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AZ Gov. Jan Brewer holds Obama accountable... And he doesn't like it.

2012-01-26T15:53:00.004-06:00

Fellow Patriot,

Yesterday, AZ Gov. Jan Brewer greeted Barack Obama as he deplaned from Air Force One, as governors often do. But unlike other governors, she and the president had what can only be described as an intense encounter on the tarmac.

As Obama stepped off the plane, Gov. Brewer handed the president a “welcome” note to the state, as well as an invitation to talk about a comeback for her state. But Obama wasn’t interested.

Rather, the pro-Amnesty president used the opportunity to snub Gov. Brewer who is known nationwide for her tireless fight to secure America’s southern border. This past fall, she even took on fencing the U.S.-Mexico border since the feds have brushed off OUR demands.

HELP MMPAC FIGHT FOR GOV. BREWER’S ANTI-IMMIGRATION LAW! THE FEDS WON’T BUILD THE FENCE BUT BREWER WILL! HOLD OBAMA ACCOUNTABLE – SELECT HERE!

According to Gov. Brewer, “[Obama] immediately took umbrage,” with her book, ‘Scorpions for Breakfast,’ and was “disgruntled” she wrote that the he was “patronizing” in a one-on-one meeting about border security even though publicly she told the media they had simply agreed to disagree over border security measures.

The White House says the president is willing to meet with her again and looks forward to discussion about improving Arizona’s economy. Whether or not Obama was willing to meet with Brewer again to discuss securing the U.S.-Mexico border was not mentioned by White House officials.

And we’re pretty sure we already know the answer to that one.

Time and time again, the feds have been asked, plead with and begged by U.S. Citizens to secure the fence, and over recent years, Gov. Brewer has been among the bravest – if not the bravest – elected official to stand up to Washington. And now, with Barack Obama’s insult to Brewer, it’s crystal clear that under Washington’s leadership, illegal immigrants will continue destroying our country.

HELP MMPAC FIGHT FOR GOV. BREWER’S ANTI-IMMIGRATION LAW! THE FEDS WON’T BUILD THE FENCE BUT BREWER WILL! HOLD OBAMA ACCOUNTABLE – SELECT HERE!

It’s also crystal clear that we need to show Washington whose side voting American citizens are on… Right now, we need to show our support for this tough-as-nails Governor who is not afraid to look Obama in the eye and challenge him to his face. We need to keep up the fight to secure our borders now and make sure our message is not lost in election year politics.

Reporters who witnessed Wednesday’s exchange say that Brewer was pointing her finger at him at one point and they seemed to also be talking over one another. It also appeared to them that Obama walked away while Brewer was in mid-sentence.

Gov. Brewer said when asked that she wasn’t thrown off by the president bringing up the book (and his wounded ego), but that she thought they probably should have talked about jobs.

HELP MMPAC FIGHT FOR GOV. BREWER’S ANTI-IMMIGRATION LAW! THE FEDS WON’T BUILD THE FENCE BUT BREWER WILL! HOLD OBAMA ACCOUNTABLE – SELECT HERE!

Arizona is leading the way for other states to hold the federal government responsible for upholding its Constitutional duty to secure the border with their next fight against the pro-Amnesty lobbyists taken up by the Supreme Court this spring.

As you’re aware, Gov. Brewer’s state has been taking fire from the Obama administration for its crackdown on illegal immigration – from securing the border to enforcing federal immigration law. Arizona's counterclaim filed with the Supreme Court is based on five fundamental points:

(i) the federal government has failed to gain "operational control of the border," as required by federal law;

(ii) failed to enforce federal immigration law;

(iii) failed to protect Arizona from harms associated with illegal immigration;

(iv) been negligent in reimbursing Arizona for more than $760 million in costs for incarcerating illegal immigrants;

(v) sought to pre-empt the state from protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.

And we're here to help Arizona every step of the way.

It’s up to you and I to support Arizona’s rise to action against illegal immigration be it in court defending state's rights or physically securing our border with Mexico.

Gov. Brewer – not Obama – is standing up for America against illegal immigration. We need to stand up with her.

For America,

Minuteman PAC

P.S. America’s Border Sheriffs will file their amicus brief, a critical component supporting Arizona’s SB1070 law against illegal immigration, with the Supreme Court on February 2 as they prepare to hear our case this spring. The legal bill to file Arizona’s amicus brief will top $300,000, and they are asking for our support to keep legal costs off the backs of taxpayers. We know times are tough, but please whatever you can afford WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Please take a moment right now to contribute $5, $25, $100, or even $250 – whatever you can afford in these tough times – to defending America from illegal immigration and securing our southern border NOW.

Jose Antonio Vargas - it's time for you to grow up.

