Court hears first arguments over Arizona immigration law

A police officer's attorney says it undermines the U.S. government's ability to set foreign policy.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

July 16, 2010

Reporting from Phoenix

In the first courtroom showdown over Arizona's new immigration law, an attorney for a Phoenix police officer asked a federal judge Thursday to halt the implementation of much of the statute, saying it undermined the ability of the federal government to set foreign policy.

"We have only one nation; we can only have one immigration law," attorney Stephen Montoya argued in a courtroom packed with more than 100 spectators. "Even though the state of Arizona believes Congress is not very competent and is inept, the state of Arizona has to live with the laws of Congress."

The law, set to take effect July 29 unless U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton stops it, requires police to investigate the immigration status of people they lawfully stop and have reason to believe are in the country illegally. It also makes it a crime in Arizona to lack immigration documents .

Bolton took the matter under advisement after a two-hour hearing and gave no indication when she would issue a decision. She is scheduled to hear similar arguments July 22 in lawsuits filed by civil rights groups and the Obama administration.

Outside the courthouse, small groups of supporters and opponents of the law waved signs and American flags. "Adios Illegals," read one backer's T-shirt. Inside, both attorneys' arguments veered smoothly from the legal to the political.

John Bouma, a lawyer for Gov. Jan Brewer, said the state wanted only to help the federal government do what it has so far been unable to do: secure the border.

"There's no reason Arizona should stand by and suffer the consequences of a broken system when Arizona has 15,000 well-trained law enforcement officers who can help the federal government fix it," he said.

Federal courts have held that states cannot create their own immigration policies. But Bouma contended that the Arizona law, known as SB 1070, required police to assist the federal government only by making various federal immigration crimes state offenses as well.

"The decision was made to make assisting the federal government in enforcing immigration laws a state policy rather than just a local option," Bouma said.

Montoya scoffed at that suggestion, saying the best response to Arizona's argument "is to laugh." He noted that the Obama administration argued that the Arizona law would hinder the government in enforcing federal immigration regulations.

In a preview of arguments he is expected to make at next week's hearing, Bouma suggested that the federal government was not properly enforcing existing laws. "They want to say, 'Hey, we're not doing anything, but we've preempted the field, so you can't,' " he said.

The Arizona law runs 20 pages and contains 14 provisions, some so complicated or vaguely written that even the governor's lawyer wasn't sure of their meaning. Montoya said his client, Officer David Salgado, mainly wants to invalidate the parts that involve local law enforcement's obligations to investigate illegal immigrants.

Officers nationwide are allowed to ask people if they are in the country legally and arrest them if they are not. But SB 1070 requires Arizona officers to do so when they stop people for violations of any laws or ordinances and suspect they are in the country illegally.

Montoya said the law means that if an officer saw him spitting on the sidewalk or parking his car at an expired meter and believed he was an illegal immigrant, the officer would be required to investigate.

Bolton noted another provision, which requires that anyone arrested in Arizona — for any offense — be held until the federal government verifies that the suspect is in the country legally. She asked Bouma whether that meant that someone arrested for a nonviolent misdemeanor, such as driving 20 mph over the speed limit, could be held for a long time during a status check.

Bouma said he didn't believe so but, referring to the language in the law, acknowledged, "I don't know if it's the most artful way of writing that." He told the judge that another part of the law, which says it must be applied constitutionally, would prevent people from being held too long.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-immigration-20100716,0,5177455,print.story

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List sends chill through Utah's Latino community

An anonymous letter naming 1,300 purported illegal immigrants sparks investigations and a wave of worry.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times

July 16, 2010

Reporting from Seattle

Since the distribution of an anonymous letter this week containing the names, addresses and other personal data of more than 1,300 Utah residents said to be undocumented immigrants, Tony Yapias' phone has not stopped ringing.

"I have one phone line; I've already missed 60 calls now, and there are 72 messages," said Yapias, director of the advocacy group Proyecto Latino de Utah. "People wanting to know if they're on the list. Should they move to another state? Should they leave the country? Horrified, scared, whatever language you can put on it."

