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From the Los Angeles Times

Militant plot to attack British, French, German cities thwarted, report says

Britain's Sky News says the simultaneous attacks were being planned by militants in Pakistan believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. It says an increase in U.S. drone attacks is tied to the plan.

Reuters

September 29, 2010

LONDON

Intelligence agencies have disrupted plans for multiple attacks on European cities by a group thought to be linked to Al Qaeda, Britain's Sky News said on Tuesday.

Militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes in London, as well as cities in France and Germany, the channel's foreign affairs editor, Tim Marshall, said.

Asked about the Sky News report, U.S. security officials said they could not confirm that a plot had been disrupted. But they said they believed that the threat of a plot or plots was continuing.

U.S. counter-terrorism agencies are poring over intelligence reports suggesting a major attack plot is in the works against unspecified targets in Western Europe or possibly the United States, they said.

Four U.S. security officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that initial intelligence reports about the threat first surfaced roughly two weeks ago, around the time of the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Marshall said an increase in drone attacks in Pakistan in the past few weeks was linked to attempts by Western powers to disrupt the plot, which was at an "advanced but not imminent stage."

British security sources declined to comment on the Sky News report.

Britain in January raised its international terrorism threat level to "severe" -- the second-highest level of alert in the five-tier system.

The head of Britain's MI5 Security Service, Jonathan Evans, said on Sept. 16 there remained "a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place."

The Eiffel Tower and the surrounding Champ de Mars park were briefly evacuated Tuesday because of a bomb alert, the fourth such alert in the Paris region in as many weeks, but a search turned up nothing, police said.

French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Sept. 20 that France faced a real terrorism threat due to a backlash from Al Qaeda militants in North Africa, with fears growing of an attack from home-grown cells within French borders.

Citing unidentified intelligence sources, Sky said the planned attacks would have been similar to the commando-style raids carried out in Mumbai by Pakistan-based gunmen in 2008.

The heavily armed militants launched an assault on various targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal hotel and the city's main train station.

The United States appeared to have widened drone aircraft attacks against Al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan and might have killed a senior leader of the group, Pakistani and U.S. officials said Tuesday.

U.S. officials declined to comment on specific plots in Europe or elsewhere but acknowledged that targeted drone strikes in Pakistan were meant to disrupt militant networks planning attacks.

The U.S. national security officials said that most of the threat reporting suggested that the targets of whatever plots were underway were in Europe. One of the officials said, however, that there was particular concern that U.S. interests in Europe might be targeted.

Two officials also said that they could not rule out the possibility that some of the threat reporting could relate to attack plots underway which might be directed at targets inside the United States. One of these officials added that the intelligence reporting was tangled and could mean that more than one plot has been set in motion.

U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper declined to comment directly on any European plot but stressed that Al Qaeda remained committed to attacking Europe and the United States.

"We are not going to comment on specific intelligence, as doing so threatens to undermine intelligence operations that are critical to protecting the U.S. and our allies," Clapper said in a statement.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-al-qaeda-attacks-20100930,0,21916,print.story

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Stimulus-subsidized jobs in jeopardy

Using federal money, California counties have put to work more than 35,000 people by subsidizing their employment for up to a year. A bid to extend the funding is stalled in the U.S. Senate.

By Alexandra Zavis and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times

September 29, 2010

Michael Beightol has 12 years of retail experience, but that was no help when he was looking for a job earlier this year.

"I must have put in 1,000 applications or more, and no one was hiring because of the economy," said the 34-year-old Covina resident, who is raising an 8-year-old daughter on his own.

His luck changed when Los Angeles County offered to pay his salary at Americal Contractors Corp., a small, veteran-owned painting firm in Pomona that is teaching him a new career as an estimator.

"I'm so happy that they had this program, because I feel like I am being a productive part of society instead of sitting at home doing nothing," Beightol said.

Using funding from last year's $787-billion stimulus bill, California counties have put to work more than 35,000 people by subsidizing their employment for up to a year, according to figures from July. Many of those jobs are now in jeopardy unless Congress extends the funding beyond Thursday, the end of the fiscal year.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 created a $5-billion fund that states could tap to cover the additional costs of their swelling welfare rolls, including paying the wages of low-income parents and youths hired as trainees at government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses. Federal officials said 38 states have used the fund to create about 250,000 jobs.

"This program has succeeded beyond our wildest expectations," said David Hansell, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hansell was in Los Angeles this week to tour Modernica Furniture, which has eight subsidized workers.

He said three objectives have been achieved: employing low-income people who otherwise would have been on welfare, supplying small businesses with more help and keeping local economies humming. "It would be a tragedy," he said, "if we had to end this program after the end of the week."

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to extend the fund for a year at a cost of $2.5 billion. However, the proposal has stalled in the Senate amid concern over the size of the national deficit. Anyone laid off would face a tough job market, with California's unemployment rate at 12.4%, well above the national rate of 9.6%.

Of California's 58 counties, 48 have used the federal funding, said Charr Lee Metsker, deputy director of the state Department of Social Services' Welfare to Work Division. By July, they had received more than $215 million for subsidized employment programs and submitted applications for an additional $210 million, Metsker said.

"Families spend those dollars in our state," she said. "So not only is it good for our families, but it is good for California."

In all, California has applied for $1.3 billion of the $1.8 billion it was eligible to tap. Metsker said the state was hampered by the requirement to come up with a 20% match. It was only after federal authorities said the supervision and training provided by employers would count toward the match that many counties realized they could use the fund to subsidize jobs.

Los Angeles County, which already had a small jobs program, was able to increase participation from a few hundred adults a year to more than 10,000, paying them $10 an hour. The county also used the funding to place about 16,500 youths in summer jobs.

For 23-year-old Ieasha Gabriel, a recent university graduate, it was a chance to burnish her resume by designing publicity materials for the Pacific Resident Theater in Venice.

"It gave me confidence that I could go out there and get something," she said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said many adults employed through the program have made the transition to permanent, unsubsidized jobs.

"To me that is proof alone that this program is a success," he said in a statement. "We just need Congress to take action and extend this program."

Doug Nye, one of Americal's three partners, said the company would like to keep all four of its subsidized hires. He said the additional office staff has helped Americal compete for more government contracts, which has provided work for 35 painters. But he said the company would have to lay off some people if funding dried up.

Without agreement on a state budget, county officials don't know whether they will be able to continue the program with local funding. Pink slips went out in August to the nearly 7,000 current participants in Los Angeles County.

Beightol has already warned his daughter, Donna, that there might not be money for extras like new shoes. He gave up a job as a Wal-Mart manager in 2008 because he needed more time to care for Donna when he separated from her mother. But looking for a new position has been disheartening.

"No one is hiring," he said. "Hopefully, I can get something for the holidays.... I don't want to be on welfare again."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-subsidized-jobs-20100929,0,3836888,print.story

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For parents of war dead, the combat doesn't end

The conclusion of combat operations in Iraq this month can't ease the grief for one mother. 'His part in this conflict is over,' writes Lee Ann Doerflinger, who lost her son five years ago.

By Faye Fiore, Los Angeles Times

September 28, 2010

Reporting from Silver Spring, Md.

The week that Army Spc. Thomas K. Doerflinger was killed in Iraq at age 20, a friend in the neighborhood brought his parents a felt banner with a gold star. Tradition holds that a grieving mother hangs it in her window until the war is over. As it turned out, the war outlasted the banner.

Years passed; the red border faded. Repairmen who came to their door on leafy Collingwood Terrace would innocently inquire, then stammer their condolences. The Doerflingers didn't feel right displaying a kind of grief that was never going to go away, so after a while they put the banner in the hutch.

Endings can be complicated for families of the fallen.

When President Obama announced the conclusion of combat operations in Iraq this month, Lee Ann Doerflinger didn't feel any closer to that magical "closure" everyone talks about. In some ways, she felt worse.