2011-07-13T01:39:00.002-05:00

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Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who recently resigned his position after admitting he was an illegal immigrant and had been hiding the fact since he was 16-years-old, sent me an email today. In his email he asked me to sign a petition.

He said, "More than 6,000 ... from all over the country have joined me in calling for a new national conversation on immigration -- and I'm bringing all of their voices with me when I go on the Colbert Report... Would you add your name now, so I have a huge number to announce on the show?"

He said that three weeks ago, he had "published an exposé in the New York Times" about his life story: coming to this country as a boy, learning English, and embracing America.

He says that he quit his job because he was tired of remaining silent and now wants to "strike up a more civil, inclusive debate about immigration."

Does he really? Does having a more "civil" debate honestly mean being open to what I have to say and considering it?

Jose Antonio Vargas - No, you can not add my name to your list of supporters. But I do agree that we need a national conversation on immigration - an honest one.

You say your story is "the tale of a hard-working immigrant who defines the American dream: achieving success against great odds, working hard, and even earning a Pulitzer Prize" for reporting. You go on, "Still, despite everything I've achieved, the law still says I am not technically an American. I am undocumented."

But I say your story is one of a series of liberal, dishonest mentors assisting you in hiding from the laws of this country - rather than doing the right thing and help you become legally documented.

You ask Americans: "What would you do if you found out at age 16 that you didn't have the right papers?" and say that as a journalist, your job is to ask questions that spark conversation.

Here is my answer. I would do just as I did in Canada when the visa’s for my entire family ran out and we were denied new visa’s in Calgary. We left the country and did not re-enter until we had valid visa’s again.

This is the kind of honesty that my mother taught me, and it is what I – a widow – taught my nine children to do.

Yes, I had children who cried about leaving the college campus we had been living on for five years. My youngest daughter, age ten, curled up in a ball on her bed and wept. My husband - her father - had died of cancer only a year earlier. The campus had been a place of stability, love and safety during a very difficult time of their lives, and now I, a widow with little resources and no home in the states, had to pack them up and leave with no promise that we would be able to come back.

But the law in Canada is just as valid as in the United States. We had no right to be there after our visa's ran out. I taught my children to obey the law, and then I taught them to be strong, not fear, and take the proper steps to become documented again.

That is what the "mentors" that "helped you" avoid the law should have done for you. Are you open to that part of the "conversation?"

The next time our visa's ran out, in 2007, we accepted it and moved back to the States. Five of my children enrolled in a U.S. public school for the first time. All missed their friends back in Alberta

You are no longer 16. It's time to man-up.

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Flood of Border Agents Confirm Feds' No-Apprehension Policy

2011-04-25T11:36:00.001-05:00

By Jana Winter

Published April 19, 2011 | FoxNews.com

An Arizona sheriff says he has been flooded with calls and emails of support from local and federal agents who back his claims that the U.S. Border Patrol has effectively ordered them to stop apprehending illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

“Upper management has advised supervisors to have agents ‘turn back South’ (TBS) the illegal aliens (aka bodies) they detect attempting to unlawfully enter the country … at times you even hear supervisors order the agents over the radio to 'TBS' the aliens instead of catching them,” one San Diego border agent wrote in an email to Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever.

“This only causes more problems as the aliens, as you know, don't just go back to Mexico and give up. They keep trying, sometimes without 10 minutes in-between attempts, to cross illegally,” continued the email, which was among a number of communications to Dever reviewed by FoxNews.com. “This makes the job for agents more dangerous. Not only are the aliens more defiant, they also begin to feel like they can get away with breaking our federal laws.”

The email is one of more than 100 messages Dever said he received from active and retired Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officers from across the country. Many wrote of what they said was their own experience and first-hand knowledge of Border Patrol’s efforts to reduce apprehension numbers by making fewer arrests.

FoxNews.com first reported this month that Dever said several Border Patrol officials, including at least one senior supervisor, told him they had been directed to keep the number of border apprehensions down by chasing illegal immigrants back toward Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has recently cited a reduction in border apprehensions as evidence of an increasingly secure border.

Three days after FoxNews.com’s initial report, Border Patrol chief Michael Fisher sent a letter to Dever in which he denied the accusations and invited the sheriff on a ride-along with federal agents at border.

"That assertion is completely, 100 percent false," Fisher wrote in the letter. "That it comes from a fellow law enforcement official makes it especially offensive."

But accounts from law enforcement officials around the country continue to pour in supporting Dever and the conversations he says he had with Border Patrol officers, including at least one supervisor, about keeping arrest numbers down.

“This is nothing new, during my career with the border patrol, this was done regularly,” said another email to Dever reviewed by FoxNews.com. “By assigning agents to different tasks, locations, etc., the apprehensions can be increased or decreased dramatically,” wrote Dan McCaskill Jr., a retired Border Patrol agent who worked in the Anti-Smuggling Unit.