The office of Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, announced Thursday that an investigation into the list was focusing on the possibility of an unauthorized release of information from the state Department of Workforce Services, which collects information on unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid and other government programs.

"It appears that all the data on that list are contained within that agency's database, and they have found some evidence of inappropriate access, so they're drilling down on that as we speak," Angie Welling, the governor's communications director, said in a telephone interview.

A team of 10 state information technology specialists is examining who gained access to or printed out data that might have ended up on the list, which includes birth dates, addresses and in some cases Social Security numbers.

That information will be handed over to the state attorney general's office to determine whether a crime was committed, Welling said.

"These people [who distributed the list] are very interested in making sure that we disclose the names of people they think are breaking the law. I think it's only fair that they disclose who they are, and tell us why they didn't break the law," said Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Utah attorney general's office.

Intentionally disclosing a private record or gaining access to such a record under false pretenses could be prosecuted as a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail, Murphy said. "It could be as much as a third-degree felony, meaning up to five years in prison, if the custodian of the records actually stole the records," he added.

Federal authorities also are examining the list because, in some cases, it contained Social Security numbers, said Jonathan Lasher, assistant inspector general for external relations for the federal Social Security Administration.

The mysterious list, accompanied by an unsigned letter demanding that those whose names appear on the list be immediately deported, appeared as some residents are pushing Utah to join Arizona in stepping up state enforcement actions against undocumented immigrants.

A bill similar to Arizona's new immigration law is expected to be introduced in Utah's Legislature next year.

The list, originally given to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Salt Lake City in April, was redistributed this week with additional names to legislators, police chiefs and Utah news organizations, accompanied by another demand that public officials take action.

"We ask that you remember who you work for in this country — you work for America and for the citizens in the state of Utah. You DO NOT work for illegal immigrants who have come into our country illegally and who now take advantage of our system," it said. "They need to go — and go now."

Yapias said some of those whose names appear on the list have been confirmed as legal residents. He said there are fears the list could reach extremists who might use it to intimidate or harass those on the list.

"Politically, we can agree to disagree," Yapias said. "We can say both sides of the issue have been going at it passionately at every level. But to begin a new level of terrorizing families, that's not right. I mean, it's un-American — whatever word you want to find for it, it's just wrong."

Most of Utah's major immigration activist groups have denied any role in distributing the list. Some have condemned it.

"Our position is it was inappropriate to compile or release the list," said Ron Mortenson, co-founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, which has advocated for legislation to crack down on identity theft for the purposes of obtaining false immigration documents.

"We see it as a rule-of-law issue," he said. "The fact is we expect everyone to comply with the law, illegal aliens and American citizens…. If it's a political issue, you address it through the legislative process, not through some extralegal method."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-utah-immigration-20100716,0,140402,print.story

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Phoenix family claims it adopted girl abducted 7 years ago in Norwalk

A toddler kidnapped from a foster family in Norwalk in 2003 has been living with a family in Phoenix that claims it adopted the girl, L.A. County sheriff's detectives said Thursday.

But her "adoptive parents" have no documents to prove it, and they have kept her out of school even though she will turn 8 next month.

She has likely lived with them since shortly after the abduction, said sheriff's Det. Jerry Saba, who investigated the case.

"That was her family in her mind," he said during a news conference Thursday in Norwalk.

Authorities said they know nothing about the child's biological father and little about her biological mother, including her current whereabouts.

Seven-year-old Amber Rose Nicklas was rescued Wednesday in Phoenix by Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators. Her ordeal began not long after she was born in August 2002 when she was taken from her grandmother, who was raising her, and placed with a foster family in L.A. County.

The foster family took her to a meeting in September 2003 with her three aunts, all juveniles, at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on Firestone Boulevard in Norwalk. The meeting was sanctioned by the L.A. County Department of Family and Child Services.

