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From the Los Angeles Times

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Amid drug violence, Acapulco watches tourism recede

Although officials insist tourism remains robust in Acapulco, merchants say months of carnage have scared away visitors. The rising death toll has prompted many Mexicans to skip the resort.

by Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

January 14, 2011

Reporting from Acapulco

The black-and-white photos still hang in the faded Hotel Los Flamingos. Over there is the muscled star of "Tarzan," Johnny Weissmuller, who owned the hotel for a time during Acapulco's heyday. There's Maureen O'Sullivan. Tyrone Power. Errol Flynn. Fred MacMurray.

They all came, mixed booze in a coconut — called it a Coco Loco.

When mortals gazed at Acapulco, they saw romance itself smiling back. So they came too. As did a fortress of high-rise hotels that packed the beach and diminished the very thing everyone was chasing.

Now, just as it hopes to regain some of its cachet, Acapulco is confronting more than the weight of history. The famed resort city has been the scene of vicious fighting among rival drug gangs that has killed more than 650 people in four years, the fifth-highest count for any Mexican city, according to government figures. The toll includes 30 men slain last weekend in and around the city. Fifteen of them were decapitated.

Most of the killing takes place outside the main tourist zone — a winding stretch of hotels, discotheques, taco shops and convenience stores so densely packed it is sometimes impossible to see the bay that attracted them all.

There is a separate Acapulco, a dusty city of poverty, bad roads and few police that sprawls far across the hills embracing the resort city. It is there where the taxi drivers, waiters and chambermaids live. It is there that bodies are found, sometimes with hand-scrawled notes left by the killers, sometimes without heads, an unwelcome reminder of the drug wars raging across much of Mexico.

But the violence at times penetrates the unofficial border between the two parts of the city. Two police officers were slain last week on Miguel Aleman Boulevard, the city's main thoroughfare. Now, truckloads of Mexican troops are in town, and the sight of them is once again fanning worries of irreparable damage to Acapulco's image.

In September, 20 men from the neighboring state of Michoacan were kidnapped while searching for the hotel where they had reserved rooms. Eighteen of them were later found dead, apparently killed by henchmen of the Beltran Leyva drug gang who mistook them for hit men from a rival cartel, La Familia.

In June 2009, 16 gunmen and two Mexican soldiers died during a shootout after an army raid on a safe house at one end of the tourist zone.

In April of last year, a wild gunfight on Miguel Aleman left six people dead and sent bystanders screaming.

Souvenir vendor Sandra Luz Liborio watched that melee from her stall, which is piled with Mexican sombreros, Acapulco mugs and seashell trinkets. Then, two months ago, she said, another shooting forced her to run for cover again.

"I ran out back and put myself on the floor. That's what they say you should do during a shootout," Liborio said.

Liborio stays open until midnight but doesn't like it. Many residents no longer venture out after 10, she said, and lots of tourists are doing the same.

"It's out of control," Liborio said on a recent evening, at least seven hours since her last sale. "We had never seen anything like this, or even thought it possible."

Federal officials say more soldiers and police are coming. It would be an economic disaster for Mexico if the drug violence that has killed 34,000 people started spreading into tourist havens on a regular basis. Already, there has been some effect. Slumping popularity of Mexican cruises is prompting two of the largest ships sailing out of Los Angeles to head for busier ports in the Caribbean.

Although officials insist that tourism remains robust in Acapulco, merchants say the months of carnage have scared away visitors. Mexicans, especially from Mexico City, make up a big share of visitors, and the rising death toll has prompted many to scratch Acapulco from their list.

"It's very sad what is happening in Acapulco. The violence is unstoppable," said Laura Caballero, president of an association of 400 merchants. She said 16 businesses closed in December, which is normally a busy month.

This week, after thousands of Mexican visitors returned home following the Christmas school vacation, the beach zone was serene. Sunbathers were sparse and many of the restaurants and ice-cream stands were without customers.

As in many Mexican resort towns, the tourists' world rarely rubs elbows here with the real one. The hotels cocoon guests behind a bunker-like barrier along Acapulco Bay.

But the truckloads of soldiers rolling past a backdrop of shining surf and a beachside bungee-jumping tower provided a reminder of what lay beyond the high-rises and clubs with names like Euphoria and Extazyz.

Foreign tourists lured by cheap prices said they felt safe — but were taking care not to venture far.

Duncan Gosnell and Michael Brown booked their trip from Toronto just before news broke of last weekend's violence. "Both of us sat back in our chairs, thinking, 'Did we do the right thing?'" said Gosnell, a 52-year-old insurance executive.

Three days into the trip, they were pretty sure the answer was yes. Gosnell said he felt "very comfortable." The two were even planning their first night out.

"Seeing police officers with machine guns is a little unnerving," Gosnell said. "But I'm from Canada."

Not everyone was thrilled to be here.

Dennis Levin, a Seattle-area acupuncturist, was in town for a one-day layover during a bus trip that began in the southern state of Chiapas.

"When we started hearing about what was going on, we really tried to find a way around it altogether, but it was impractical," Levin said. "We lost a little sleep over the idea."

Humberto Lopez, a vendor whose sales are off by a third, said tourists had no reason to be afraid because the killing was among drug traffickers.

"It doesn't have anything to do with ordinary people," he said, standing in the entrance of an otherwise empty shop. "Nobody is going to come up and shoot you."

Adolfo Santiago, the manager of the Los Flamingos, said a sustained promotional campaign was needed to help Acapulco survive the ugliness.

"It has to remain alive, very alive," he said.