McCaskill went on to describe how, he said, apprehension numbers were regularly manipulated to achieve various budget, equipment or manpower goals.

In response to request for comment on the new allegations, Homeland Security offered the same statement from Jeffery Self, commander of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Joint Field Command, that was provided to FoxNews.com earlier this month:

“As the commander for border enforcement operations in Arizona, I can confirm that the claim that Border Patrol supervisors have been instructed to underreport or manipulate our statistics is unequivocally false. I took an oath that I take very seriously and I find it insulting that anyone, especially a fellow law enforcement officer, would imply that we would put the protection of the American public and security of our nation’s borders in danger just for a numbers game. Our mission does not waiver based on political climate and it never will. To suggest that we are ambiguous in enforcing our laws belittles the work of more than 6,000 CBP employees in Arizona who dedicate their lives to protect our borders every day.”

Local 2544, the Tucson branch of the National Border Patrol Council union, has also come out in support of Dever, and posted this message on their website after the FoxNews.com report.

“Sheriff Dever is right. We have seen so many slick shenanigans pulled in regards to 'got-aways' and entry numbers that at times it seems David Copperfield is running the Border Patrol. Creating the illusion that all is well and you can start having family picnics in the areas where we work has been going on far too long. Has there been improvement in some areas? Absolutely. Is the border anywhere near 'under control'? Absolutely not. Do some in management play games with numbers and cater to the wishes of politicians like Janet Napolitano and David Aguilar? Resoundingly, yes. Time for the foolish political games to stop.”

The union posted another response on their website following Fox News’ publication of Fisher’s April 6 letter to Dever:

“Just remember, for years now we have been told from the highest ranking managers in our agency that 'every apprehension is a FAILURE' (Johnny Williams - former INS Western Region Director), and that we 'are NOT immigration officers' (current CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar to Border Patrol agents when he was the Chief of the Border Patrol)…. We have been told that - Apprehensions = failure, we are not 'immigration' officers, we should not 'lower' ourselves to the status of an immigration officer, and our primary job is not apprehending illegal aliens. Couple all this with Secretary Napolitano's recent public announcement about what she expects our apprehension numbers to be this fiscal year, and it's not hard to figure this thing out.”

A second Arizona sheriff, Paul Babeu of Pinal County, also testified at a Senate Homeland Security Committee last week in support of Dever’s charges. Dever was slated to appear at the hearing, but said he could no longer attend when the date of his appearance was changed.

Asked specifically about Dever’s assertion that agents were told to turn back illegals to reduce apprehensions, Babeu told the committee he’d specifically asked his top lieutenant, Matt Thomas, about the claims.

"He said, 'Sheriff, I have heard that myself directly from border agents in the Tucson sector,'" Babeu testitified.

Babeu told FoxNews.com he’s been told by Border Patrol officials that for every person apprehended at the border, an average of 2.7 succeed in crossing into the U.S. With those numbers, he said he was concerned paramilitary or terror cells equipped with more sophisticated support and training could easily get through.

“This is no longer just public security threat, this is national security threat,” he told FoxNews.com.

T.J. Bonner, retired president of the National Border Patrol Council, said in an interview with FoxNews.com that he’s familiar with “TBS-ing” and shares Babeu’s concerns about criminals and terrorists crossing the border.

“TBS has been going on for a number of years. You’ll never find orders in writing, and some agents have even been disciplined for TBS-ing people. That’s a practice that dates back to quite some time, to try and discourage is part of their 'strategy of deterrence.'"

Bonner said Border Patrol agents are receiving “TBS” orders from someone higher up, but he isn’t sure who.

“Agents don’t just do this on their own. The orders must come from on high. They don’t just wake up one day and say I’m going to risk my job, my livelihood,” said Bonner, who retired last year after 32 years with Border Patrol. “I’m not sure if it’s Napolitano or folks in Customs and Border Protection, but somebody wants to silence critics in Arizona to claim success in Arizona.”

As for Dever, he says he’s just hoping that some good will come out of this.

“Frankly, I don't want to create a firestorm," he said. "I only want this problem solved.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/19/arizona-sheriff-cites-flood-border-agents-confirming-feds-apprehension-policy/#ixzz1KYJkL2tC

Legal Workers Line Up for Restaurant Jobs After Sheriff Joe Raids

2011-03-13T13:00:00.001-05:00

Jobs Open up after Sheriff Joe’s ICE Raids

by StandWithAZ on Mar 7, 2011

Jobs Americans Won’t Do? “Crap”, said one woman with a Masters degree willing to take the $8/hour jobs at Phoenix’ Pei Wei Chinese joints after Sheriff Joe Arpaio liberated them with raids arresting dozens for identity theft crimes. What on Earth does Obama and holder not get about this? For every illegal with a job, there’s an American without one. Thanks Sheriff Joe! Please donate $10.70 to Stand With Arizona in honor of SB1070, to help us continue to fight against illegal alien amnesty and push for Arizona-style enforcement laws nationwide.