It didn't help when, channel surfing, she caught footage of the Stryker brigade pulling out of Iraq for the last time. It was the end of a mission Thomas helped launch — he drove a Stryker armored personnel carrier with a dashboard like a rocket ship's. For years she had prayed for the safety of the brigade; now they were out of harm's way and here she was sobbing on the couch — "oddly bereft" was how she put it. Another earthly part of Thomas shutting down. No more pretending he wasn't really dead, just deployed.

"Maybe someone can understand this even if I can't. It's as if that last piece of Thomas now goes too," she wrote on her blog, "We Remember," a chronicle of losing a child to war. "His part of this conflict is over."

It isn't that they haven't all moved on. A friend of Lee Ann's remarked the other day that losing Thomas isn't the only thing she talks about anymore. At 55, she has three other children, a baby granddaughter and Richard, her husband of 33 years, who anguished in his own way. She isn't sure she ever saw him cry.

By the Pentagon's count, 4,412 service members have died in Iraq. Thomas was No. 1,258 or 1,259; Lee Ann was never sure.

The five years and 10 months since he died have been a long slog forward and back. You expect birthdays to be hard. You don't expect to get ambushed while housecleaning by a 4-year-old phone bill with his cell number on it. One day you're undone by a storage closet full of his clothes. The next day you're sitting peacefully on your sister's sun porch watching the cats play.

"I was almost 50 when Thomas was killed. You sit down and calculate your life expectancy at that point and say, how long do I have to live with this grief? But I think Thomas would have asked me to take what came and see what happens," Lee Ann says from her dining room table, where they can all sit again. They couldn't at first. It was just too hard. Thomas had always occupied the chair to her left.

***

His mother wouldn't sign the enlistment papers -- if anything happened to him, she'd never forgive herself. So Thomas waited until he turned 18 on July 6, 2002, and signed them himself. His grades were terrible, even if he did earn an International Baccalaureate degree from Springbrook High. He hated homework. College would be a waste.

The whole family watched him graduate seven months later from basic training at Ft. Benning, Ga. Lee Ann was surprised at how proud she was. He wound up at Ft. Lewis in Washington state, home to the Stryker brigade. Saddam Hussein had been captured, a good sign. How long could the war last? She said goodbye to him in a Taco Bell parking lot across from the base. He got in a cab and did not look back.

"He was a Stryker driver who didn't like to drive," Lee Ann would later write. He was assigned to Mosul in northern Iraq. His vehicle was damaged in combat, so he volunteered for other positions. On Nov. 11, 2004, he was rear air guard, the soldier who sticks up out of the hatch. They were finishing up for the day when a sniper shot him in the head.

She has told the story so many times now she gets through it pretty well. It was Veterans Day. Lee Ann turned on National Public Radio at 1 p.m. Firefights in Mosul. Surely if it were bad she already would have heard. She curled up on the couch with an action-packed science-fiction novel -- time travel, soldiers in battle. Out the window, two uniforms were coming up her walk. Was it her eyes or the book? They knocked. It occurred to her that her life was over.

"I sent Matthew downstairs. I didn't want him to see me when I heard the news," she says. Matthew is the youngest of her children. He was in seventh grade when his only brother was killed. Now he's 18, with the outlines of a beard, in the kitchen perusing the contents of the fridge. He hears his mother's voice break, comes into the dining room and pats her shoulder.

The ripple effect of war is vast. The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, estimates that for every active-duty service member killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, six family members are "significantly impacted." At last count, the Doerflingers belong to a club of 10,392 parents.

"They live with this every day. It's not like you can say your grieving is over now, or because the war is over you shouldn't be grieving anymore," said Michelle Joyner, spokeswoman for the National Military Family Assn. in Virginia.

People started showing up at the two-story house the Doerflingers moved to when Thomas was in fourth grade. There weren't enough chairs. Thomas' sisters — Anna, older, and Maria, younger — took it hard.

Lee Ann and Richard picked out a plot and a headstone for their boy, according to instructions Thomas delivered in the hallway one day while holding a basket of laundry. If anything happened, and of course it wouldn't, he'd said he didn't want to be buried in uniform at Arlington. He wanted to be buried in civilian clothes in the local Catholic cemetery. The Army, he told his father, had him for five years. But "eternity is mine."

***

Support groups stress that military families will need assistance long after the last brigade pulls out of Iraq. The combat might be officially over, but 50,000 U.S. troops are still there, in side arms and body armor, to provide support and training. Another 100,000 are in Afghanistan. American forces have been at war longer than at any other single time in history.

But the public is fickle in its concern, distracted by foreclosures, unemployment, Lindsay Lohan's latest lockup. Another widow receives the folded flag. The kitchen overflows with food. The phone won't stop ringing. The nation tunes in and out.

The Doerflingers walked like robots through that first year after Thomas was killed , doing what was essential, nothing more. They leaned on faith and the people around them. A parish nun made sure Lee Ann ate. The PTA cleaned the house and planted her garden bulbs.

Sokhannath Ieng, the scheduler at G Street Fabrics, where Lee Ann fills in, called one day and said it was time to come back to work. She had lost 11 relatives in Cambodia's killing fields; Lee Ann went.

The couple grieved in different ways. Richard, 57, dove into his work as associate director of antiabortion activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Lee Ann blogged, calling herself "a middle-aged housewife who decided one day to write all of this down."

June 26, 2006: "It did seem at first that his death would be the end of laughter for us, but that has turned out to not be true at all."

Jan. 29, 2007: "No one told me that one of the hardest parts of being a mother would be having to comfort my fourteen-year-old son because his brother died two years ago on a dusty street half a world away."

July 6: 2008: "I woke up early this morning, remembering the day that Thomas was born. He got me up early that day too."

Months passed, and the moments when she felt better started coming closer together. Around the four-year mark, they adopted a puppy, took the first family Christmas photo without Thomas, and put away the banner with the gold star.

Lee Ann watched a lot of television. She stumbled on an episode of "Clean House," about a guy who couldn't get rid of his dead mother's stuff. She thought of the portable closet of Thomas' clothes in the basement. Time to let it go.

Anna got married. This spring, baby Leah was born. The 11th of every month stopped feeling like an anniversary. On Thomas' birthday, Lee Ann was too busy to get to Mass. She blogged: "[I] felt a bit guilty about that. I suppose it's in the natural course of events that our lives sort of close over the hole left by this loss." That night, Richard and Lee Ann enjoyed a chocolate cake in their son's honor.

Friends ask how she's doing: "I'm still standing."

She wants to go to Mosul. People walk the beaches of Normandy and the streets of Hanoi. She wonders if Iraq will ever be safe enough.

"I want to see the buildings he saw, feel the climate he felt. I was in the place where he was born. I want to be in the place where he died," she says over a second cup of coffee in the dining room. A pile of junk mail is stacked high on Thomas' chair, where, even now, no one ever sits.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-iraq-war-dead-20100929,0,6665203,print.story

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Judge halts execution of rapist-murderer

In reversing a decision he made Friday, the jurist says the court couldn't properly review new lethal injection procedures before Albert Greenwood Brown was set to die Thursday.

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

September 29, 2010

A federal judge Tuesday ordered a halt to the execution of convicted rapist and murderer Albert Greenwood Brown, saying there was "no way" the court could conduct a proper review of new lethal injection procedures before the inmate was scheduled to die Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel reversed a decision he handed down Friday that the execution could go forward if the state gave Brown the option of dying by a single-injection method used in other states, rather than the three-drug cocktail prescribed by California's new regulations.

A federal appeals court returned the case to Fogel late Monday, saying he had "erred" in offering Brown an execution method unauthorized in this state.

In his Tuesday night ruling, Fogel said Brown had raised serious questions about whether the state had addressed all problems with the former execution protocols Fogel found to be flawed in a 2006 ruling.

