enacted its own immigration policy that conflicts with federal immigration law, Arizona “crossed a constitutional line.” 

The Department's brief said that S.B. 1070 will place significant burdens on federal agencies, diverting their resources away from high-priority targets, such as aliens implicated in terrorism, drug smuggling, and gang activity, and those with criminal records.  The law's mandates on Arizona law enforcement will also result in the harassment and detention of foreign visitors and legal immigrants, as well as U.S. citizens, who cannot readily prove their lawful status.

In declarations filed with the brief, Arizona law enforcement officials, including the Chiefs of Police of Phoenix and Tucson, said that S.B. 1070 will hamper their ability to effectively police their communities.  The chiefs said that victims of or witnesses to crimes would be less likely to contact or cooperate with law enforcement officials and that implementation of the law would require them to reassign officers from critical areas such as violent crimes, property crimes, and home invasions.

The Department filed the suit after extensive consultation with Arizona officials, law enforcement officers and groups, and civil rights advocates.  The suit was filed on behalf of the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State, which share responsibilities in administering federal immigration law.

“Arizonans are understandably frustrated with illegal immigration, and the federal government has a responsibility to comprehensively address those concerns,” Attorney General Holder said.  “But diverting federal resources away from dangerous aliens such as terrorism suspects and aliens with criminal records will impact the entire country's safety.   Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility.  Seeking to address the issue through a patchwork of state laws will only create more problems than it solves.”

“With the strong support of state and local law enforcement, I vetoed several similar pieces of legislation as Governor of Arizona because they would have diverted critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and undermined the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the communities they serve,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.  “We are actively working with members of Congress from both parties to comprehensively reform our immigration system at the federal level because this challenge cannot be solved by a patchwork of inconsistent state laws, of which this is one.  While this bipartisan effort to reform our immigration system progresses, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce the laws on the books by enhancing border security and removing criminal aliens from this country.”

The Department has requested a preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of the law, arguing that the law's operation will cause irreparable harm.

“Arizona impermissibly seeks to regulate immigration by creating an Arizona-specific immigration policy that is expressly designed to rival or supplant that of the federal government.  As such, Arizona's immigration policy exceeds a state's role with respect to aliens, interferes with the federal government's balanced administration of the immigration laws, and critically undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives.  S.B. 1070 does not simply seek to provide legitimate support to the federal government's immigration policy, but instead creates an unprecedented independent immigration scheme that exceeds constitutional boundaries,” the Department said in its brief.

Download the Supporting Documents:

Complaint Filed (PDF)
Arizona PI Brief (PDF)
Declaration of Daniel Ragsdale (PDF)
Declaration of David Aguilar (PDF)
Declaration of David Palmatier (PDF)
Declaration of Dominick Gentile (PDF)
Declaration of Mariko Silver (PDF)
Declaration of Michael Aytes (PDF)
Declaration of Roberto Villasenor (PDF)
Declaration of Jack Harris (PDF)
Declaration of Tony Estrada (PDF)

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-opa-776.html

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WASHINGTON - The Justice Department today announced that Carline Ceneus, Cabioch Bontemps and Willy Edouard have been indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of Florida for engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor and visa fraud involving Haitian nationals. Ceneus is also charged with document servitude.

Ceneus, 32, of Miami, and Bontemps, 34, of Gainesville, Fla., have been arrested. Ceneus was detained upon re-entry to the United States. Edouard, 47, of Miami, is considered a fugitive. The three are charged with crimes arising from the alleged scheme to coerce the labor and services of Haitian nationals brought by Ceneus and Edouard to northern Florida to work under the federal agricultural guest worker program.

According to the indictment, Ceneus, Bontemps and Edouard engaged in a conspiracy and devised a scheme to obtain the labor of 34 Haitian nationals by enticing them to come to the Gainesville area to pick beans and peas with false promises of lucrative jobs over three years culminating in permanent residency. The three defendants then maintained the victims' labor and services through threats of serious harm, according to the indictment. Ceneus and Edouard arranged for the workers to pay substantial recruitment fees, procured by loans provided by loan sharks and often secured by the victims' property. After arrival in the United States, the defendants confiscated the victims' passports and failed to honor the promised terms of employment. The defendants kept the Haitian nationals in their service by threatening to report them to law enforcement and have them deported or sent home to face their large unpaid debts. The indictment also charges that the defendants engaged in visa fraud by making false statements in documents filed with the U.S. Department of Labor to procure H2A guest worker visas.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, Ceneus faces a maximum sentence of 25 years and Edouard and Cabioch each face 10 years in prison.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General - Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Alachua County, Fla., Sheriff's Department. The case is being prosecuted by trial attorney Susan French of the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit of the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams of the Northern District of Florida.

Numerous non-governmental organizations have provided services to the victims and include: Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center; Alachua County Housing Authority; Gainesville Harvest; Alachua County Health Department; Trinity United Methodist Church; Child Advocacy Center of Gainesville; United Way; St. Francis House; Peaceful Paths; Florida Rural Legal Services (Ft. Myers, Fla.); Florida Freedom Partnership (Miami); and World Relief (Jacksonville, Fla.).

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-crt-778.html

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From ICE

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10 arrested in Gallatin County, Mt., during ICE-led 2-week anti-gang operation

BOZEMAN, Mt. - Assisted by local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested 10 men during a two-week operation targeting foreign-born gang members and their associates in Gallatin County. The following law enforcement agencies also participated in the operation: Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, the Missouri River Drug Task Force, and the West Yellowstone Police Department.

This is the latest local effort in an ongoing national ICE-HSI initiative to target foreign-born gang members and gang associates.