From a cliff, five young men kept up another Acapulco tradition, swan-diving into the surf, one after the other, from a heart-stopping height. As they bobbed to the surface, a small contingent of tourists was there to applaud.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-acapulco-violence-20110114,0,5598263,print.story

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Al Qaeda's tentacles

President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

by Bruce Riedel

January 14, 2011

Al Qaeda has just released the latest in its series of how-to guides for jihadists in the West who want to murder without the bother of flying to Pakistan to be trained. This time, the offering is an English-language manual explaining in detail how to build a bomb, and it demonstrates how nimbly Al Qaeda has adapted to become the world's first truly global terrorist organization, able to recruit and train fanatics on the Internet as well as on the ground.

Almost 10 years after the most devastating attack on the American homeland by a foreign power since the British army burned Washington in 1814, Al Qaeda remains alive and deadly. President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

Al Qaeda today has four faces. The first is familiar: the core group that includes Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. From its base in the badlands along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, this nucleus still provides strategic direction to both the group itself and to the worldwide jihadist community. The largest manhunt in human history, which has included a punishing drone offensive, has damaged Al Qaeda's core, but it has by no means destroyed it.

The second face of Al Qaeda is the syndicate of terror networks aligned (either openly or covertly) with the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban, responsible for the failed Times Square car bomb attack last May, is openly allied with Bin Laden. Lashkar-e-Taiba, which orchestrated the Mumbai attack two years ago, is more clandestinely allied with Al Qaeda, but the two organizations are known to have plotted together on a failed 2009 attack in Denmark. That same plot resurfaced this winter when the Danes arrested four well-armed terrorists aiming to attack a newspaper office on New Year's Day because it had published cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad.

The Afghan Taliban remains Al Qaeda's essential partner in Afghanistan. Although the Taliban often operates independently, it also coordinates joint actions with Al Qaeda, as in the deadly strike on a CIA base in Khowst on Dec. 31, 2009. That attack, which killed seven Americans, was a joint operation of Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban.

The third face of Al Qaeda can be seen in its regional franchises around the Islamic world. These include organizations in North Africa, Yemen and Indonesia. Al Qaeda in Yemen, widely viewed as the most dangerous of the group's regional operations, staged both an attempted Christmas 2008 airliner bombing and the foiled parcel bomb attacks aimed at Chicago in October. Across the Gulf of Aden, Al Qaeda's proteges in Somalia pose an increasing danger to other parts of Africa, as they demonstrated during the World Cup when they sent a suicide bomber to Uganda. Even the much-diminished Al Qaeda franchise in Iraq continues to strike periodically and has claimed credit for an attempted suicide bombing in Sweden last month.

In the meantime, Al Qaeda franchises have learned from the mistakes of their sister organizations and adapted. In Iraq, for example, Al Qaeda tried to take over the Sunni insurgency and was rebuffed. In Pakistan and Afghanistan today, it lets the local Talibans lead the war effort while it stays in the shadows.

Self-initiated jihadists without formal ties to terrorist groups are becoming a fourth face of Al Qaeda. The massacre at Ft. Hood, Texas, was the work of one such individual. Sometimes these self-starters get in touch with Al Qaeda, usually in Pakistan or Yemen, and offer themselves as potential bombers, receiving training from the group. This was the case with three Americans who were trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan to build bombs and planned to blow themselves up on the New York City subway system a few days after the anniversary of 9/11 in 2009, a plot that was disrupted by the FBI. But even when terrorists take on freelance missions, such as the one at Ft. Hood, they are often deeply influenced by the group's existence and its goal of global jihad.

The many tentacles of Al Qaeda are united by the group's narrative and ideology. First conceived by Bin Laden and a long-dead Palestinian partner named Abdallah Azzam during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the idea has always been for global jihad, a war against the United States and its allies to be waged across the planet to force America to get out of the Islamic world and abandon Israel.

Al Qaeda has been undeniably tenacious, but we should keep its successes in perspective. The organization is not Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Smart policies that isolate it from the majority of Muslims, along with continued attacks on its havens and its ideology, are likely to eventually bring about the group's demise.

Obama has embraced such an approach, attacking Al Qaeda's narrative and ideology. His speeches in Turkey and Egypt, his peace initiative with the Israelis and Palestinians, and his efforts to reach out to the great majority of Muslims who reject Al Qaeda have all been part of the effort. Indeed, only a very small minority of Muslims believes in global jihad today, but even a handful of determined suicidal murderers can change the fate of nations. We all learned that nine years ago.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0114-riedel-al-qaeda-20110114,0,3643445,print.story

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From the New York Times

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A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes

by ADAM NAGOURNEY and JENNIFER STEINHAUER

TUCSON — The National Rifle Association has gone uncommonly dark since the weekend shootings here. A posting on its Web site expresses sympathies for the victims of the violence, and N.R.A. officials said they would have nothing to say until the funerals and memorial services were over.

In Washington, bills were being drafted to step up background checks, create no-gun zones around members of Congress and ban the big-volume magazines that allowed the Tucson gunman to shoot so many bullets so fast. Gun control advocates say they believe the shock of the attack has altered the political atmosphere, in no small part because one of the victims is a member of Congress.

“I really do believe that this time it could be different,” said Paul Helmke, executive director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Yet gun rights advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said Thursday that there was little chance the attack would produce significant new legislation or a change in a national culture that has long been accepting of guns. If anything, they said, lawmakers are less receptive than ever to new gun restrictions.

If the politically sophisticated N.R.A. has struck a quiet pose, the Crossroads of the West gun show will go on as planned this weekend at the Pima County Fairgrounds, 13 miles from the shooting site; another gun show is scheduled for the next weekend. “We had no hesitation about going ahead with the show so soon after the incident,” said Lois Chedsey, secretary to the Arizona Arms Association, a show sponsor. “Gun sales have been up since last Saturday”

An even bigger event in Las Vegas, the Shot Show — which bills itself as the country's largest exhibition of guns and ammunition — is proceeding next week with a four-day run that fills two floors of convention space.

As an institution, Congress seems to celebrate gun ownership as much as many communities in Arizona, which may explain why efforts to enact gun control legislation have foundered. Many members of Congress own firearms, which they carry while riding around in farm trucks in their district or concealed behind a jacket in the streets, among constituents.