He also noted that the state has so little of a key drug needed for lethal injections — and what it has expires Friday — that no further death sentences could be carried out this year after Brown's. But he said that supply issue was "hardly a reason to forgo proper examination" of the new procedures, which the judge expects to vet by the end of the year. Brown is one of 708 prisoners on California's death row, and his execution would have been the first in California in nearly five years.

A spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office, Christine Gasparac, said that Fogel's ruling would be appealed and that her office would be representing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 11th-hour challenge.

Brown's execution had been set for 9 p.m., just three hours before the state's only supply of sodium thiopental expires. Fresh supplies are unavailable until next year.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked Fogel late Monday to reconsider his refusal to stay the execution and examine whether the state's new lethal injection procedures comport with conditions set down by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling two years ago.

Brown's lawyers said in court filings that they couldn't answer the complex questions posed by the appeals court "in such a compressed time frame" and asked for delay of the execution. Calling the state's drug shelf-life problem a "fiasco" of its own making, the prisoner's pleading said "so much for the solemn dignity and thoughtful consideration deserved by Mr. Brown and his family, the victim's family and the courts."

In testimony in Fogel's San Jose courtroom in 2006, witnesses contended that some of the 11 inmates executed by lethal injection in California in recent years may not have been fully anesthetized by the first of the injections, a powerful barbiturate, before the other two drugs, which induce significant pain, were given.

Brown's attorneys told Fogel that the lethal injection procedures adopted in late July were "almost a rubber stamp" of the previous practices. They also faulted the regulations for training execution team members without having them actually handle the drugs involved.

The state never undertook a serious reform of the execution procedures, Brown's lawyers said, describing the revision adopted in late July as "a ruse, conducted grudgingly and in the shadows of fraud, incompetence and deceit."

David A. Senior, one of Brown's attorneys, said Fogel's decision seemed like "the logical disposition of the case" and one that would prevent capital punishment from becoming a political football in the gubernatorial race.

Lawyers with the attorney general's office argued that the procedures have been changed considerably, with a mandatory "consciousness check" to be conducted after the sodium thiopental is injected to ensure that the inmate won't feel the consequences of the second two drugs.

The state accused Brown of seeking to delay and avoid his execution, rather than improve the methods by which it would be conducted. The state's brief also cautioned Fogel against inserting the courts in matters of government responsibility, saying that having judges decide what method of execution is best "would embroil the courts in ongoing scientific controversies beyond their expertise."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-execution-20100929,0,115123,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Affidavit and DNA Crucial in Appeal of '93 Conviction

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sixteen years ago, during a triple-murder trial that transfixed this region with accusations of Satanic rituals, the jury foreman had conversations with his private lawyer that suggest the jury's guilty verdict was unjust, the lawyer now says in a sworn affidavit.

The reported conversations between the lawyer, Lloyd Warford, and the jury foreman, Kent Arnold, and DNA evidence are expected to be at the center of oral arguments before the Arkansas Supreme Court here this week in the case of Damien Echols, who was convicted with two other men of the slayings of three 8-year-old boys.

The three defendants, now in their 30s, have become widely known as the West Memphis 3, thanks to documentaries and books about the case, Web sites put together by volunteers, and actors, musicians and other celebrities who have lent their names to the cause.

“It's not like we're saying ‘exonerate them, they're innocent,' although many of us feel that way,” said Capi Peck, a Little Rock restaurateur who helped form Arkansas Take Action to support the three men. “All we want is a new trial. We're convinced that no jury today would convict them.”

Mr. Echols's appeal is based on a 2001 Arkansas law that allows DNA evidence not available at the time of the original trial to be considered on appeal in conjunction with other evidence in the case.

According to the Innocence Project , an organization in New York that assists prisoners nationwide, 259 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing since it was first used, including 17 who served time on death row.

The State of Arkansas, through Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, opposes the motion for a new trial.

“Our office knows there are concerns about this case, but rest assured that we take the utmost care in handling the appeals of death sentences handed down by Arkansas jurors,” Mr. McDaniel said in a statement. “Though some celebrities have brought more attention to this case than to the dozens of other pending death row appeals in this state, every one is an extremely serious matter. We are committed to fairness and justice not just for the inmates but also for the three little boys who didn't live to see middle school.”

Last month the actor Johnny Depp , the Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and the Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines held a concert to raise awareness for the case a few blocks from where the State Supreme Court will hear arguments, beginning Thursday. A vigil in this city's historic Quapaw Quarter is scheduled for Wednesday night.

The case dates to May 5, 1993, when three 8-year-old boys from West Memphis, Ark. — Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore — were reported missing. Their naked, hogtied bodies were found submerged in a drainage ditch the next day.

Nearly a month later, the police arrested Mr. Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin after Mr. Misskelley confessed to police that he had watched the other men sexually abuse and then kill the boys. At the time of their arrests, Mr. Echols was 18, Mr. Misskelley, 17, and Mr. Baldwin, 16.

Mr. Echols, the alleged leader of the three, was sentenced to death, while Mr. Misskelley and Mr. Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Misskelley, who later recanted his confession, was tried separately because the law forbade his statement to be used against the other two defendants.

At the trial, prosecutors presented testimony that Mr. Echols had been seen with his girlfriend near the scene of the crime on the night the boys disappeared, that he and Mr. Baldwin had admitted their guilt to several people, and that a serrated hunting knife that could have been used in the killings was found near Mr. Baldwin's trailer.

An expert on cults gave his opinion that the defendants were members of a Satanic cult who murdered the victims as part of a ritual.

In 2007, testing by experts hired by the convicted men's supporters showed that they could not be linked to any DNA recovered from the crime scene or the victims' bodies, and that no sperm was present on swabs taken from the victims, as might be expected in cases of sexual assault. The testing, however, showed that hair found at the scene could have belonged to Steve Branch's stepfather and a friend.

Mr. Echols has also presented statements from forensic pathologists who said that nearly all the victims' wounds were caused by animals after their deaths, and that the victims did not appear to have been sexually assaulted.

Defense claims of juror misconduct are based on Mr. Warford's account of his conversations with Mr. Arnold.

In a 2008 affidavit, Mr. Warford said Mr. Arnold had hired him to represent his brother in an unrelated case.

During “at least a dozen” conversations while the West Memphis trial was under way, Mr. Warford said, Mr. Arnold indicated that he was part of the majority of jurors who had been ready to convict the defendants, “from virtually the beginning” of the trial.

Later, Mr. Arnold said, “This prosecutor has not done his job, and if the prosecution didn't come up with something powerful the next day there was probably going to be an acquittal,” according to Mr. Warford's affidavit.

Mr. Arnold asked how he should go about being elected foreman of the jury and what he should say to convince other jurors of the defendants' guilt, Mr. Warford said.

During the trial, a police officer mentioned Mr. Misskelley's statement to the police, a comment that the judge ordered jurors to disregard.

According to Mr. Warford, Mr. Arnold “told me that if the confession had not been mentioned in court then he might not have been able to convince the swing jurors to convict.”

Mr. Warford said he did not reveal his conversations with Mr. Arnold earlier because he thought they were covered by attorney-client privilege.

The existence of the affidavit, originally filed under seal, was reported by Mara Leveritt, a freelance journalist who wrote “Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three,” published by Atria in 2002.

The case became widely known mostly as a result of “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” a documentary shown on HBO in 1996. The film made something of a celebrity out of Mr. Echols, now 35, who since arriving on Arkansas' death row has collaborated on a song with Mr. Vedder, written a book and married a former New York landscape architect, Lorri Davis.

Ms. Davis, who moved to Arkansas and married Mr. Echols in 1999, said she appreciated the work of the celebrities who had brought attention and money to the case.