Thank you: https://www.icontribute.us/avfund/initiative/arizona
Home : http://StandWithArizona.com
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SWA Store: http://cafepress.com/StandWithAZ
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American Professor Kidnapped in Mexican Border City

2011-03-12T15:33:00.003-06:00

Published March 12, 2011 NewsCore

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Armed men kidnapped an American university professor while she was visiting her mother in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, the state prosecutor's office said Saturday.

The American was identified as Veronica Perez Rodriguez, an archeologist at Northern Arizona University.

A source at the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said she was visiting her mother in Ciudad Juarez Friday afternoon "and the moment she left her family's house she was intercepted by armed men and deprived of her liberty."

Since 2003, Perez has been an associate professor of anthropology at the university in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Perez attended elementary, junior high, and high school in Ciudad Juarez, according to her resume, posted on the university's website. She is fluent in Spanish and English.

Perez, on her Northern Arizona University web page, describes herself as an ecological and environmental anthropologist and archeologist.

"My primary focus is the study of social complexity, urbanism, and its
environmental impact in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico," she wrote.

She earned two degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso and a doctorate in 2003 from the University of Georgia, according to her resume.

At least 39 U.S. citizens were killed in 2010 in Ciudad Juarez, which has 1.3 million people. It is Mexico's most violent city, according to a report by state prosecutors.

So What happened to Senator McCain's 10 Point Border Security Plan?

2011-03-02T16:57:00.002-06:00

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Hey Obama and Napolitano! More than a year after Arizona based a law to help protect citiznes, and alamost a year since McCain came out with a ten point Border security Plan. Why is the border still unsecured???

SENATORS McCAIN AND KYL'S BORDER SECURITY PLAN
10-Point Plan To Better Secure The U.S.-Mexico Border In Arizona
Introduced April 20, 2010

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) were joined today by Arizona Sheriffs Larry Dever, Cochise County and Paul Babeu, Pinal County in introducing a 10-point comprehensive border security plan to combat illegal immigration, drug and alien smuggling, and violent activity along the southwest border.

Senators McCain and Kyl’s Ten Point Border Security Action Plan:

1) Immediately deploy 3,000 National Guard Troops along the Arizona/Mexico border, along with appropriate surveillance platforms, which shall remain in place until the Governor of Arizona certifies, after consulting with state, local and tribal law enforcement, that the Federal Government has achieved operational control of the border. Permanently add 3,000 Custom and Border Protection Agents to the Arizona/Mexico border by 2015.

2) Fully fund and support Operation Streamline in Arizona’s two Border Patrol Sectors to, at a minimum, ensure that repeat illegal border crossers go to jail for 15 to 60 days. Where Operation Streamline has been implemented, the number of illegal crossings has decreased significantly. Require the Obama Administration to complete a required report detailing the justice and enforcement resources needed to fully fund this program. Fully reimburse localities for any related detention costs.

3) Provide $100M, an increase of $40M, for Operation Stonegarden, a program that provides grants and reimbursement to Arizona’s border law enforcement for additional personnel, overtime, travel and other related costs related to illegal immigration and drug smuggling along the border.

4) Offer Hardship Duty Pay to Border Patrol Agents assigned to rural, high-trafficked areas, such as the CBP Willcox and Douglas Stations in the Tucson Sector.

5) Complete the 700 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico and construct double- and triple- layer fencing at appropriate locations along the Arizona-Mexico border.

6) Substantially increase the 25 mobile surveillance systems and three Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in place today along the Arizona/Mexico border and ensure the border patrol has the resources necessary to operate the UAVs 24 hours a day seven days a week. Send additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the Arizona-Mexico Border.

7) Increase funding for vital radio communications and interoperability between CBP and state, local, and tribal law enforcement to assist in apprehensions along the border.

8) Provide funding for additional Border Patrol stations in the Tucson Sector and explore the possibility of an additional Border Patrol sector for Arizona. Create six additional permanent Border Patrol Forward Operating Bases, and provide funding to upgrade the existing bases to include modular buildings, electricity and potable water. Complete construction of the planned permanent checkpoint in Arizona. Deploy additional temporary roving checkpoints and increase horse patrols throughout the Tucson Sector.

9) Require the Federal government to fully reimburse state and local governments for the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens. Start by at least funding the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) at its authorized level of $950 million.

10) Place one full-time Federal Magistrate in Cochise County and provide full funding for and authorization of the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative to reimburse state, county, tribal, and municipal governments for costs associated with the prosecution and pre-trial detention of federally-initiated criminal cases declined by local offices of the United States Attorneys.