“I carry a gun because it is a personal preference and for my own personal safety,” said Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, one of several lawmakers who carry a concealed weapon in their districts. (His is a Glock 23.) “It's not for everybody. Not everyone should rush out because of what happened last week and start carrying, but I like it, and I do it.” Representative Gabrielle Giffords once said that she herself owned a Glock — the same firearm the man accused of shooting her is said to have used.

Democrats who favor more restrictive gun laws say they do not expect new legislation to be passed, especially now that Republicans control of the House and Democrats have lost seats in the Senate. “The Pledge to America is our plan,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the House speaker, John A. Boehner, “and our immediate focus is on addressing the top priorities of the American people, creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming the way Congress works.”

And Democrats are hardly uniform in supporting tough gun laws as a matter of policy; as a matter of politics, Democrats in Congress have increasingly shied away from the issue.

Gun control advocates said that they hoped the circumstances of this attack — including the facts that the suspect obtained his weapon legally and that one of the victims was a member of Congress — would help their cause.

Josh Horowitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said, “People have really had it, and this whole magazine clip issue, and the mental health issue, is something that people can get their heads around.”

But lawmakers seeking even modest limits on gun rights seem almost resigned to failure. Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said in a telephone interview that since he proposed a bill this week that would outlaw having a firearm within 1,000 feet of a member of Congress, his office had received “100 calls an hour from people who think I am trying to take away their Second Amendment rights.”

“This kind of legislation is very difficult,” Mr. King said, noting there had been “no enthusiasm,” even among Democrats, for the renewal of the assault weapon ban of 1994 in 2004. “The fact is Congress has not done any gun legislation in years,” he said, adding, “Once you get out of the Northeast, guns are a part of daily life.”

Representative Carolyn McCarthy, Democrat of New York, who was elected in 1996 largely on a gun control platform after her husband was killed and son injured by a gunman on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993, is careful with her language in describing her new bill, which would ban large-capacity ammunition magazines.

“This is not a gun control bill,” she said. “I like to use the word ‘gun safety bills.' And this one just addresses the narrow issue of these clips.” Ms. McCarthy said she would try to appeal to members of the Senate and President Obama to push her legislation forward. “Listen, any kind of bill the N.R.A. is against is always a problem.”

Asked about prospects for new gun restrictions, Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, asserted, “I maintain that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens makes communities safer, not less safe.”

The N.R.A. has kept such a low profile that its normally accessible executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, declined to comment. “At this time, anything other than prayers for the victims and their families would be inappropriate,” said Andrew Arulanandam, the director of public affairs. But gun advocates said the fact that the group was holding back reflected a calculation that the prospects of gun control legislation passing in Congress have not changed much.

But if the N.R.A. has kept a strategically low profile, other gun advocates have not. They said they were confident that as always happens, passions would subside and their argument — that Americans have a constitutional right to own guns — would carry the day.

Erich Pratt, the director of communications for Gun Owners of America, said his organization and others were girding for at least a skirmish in Congress. “But I think after the November election it's going to be very tough for Carolyn McCarthy and even the Peter Kings,” he said “Why should the government be in the business of telling us how we can defend ourselves?”

Mr. Pratt added: “These politicians need to remember that these rights aren't given to us by them. They come from God. They are God-given rights. They can't be infringed or limited in any way. What are they going to do: limit it two or three rounds. Having lots of ammunition is critical, especially if the police are not around and you need to be able to defend yourself against mobs.”

Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation, said the gun control lobby was trying to exploit the shootings. “The average gun owner,” he said, “is saying: ‘I didn't fire any shots in Tucson. I just want to go hunting, or protect my family, and this is just going to create more paperwork and more headaches for me.' ”

Last weekend's attack is unlikely to change the habits of members of Congress who carry guns. In fact, some said that an armed civilian might have stopped the carnage in Tucson.

Representative Tom Graves, a Republican, “is a firm believer in Second Amendment rights, owns firearms and has a concealed weapon permit in Georgia,” said his spokesman, John Donnelly, “and he has no plans to change his normal routine other than to focus his prayers on the victims of the tragic attack in Tucson.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/us/14guns.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Broad Racial Disparities Seen in Americans' Ills

White people in the United States die of drug overdoses more often than other ethnic groups. Black people are hit proportionately harder by AIDS, strokes and heart disease. And American Indians are more likely to die in car crashes.

To shed more light on the ills of America's poor — and occasionally its rich — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released its first report detailing racial disparities in a broad array of health problems.

While some are well known, others have had little attention; there were also a few surprises.

The agency did not delve into why suffering is so disproportionate, other than to note the obvious: that the poor, the uninsured and the less educated tend to live shorter, sicker lives. (Some illnesses were also broken down by income level, region, age or sex, but the main focus was on racial differences.)

“Some of the figures, like the suicide rate for young American Indians, are just heartbreaking,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C. director, who ordered the report compiled.

He acted, he said, after promising at his agency's African American History Month celebration last February that he would do so.

“We wanted to shine a spotlight on the problem and some potential solutions,” he said.

Many of the differences are large and striking:

Dr. Frieden said the purpose of the report was not to nudge the White House or Congress to take any particular action. But said that two relatively new laws had greatly improved the nation's health and narrowed the racial gaps.

One was the 1994 Vaccines for Children program, which pays for poor children's immunizations. The second was the earned-income tax credit, which motivates poor people to find jobs. It was first passed by Congress in 1975 but was strengthened several times, and some states and cities have created their own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/health/14cdc.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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15-Year Sentence for Conspirator in Airport Plot

A Guyanese man who admitted that he had taken part in a plot to detonate fuel tanks at Kennedy International Airport was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

“You are a dangerous person,” Judge Dora L. Irizarry of Federal District Court in Brooklyn said as she handed down the maximum penalty to the man, Abdel Nur, 60. Mr. Nur pleaded guilty last year to a single count of providing material support for terrorism.