“I don't look at them as celebrities,” she said. “I look at them as people who have an ability to reach people and have an audience. They're very well-educated on the case. Whenever I hear elected officials complain about outsiders, I wonder what they're trying to hide.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/us/29memphis.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Lifeline for Refugees

Thousands of elderly and disabled refugees who receive cash assistance from the Social Security Administration are in danger of losing that lifeline. Their eligibility for benefits expires on Friday. Congress has granted temporary extensions before. It needs to do so again.

The welfare overhaul adopted in 1996 set limits on the time that refugees can receive Supplemental Security Income. Noncitizens normally do not qualify for payments, but refugees, who fled torture and war and could not work because of old age and infirmity, were among those granted an exception on the condition that they become citizens within seven years. That deadline came too quickly for some who were unable to pass the citizenship test in time. Many were homebound and had trouble negotiating paperwork or affording the fees. Others were stuck in limbo because of administrative backlogs.

Protecting the safety net for these immigrants — who include victims of sex trafficking, Jews who were persecuted in Russia, Hmong tribesmen who fought for the United States in Vietnam, Kurdish victims of Saddam Hussein — has been a bipartisan effort. President George W. Bush urged Congress in 2008 to extend eligibility for two years.

Today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is seeking a one-year extension to help 5,500 refugees who are about to be cut off. The bill is expected to cost about $22 million, and it would be more than offset by a fee collected for unemployment fraud. It would apply only to those who received benefits through the 2008 extension; new refugees must still meet the seven-year deadline.

At one time, seeking refuge in the United States was the last chance of survival for these people. This country rightly opened its doors. Now Congress needs to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/opinion/29wed3.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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It Takes a Neighborhood

Five years ago the media was full of articles about the death of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, the pundits declared, had proved that the city was unnatural and unsustainable. The mass exodus after the flooding would leave it hobbled at a fraction of its former size, and some even advocated government policies to keep it that way.

It was a tempting idea, and one that is in vogue among beleaguered cities, which have let themselves shrink, demolishing damaged houses and abandoning entire neighborhoods. God knows the political and real estate establishment of New Orleans tried to follow the lead of already shrinking cities like Detroit, Buffalo and Youngstown, Ohio.

But New Orleanians resisted such ideas, just as residents of the South Bronx fought against Planned Shrinkage in the 1970s. In fact, the top-down attempt to shrink the city galvanized an enraged citizenry into a level of civic involvement that did not exist before the storms. Five years later it is paying off for New Orleans, just as it did over 30 years ago in the South Bronx. Sensing that spirit, thousands of new and returning residents have poured into the city—including me.

For decades I've been documenting the ways that the urban-renewal policies of the 1950s and 1960s left long-standing scars on America's cities through the extensive demolition of recoverable neighborhoods. Efforts by city halls to counter the ensuing decline and decay only seemed to make things worse. The thing that made a difference, I consistently noticed, was grassroots activity: neighborhoods taking matters into their own hands, to which local governments eventually responded and contributed additional resources.

I had visited New Orleans less than a month after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and I was eager to see if the same thing would happen there. I not only wanted a front seat to observe; I wanted to embed myself in the city, get to know all kinds of people, listen to their ideas, watch their impact, understand the local political battles.

I bought a home, a classic double shotgun cottage in the Bywater, an edgy but appealing neighborhood east of the French Quarter. The Bywater is a dynamic neighborhood, a magnet for artists and young newcomers. A longstanding, racially and economically diverse population is solidly in place. The area did not flood during the hurricanes, but wind damage was extensive.

Shotgun houses define the Bywater. These long, narrow houses, often with one continuous hallway from front door to back—so straight that a shotgun blast would go right through them, hence the name—are a motley species: architectural details, colors and even interior arrangements vary from house to house. After the hurricane, its flexibility, inexpensive construction and creative potential made it a model for new construction and rehab projects across the city.

Such instances of self-affirmation on the micro level gave many residents the confidence to stand up to government officials who, especially in 2006 and 2007, were pushing green pins into wall-mounted maps to designate which neighborhoods would be left to shrink and die.

Once it became clear the city couldn't evict them, locals took matters into their own hands. With the help of thousands of volunteers from around the country, they cleaned out badly damaged houses and made them livable again. They started fixing up playgrounds, parks and schools themselves. Church and community groups, schools and extended families became the nuclei for rebuilding projects around the city. Across New Orleans' 73 neighborhoods some 270 new community-based organizations opened their doors, providing everything from help cleaning out and restoring houses, starting businesses and managing the bureaucratic nightmare of collecting damages from insurance companies and the government.

Very little of this makes it into the national media, even now, at the hurricanes' fifth anniversary. In part, I think, that's because the country took away the wrong lesson. The term “natural disaster” often gets applied to Katrina and Rita, but that's wrong. The real disaster was man made: levees failed, canals breached, the walls keeping the water out became a bowl keeping it in. The assumption became that if large-scale engineering and federal policymaking had gotten New Orleans into this mess, then those were the only things that would get it out. That's not the whole story, though. Local activism matters as much, if not more.

The grassroots revival was on display at TEDxNOLA, a recent conference in New Orleans meant to highlight and share the experiences of New Orleans' neighborhoods and activists over the last half-decade. “This was a way to share with each other what we have been learning, good and bad, without sentimentality, melancholia or boosterism,” observed lead organizer Mary Rowe.

Participants offered compelling stories of entrepreneurial success, community-driven school reform, innovative rebuilding methods and improving health facilities. The big question, of course, was how to take things to the next level, how to use the strength of local involvement to spur citywide change. Architect David Waggoner, for example, demonstrated how a waterfront city like New Orleans could “embrace water” by adopting an “ecological” instead of an “engineering” model for infrastructure. It doesn't take the Army Corps of Engineers, he said. Both on a backyard and citywide level, Waggoner showed how many small adjustments in the landscape—uncovered bayous, porous driveways and streets and bioswales , among others—can become the basis of a more protective infrastructure.

The TED event provided clear evidence that cities do not rise and fall simply because of decisions made in city hall or corporate boardrooms. True, those places can exert powerful influences. But ultimately it's the regenerative capacity of a city's residents that makes the difference.

As Wendell Pierce, star of the HBO series “Treme” and a leader in the rebuilding of his own neighborhood, Pontchatrain Park, noted in closing, “We're demonstrating to the nation and the world that in spite of what's happened, we're taking positive steps to deal with our dysfunctions.”

Defying all expert predictions, New Orleans is back to three quarters of its population before the storms. No one expected that so many homes would be restored and reoccupied, or that so many schools and small businesses would be thriving, after five years. Young entrepreneurs, mostly in the knowledge-based software field, are moving to the city, attracted by an affordable lifestyle but also the city's can-do spirit.

Five years ago, policymakers, reading New Orleans its last rites, said the only thing the city could teach the country was how to handle urban shrinkage. Instead, it has become a model for how to defy conventional expectations. It should be the catalyst for a fundamental re-examination of how we deal with urban challenges: how to build back up, not keep tearing down.

Roberta Brandes Gratz is an urban critic and author of “ The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs .”

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/it-takes-a-neighborhood/?pagemode=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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Toss college requirement for cops? Ald. says yes

Alderman wants to 'level the playing field' for minority applicants as mayor OKs first police entrance exam in for years

September 29, 2010

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

The Daley administration agreed Tuesday to hold Chicago's first police entrance exam in four years to ease a severe manpower shortage -- amid demands that applicants no longer be required to complete at least two years of college.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), chairman of the City Council's Police Committee, wants to "level the playing field" for minorities to increase diversity in the ranks at a time when a two-year hiring slowdown has left the Chicago Police Department more than 2,300 officers-a-day short of authorized strength.

At least 116 more officers have agreed to take advantage of Mayor Daley's offer to extend premium health benefits to those who retire at age 55, exacerbating a shortage of officers that cannot be solved without a new hiring list.

"A lot of minorities can't afford to go to college. A lot of minorities go into the trades or into the military. Why should they be excluded?" Beale said Tuesday.