Pinal sheriff: Armed conflict with drug cartels coming soon

2011-02-23T17:41:00.001-06:00

Pinal sheriff: Armed conflict with drug cartels coming soon

January 28, 2011
eastvalleytribune.com

Paul Babeu at the Grace Inn in Ahwatukee Foothills Tuesday. Armed conflict in Arizona between sheriff's deputies and heavily equipped drug cartel squads is inevitable, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Tuesday during a speech in Ahwatukee Foothills.

"We're expecting a conflict," Babeu told the Ahwatukee Republican Women's organization at the Grace Inn, 51st Street and Elliot Road. "I absolutely believe you're going to see that happen in the next 30 to 60 days. It's not like I'm trying to start a war with the cartels. They're coming through like they own this place, and we're trying to stop them. I pray that every time, they surrender."

About 70 people turned out to hear Babeu, who was re-elected recently to a second term as president of the Arizona Sheriff's Association. A self-described friend and ally of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Babeu has risen to the forefront of the national debate over illegal immigration and is an outspoken critic of what he believes is the federal government's adversarial relationship with Arizona and federal officials' failure to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

"The federal government has literally become an enemy who is fighting us, and I have not been afraid to fight them," he said.

Babeu ripped into Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's contention that the border is as safe and secure as it has ever been. Last year in the eastern portion of Arizona's two sectors, which includes Phoenix and Tucson, the U.S. Border Patrol reported apprehending 241,000 illegal immigrants. However, the agency estimates there were an additional 400,000 illegal border crossers in this sector that were not caught, he said.

"Close to 20 percent already have criminal records established in America," Babeu said.

A significant percentage of illegal immigrants caught in Pinal County are from countries other than Mexico, he said, including "countries of interest" such as Yemen, Somalia and Syria.

"Nations whose governments have sponsored terrorists or are anti-American," Babeu said.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the public was told to be vigilant and not be lulled into a false sense of security, he said.

"Our own federal government is the one who is trying to lull us into a false sense of security," Babeu said.

Drug seizures in Pinal County have more than doubled in the last two years, while the number of high-speed police pursuits rose from 142 in 2007 to 340 in 2010, he said.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has erected more than a dozen signs in Pinal County warning people to stay away from places designated as active drug and human smuggling areas where visitors might encounter armed criminals. Drug cartels have infiltrated the U.S. and have set up observation posts to ensure their shipments make it through, Babeu said.

He likened the cartel's activities in the U.S. to a foreign insurgency.

"Less than 30 miles from where we are now, they have 50 locations in Pinal County that are scout locations," Babeu said. "They're providing safe passage for drug and human smuggling coming though our county. They're reinforcing their supply routes."

On Oct. 25, cartel hitmen killed an informant who was working for the Sheriff's Department, shooting him a half-dozen times, he said.

"A cartel hit in Pinal County. That's what we've arrived at," Babeu said.

In another recent incident, the cartels sent a team of heavily armed assassins to Arizona to dispatch bandits that had been robbing drug mules, he said.

"Certainly they've destabilized their country," Babeu said of the Mexican cartels. "That stuff is coming here."

Deputies have discovered abandoned vehicles used by bandits that have been made up to look like police cars, complete with spotlights, sirens and red and blue lights, he said. Such tactics not only could lead illegal immigrants to distrust U.S. law enforcement, but it could touch off a gunfight if deputies attempt to confront armed men, he added.

"They may believe we're bandits saying we're the sheriff," Babeu said.

He endorsed a plan put forward by Arizona senators John McCain and Jon Kyl to send armed U.S. soldiers to the border and to construct a double-barrier security fence. Additionally, Babeu said authorities should hold illegal immigrants in custody for longer periods as a deterrent to repeat offenders, rather than using the current system of "catch and release."

"The core problem is an unsecured border," Babeu said. "I've asked (President Barack Obama) to give me a half hour and I'd give him the solution to the border. He hasn't called me back."

He accused Napolitano, Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of "throwing up their hands and saying, ‘We can't do it'" and of portraying local authorities as racial profilers instead of as protectors and enforcers of the law.

"We do have the answer to secure the border. It's not beyond us. That is literally un-American for them to say that," Babeu said. "How have we arrived at this point in America, that it's the job of the local sheriff to fight cartels from a foreign country?"

As for the drug cartels, he said, "I want to say to them publicly, ‘You're not coming through.'"

Pinal County Sherrif Paul Bebeu's Response to 3 "Kool-Aid" AZ Mayor's

2011-02-16T17:33:00.000-06:00

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So...is there a connection between these Latino mayors, voted into office in border towns, and a desire to stifle border control??? Just ASKING. I'm from the north and don't fully understand the politics down there...