Mr. Nur, who has said his real name is Compton Eversley, was one of four men accused of plotting to blow up the tanks in what federal authorities said was a plan to cause a chain reaction along a pipeline that would damage vast areas of New York City.

Crucial evidence came from a convicted drug dealer and paid informer who contributed financial and logistical support to the plotters and secretly recorded their conversations.

Two of the conspirators, Russell M. Defreitas, a Guyanese immigrant and former cargo handler at the airport, and Abdul Kadir, a former member of the Guyanese Parliament, were convicted in August of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism.

Mr. Kadir was sentenced to life in prison in December. Mr. Defreitas is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

A fourth defendant, Kareem Ibrahim, is awaiting trial.

Mr. Nur was accused by federal prosecutors of advancing the plot by trying to find Adnan Gulshair el-Shukrijumah, an operative and explosives expert for Al Qaeda, and by seeking the help of Yasin Abu Bakr, a leader of a hard-line Islamist group, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, which had tried to overthrow the government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1990.

Mr. Nur's lawyer Daniel Nobel told the judge that his client had never been a committed member of the conspiracy.

“Mr. Nur was never a driving or a guiding force in the plot,” he wrote in a presentencing memorandum. “Nur was a mostly lackadaisical participant who provided minimal and ineffectual material assistance.”

But federal prosecutors wrote in their own memorandum that Mr. Nur had played “a substantial role” in the plot and “committed a deeply significant crime.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/nyregion/14plot.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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Sympathizers line Shannon Road, ready to block hate group

'Angels,' bikers help protect girl's funeral

Mourners at the funeral of Christina-Taylor Green were greeted by more than a thousand sympathizers who lined North Shannon Road for a quarter-mile south of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.

Many wore white, and many had responded to an Internet call to counter the possible appearance of an out-of-state hate group.

They arrived on nearly 200 motorcycles, on foot and on shuttle buses from area parking lots, some prompted into action by the anticipated presence of a group from Kansas that protests funerals of veterans and gay people. The group ended up not showing.

Many of the sympathizers who showed up wore white and stood quietly on either side of Shannon Road. Among them were 18 "angels" with giant wings made from plastic pipe and bedsheets, who stood side by side in silence less than a block from the church for an hour and a half.

Behind them, graffiti on a subdivision's block wall read: "Christina" and "Stop the Hate."

In the church parking lot, several firefighters and soldiers stood between two fire-ladder trucks, to hoist the 9/11 Flag at the church. The flag weighs 45 pounds.

The "New York Says Thank You Foundation" flew the flag to Tucson Wednesday to honor Christina-Taylor, 9, who was among six killed in Saturday's shooting at a northwest-side Safeway. She was born on Sept. 11, 2001.

The flag was flying at 90 West Street in New York when the twin towers went down. It is the same tattered flag seen in the iconic photo of ground zero.

Pieces of retired flags from all 50 states have been used to repair the flag, which is on tour this year until the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The flag was to be flown to Atlanta Thursday, so it will not be in Tucson today for the funeral of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, at the same northwest-side church.

On Thursday, families holding hands, cowboy types in boots and hats, bikers in Hells Angels and Huns jackets, teens, seniors and others were there - most for the same reason: to support the Green family.

"She was such a shining little star," Tucsonan Jean Semington said of Christina-Taylor. "It's tragic. . . . I've lost a son. I know a little of the pain."

Ten-year-old Lindsey Lummus wore white angel wings and a halo as she stood beside the street with her family.

"I came to support them," said Lindsey, a fifth-grader at Quail Run Elementary School.

Jeanne Davis traveled from Scottsdale and carried a large sign reading: "Our thoughts & prayers are with the Green family."

"This was such a big negative experience for Arizona," Davis said. "We've got to stand together now."

Casey Trapp and Katie Maine held white roses they said were distributed by an "unknown gentleman."

"We wanted to be here," Maine said. "There's power in these numbers."

Dennis Bennett journeyed from Phoenix with 55 fellow members of the Phoenix Motorcycle Riders Group.

"We just want to show our support," Bennett said. "And if dummies show up, we want to stand in front of them."

Angel Project organizer Wayne Belger said the Angels are trained to resist provocation by the hate group. Some are veterans of non-violent protest, and all were trained for this deployment in a role-playing session Wednesday night. The Angels surround the hate group with their wings so that funeral-goers do not have to see the signs being carried - usually stating that the deaths are God's punishment for homosexuality.

One of the angels, Ralph Alter, said: "I had to do something, and this seemed like a good way to take positive action."

Alter, who said he has a transgender son and many gay friends, said it was also "something I can do for them, too."

Another Angel organizer, Christin Gilmer, was dressed in white but did not don angel wings. The group discourages people with personal connections to a funeral from doing so, she said.

"I knew Gabe (Zimmerman, a victim). We were very involved in similar causes."

Gilmer also worked on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' campaigns and knew shooting victim Dorwan Stoddard through volunteer activities. "He was very sweet," she said.

After the funeral began, the 18 angels turned and walked north, wings outstretched, along a dirt path next to the road.

They were headed to a nearby home where a resident told them they could store their wings until today's funeral at the same church for Judge Roll.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_f6572541-3612-5abf-9bf5-8535641529be.html

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From the White House

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An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson

Dear parents,

Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend.  Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy.

As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard.  It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones.  It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter.  And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in – and the world in which our children will grow up.

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well.  The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have – and they don't lend themselves to easy answers.  But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons – about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis.  And we can help them do that in their own small way – whether it's by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We can teach them the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us.  We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree. 

We can also teach our children about the tremendous sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country and by their families.  We can explain to them that although we might not always agree with those who represent us, anyone who enters public life does so because they love their country and want to serve it. 