At the restaurant, the aunts apparently distracted the foster parents, and two of them grabbed the girl and lifted her over a gate to the third aunt, who drove off with her, said sheriff's Capt. Patrick Maxwell.

Two of Amber's aunts were arrested at the time and charged with kidnapping, Maxwell said. Records of the case have been sealed, but it appears they served time in a juvenile camp, he said. The third aunt has been contacted but has not been charged at this time.

The case slowly faded into the Sheriff's Department's cold-case files until last November when Saba, a 20-year veteran of the department, received a tip that reactivated the case. Although the tip did not pan out, it led to others over the next eight months that eventually took Saba to a house in an industrial part of Phoenix.

Amber had been living in the house with the two parents, an adult son and a preschool-age daughter for most of the last seven years, he said.

The family was distraught but cooperative when he and a partner arrived at the home Wednesday with Phoenix police officers. Amber appeared to be well cared for and cheerful, he said. She cried briefly when he told her they were taking her from the family.

Amber's footprint matched the one in her file in Los Angeles County. They flew her back to Southern California and placed her in a shelter with the county's Department of Children and Family Services.

"But she was reassured by her family and by us," Saba said. "We told her that we going to take her to see some people who care about her."

Still, Saba said, "It was heart-wrenching. I knew the circumstances. Amber didn't know the circumstances. I felt like I was victimizing her again."

Maxwell said Amber's case is far from concluded. It remains unclear how the Phoenix family obtained the girl, and if they participated in the kidnapping.

"How did this girl make it from Chuck E. Cheese in Norwalk to Phoenix?" said Maxwell. "Our biggest challenge is to prove intent. This is a 7-year-old case. That's a challenge right now."

Saba has interviewed the third aunt, who's been at large all this time. He declined to comment on what she said, and it was unclear whether she would be charged in Amber's abduction.

Maxwell said Amber has been victimized, first by living in an unfit home, then being kidnapped from her foster parents.

Then "last night, law enforcement took her away from the only family she knows," Maxwell said. "This is a happy and sad moment. We're happy we did locate the child. But we all should remember this child has been a victim three times in her life."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/phoenix-family-claims-it-adopted-girl-abducted-7-years-ago-in-norwalk.html#more

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Whooping cough epidemic prompts outreach to California's ethnic communities

A whooping cough epidemic that has claimed the lives of five Latino infants this year has prompted California health officials to launch an outreach campaign in minority communities, they said Thursday.

The California Department of Public Health is distributing educational material and news releases in different languages and hosting roundtables for ethnic media representatives, who could help spread the word about the disease and its prevention, said Dr. Juan, Ruiz, chief of preparedness and response for the department's communicable disease control division.

"The most important is to send out the message that people should be vaccinated, " Ruiz said. "This is a disease that can be controlled and can be prevented with vaccination."

California health officials announced last month that whooping cough, also known as pertussis, was at epidemic levels and that the state could record the highest number of illnesses and death due to the disease in 50 years.

In general, rates of the disease are highest in infants less than 6 months old, according to health statistics. Disproportionately high rates also have been seen in whites 7 to 18 years old.

Broad outreach started a couple of months ago and emphasis was being put on targeting Spanish- and Chinese-language communities, said Al Lundeen, a spokesman for the state health department.

As of June 30, 1,337 cases of whooping cough have been reported in California, health officials said. The figure represents a five-fold increase over the 258 cases reported during the same period in 2009. An additional 700 cases were then under investigation at local health agencies.

The five infants who died were all about 2 months old at the onset of the disease, and included two in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino County.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/state-health-officials-reach-out-to-ethnic-communities-to-curb-whooping-cough-epidemic.html#more

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BLOWBACK

In defense of Juvenile Court lawyers

A Times article unfairly characterizes the attorneys who represent defendants in Juvenile Court.

By Jack J. Gold

11:56 AM PDT, July 15, 2010

I retired recently as a Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner after 26 years on the bench, and I take issue with The Times' June 14 article, "Juvenile justice diverges in court."