This multi-agency operation, which ended July 2, targeted gang members and associates engaged in organized criminal activity. Seven of those arrested during this operation are known gang members or associates from the "Surenos" street gang. Three additional suspects were apprehended on other criminal and federal immigration charges. Eight were arrested in Bozeman, and two in West Yellowstone. All were from Mexico.

Those in ICE custody are charged with administrative immigration violations and are awaiting deportation. In addition to immigration charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana has accepted prosecution for one of the men arrested for reentering the United States after being previously deported, which is a felony.

Information received by ICE-HSI and other law enforcement indicates that criminal gangs, such as the Surenos and others, are becoming increasingly involved in Montana with smuggling and distributing narcotics, laundering illicit drug proceeds, and other illegal activities.

"Our ICE-HSI special agents routinely partner with local law enforcement agencies to target transnational gang members," said Kumar Kibble, special agent in charge of HSI in Denver. "Gangs are responsible for a significant amount of local crime, and our joint operations help reduce this threat to the public." Kibble oversees a four-state area, which includes: Montana, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

"The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office is committed to reducing crime at a local level," said Gallatin County Sheriff Jim Cashell. "In this case, we assisted ICE with arresting illegal immigrants that have ties to street gangs and known criminal enterprises. Removing these individuals from the streets is an important step in maintaining the safety and quality of life that the citizens of Gallatin County expect."

The arrests were made as part of Operation Community Shield , a national initiative whereby ICE partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational criminal street gangs. Since Operation Community Shield began in February 2005, ICE agents nationwide have arrested more than 17,500 gang members and associates linked to more than 900 different gangs. More than 200 of those arrested were gang leaders.

The National Gang Unit at ICE 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 seized activities.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1007/100702bozeman.htm

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L.A. toy company accused in scheme to launder foreign drug proceeds

Millions of dollars in 'structured' deposits in U.S. allegedly went to clients in Mexico and Colombia

LOS ANGELES - A federal grand jury indicted a Los Angeles toy company Thursday in a complex financial scheme to launder millions of dollars for drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and Colombia. The drug proceeds, which were allegedly laundered through numerous "structured" cash deposits in the United States, were returned to clients when stuffed animals -- including Teddy bears and Topo Gigio dolls -- were exported to the foreign countries and sold to generate local "clean" money.

Following a two-year probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (BNE), three top-level executives of the Angel Toy Corporation were arrested Friday morning at the business on various federal charges. The charges include conspiracy to structure cash transactions to avoid federal requirements that any cash transaction over $10,000 be reported to authorities.

"It's no small irony that a multi-million dollar company which promoted itself as retailer of cuddly stuffed animals was allegedly acting as a financial linchpin for drug trafficking operatives in Colombia and Mexico," said ICE Director John Morton. "It may be a toy company, but we believe these defendants' pursuits were anything but child's play. Businesses that launder profits for drug trafficking organizations should be on notice there will be a high price to pay for helping further these dangerous criminal enterprises."

"Consumers in Mexico and Colombia thought they were buying Teddy bears and Topo Gigio dolls when, in reality, they were unwittingly helping to launder millions of dollars of drug profits for ruthless drug cartels," said California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. "Today's indictments stopped this obscene travesty."

The arrests stem from a five-count indictment that charges a total of five defendants, including two owners of Angel Toy Corp. and a Colombia-based businessman who allegedly oversaw the importation of the toys into Colombia.

The three arrested Friday morning are: Meichun Cheng Huang, 57, of Irvine, Calif., a co-owner of Angel Toy Corp.; Ling Yu, 52, of Arcadia, Calif., a co-owner of Angel Toy Corp. and its chief executive officer; and Xiaoxin "Judy" Ju, 48, of San Gabriel, the company's accountant.

Authorities are seeking to take custody of the fourth defendant in the case, Colombian businessman Jose Leonardo Cuevas Otalora, 50, in Bogota. Friday afternoon, ICE's Attaché Office was coordinating with the Colombian National Police and the U.S. Department of Justice to make the arrest. The fifth defendant in the case is Angel Toy Corporation, which is located at 930 South Alameda Street in Los Angeles.

Additionally, the indictment seeks the forfeiture of more than $8.6 million dollars, which is the amount of money allegedly laundered over a four-year period, from 2005 to 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

According to the indictment, Huang and Yu directed their Colombian and Mexican clients to drop cash off at the company's Los Angeles headquarters or deposit it directly into the company's bank accounts. The defendants allegedly instructed Angel Toy's employees not to accept deposits of more than $10,000, to avoid federal currency reporting requirements. When clients made cash deliveries in excess of $10,000, the indictment states that the defendants divided the currency into amounts of less than $10,000 before depositing it into the company's accounts.

Investigators say that after receiving the deposits, Angel Toy executives wired the money to China to purchase stuffed animals. The toys were subsequently exported to Colombia, where Cuevas arranged for their sale. The Colombian pesos generated by those sales were then used to reimburse the Colombian drug traffickers. This type of scheme, which enables criminal organizations to launder drug profits using international trade, is often referred to as a "black market peso exchange."

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to structure case transactions, a charge that carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. Angel Toy Corp. is charged with conspiracy to launder money. Yu is charged with conspiracy to smuggle cash out of the United States, as well as structuring the exportation of monetary instruments, charges that cumulatively carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Huang is charged with witness tampering for allegedly intimidating and coercing an Angel Toy employee who was called earlier this year to testify before a federal grand jury about the case. The witness tampering charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

The three Angel Toy executives arrested Friday morning are expected to make their initial appearances in United States District Court Friday afternoon.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

For more information, visit www.ice.gov .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1007/100702losangeles.htm

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