PDF Source for this letter -

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office

Paul Babeu
Sheriff

February 14, 2011

Arturo R. Garino, Mayor of Nogales, AZ
Juan C. Escamilla, Mayor of San Luis, AZ
Dr. Michael Gomez, Mayor of Douglas, AZ

Dear Mayors,
Pinal County is the number one pass through county in the United States for drug and human smuggling. Our pursuits and drug seizures tied to drug and human trafficking far exceed those of the all four border counties. The threat from an unsecured border is real, where 241,000 illegals were apprehended last year by the border patrol and an additional 400,000 got away just in Arizona alone! These are failing grades by anyone's score card.

You speak of improved safety, yet Pinal County has doubled the confiscation of drugs, calls to the Border Patrol and has had 340 vehicle pursuits in 2010 - up from 289 the year before and 140 the year prior. We have a serious public safety threat in my county, due to an unsecured border with Mexico and our nation’s citizens should be highly concerned about the more dangerous national security threat that is presented with other than Mexicans (OTM's) and persons from countries of interest (foreign countries that harbor/sponsor terrorist and actively speak against America and our values).

Year   /   Pounds of Seized Marijuana   / Pursuits   / Calls to the US Border Patrol

2007               28,093                               142                   188
2008               19,619                               140                   169
2009               44,963                               289                   270
2010               44,819                               340                   370

Sadly, these numbers do not reflect other violence or violent crimes related to drug smuggling that has taken place during the past year; including, two officer involved shootings, the execution of a drug cartel member in Casa Grande and the killing of two illegals transporting drugs (killed by bandits or competing Cartel), a man who was kidnapped in Phoenix and because he was unable to meet the ransom demand - was shot twice in the back in the Vekol Valley, as well as another victim who was stabbed in Casa Grande as part of a “Cartel Hit.”

On the human smuggling side of this issue, my deputies have acted with great heroism and risked their own lives to save the lives of illegals who have been abandoned by their “Coyotes.” Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy Russell Warren jumped into a deep canal to save five Hondurans, while five others could not be saved and drowned. Deputy Warren nearly drowned himself as he fought to save the five survivors and said, “Sheriff, the Coyotes ran away from the cries for help and Deputy Hernandez and I ran to help them.” Deputy Warren’s statement sums up the true measure of the men and women that I’m proud to lead. They have been put in increasingly grave danger due to our unsecured border with Mexico.

Another case includes a six and eleven-year-old who were abandoned by “Coyotes” and forced to drink their own urine for two days in order to survive. I forgot to mention they were abandoned along with their parents, since they were too slow for the main group, so they were simply discarded and left to die in the desert. Where is your outrage and concern for these victims and the many other crimes committed against illegal immigrants?

Just this week, the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Pinal County has a minimum of 75-100 mountains/high terrain features that are occupied by “Scouts, or lookouts” for the Mexican Drug Cartels. How have we arrived at this point in America that this has become acceptable to have foreign born criminals controlling the safe passage of drugs and other illegal activities in an entire region of our Arizona?

Feel free to “drink the Kool-Aid” of Janet Napolitano, Dennis Burke and Barak Obama all day long, yet this threat to America remains, until our border is secured. Their agenda is clear – they want “immigration reform” and must convince the public that everything is just fine. The complexities of this problem will not be solved by SB1070, employer sanctions, lawsuits, other future interior enforcement measures, or even thousands of new Border Patrol Agents. We must secure the border. This is achieved by the McCain/Kyl 10 Point Border Security Plan. Only then can we have a reasonable discussion about “immigration reform.” For your review, I have included a copy of the McCain/Kyl 10 Point Border Security Plan. (editor note: half way down this Pdf page)

If your intent was to establish dialogue with me, you would have called, or at least waited for your letter to arrive by mail at my office, prior to releasing it to the media. You have done the very thing they accuse me of doing. I do not represent you, or the citizens of your community, yet I do represent the nearly 400,000 citizens of my county and the viewpoint of the solid majority of Arizonans, who laugh at Secretary Napolitano's suggestion that our border is more secure than ever.

Sincerely,
Paul Babeu, Sheriff
Pinal County, Arizona

Brewer to Countersue Federal Government Over Immigration Enforcement

2011-02-16T16:49:00.000-06:00

Brewer to Countersue Federal Government Over Immigration Enforcement

Published February 10, 2011 | FoxNews.com

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced Thursday that her state will file a countersuit against the federal government, claiming Washington has failed to enforce immigration law along the southern border.

The governor said the federal government hasn't secured the state's border with Mexico and has stuck Arizona with the costs tied to illegal immigration.

"Because the federal government has failed to protect the citizens of Arizona, I am left with no other choice," Brewer said.

Brewer went "On the Record" with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Thursday night and said she is "in it to win it."