I was a criminal defense lawyer before becoming a commissioner, and a great part of my practice was representing juveniles in the Juvenile Court. (Many of the county's judges had similar experiences before being elevated to the bench.) As commissioner, I heard thousands of juvenile cases over the years involving countless different offenses, including murder, rape and robbery. I've also served as president of the Los Angeles County Juvenile Courts Bar Assn. In short, I have extensive experience in juvenile justice, and what I've seen over the years conflicts with what The Times reported.

The Times' article paints a picture of incompetency by private "panel lawyers" and insinuates that the public defender can do a far more competent job of representing these children. Yet the author points to only two instances where she feels the lawyer could have done a far more expert job of representation.

I have known many lawyers on the juvenile panel since 1972. These are, for the most part, conscientious advocates for their clients, not only in juvenile cases but in Superior Court felonies and federal court as well.

The article also stated that the lawyers on the juvenile panel had to "petition the court" for professional help, such as psychiatric and medical experts. I cannot remember a single time when such a request was denied by the court, especially in Sylmar Juvenile Court and Eastlake Court where I presided over the years.

Unfortunately, none of the academics cited in the article has the experience that the panel lawyers have in pursuing the "right" cases, for just the issues the article focuses on. Cyn Yamashiro of Loyola Law School reports that the school's Center for Juvenile Law and Policy is "examining" 3,500 cases that have been randomly selected, but he fails to point out that the panel doing the research includes several retired public defenders. On the other hand, I know of no entity ever contacting judges and commissioners for input either into the expertise of the panel or the competency of the Probation Department.

Judges have seen all types of kids who have committed many different crimes. I have seen almost every situation and every type of child, and so have most of the other judges. Who would be better to ask than us? The fact is that the Loyola research panel and similar groups assembled by other colleges really shouldn't have access to confidential juvenile files.

Additionally, many judges and bench officers suspect that the public defender's office treats Juvenile Court as a "dumping ground" for the less skilled lawyers other divisions do not want. There are very competent lawyers in the public defender's office who come into Juvenile Court, but too soon we have seen them transferred out to other plum assignments.

Public safety is a real concern for our society. Most of these cases are known as "dead bang cases" — there's no question about the defendant's guilt — and it has always been the province of the Probation Department to work with these kids. Now we are hearing that the public defenders are far more equipped to handle them than private lawyers and the Probation Department?

Some public defenders seem to believe that every child needs a psychiatric exam, thereby costing the county millions of dollars. Meanwhile, no notice seems to be taken that they are gangbangers, their parents no longer can control them, and so forth.

The article accuses panel lawyers of mass incompetence, yet I have personally seen these attorneys fight tooth and nail for many of these kids regardless of the amount they were earning per case. In truth to the taxpaying citizen, most of these cases do not call for a psychiatric report or require extensive examinations of the kids, many of whom have violent crimes on their rap sheets and are dangerous to the public.

Juvenile lawyers must pick and choose the cases they are going to defend. Remember, there must first be a defense to go after. Unfortunately, the main case The Times used as an example of the failure of panel lawyers didn't make clear to the reader that this juvenile had a lengthy record and had been examined in the past by other psychiatrists and psychologists. Perhaps the victim and her baby whom the defendant allegedly splashed with bleach might wish to be heard to complete the article.

Jack J. Gold is a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-0715-gold-20100714,0,917535,print.story

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From the New York Times

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North Korea Urgently Needs Food and Medicine, Rights Group Says

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean doctors perform operations without anesthesia in clinics where hypodermic needles are not sterilized and sheets are not washed, the human rights group Amnesty International said in a report released on Thursday.

“Five medical assistants held my arms and legs down to keep me from moving,” the report quoted a 24-year-old North Korean defector as saying, describing how his left leg was amputated without anesthesia after a train accident. “I was in so much pain that I screamed and eventually fainted from pain.”