"We need to level the playing field by doing away with the college part and coming up with a new formula. If a person is 24 or 25, they're at a maturity level where they can make solid decisions. Why not take that in place of college? The goal is get more minorities and streamline the process."

Connie Buscemi, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Human Resources, said the Daley administration has asked four firms with so-called "master consulting agreements" to compete for the right to administer a new police entrance exam, the first since 2006.

"The request seeks a vendor who would purchase a pre-existing exam directly from an exam developer, provide exam materials and study guides, staff the exam and administer and grade the exam," Buscemi said, noting that response are due by Oct. 8.

The college requirement was imposed in 1997 in response to a corruption scandal in the Austin District that saw seven tactical officers charged with extorting nearly $ 66,000 from undercover agents they thought were drug dealers.

Former Police Supt. Terry Hillard flirted with the idea of boosting the requirement to four years of college, but backed off after encountering resistance from African-American aldermen.

Hillard's successor, Phil Cline, took the opposite approach in the name of racial diversity. Instead of requiring two years of college or four years of military service, Cline suggested allowing a mix of military and college hours.

No changes were made by 2008, when Daley nudged Cline into retirement and replaced him with career FBI agent Jody Weis. to restore public trust in a Police Department shaken by allegations of brutality, barroom brawls and a scandal in the disbanded Special Operations Section.

In July, Daley vowed to hire 100 more police officers after a stunning outbreak of violence that saw three police officers gunned down in two months.

On Sept. 1, a new class of 120 recruits entered the police academy to start their six months of training, honoring the mayor's promise but depleting a 2006 hiring list.

The city had three options: scrap the police entrance exam altogether; hire an outside consultant to draft a new exam or take the testing process back in-house.

Instead of making Chicago the first major city with an application-only process, Daley chose to hold a new exam, but in a way that would speed the process because time is of the essence. The manpower shortage is getting worse with each wave of retirements.

When the new exam is administered, Beale is demanding that the test be graded on the spot so applicants know where they stand when they leave the testing site instead of waiting months for scores to be posted.

"If we streamline the process and administer a test very soon, we could get people in the academy in less than six months," Beale said.

In the meantime, the Far South Side alderman is urging Weis to reallocate precious police resources to high-crime wards like his own.

The embattled superintendent is doing some of that, but not enough, Beale said.

"We are in a war. If you go to war and only use half your troops, you're fighting a losing battle," he said.

"The City Council needs to support what he's trying to do instead of people screaming about needing more police presence to help people cross the street or write more citations."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2757062,CST-NWS-cops29web.article

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From the White House

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"Real Changes that Will Benefit Americans"

First Lady Michelle Obama held a conference call with nurses from across the country today to discuss the new Patient's Bill of Rights and other important benefits from the Affordable Care Act.  Joined by Dr. Mary Wakefield, Administrator for the Health Resources and Services Administration, and six nurses from a cross-section of practices and hometowns, the First Lady emphasized what the new reforms mean for nurses and their patients.

Last week, we hit the six-month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.  That means that we're starting to see more of the reforms take effect, including new protections and benefits in the Patient's Bill of Rights.

So for example, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against kids because they have a preexisting condition.  Patients can no longer be dropped by their insurance companies because they get sick.  People suffering from a serious illness like breast cancer can focus on their treatment because they no longer have to worry about hitting their lifetime limit on coverage.  And college kids and young adults just starting out on their own can now get coverage through their parents' plan.

Now, all this means that individuals and families have more control over their health care.  But here's the important point:  These reforms aren't abstract theories that just make for good talking points.  These are real changes that will benefit Americans all across the country.

Encouraging access to preventive care is an important part of the Affordable Care Act and the Let's Move! initiative, which is focused on ending the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.  As the First Lady discussed, preventing illness helps cut health care costs and keeps families healthy.

And some of the biggest new changes and benefits are the reforms that deal with preventative care, because we all know, everyone on this call, that the best way to keep families healthy and cut health care costs is to keep people from getting sick in the first place.

And, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, that's going to be easier because many preventative services are now covered at no out-of-pocket costs.  Things like mammograms, cervical screenings, colonoscopies, childhood immunizations, prenatal and new baby care, high blood pressure treatment, all of these are included in new insurance plans with no deductable, no co-pay, no coinsurance, nothing.  These steps are crucial because they can help combat preventable conditions that can have serious health consequences later in life.

Lastly, the First Lady recognized the significant impact nurses have had throughout the reform process and asked for their help in sharing information about the new law with their peers.

But in closing, just let me say this to all of you on this line.  So many of you have played such an important role throughout this process.  From the very beginning, it's been nurses who have sat at the table sharing your ideas, sharing your concerns and your experiences.  And as a result, all of you have helped to make this law even better.  So I want to thank you for that.  And we needed your help then and we need your help again to spread the word.

Listen to the conference call

Read the full remarks

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/28/real-changes-will-benefit-americans

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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DHS Works with Partners Across the Country and Around the World to Assess the Nation's Cyber Incident Response Capabilities

September 27, 2010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the beginning of Cyber Storm III—a three-day long, DHS-sponsored exercise that brings together a diverse cross-section of the nation's cyber incident responders to assess U.S. cyber response capabilities.

“Securing America's cyber infrastructure requires close coordination with our federal, state, international and private sector partners,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Exercises like Cyber Storm III allow us build upon the significant progress we've made in responding to evolving cyber threats.”

Cyber Storm III is an exercise scenario that simulates a large-scale cyber attack on critical infrastructure across the nation. The goal of the exercise is to examine and strengthen collective cyber preparedness and response capabilities, involving thousands of participants across government and industry.

As part of Cyber Storm III, DHS will exercise elements of the newly-developed National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP)—a blueprint for the Nation's cybersecurity incident response.

Cyber Storm III participants include:

• Administration-Wide—Seven Cabinet-level departments including Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation and Treasury, in addition to the White House and representatives from the intelligence and law enforcement communities.
  
  
• Eleven States—California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, as well as the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC).
  
  
• 12 International Partners—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
  
  
• 60 Private Sector Companies—DHS worked with representatives from the Banking and Finance, Chemical, Communications, Dams, Defense Industrial Base, Information Technology, Nuclear, Transportation, and Water Sectors, as well as the corresponding Sector Coordinating Councils and ISACs, to identify private sector participants.

Cyber Storm III also represents the first major exercise testing the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC)—which serves as the hub of national cybersecurity coordination and was established in October of 2009.

For more information on Cyber Storm III, please visit: www.dhs.gov/files/training/gc_1204738275985.shtm .

For more information on the progress DHS has made in strengthening cyber preparedness and response capabilities, please visit: www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/defending-against-cyber-attacks-september-2010.pdf (PDF, 4 pages - 35 KB) .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1285629130041.shtm

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From ICE

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2 CBP officers and TSA supervisor sentenced to prison in connection with drug importation scheme

MIAMI - Cindy Moran-Sanchez, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the Miami International Airport, was sentenced to prison on charges of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and heroin into the United States from the Dominican Republic following an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG).

On Sept. 21, U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn sentenced Moran, 32, to 14 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release and a $30,000 fine. Co-conspirators Elizabeth Moran-Toala, 39, a former CBP officer, and Jose Sanchez, 40, a former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) supervisor at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, have also been convicted and sentenced for their respective roles in the conspiracy. On June 25, 2009, Elizabeth Moran-Toala was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Jose Sanchez was sentenced on Oct. 1, 2009 to 11 years and three months in prison.

ICE Office of Professional Responsibility Special Agent in Charge David P. D'Amato stated, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility is dedicated to aggressively pursuing all allegations of corruption involving employees and civilians within our area of responsibility, especially in a border security environment. ICE OPR takes great pride in protecting the integrity of all ICE and CBP employees."