Christina Green felt that call.  She was just nine years old when she lost her life.  But she was at that store that day because she was passionate about serving others.  She had just been elected to her school's student council, and she wanted to meet her Congresswoman and learn more about politics and public life.

And that's something else we can do for our children – we can tell them about Christina and about how much she wanted to give back.  We can tell them about John Roll, a judge with a reputation for fairness; about Dorothy Morris, a devoted wife to her husband, her high school sweetheart, to whom she'd been married for 55 years; about Phyllis Schneck, a great-grandmother who sewed aprons for church fundraisers; about Dorwan Stoddard, a retired construction worker who helped neighbors down on their luck; and about Gabe Zimmerman, who did community outreach for Congresswoman Giffords, working tirelessly to help folks who were struggling, and was engaged to be married next year.  We can tell them about the brave men and women who risked their lives that day to save others.  And we can work together to honor their legacy by following their example – by embracing our fellow citizens; by standing up for what we believe is right; and by doing our part, however we can, to serve our communities and our country. 

Sincerely,

Michelle Obama

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/01/13/open-letter-parents-following-tragedy-tucson

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From ICE

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California man pleads guilty to attempting to export military items to Iran

WILMINGTON, Del. - Marc Knapp, 35, of Simi Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty today to engaging in a seven-month course of criminal conduct involving illegal exports to Hungary and attempted exports to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia. This guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The announcement was made by Charles M. Oberly, III, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware; John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Philadelphia; and Edward T. Bradley, special agent in charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office.

"HSI will continue to pursue those who are willing to put America's national security at risk" said Special Agent in Charge Kelleghan. "The export of technology to Iran is controlled so that it cannot be used to harm America or its allies. Enforcing export laws are one of HSI's top priorities and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that those who send prohibited items to Iran are brought to justice."

The information charges Knapp with one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Title 50, United States Code, Sections 1702 and 1705(c), and Executive Order 13222, and Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 560.204-560.205, and one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, Title 22, United States Code, Sections 2778(b)(2) and 2778(c), and Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 121.1, 123.1, and 127.1. Knapp faces a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years' incarceration, followed by three years supervised release, a $2,000,000 fine, forfeiture, and a $200 mandatory special assessment.

The information charges that Knapp engaged in a seven-month course of criminal conduct involving illegal exports to Hungary and attempted exports to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia. As set forth in the Information, as well as affidavits accompanying a Criminal Complaint and various search warrants, Knapp's conduct involved the illegal export and attempted export of the following United States defense articles:

• an F-5B Tiger II fighter jet;
• five (5) CSU-13 Anti-Gravity (Anti-G) Flight Suits, which are worn by pilots to counteract the forces of gravity and acceleration;
• one F-14 NATOPS emergency procedures manual, which is designed for use by pilots during in-flight emergencies in F-14A & B (Tomcat), F-5 (Tiger II) and F-4B (Phantom) fighter jets;
• three (3) electronic versions of the NATOPS emergency procedures manual;
• four (4) AN/PRC-149 Survival radios, which are hand-held search and rescue radios used primarily by U.S. Navy pilots as an emergency locator beacon; and
• two (2) F-14 (GRU-7A) Ejection Seats.

According to documents that have been unsealed and information placed in the court record, a cooperating defendant introduced Knapp to an undercover HSI special agent ("UC"). Between December 2009 and July 2010, the UC met with Knapp on several occasions, at locations in California, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Budapest, Hungary. During the meetings, Knapp informed the UC that he had various defense items for sale. He also admitted to procuring an F-14 (GRU-7A Ejection Seat), which was sold to the UC by the cooperating defendant. Over the course of their interaction, Knapp provided the UC with various lists containing items for sale, and he sent photographs and descriptions to the UC via email.

On two occasions, Knapp exported items outside the United States. On Feb. 22, 2010, Knapp exported two (2) CSU-13Anti-Gravity flight suits and a NATOPS emergency procedures manual to an address in Hungary; and on May 13, 2010, Knapp exported an additional three CSU- 13 Anti-Gravity flight suits to an address in Hungary. On a third occasion, Knapp sold the UC an F-14 (GRU-7A) ejection seat. On March 17, 2010, Knapp delivered the seat to a shipping company located in California. Knapp identified the item to the shipping company as a "museum display chair," and he provided the shipping company with a consignee's address in Denmark from which it was to be transshipped to Iran. After Knapp left the shipping company, HSI agents seized the ejection seat prior to its export outside the United States.

Knapp first broached the idea of obtaining an F-5 fighter jet from a source in California to sell to the UC in January 2010. Knapp told the UC that the "Iranians" might be interested in various items, including the F-5 fighter jet, and stated that he was not concerned whether the jet or the other items ended up in Iran. Knapp stated on January 4, 2010: "We're essentially ... for lack of a better term, ... leveling the playing field...."

Knapp also asked the UC whether he had customers in China or Russia who would be interested in pilot emergency radios for use in locating downed pilots. Knapp explained that the customers would be able to "just listen in" to locate the downed pilot, and would therefore be interested in reverse-engineering the radios.

During a Jan. 13, 2010 meeting in California, Knapp took the UC to an airport to inspect the aircraft. Over the course of the next several months, the UC and Knapp had multiple conversations regarding transporting the aircraft from California to a freight forwarder in Delaware; determining appropriate transshipment points to Iran; and devising a payment scheme. They also arranged to meet in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the purchase.

On Apr. 29-30, 2010, the UC and another undercover law enforcement officer posing as an Iranian intermediary, met with Knapp in Budapest. During the meetings, Knapp explained that he would have a contact fly the F-5 from California to the East Coast, where it would subsequently be crated and shipped to Hungary for transshipment to Iran. Knapp said that the F-5 would be flown cross country using "uncontrolled" airports. Knapp also displayed additional photographs of the F-5 on his laptop computer. Knapp also discussed making payment for the F-5 into a "trust" and setting up documents to make the payment look like a "gift" or a "loan". Knapp also stated: "...[A]s more and more time goes on, I'm starting to hate the U.S. more and more...."