Other defectors told similarly horrific stories. One said her appendix was removed without anesthesia and her hands and feet were bound to prevent her from moving during the procedure. Others told of entire cities with no ambulances.

Drawn from interviews with more than 40 North Koreans who had defected over the past six years, as well as with health professionals who had worked with North Koreans, the report depicted a North Korean health system in dire straits.

Long cut off from most of the world, North Korea has been pushing its people even deeper into isolation. Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the North's nuclear test last year and the North's presumed role in the sinking of a South Korean warship in March have driven away potential aid donors. The government's botched currency reform late last year also worsened chronic food shortages in the North.

“The North Korean people are in critical need of medical and food aid ,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Asia-Pacific. “It is crucial that aid to North Korea is not used as a political football by donor countries.”

North Korea claims that it offers free medical service for all its people. But in reality, patients have had to pay their doctors with cash, cigarettes, alcohol and food since the 1990s, the 50-page report said.

“Many North Koreans bypass doctors altogether, going straight to the markets to buy medicine, self-medicating according to their own guesswork or the advice of market vendors,” it said. “The North Korean authorities recently banned a highly addictive narcotic painkiller that many North Koreans routinely used as a cure-all.”

North Korea spends less on health care than any other country in the world — less than $1 per person per year, according to the World Health Organization .

As some North Koreans resorted to eating grass, tree bark and roots, tuberculosis has made a comeback in North Korea, Amnesty International said.

For years, North Koreans fleeing their country have told of a deteriorating health care system, especially after the collapse of the economy in the mid-1990s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/world/asia/16north.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Arizona Halts Photo Enforcement of Speed Laws

PHOENIX — At the first tick of the clock Friday, an array of automated cameras on Arizona freeways aimed at catching speeders were to stop clicking.

There is no glitch. The state, the first to adopt such cameras on its highways in October 2008, has become the first to pull the plug, bowing to the wishes of a vocal band of conservative activists who complained that photo enforcement intruded on privacy and was mainly designed to raise money.

It was a tumultuous, impassioned run here. A man wearing a monkey mask racked up dozens of tickets, fighting them in court, to protest the system. Vandals at different times attacked the cameras with Silly String and a pickax.

More seriously, the operator of a van carrying a mobile speed camera was shot to death on the side of a freeway in April 2009. The suspect is being prosecuted on first-degree murder charges and the family of the victim has announced a lawsuit against the Department of Public Safety.

Gov. Jan Brewer , a Republican seeking election to a full term, never embraced the program, begun under her predecessor, Janet Napolitano , a Democrat whose revenue projections from the tickets fell short largely for a simple reason: violators tended to ignore them.

The cameras, which included 76 units either mounted near the shoulder or operated from vans, were adept at snapping speeders as they whizzed past sensors, but getting offenders to pay after the tickets were mailed to them was another matter.

Less than a third of the 1.2 million tickets issued were paid, and the state collected $78 million, far below the projected $120 million annual revenue.

Some of those tickets, typically $181 apiece, no doubt were lost in the mail; others no doubt were not paid as violators tested a legal theory that they needed to be served in person. Process servers who were supposed to follow up could hardly keep up with the load.

Ms. Brewer made no secret of her disdain for the system operated by Redflex Traffic Systems , which will turn off the cameras the moment its contract expires.

“She opposed this program because it was designed primarily as a state revenue-generation tool,” Ms. Brewer's spokesman, Paul Senseman, said this week. “She also is uncomfortable with the intrusive nature of the system. She is willing to allow the voters the opportunity to decide the future fate of the system, and anticipates there will be continued discussion and debate of the proposal in the Arizona Legislature.”

Some of the loudest critics were conservatives, who organized protest groups and prodded legislators to impose restrictions on their use, arguing the cameras amounted to, as one put it, the “government spying on its citizens.”

“It is unconstitutional,” said Shawn Dow, founder of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar , who also questioned the safety benefit and the propriety of having Redflex, whose parent company is based in Australia, involved in issuing tickets to Americans.