In May 2009, Cindy Moran-Sanchez, her husband Jose Sanchez, and her sister Elizabeth Moran-Toala, were charged in a superseding indictment for their participation in a conspiracy to import and distribute heroin and cocaine. Moran-Sanchez and Moran-Toala used their positions as CBP officers, and their access to government databases, to facilitate the entry of drug couriers traveling from the Dominican Republic to the United States carrying suitcases filled with either heroin or cocaine.

Jose Sanchez, in turn, used his position as a TSA supervisor to ensure that the couriers and their drug-laden suitcases, successfully made their way on board domestic flights bound from Fort Lauderdale to New York, where the drugs would be delivered to their ultimate purchasers.

In 2006, the defendants traveled to the Dominican Republic and formulated a plan with a prior drug associate of Moran-Sanchez to use their respective positions within DHS to facilitate the importation of cocaine and heroin into the United States, and thereafter, to points within the United States.

As part of this plan, the defendants agreed that the associate, who had previously been deported from the United States for a drug offense, would re-enter the United States using a false identity and that he would thereafter recruit couriers to travel to the Dominican Republic, retrieve the illegal narcotics and return with the narcotics to the United States.

Once the narcotics arrived in the United States, Elizabeth Moran-Toala and Jose Sanchez would use their positions and contacts at CBP to ensure, to the best of their ability, that the couriers and illegal narcotics passed through the customs enclosure at the Fort Lauderdale Airport without being detected by law enforcement agents and thereafter passed through TSA checkpoints to be placed on domestic commercial aircraft. The group agreed that the associate would pay the defendants a per kilogram fee for each kilogram of either cocaine or heroin which was imported successfully as part of this scheme.

In September 2006, the associate reentered the United States using a false identity. After reentering the United States, he and others recruited couriers, as planned, to travel to the Dominican Republic and return with narcotics. Through the assistance of the defendants, several couriers successfully entered the United States with cocaine and heroin, which was later flown on domestic flights to the New York-area. Five couriers were intercepted. These interdictions resulted in the seizure of approximately 30 kilograms of heroin and fifty kilograms of cocaine.

In January 2009, the defendants' drug associate was arrested. The defendants were arrested in February 2009 following an undercover investigation, during which they assisted an undercover officer in passing a suitcase filled with 10 kilograms of purported heroin through the TSA terminal checkpoint and loading that suitcase onto a US Airways flight. Federal agents arrested the defendants after they accepted $25,000 as a fee for their assistance.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100929miami.htm

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ICE and 16 law enforcement leaders announce new North Texas Trafficking Task Force

DALLAS - The local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - and leaders from 16 other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies - announced on Tuesday the new North Texas Trafficking Task Force (NTTTF).

The new collocated Task Force is designed to bring together the expertise, training, experience and law enforcement authorities of the partnered agencies to help identify human traffickers, and prosecute them while also protecting and aiding their victims.

In addition to ICE HSI, the following law enforcement agencies are members of this new Task Force: six Texas police departments from Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Plano and Garland; the Special Investigations Division of Child Protective Services, the Texas Attorney General's Office; District Attorneys' offices from Dallas and Tarrant counties, the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas. In addition, the following non-governmental organizations also work closely with the new Task Force: Mosaic, Safe Haven, Genesis Women's Shelter, and Catholic Charities.

"Our new collocated human trafficking task force allows our many members to collaborate most effectively to carry out our investigations," said John Chakwin, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Dallas. "There's no substitute for this face-to-face interaction while investigating secretive human traffickers, and aiding their traumatized victims." Chakwin oversees 128 counties in north Texas and the State of Oklahoma.

According to the U.S. Department of State, thousands of men, women and children are trafficked to the United States from all areas of the world for sexual and labor exploitation. Many of these victims are lured from their homes with false promises of well-paying jobs. Instead, they are forced or coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, farm or factory labor, or other types of forced labor.

Victims often find themselves in a foreign country and cannot speak the language. Traffickers often take away the victims' travel and identity documents, telling them that if they attempt to escape, the victims or their families back home will be harmed, or the victims' families will assume their smuggling debt. The partners in this new North Texas Trafficking Task Force work together to identify and rescue the victims, and investigate and prosecute these traffickers.

In addition to these local law enforcement task forces, ICE is also reaching out directly to the American public and soliciting their help in the agency's latest initiative in combating the crime of human trafficking.

As part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Blue Campaign" launched in July, ICE has continued its efforts to educate the public about the plight of human trafficking victims. ICE has designed and placed an anti-trafficking message in foreign language newspapers across the United States. These advertisements highlight some of the indicators of human trafficking and encourage the public to report suspected instances of trafficking.

"ICE asks that the public remain alert to potential victims. We recognize how powerful the media and advocates of all kind can be in helping us rescue these individuals," said ICE Director John Morton. "Through the 'Blue Campaign's' focus on prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership, we will work together to bring these human rights abuses to justice."

The cornerstone of the DHS Blue Campaign is to identify potential human trafficking victims, empower them to seek help, provide information and referrals, rescue them from their traffickers and connect them to services and support that are available to them. ICE is making every effort to prevent human trafficking in the United States by prosecuting the traffickers, and rescuing and protecting the victims. The greatest challenge facing law enforcement in the fight against human trafficking is victim identification. Therefore, it is key that the public be educated about trafficking to recognize and report the potential victims that live and work among us.

If anyone knows or suspects someone is being held against their will, ICE strongly urges them to contact the ICE tip line anonymously at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE . The public may also call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center's toll-free hotline at 1-888-373-7888 .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100928dallas.htm

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ICE arrests 78 convicted criminal aliens, fugitives and immigration violators throughout Colorado

DENVER - In the largest operation throughout Colorado this year, 78 convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators were arrested last week during a three-day targeted enforcement operation by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

During the operation, which ended Thursday evening, ICE officers located and arrested 64 aliens with prior criminal convictions, including five gang members. Some of the criminal aliens taken into custody had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes, such as homicide, selling illegal drugs, sexual crimes against children, resisting arrest and assault, vehicle theft, and drunken-driving convictions. In addition, 12 of the individuals ICE officers took into custody were immigration fugitives, aliens with outstanding orders of deportation who had failed to leave the country.

Nine of those arrested will be presented to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution for illegally re-entering the United States after they had been previously deported, which is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Arrests were made in the following Colorado cities: Aurora, Avon, Akron, Denver, Fruita, Sheridan, Glenwood Springs, Longmont, Greeley, Grand Junction, Clifton, Montrose, Northglenn, New Castle, Cortez, Lakewood, Sterling, Kiowa, Westminster, Fredrick, Edwards, Silverthorne, Platteville, Yuma, Thornton, Centennial, and Wamsutter, Wyo.

The following local law enforcement agencies also participated in this operation: U.S. Marshals Service, Denver Sheriff's Department Gang Task Force, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, Colorado State Probation and Parole, Colorado State Patrol, Fruita Police Department, Grand Junction Police Department, Mesa County Sheriff's Office, Eagle County Sheriff's Office, Summit County Sheriff's Office, Garfield County Sheriff's Office , Carbondale Police Department, New Castle Police Department, Montrose Police Department, Montrose County Sheriff's Office, Delta Police Department, and Delta County Sheriff's Office.

"The fugitive and criminal aliens we targeted and arrested in this operation help make our Colorado communities safer," said John Longshore, field office director for ICE ERO in Denver. "Arresting fugitives and criminal aliens remains an ICE priority."

Three criminal aliens arrested during this operation include:

• A native and citizen of Mexico was convicted of 1st Degree Reckless Manslaughter in the District Court, Denver County, Colo. The incident stemmed from a gang-related fight in which he shot the victim in the back; the victim died from the wound. The original charge was 1st Degree Murder and was reduced to 1st Degree Reckless Manslaughter. He was a juvenile at the time, but was convicted as an adult and sentenced to six years in prison. The sentence was suspended as a commitment to five years in the youth offender system.
  