"We're continually looking at arrests of drug cartels," she said. "It's just untolerable."

"We will fight it all all the way to the Supreme Court," she added."

The announcement is the latest swipe in the ongoing legal dispute between Arizona and the U.S. Department of Justice over the state's tough immigration law. After the Obama administration challenged that law, a judge last year blocked key portions of it from going into effect. While the case is on appeal, Brewer said the countersuit will be filed as part of the federal government's challenge.

"It's outrageous the United States Department of Justice sued the people of Arizona to stop Senate Bill 1070," Brewer said. "Our message for the federal government is very simple -- use federal resources to combat the cartels who are breaking the federal law."

Arizona plans to sue on five different counts, including a claim that the federal government has failed to enforce immigration laws enacted by Congress and a claim it has failed to reimburse the state for costs associated with jailing criminal immigrants.

The original Arizona immigration law was passed following years of complaints that the federal government hadn't done enough to lessen the state's role as the nation's busiest illegal entry point.

A judge blocked the most controversial portions of the law, such as a requirement that says police, while enforcing other laws, must question people's immigration status if there's a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

1 U.S. Immigration Agent Killed, 1 Injured in Mexico

2011-02-16T16:30:00.000-06:00

1 U.S. Immigration Agent Killed, 1 Injured in Mexico

Published February 16, 2011
| FoxNews.com

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed and another wounded while driving through northern Mexico Tuesday, in a rare attack on American officials in this country which is fighting powerful drug cartels.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said one agent was critically wounded in the attack and died from his injuries. The second agent was shot in the arm and leg and remains in stable condition.

ICE Director John Morton late Tuesday identified the slain agent as Jaime Zapata, who was on assignment from the office in Laredo, Texas, where he served on the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit as well as the Border Enforcement Security Task Force. The injured agent, who was not identified, remains in stable condition, Morton said.

"I'm deeply saddened by the news that earlier today, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents assigned to the ICE Attache office in Mexico City were shot in the line of duty while driving between Mexico City and Monterrey by unknown assailants," Napolitano said.

U.S. and Mexican officials said they were working closely together to investigate the shooting and find those responsible. They did not give a motive for the attack.

"Let me be clear: any act of violence against our ICE personnel -- or any DHS personnel -- is an attack against all those who serve our nation and put their lives at risk for our safety," Napolitano said. "We remain committed in our broader support for Mexico's efforts to combat violence within its borders."

The two agents were driving in the northern state of San Luis Potosi when they were stopped at what may have appeared to be a military checkpoint, said one Mexican official, who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Mexican military officials said they have no checkpoints in the area.

After they stopped, someone opened fire on them, the official said.

San Luis Potosi police said gunmen attacked two people a blue Suburban on Highway 57 between Mexico City and Monterrey, near the town of Santa Maria Del Rio, at about 2:30 p.m.

Police said one person was killed and another was flown to a Mexico City hospital, though they couldn't confirm the victims were the ICE agents.

A U.S. law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak on the case said the agent who died was on loan from Laredo, Texas.

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan spoke with Morton to express Mexico's condolences, according to a spokesman.

"Please keep Special Agent Zapata's family, friends, and colleagues close to your heart during this difficult time. May the work we continue to do as an agency be worthy of a sacrifice as great as the one made by Special Agent Zapata," Morton said in a statement Wednesday.

Zapata, who joined ICE in 2006, had also served as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona. He was a native of Brownsville, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2005. No age was given for Zapata.

Though Mexico is seeing record rates of violence from warring drug cartels and a crackdown on organized crime, it is rare for U.S. officials to be attacked. The U.S. government, however, has become increasingly concerned about the safety of its employees in Mexico amid the escalating violence.

In March, a U.S. employee of a consulate, her husband and a Mexican tied to the American consulate were killed when drug gang members fired on their cars as they left a children's party in Ciudad Juarez, the city across from El Paso, Texas.

The U.S. State Department has taken several measures over the past year to protect consulate employees and their families. It has at times authorized the departure of relatives of U.S. government employees in northern Mexican cities.

In July, it temporarily closed the consulate in Ciudad Juarez after receiving unspecified threats.

In 1985, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar was tortured and killed in Mexico. Mexican trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero is serving a 40-year prison term for Camarena's slaying.

ICE, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government, enforced immigration laws and is primarily responsible for arresting, detaining and deporting people who are in the U.S. illegally. It also investigates drug cases in the U.S. and Mexico and other types of trafficking.

It was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and has more than 20,000 employees in offices in all 50 states and 47 foreign countries.