The Department of Public Safety had reported a 19 percent drop in fatal collisions in the first nine months the cameras were in use, but after Ms. Brewer took office and named a new director of the department, no further data was released.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has backed photo radar systems as a public safety improvement and says their use is increasing, mostly to catch drivers running red lights. Red light cameras are now used in 475 communities, including New York City, and speed cameras in 57 jurisdictions, according to the institute.

A spokeswoman for Redflex, whose camera systems in 14 cities in Arizona are unaffected by the state's withdrawal, predicted speeding would spike on the freeways.

“Though few government agencies have opted to deactivate road-safety camera systems, we have learned from those that speeds will spike to dangerous levels,” said Shoba Vaitheeswaran, a spokeswoman for Redflex.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/us/16camera.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Fox News

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Report: State Department Unaware of Ability to Limit Passports to Sex Offenders

About 4,500 registered sex offenders, including 30 federal employees, received U.S. passports in fiscal year 2008, a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday reveals, highlighting limits to the State Department's authority to deny passports to convicted criminals.

The State Department did not know until this year that it has the authority -- signed into law by President Bush in December 2008 -- to deny passports to people convicted of crimes relating to the sex tourism industry, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.

That same report revealed that 4,500 registered sex offenders, including 30 federal employees, received U.S. passports in fiscal year 2008. 

GAO reported that the State Department was informed of its authority in April 2010 after congressional investigators began to study the number of sex offenders who are granted U.S. passports.

The State Department does not have the authority to deny passports to Americans based on their registry in the sex offender database. 

However, the GAO report, issued to Senate Finance Committee co-chairmen Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, noted that the State Department can deny passports to people who "crossed an international border to commit an act based on which the individual was subsequently convicted under the federal 'sex tourism' statute, but only during the period the individual is imprisoned or on parole or supervised release."

"I'm shocked that GAO had to inform the State Department that Congress made individuals convicted of sex tourism ineligible for passports back in December 2008," Grassley said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "It's inexcusable that the State Department did nothing to enforce that provision for 14 months.

In its investigation of 30 randomly picked individuals identified as on the Sex Offender Registry and receiving passports, the GAO found several troubling cases.  

"In one case study, the sex offender was issued a passport in his name while in prison, which is allowed under federal law, while another was issued a passport after becoming delinquent in child support, an offense for which State must deny passports. Based on interviews with local police departments, several of our cases showed that sex offenders left the country and moved to Mexico," the report reads.

The State Department lists Mexico as a sex tourism destination.

In its response, the State Department complained to GAO that the report suggests the department was lax in its enforcement. The report "appears to suggest, without any foundation, that the department's issuance of passports to certain Americans facilitated their commission of sex offenses abroad. There are no facts in the report which show that any of the 30 individuals included in the case studies used his passport to travel to a foreign country to commit a sex crime," it wrote.

The conclusions, forwarded by James Millette, chief financial officer at the State Department, stated that the department is interested in studying any proposed legislation to give it additional authority to deny passports to sex offenders, and that it is working with the Department of Justice to track sex tourism convictions and develop a procedure to notify the State Department.

But the department listed several other concerns about the report, including that GAO did not list the number of convictions by the Department of Justice under the relevant sex tourism statute and whether the passport could have been denied based on the conviction. 

GAO responded that the law was not enacted during the time frame it studied. 

The State Department also took issue with the title of the GAO report, "Passports Issued to Thousands of Registered Sex Offenders," calling it "misleading." 

"We are concerned that it conveys more 'shock value' than factual accuracy," reads the response.

"The title also fails to convey that GAO found no evidence that the offenders used their passports to commit sex offenses abroad," the letter reads. 

According to GAO, about half of the 4,500 sex offenders who received passports lived in five states -- California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Michigan -- and at least 12 individuals were approved landlords in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 housing program during the two years before the study's time frame. 