  
• A known gang member of the "Family Mob-Orange County," and a native and citizen of Mexico, was convicted for Making a Terrorist Threat & Obstruction or Resisting Executive Officers in the Performance of their Duties in Orange County, Calif. He was deported in June 1999, March 2000, and again in August 2001.
  
  
• A national of Mexico, was arrested at his residence in Aurora, Colo. He was convicted in California for selling heroin and was sentenced to two years incarceration. He was deported in November 1999. In March 2007, he was convicted in the U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, for illegally re-entering the U.S. and was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison. He was again deported in May 2009. He is currently detained in ICE custody without bond pending deportation, and will be presented to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution.

The foreign nationals detained during the operation who are not being criminally prosecuted will be processed administratively for removal from the United States. Those who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining aliens are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near future.

Of those arrested, 73 were men and five were women; 63 are from Mexico, three are from El Salvador and three are from Honduras. One person was arrested from each of the following nine nations: Bulgaria, Colombia, Indonesia, Liberia, Mauritania, Poland, Senegal, Venezuela and United Kingdom.

Last week's special enforcement action was spearheaded by ICE's Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives - aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by the nation's immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams (FOTs) give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.

The officers who conducted week's operation received substantial assistance from ICE's Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOSC) located in Williston, Vt. The FOSC conducted exhaustive database checks on the targeted cases to help ensure the viability of the leads and accuracy of the criminal histories. The FOSC was established in 2006 to improve the integrity of the data available on at large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives nationwide. Since its inception, the FOSC has forwarded more than 550,000 case leads to ICE enforcement personnel in the field.

ICE's Fugitive Operations Program is just one facet of the Department of Homeland Security's broader strategy to heighten the federal government's effectiveness at identifying and removing dangerous criminal aliens from the United States. Other initiatives that figure prominently in this effort are the Criminal Alien Program, Secure Communities and the agency's partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies under 287(g).

Largely as a result of these initiatives, as of Sept. 7, ICE has removed a total of 176,736 criminal aliens from the United States, which is a record number.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100928denver.htm

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From the ATF

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International Firearms Traffickers Sought in ATF 's “Operation Castaway” ORLANDO, Fla. — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' ( ATF ) Tampa Field Division is seeking the public's assistance in locating two fugitives who are wanted for federal firearms trafficking violations. Both subjects are considered armed and dangerous and may have fled the country. ATF has obtained federal arrest warrants for Antonio Ruiz-Varela, ( DOB : 12/01/1987); and Manuel Dejesus Carrasco-Ruiz, ( DOB : 07/03/1969), both Hispanic males. Ruiz-Varela and Carrasco-Ruiz are wanted in connection with an investigation of a violent international firearms trafficking organization in central Florida. The organization trafficked a variety of firearms including semi-automatic handguns and AR-15 style short-barreled rifles. Several of the firearms have been found in the hands of violent criminal elements within Puerto Rico and throughout Central and South America. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Ruiz-Varela and Carrasco-Ruiz should contact ATF at 1-800- ATF -GUNS. For more information, read the USAO press release.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/09/092210-tam-firearms-traffickers-sought-in-operation-castaway.html

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ATF Announces 7 New Gunrunner Groups and Phoenix Gun Runner Impact Teams' Successes

PHOENIX — Deputy Director Kenneth E. Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) today announced the formation of seven new Project Gunrunner firearms trafficking groups during a news conference in which he and Dennis K. Burke, United States Attorney, District of Arizona, announced the results of ATF 's Gun Runner Impact Team ( GRIT ) initiative, a nearly 100-day deployment of ATF resources to the Phoenix Field Division to disrupt illegal firearms trafficking by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

As a result of the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security, ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner, ATF 's comprehensive firearms trafficking strategy to disrupt the illegal flow of firearms into Mexico. With this funding, ATF will establish and place firearms trafficking groups along traditional and newly-discovered firearms trafficking routes and hubs in Atlanta; Dallas; Brownsville, Texas; Las Vegas; Miami; Oklahoma City; and Sierra Vista, Ariz.

Lives are being lost to violent crime every day on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border, said Melson. Through Project Gunrunner and its GRIT initiative, ATF is shutting down the supply routes of firearms traffickers along the border and further inland.

The GRIT initiative brought more than 80 experienced ATF personnel from around the country to Arizona and New Mexico. GRIT special agents initiated 174 firearms trafficking-related criminal investigations and seized approximately 1,300 illegally-trafficked firearms and 71,000 rounds of ammunition, along with drugs and currency. ATF 's industry operations investigators conducted more than 800 federal firearms licensee compliance inspections.

We are fighting on a crucial front here today to reduce violence in our own communities, and to disrupt and dismantle the southbound supply of weapons to the cartels, said Burke. We will not be a gun locker for the cartels, who have made murder and mayhem their modus operandi. We will not tolerate violent criminals and others who illegally possess, purchase or sell firearms.

Burke announced that 96 defendants have been arrested, charged, convicted or sentenced since June 2010 on gun-related charges. The majority of defendants include violent felons, drug traffickers who use weapons, and those trafficking firearms to Mexico. Cases involved more than 370 guns — many of them AK-47 style rifles and other weapons of choice of drug cartels — and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition smuggled into or destined for Mexico. Some of the guns seized in the investigation, including a .50 caliber weapon, were recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.

Recent examples of firearms prosecutions in the District of Arizona:

In July and August, two leaders of a firearms trafficking conspiracy that supplied at least 112 firearms — mostly AK-47 style — to the Sinaloa Cartel, were sentenced. Alejandroi Medrano, 23, and Hernan Ramos, 22, both of Mesa, Ariz., were sentenced to 46 and 50 months in prison, respectively, for leading a conspiracy involving 10 defendants who straw purchased firearms from gun dealers in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., in order to supply them to a member of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Rambo.

On June 3, following an ATF investigation involving more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition, ATF agents arrested Emmanuel Casquez, Elias Vasquez, and Charice Gaeda for unlawfully exporting ammunition to Mexico. Agents had learned the three were purchasing vast quantities of ammunition and searched a vehicle headed for the border port at Nogales and recovered 9,500 rounds of ammunition; a search of a residence ensued and an additional 27,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered.

In July, a 20-count indictment announced charging 10 straw purchasers, recruited by then 17-year-old Francisco Ibarra, to buy at least 25 firearms. ATF believes the firearms were trafficked into Mexico.

For more information on ATF and Project Gunrunner, please go to the ATF website, www.atf.gov .

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/09/091710-atf-announces-seven-new-gunrunner-groups.html

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United States Attorney's Office, ATF , and ICE Announce Results of Major International Firearms Trafficking Investigation

Orlando, Florida — United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton, Virginia O'Brien, Special Agent in Charge of central and northern Florida Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) operations, and Susan McCormick, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ), Homeland Security Investigations, Tampa Field Office announce the initial results of Operation Castaway, an intensive and wideranging Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force ( OCDETF ) firearms trafficking investigation conducted by ATF , ICE , the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, and the Miami-Dade Police Department. ATF describes Operation Castaway as the most significant firearms trafficking investigation in Central Florida history.

According to court documents, a group of defendants connected to Hugh Crumpler, III, were involved in a major international gun trafficking operation. Crumpler has trafficked, for several years, more than 1000 firearms to various groups and defendants who have exported these weapons all over Central and South America and to Puerto Rico. The defendants trafficked in Glock semi-automatic handguns, Fabrique Nationale Herstal 5.7x28mm semi-automatic handguns ( FN pistols ), and AR-15 styled short-barreled rifles, among other firearms. The FN pistols in particular are weapons of choice for drug trafficking organizations and paramilitary groups. Easily concealed and capable of firing a rifle round of ammunition that can penetrate law enforcement body armor, the pistols are referred to by cartel members in Mexico, South America, Central America, and Puerto Rico as matapolicias or cop killers. AR-15-styled rifles are popular among the same criminal groups.