On July 9, 2010, Knapp sent a contract for the F-5 fighter jet to the UC via the United States mail. The body of the contract (entitled "Contract for acquisition and transport of F-5B from CA to DE") set forth in detail the purchase price and terms for the sale of the aircraft. The contract further set forth the timing (approximately four weeks) for flying the F-5 to Delaware after the UC transferred $3.25 million into a bank account specified by Knapp. In addition, the contract provided terms for insurance, registration, and operational costs of flying the aircraft from California to Delaware. Knapp further noted that his requested commission would be $500,000, "with 50% paid on the date of arrival and landing of the aircraft at the DE (New Castle) or other agreed on airport, and 50% paid at the time of arrival at destination."

On July 20, 2010, Knapp met with the UC at a location in Wilmington, Delaware. Knapp brought to the meeting various defense items, including the four AN/PRC-149 handheld search and rescue radios, which the UC agreed to purchase for $11,000. The UC told Knapp the customer was Russian, to which Knapp replied: "Awesome." Knapp amplified: "Whoever your customer is, I'm happy with."

Knapp stated that he was going to open an offshore bank account for the proceeds of the F-5 sale. Knapp and the UC discussed the logistics of flying the F-5 fighter jet from California to Delaware, and preparing the jet for transshipment to Iran. UC told Knapp that the Iranians expected Knapp to make a personal guarantee that the aircraft would arrive in Iran and that it would be operational. Knapp explained that the Iranians would know that it was in working order based upon his transport of the plane from California to Delaware. He further stated that what the Iranians had already seen in photographs was what they would get. According to Knapp, the only thing he would not be able to test was the weapons systems. The UC asked whether he could tell the Iranians that Marc Knapp personally guaranteed the aircraft, to which Knapp replied that he could. The parties then signed the contract.

Knapp was provided with a power of attorney form for use in exporting the F-5. He stated that he would use a false name and said that he would describe the item to be shipped as a "Museum Display Shell."

Following the meeting, ICE HSI and DCIS agents placed defendant under arrest.

"This case demonstrates the threat to our national security posed by those, like Knapp, who are willing to trade with Iran and attempt to provide that nation with American goods and technology, particularly military components," said U.S. Attorney Oberly. "I applaud our law enforcement partners for their exceptional dedication in pursuing this major investigation.

"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service remains vigilant for offenders both within and outside our borders who intend to harm our nation's security," said Special Agent in Charge Bradley. "The unlawful sale of sensitive Defense technology increases hostile nations' ability to injure U.S. military forces. Our mission of protecting America's Warfighters remains paramount and is substantially furthered by these cooperative, priority investigations."

This case is being prosecuted by David L. Hall and Robert F. Kravetz, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110113wilmington2.htm

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ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents seize 15 AK 47s

HIDALGO, Texas - Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) on Tuesday seized 15 AK 47 assault type rifles that were discovered hidden inside a pickup truck.

Federal agents received a call from Hidalgo Police Department after officers conducted a traffic stop on the city's east side on highway 281. During the officer's routine inspection of the vehicle, they identified suspicious activity. ICE HSI agents arrived at the scene of the traffic stop and took the vehicle to the Hidalgo Port of Entry where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted an intensive examination of the vehicle. It was during the examination that officers discovered the rifles hidden inside the fuel tank of the pickup truck.

"Weapons trafficking fuels violence by criminal organizations and threatens the security of communities along our borders and throughout the country," said Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in San Antonio. "This case is an example of the important work we do in conjunction with our law enforcement partners."

On Wednesday afternoon, the driver and the passenger, Antonio Ibarra, 41, and Edwardo Ibarra, 37, respectively, were arrested on state charges for firearms smuggling.

ICE HSI special agents routinely work closely with our law enforcement partners to share our expertise in import and export enforcement to keep our citizens safe and secure.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110113harlingen.htm

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Officials announce the distribution of more than $2.3 million to state and local law enforcement in New York

ALBANY, N.Y. — Officials today announced the distribution to state and local law enforcement agencies of over $2.3 million forfeited by IFCO Systems North America. The money is the result of a settlement of IFCO's corporate criminal liability for conduct associated with the hiring and employment of illegal alien workers at its pallet plants prior to April 19, 2006. The forfeiture resulted from an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney for the District of New York Richard S. Hartunian and Special Agent in Charge of ICE HSI in Buffalo, Lev J. Kubiak.

At a ceremony today in Albany, $2,207,520 was presented to the New York State Police, $61,320 was presented to the Albany County District Attorney and $61,320 was presented to the Guilderland Police Department.

"As demonstrated by today's return of $2.3 million, state and local support of federal investigations is essential to the HSI mission," said Special Agent in Charge Kubiak. "Asset forfeiture has proven to be an invaluable tool in combating criminal activity that threatens the safety and security of all New Yorkers. HSI will use all of its unique investigative resources to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations that are only motivated by greed as in this case. Those employers who knowingly hire and profit from hiring illegal labor are on notice that ICE considers their business records as important as their tax records."

"These payments were made possible by the hard work and perseverance of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors, and recognize the collaborative efforts of the New York State Police, the Guilderland Police Department, and the Albany County District Attorney," said U.S. Attorney Hartunian. "The record monetary settlement in this case demonstrates how effective asset forfeiture can be to address the hiring and employment of illegal alien workers for commercial advantage — affording deterrence and punishment for serious immigration and employment violations while allowing IFCO to continue operations so its lawful employees and innocent shareholders do not suffer the consequences of a business failure."