Additionally, 30 of the sex offenders who are federal employees were identified through salary data provided by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Service and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

"It also is disturbing that the GAO found examples prior to that new law where the State Department issued passports to convicted sex offenders who fled law enforcement, received government housing subsidies and work for the Post Office. This report raises a lot of serious questions about how effectively the government protects us from child predators," Grassley said.

The GAO report noted that the U.S. Postal Service recently announced its intention to start identifying any current Postal Service employees who are required by law to register as sex offenders.

The GAO acknowledged that the number of sex offenders it found receiving passports might have been low, because the data compared passport database records to the National Sex Offender Registry, which could lack or contain invalid Social Security numbers.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/15/thousands-sex-offenders-issued-passports-travel-abroad/?test=latestnews

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From MSNBC

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Border Patrol agents detain undocumented immigrants apprehended near the Mexican border near McAllen, Texas. During the 2009 fiscal year 540,865 undocumented immigrants were apprehended entering the United States along the Mexican border.

Federal prosecutions of immigrants soar Obama continues enforcement tactic championed under Bush by GARANCE BURKE Federal prosecutions of immigrants soared to new levels this spring, as the Obama administration continued an aggressive enforcement strategy championed under President George W. Bush, according to a new study released Thursday. The 4,145 cases referred to federal prosecutors in March and April was the largest number for any two-month stretch since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was created five years ago, the Syracuse University-based Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found. They ranged from misdemeanor illegal entry to prosecutions of immigrants with criminal records. The government's heavy focus on immigration investigations already is creating a heavy burden for the swamped courts along the U.S.-Mexico border, whose judges handle hundreds more cases than most of their counterparts in the rest of the country. Federal authorities claim that workload would grow if Arizona's controversial new immigration law were implemented. The new law requires police, while enforcing other laws, to check the immigration status of anyone they have a reasonable suspicion is in the country illegally. It will take effect July 29 unless blocked by a court.

Some of the increase may be due to seasonal upticks in the flow of migrants, who often tend to cross the border in time for the summer harvest or other temporary work, Dykeman said. Hundreds of acres of fruit and vegetable crops are ripening in California's Central Valley, for instance, where farm laborers flock in the warm months seeking jobs picking and harvesting.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both investigative agencies, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TRAC's findings.

The nonprofit academic research group obtained the latest figures from the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act. That agency also declined to comment on the findings.

U.S. Attorneys along the southwest border, from Texas to California, handle the bulk of cases referred by the border patrol.

Department of Homeland Security figures show that the number of illegal immigrants in the country has fallen in recent years. As of January 2009, an estimated 10.8 million people were in the country illegally, 1 million less than the 2007 peak, according to DHS.

At the same time, deportations have been increasing, climbing from 185,944 in 2007 to 387,790 last year.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38272361/ns/us_news-immigration_a_nation_divided/

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Announces More Than $1.8 Billion in Fiscal Year 2010 Preparedness Grants

Release Date: July 15, 2010

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

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced more than $1.8 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) preparedness grants designed to help states, urban areas, tribal governments and non-profit organizations enhance their protection, prevention, response and recovery capabilities for risks associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.

“The grants being announced today will help our partners in state, local and tribal governments and non-profit organizations across the country better prepare for, respond to and recover from all threats and hazards,” said Secretary Napolitano. “This funding pays for training for fire fighters, medics and police officers, supports the purchase of equipment that is essential to our first responders, and improves our ability to communicate during disasters. These investments have a direct impact on communities across our country as we work together to build, sustain and improve the resilience of our families, businesses and neighborhoods.”

The Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) is the Department's primary funding mechanism for building and sustaining national preparedness capabilities to help strengthen the nation against the risks associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.

Additionally, 80 percent of Operation Stonegarden funding – intended to support state and local law enforcement along the border– will go to Southwest border states. DHS also increased tribal funding from $1.8 million in FY 2009 to $10 million in FY 2010.