Firearms like those involved in this investigation are often smuggled through Honduras and other Central and South American countries before being used in violent crimes in Mexico and other countries in the region. A number of the firearms trafficked by the defendants in Operation Castaway have been linked to violent crimes around the world. Several firearms trafficked by Crumpler and Ramon Lopez, Jr. were used in crimes associated with the Torres Sabana Drug Trafficking Organization, a notorious and violent drug trafficking organization in Puerto Rico. Another firearm, a Glock pistol, was recovered in Medellin, Colombia, South America, after being used to commit a homicide. Yet another firearm was found in the possession of a hitman for Oficina de Envigado, an organization described by the Department of Treasury as a violent Medellin-based organized crime group that engages in large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering activities in Colombia.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell sentenced several of the Operation Castaway defendants. Hugh Crumpler, III (age 63, of Palm Bay) was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for dealing firearms without a license and unlawfully possessing short barreled rifles; Ramon Lopez, Jr. (age 29, of Kissimmee) was sentenced to 74 months in federal prison for dealing firearms without a license and unlawfully possessing short barreled rifles; Carlos Humberto Guillen-Rivera (age 29, of Honduras) was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess and illegally possessing short barreled rifles; Cesar Augusto Guillen-Rivera (age 31, of Honduras) was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess and illegally possessing short barreled rifles; Erlin Javier Guillen-Rivera (age 25, of Honduras) was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess and illegally possessing short barreled rifles; and Hector Saenz (age 38, of Honduras) was sentenced to 46 months for conspiracy.

Operation Castaway defendant Jesus Puentes pleaded guilty on August 31, 2010 to conspiring to possess and illegally possessing short barreled rifles and will be sentenced on November 18, 2010. Defendant Jorge Acosta has pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and illegally possessing short barreled rifles. Acosta will be sentenced at a future date.

Two additional defendants, Antonia Ruiz-Varela and Manuel Dejesus Carrasco-Ruiz, are still at large and have yet to be arrested by authorities. Any information about their whereabouts should be forwarded to ATF .

Eliminating this type of organization and taking its high-level weaponry off the streets will increase safety not only for our citizens but for people abroad. I commend the work of the federal agents in bringing this group down, as well as the contributions of our local partner agencies, said U.S. Attorney Albritton.

ATF investigates unlicensed firearm dealers across the country, this one unlicensed individual revealed a firearms trafficking ring so far reaching it funneled hundreds of firearms to criminal markets both domestic and international, said Virginia O'Brien, Special Agent in Charge of central and northern Florida ATF operations.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge in Tampa Susan McCormick said, Gun and drug trafficking fuels violence by criminal organizations and threatens the security of the people along our borders and throughout the country. ICE special agents will continue working jointly with our law enforcement partners to utilize our expertise in import and export enforcement in order to keep our citizens safe and secure.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Bishop Ravenel and E. Jackson Boggs. Operation Castaway remains an ongoing investigation.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/09/092110-tam-major-international-trafficking-investigation-results.html

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Denver Police Department, ATF , and Others Arrest Crip Gang Members and Associates for Drug or Gun Charges

DENVER — Early yesterday morning, officers with the Denver Police Department ( DPD ) and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ), along with officers from Aurora and Lakewood Police Departments, arrested 11 Crips gang members and associates, including a number of Tre Tre Crips, for federal drug or gun charges, Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman, ATF Special Agent in Charge Marvin Richardson, and U.S. Attorney John Walsh announced. Those defendants arrested yesterday are to appear in U.S. District Court in Denver at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, where they will be advised of the charges pending against them and the associated penalties.

Yesterday's arrests are the third phase of a year and a half long investigation called Operation Cripland. Phase three of the investigation, called Operation Patchwork was conducted by the ATF led Project Safe Neighborhoods ( PSN ) Task Force into drug dealing and gun crimes in northeast Denver. Nine defendants were arrested in phase one of the investigation on November 4, 2009. Eleven more were arrested in phase two of the investigation on June 24, 2010. During the course of phase three of the investigation agents and officers seized eight firearms, approximately 22 ounces of crack cocaine, and powder cocaine. In addition, agents and officers yesterday seized one firearm, approximately 12 ounces of crack cocaine, and drug paraphernalia.

Those charged include:

• David Blea, age 24, of Denver, charged with two counts of knowingly distributing and dispensing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine. Blea faces forfeiture of $3,300 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crimes. If convicted, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years' incarceration, and up to a $5,000,000 fine per count.
  
  
• Orlando Jackson, aka Lil Drama , age 20, of Denver, charged with two counts of knowingly distributing and dispensing 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. Jackson faces forfeiture of $3,300 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crimes. If convicted, the defendant faces not less than 10 years, and up to life in federal prison, and up to a $4,000,000 fine per count.
  
  
• Jason Lucero, age 28, of Denver, charged with one count of knowingly distributing and dispensing 5 grams or more of crack cocaine. Lucero faces forfeiture of $850 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crime. If convicted, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years imprisonment, and up to a $2,000,000 fine.
  
  
• Marlow Martin, aka Lil Ruff , age 23, of Denver, charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Martin faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
  
  
• Roger McLamb, aka C Rag , age 31, of Denver, charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, McLamb faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
  
  
• Brian Mosley, aka Ghost , age 23, of Denver, charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Mosley faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
  
  
• Gerald Sandoval, age 34, of Denver, charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Sandoval faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
  
  
• William Clark, aka Bird , age 23, of Denver, charged with two counts of knowingly distributing and dispensing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine. Clark faces forfeiture of $2,900 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crime. If convicted, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years imprisonment, and up to a $5,000,000 fine per count.
  
  
• Kelvin Clark, aka Gizmo and Rodney Louis Marshall , age 24, of Denver, charged with two counts of knowingly distributing and dispensing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine. Clark faces forfeiture of $2,900 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crime. If convicted, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years imprisonment, and up to a $5,000,000 fine per count.
  
  
• Adrien Ramsey, aka Stroke , age 24, of Denver, charged with one count of knowingly distributing and dispensing 50 grams or more of crack, four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition, two counts of knowingly distributing and dispensing less than 28 grams of crack cocaine, one count of knowingly distributing and dispensing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, and one count of knowingly distributing and dispensing less than 500 grams of powder cocaine. Ramsey faces forfeiture of $4,900 in proceeds from his drug trafficking crime. If convicted of distributing and dispensing 50 grams or more of crack, the defendant faces not less than 10 years, and up to life in prison, and up to a $4,000,000 fine. If convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition, the defendant faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine, per count. If convicted of distributing and dispensing less than 28 grams of crack cocaine, the defendant faces not more than 20 years imprisonment, and up to a $1,000,000 fine per count. If convicted of knowingly distributing and dispensing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine or less than 500 grams of powder cocaine, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 40 years imprisonment, and up to a $5,000,000 fine.

In addition, Makalani Jackson, aka Macaroni , age 23, Denver, was arrested on state charges perfected during this investigation.

I'm very pleased with the way the operation has gone thus far, said Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman. This is a clear example of the type of impact we can have on crime in our communities when local and federal law enforcement agencies work together.

The ATF will use all of its resources and investigative tools to disrupt and dismantle gangs, said Special Agent in Charge, Marvin Richardson. We will continue to provide valuable assistance to our law enforcement partners in their pursuit of combating gang violence in our communities.

Yesterday's arrests show the excellent partnership between the Denver Police Department and the ATF , said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. These two law enforcement agencies have joined forces to take gang crime head on, and to make the streets of Denver safer for everyone.

These cases were investigated by the ATF led PSN Task Force, including the Denver Police Department ( DPD ), the Aurora Police Department, and the Lakewood Police Department.

The defendants are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bergsieker, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Tonya Andrews assisting with the forfeiture.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/09/092110-denv-crip-gang-members-arrested-on-drugs-firearms.html

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