The money presented is a portion of the first installment of the payments by IFCO pursuant to the settlement agreement. In December 2008, IFCO agreed to pay a total of $20,697,317.51, comprised of $18,132,000 in forfeiture to be deposited into the Department of Treasury Forfeiture Fund and $2,565,317.51 in overtime compensation and civil penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division, for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The forfeiture money is being paid in three installments; this distribution comes from the initial payment by IFCO of $6,132,000. An additional $6 million was just received, and another $6 million is due at the beginning of 2012. IFCO has also paid the $2,565,317.51 to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The IFCO settlement agreement concerned only the liability of the corporation and did not address criminal charges against individual employees. The government's investigation documented that several IFCO managers and employees harbored and transported illegal aliens, and encouraged and induced them to remain in the United States as pallet workers. An analysis of the payroll information IFCO submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the hiring patterns and practices at IFCO, suggested that during the time period from 2003 through April 2006, as many as 6,000 illegal aliens worked at IFCO pallet plants. IFCO received repeated notice from the SSA and others, dating back to at least the year 2000, of the irregularities in the social security numbers used for employment purposes by many of its pallet workers. IFCO, its managers and employees, failed to take significant measures to verify the social security numbers of these workers, and in 2004 and 2005 failed to make any effort to address the use of invalid social security numbers by numerous pallet employees. Investigative entities further concluded that, at 30 of IFCO's pallet plants, back wages were due, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to piece-wage pallet workers — the vast majority of whom were illegal aliens.

Under the settlement agreement, IFCO acknowledged and accepted responsibility for the unlawful conduct of its managers and employees, as described in the agreement. The company further agreed to cooperate fully and actively with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the government entities involved in the investigation, as it had done since the date of the work site enforcement action. The agreement further included a precedent-setting compliance and reporting program, designed to prevent the employment of illegal aliens at IFCO plants in the future. The company agreed to take remedial actions in hiring, such as use of DHS's E-Verify program for all new hires, and to verify the social security numbers of all IFCO employees through SSA. IFCO is also required to maintain an employee hotline to receive reports of any suspected violation of law at the company. The agreement runs through the year 2012, at which time, if the company has been in full compliance with all of the agreement's terms and conditions, the United States Attorney's Office will not seek to prosecute the company for any criminal charges related to the conduct of its employees prior to April 2006. IFCO has complied with the agreement to date.

The forfeiture resulted from an extensive investigation by ICE HSI, the IRS, the Office of the Inspector General for the SSA, the U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division, the New York State Police, and the Guilderland Police Department, assisted by the Albany County District Attorney's Office and working with the U.S. Attorney's Offices in the Northern District of New York and the Southern District of Texas.

The investigation originated at the IFCO pallet plant in Albany following a tip to ICE in February 2005 that illegal alien laborers at the Albany IFCO plant were observed ripping up their W-2 forms. On April 19, 2006, federal and local law enforcement agencies conducted a work site enforcement action at over 40 of the company's pallet plants in 26 states, and found and detained 1,181 workers who were in the United States illegally and unauthorized to work in the United States. Eleven defendants have pled guilty to federal offenses in the Northern District of New York, and 5 defendants are pending trial in the Southern District of Texas.

Five defendants pled guilty on Feb. 27, 2007, as follows:

1) James Rice, IFCO New Market Development Manager, pled guilty to conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens for commercial and private financial gain (a felony);

2) Robert Belvin, General Manager of the Albany pallet plant, pled guilty to conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain and conspiracy to possess five or more identification documents with the intent to use them unlawfully (both felonies);

3) Dario Salzano, an Assistant General Manager of the Albany plant, pled guilty to unlawful employment of illegal aliens (a misdemeanor);

4) Michael Ames, General Manager of the Westborough, Massachusetts pallet plant, pled guilty to unlawful employment of illegal aliens (a misdemeanor); and

5) Scott Dodge, an Assistant General Manager of the Albany plant, pled guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully employ illegal aliens (a misdemeanor).

• On March 28, 2007, Craig Losurdo, an Assistant General Manager of the Albany plant, pled guilty to unlawful employment of illegal aliens (a misdemeanor).
• On July 16, 2007, Abelino Chicas, a Plant Foreman/Systems Manager in Houston, Texas, pled guilty to aiding and abetting the harboring and transportation of illegal (a felony).
• On Oct. 14, 2008, IFCO New Market Development Manager Bryan Bailey pled guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully employ illegal aliens (a misdemeanor).
• On Oct. 21, 2008, IFCO New Market Development Manager Steven Means pled guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully employ illegal aliens (a misdemeanor).
• On Feb. 10, 2010, IFCO New Market Development Manager William Hoskins pled guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and encourage and induce illegal aliens to reside in the United States (a felony).
• On March 11, 2010, Tomas Soto Castillo, a foreman at the IFCO pallet plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, pled guilty to conspiracy to hire at least 10 illegal aliens in a year (a felony).

All eleven defendants who have pled guilty are awaiting sentencing before Senior U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn in Albany.

Five additional defendants were charged by indictment in the Northern District of New York: Charles Davidson, 47, of San Antonio, Texas, then Director of New Market Development for IFCO; Christopher Tiesman, 41, of Spring, Texas, IFCO's Vice President for Finance and Accounting; Kenneth Gines, Jr., 52, of Spring, Texas, Controller for IFCO's Pallet Services Division; Haskell "Buddy" Ross, 43, of Lakeland, Fla., IFCO's Vice President for Human Resources; and Wendy Mudra, 35, an IFCO Human Resources Manager in Tampa, Fla. Trial was scheduled to being in April 2010. However, on April 1, 2010, Judge Kahn granted a motion by defendants to change the venue of the case to the Southern District of Texas.