Preparedness Grant Program Allocations for Fiscal Year 2010 Include:

Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)—$1.78 billion total:

• State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) — $842 million will support the implementation of state homeland security strategies to build and strengthen preparedness capabilities at all levels through planning, equipment and readiness activities.
  
  
• Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) — $832.5 million will enhance regional preparedness capabilities in 64 high-threat, high-density areas. The 10 highest risk areas (Tier 1) were eligible for more than $ 524.4 million , while the remaining 54 urban areas, designated Tier II were eligible for more than $308 million .
  
  
• Operation Stonegarden (OPSG) — $60 million will enhance cooperation and coordination among federal, state, territorial, tribal and local law enforcement agencies to secure the United States land and water borders.
  
  
• Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS ) Program — $39.3 million , divided evenly among 124 MMRS jurisdictions, will improve regional mass casualty incident preparedness and response capabilities in metropolitan areas across the country.
  
  
• Citizen Corps Program (CCP) — $12.4 million to engage citizens in community preparedness, response and recovery activities.

Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program (THSGP) — $10 million will be provided directly to select eligible tribal applicants to implement preparedness initiatives to guard against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) — $19 million will support target-hardening activities at non-profit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack and are located within one of the UASI-eligible urban areas.

Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) —more than $33.6 million will enhance catastrophic incident preparedness in selected high-risk urban areas and their surrounding regions. RCPGP supports coordination of regional all-hazards planning, including the development of protocols and procedures to manage regional planning for catastrophic events.

Further information on preparedness grant programs is available at www.dhs.gov and www.fema.gov/grants .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1279205905487.shtm

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From the FBI

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Launched on May 3, the operation targeted 450 convicted or wanted persons whose names were submitted by 29 participating countries. In early July, Interpol issued a call for public assistance to locate these individuals. Since that time, 114 fugitives have been located or arrested, and new information on 323 of the cases has been provided—including possible locations, photographs, and telephone numbers.

Special Agent Eric Ives, who recently returned from a six-week assignment at Interpol headquarters, described the experience as a “fantastic example of law enforcement working together.”

“If I'm in Washington and I have a fugitive lead in Copenhagen,” Ives explained, “ordinarily I can't just pick up the phone and call an officer there. For one thing, I wouldn't know who to call, and there are different legal restrictions in different countries. That's where Interpol steps in, to act as a facilitator and a conduit for information.”

“Global partnerships are vital to being able to capture these fugitives." Hector Gonzalez FBI Special Agent Operation Infra-Red

While the FBI is well known for its Top Ten list of wanted fugitives, we also seek to locate and apprehend many other criminals who have avoided arrest by fleeing the country. To help catch these fugitives, the Bureau partners with law enforcement agencies around the world, including the international police organization Interpol. Interpol's Operation Infra-Red (short for International Fugitive Roundup and Arrest) represents a focused effort to apprehend fugitives like Bartoli, Zepeda, and Giese by promoting the timely exchange of information among the organization's member countries and by soliciting the help of the public worldwide.

Interpol was created nearly 90 years ago to facilitate just such cross-border police cooperation. Many of the 188 member countries work side by side in Lyon, staffing a 24/7 command post that employs sophisticated databases and operates in four official languages—Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.

If the FBI has information that one of its wanted fugitives might be in Dublin, for example, Interpol coordinates with the Irish authorities to pursue leads and other investigative work. “Having law enforcement from the other countries sitting together in Lyon helps the process greatly,” Ives said. “You can cut through a lot of barriers and get a lot accomplished.”

Among the international fugitives targeted by the FBI are two Top Tenners—James J. “Whitey” Bulger and Robert William Fisher, both wanted for murder, among other crimes.

“Global partnerships are vital to being able to capture these fugitives,” said Special Agent Hector Gonzalez, who coordinated the Bureau's Operation Infra-Red activities with Interpol. "We are happy to be a part of this initiative, and we are receiving many good leads as a result.”

If you have information regarding international fugitives, please contact your local FBI office or send an e-mail to Interpol's fugitive unit .

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july10/interpol_071510.html

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