On May 24, 2010, a federal grand jury in Houston returned a two-count indictment naming the five defendants. The indictment contains mere accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Count One charges the five named defendants with conspiring, between at least 2003 and April 2006, to harbor illegal aliens employed by IFCO and to encourage and induce those aliens to reside in the United States. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Count Two charges Tiesman, Gines, Ross and Mudra with a related conspiracy to defraud the IRS and the SSA by submitting false payroll-related information to those agencies and to facilitate the misuse of Social Security numbers by IFCO employees. Count Two carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. All five defendants have pled not guilty to the charges and have been released on bond pending trial in Houston before United States District Judge Gray Miller, presently scheduled to begin May 9, 2011.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tina E. Sciocchetti and Sara M. Lord of the Northern District of New York and David Searle of the Southern District of Texas.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110113albany.htm

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Air Force sergeant sentenced to 72 months in prison for receipt of child pornography

WILMINGTON, Del. - Jamie Hall, 37, a tech sergeant stationed at Dover Air Force Base, was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for receipt of child pornography, in violation of federal law. Hall also was sentenced to 5 years of supervised release, which will commence following his prison term. He also will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school. This prison sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

"The defendant was bartering images of children being sexually abused with like-minded criminals on the Internet," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Philadelphia. "People who trade these images are victimizing these children each time they share a photo or video and creating demand for more images of children being abused. Homeland Security Investigations is committed to breaking that vicious cycle, protecting children, and bringing those who abuse children to justice."

According to statements made at today's hearing and documents filed in court, Hall came to the attention of ICE HSI and the Delaware State Police in February 2010, after he engaged in online conversations with a New Hampshire detective who was posing as an 18-year-old male interested in trading child pornography.

Hall sent numerous images of child pornography to the undercover agent and posted additional images to a publicly available website. In online chats with the undercover agent, Hall also expressed interest in identifying a young teenage boy with whom he could engage in a sexual relationship.

At today's sentencing hearing, Hall's defense attorney argued that Hall downloaded and viewed child pornography only as a form of "therapy" for post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from Hall's two tours of duty in the Iraq war. U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark noted that Hall also was distributing child pornography to other sex offenders and had engaged in online chats in which he discussed his interest in molesting a child. Judge Stark further concluded that the defense's argument did not support a lighter sentence and that even Hall's treating doctor recognized that Hall poses a danger to children.

Following the sentencing hearing, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Charles M. Oberly, III, stated: "Those who prey on our children -- regardless of their station in life, standing in the community, job, or background -- will find themselves primary targets of law enforcement."

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. McAndrew.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE . This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110113wilmington.htm

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Secure Communities leads to removal of more than 460 convicted criminal aliens from Sacramento County in first year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Since its activation in Sacramento County a year ago, the biometric information-sharing capability deployed as part of the Secure Communities initiative has resulted in the identification and removal of more than 460 convicted criminal aliens from the United States who were encountered by local law enforcement in Sacramento County.

The information-sharing capability, a key component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) comprehensive strategy to enhance efforts to identify and remove convicted criminal aliens from the country, uses biometric identification to alert ICE when potentially removable aliens are arrested by local law enforcement.

Of the 461 convicted criminal aliens removed from Sacramento County in the last year, 192 are considered Level 1 offenders, which includes those convicted of serious or violent crimes, such as murder, sexual assault and robbery. Another 126 are Level 2 offenders, which includes individuals with convictions for offenses such as arson, burglary and property crimes. As part of the Secure Communities strategy, ICE is prioritizing its enforcement efforts to ensure that individuals who pose the greatest threat to public safety are removed first.

Regardless of the offenses for which individuals are initially booked, the Secure Communities screening may reveal more serious criminal histories. For example, the fingerprint check of a man who used an alias following his arrest in September by Sacramento police for carrying an open container of alcohol in public, revealed he had multiple prior convictions for drug trafficking as well as a conviction for assault with a firearm and had been previously deported. ICE presented the individual, Jorge Vega-Reyes, to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution for felony re-entry after deportation. Vega was convicted in November and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence, following which he will be deported to Mexico.

Prior to the activation of Secure Communities, fingerprint-based biometric records taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Now, through enhanced information sharing between DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), biometrics submitted through the state to the FBI will be automatically checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics-based immigration records in DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).

If fingerprints match those of someone in DHS's biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate immigration enforcement action. This includes aliens who are lawfully and unlawfully in the United States, but who have been arrested and booked into local law enforcement custody for a crime. Once identified through fingerprint matching, ICE prioritizes its response to focus on criminal aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first - such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping. In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE continues to take action on aliens subject to removal as resources permit.

"Last year, ICE prevented hundreds of convicted criminal aliens in Sacramento County from being released back into the community," said Secure Communities Assistant Director David Venturella. "Through the Secure Communities strategy, we're increasing community safety by enforcing federal immigration law in a smart, effective way that targets individuals who pose the greatest potential threat to public safety for removal first."

Sacramento County is one of 41 jurisdictions in California that are currently benefiting from Secure Communities. The information sharing capability has helped ICE remove nearly 22,000 convicted criminal aliens arrested throughout the state. Nationwide, ICE is using the capability in 969 jurisdictions across 37 states, and it has helped ICE remove more than 59,000 aliens who have been convicted of a crime. By 2013, ICE plans to respond nationwide to all fingerprint matches generated through IDENT/IAFIS interoperability.

The IDENT system is maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program and IAFIS is maintained by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

"US-VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US-VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are able to give federal, state and local decision makers information that helps them better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this plan, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's CJIS Division. "Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals."

For more information, visit: www.ice.gov/secure_communities

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110113sacramento.htm

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From the FBI

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FBI en Español Dedicated to Those Who Speak Spanish

Aquí se ofrece información básica sobre cómo contactar al FBI y sobre el tipo de delitos que investiga. También se pueden leer artículos sobre cómo protegerse contra el fraude, qué hacer ante un delito y cómo mantenerse seguro.

Here you will find basic information about how to contact the FBI and about the types of crimes it investigates. You can also read articles on how to protect yourself against fraud, how to cope with crime, and how to stay safe.

FBI en Español

http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/espanol_011311

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