Mexico is fighting heavily armed and powerful drug cartels that supply the U.S. market. Since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown against drug trafficking shortly after taking office in December 2006, almost 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

Fox News' Mike Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Arizona Rancher Will Fight Court Order To Pay Damages to Undocumented Immigrants

2011-02-16T15:52:00.000-06:00

Arizona Rancher Will Fight Court Order To Pay Damages to Undocumented Immigrants
By Elizabeth Llorente

Published February 09, 2011
| Fox News Latino

An Arizona rancher who was ordered to pay nearly $90,000 in punitive damages to undocumented immigrants he confronted, with a gun, is going to request a rehearing, his attorney said.

“We’ll be filing a motion for a rehearing,” said David T. Hardy, who is representing Roger Barnett. “He feels he got screwed. I have some sympathy for that view.”

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a lower court verdict ordering Barnett to pay the damages for the 2004 incident, in which the plaintiffs claimed that he approached them with his dog and said he’d shoot them if they tried to leave.

The court said that an Arizona law permitted a person to threaten to use – or actually use – physical force against someone else when that person believes it is necessary for protection “against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful physical force.”

But the court said that Barnett held them at gunpoint even after becoming aware that no one in the group of 16 men and women was armed, and so he could not use the argument of self-defense.

“Basically they said he took his pistol out and kept his pistol out longer than necessary,” Hardy said.

In fact, Hardy added, Barnett put his gun away after realizing that no one in the group was armed, and after feeling he was not in physical danger.

“What they [judges] missed was that once he saw they were harmless, he holstered his gun,” Hardy said. “When the Border Patrol showed up, [the pistol] was in his holster.”

David Hinojosa, southwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, which represented the plaintiffs in the suit against Barnett, said he is confident the Ninth Circuit Court will deny a rehearing.

"He pointed the barrel of the gun at every single one of those immigrants," said Hinojosa, who was co-counsel in the case. "He apparently didn't remember yelling racial epithets at the people, or making one lady break down to the point of crying and praying to be let go."

"The jury believed the immigrants, they didn't believe him," he said. "It's just a simple delay tactic for Barnett rather than just paying the debt."

After the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling, MALDEF released a statement that said: “Today's ruling sends the strong message that vigilantes will not be tolerated in Arizona.”

Hardy took exception at MALDEF’s description of Barnett as a trigger-happy vigilante.

He said Barnett has been “swamped” by the impact of undocumented immigrants and drug smugglers coming onto his property. Hardy said "the FBI twice told him his life was in danger."

“Whole areas of his land have been covered in trash” left behind by people crossing on it illegally, Hardy said. “Some are parties of illegal entrants, sometimes there are groups of 40 or 50. He has drug smugglers come through too. They take vehicles and plow through his fence.”

“He doesn’t like illegal immigrants trashing his land,” Hardy said. “I don’t think before he cared about the issue [immigration] one way or the other.”

Hinojosa said Barnett has acted overzealously in the past when encountering undocumented immigrants.

"He's notorious for going on to other people's lands and assaulting immigrants in the same or similar manner," Hinojosa said. "There's a difference between wanting to arm yourself for protection, and wanting to commit assault. The American system doesn't tolerate the Wild West."

Elizabeth.Llorente@FoxNewsLatino.com

Manhunt for Suspect in Border Agent Killing

2010-12-16T06:15:00.000-06:00

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/15/border-patrol-agent-killed-southern-arizona-416534199/
Published December 16, 2010 | Associated Press

A shootout between border patrol agents and bandits near Arizona's troubled boundary with Mexico has left one American agent dead and a suspect wounded, a union leader says.

The clash Tuesday night came after agents spotted suspected bandits known for targeting illegal immigrants along a violent smuggling corridor in the Arizona desert, National Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner said.

Brian A. Terry, 40, was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of the border city of Nogales late Tuesday when the gun battle erupted, Bonner said. Terry died in the shooting, but no other agents were injured.

Border Patrol spokesman Eric Cantu and FBI spokeswoman Brenda Lee Nath declined to confirm Bonner's account but said that authorities have four suspects in custody and are searching for a fifth. The Border Patrol declined to reveal the country of origin of the suspects.

The shooting followed months of heated political rhetoric on the immigration issue in Arizona as lawmakers passed a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigrants. Politicians pushing for immigration reform cite violence episodes like the Border Patrol shooting as proof that the state and federal governments need to better secure the border.

"It is a stark reminder of the very real dangers our men and women on the front lines confront everyday as they protect our communities and the American people," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. She plans to be in Arizona on Thursday and Friday to meet with Border Patrol agents in Nogales and Tucson.

The shooting occurred in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, the busiest gateway for illegal immigrants into the United States. Half of the marijuana seizures along the 1,969-mile southern border are made in the sector, which covers 262 miles of the boundary.

Terry was part of an elite squad similar to a police SWAT team that was sent to a remote area north of Nogales known for border banditry, drug smuggling and violence, said Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd, president of the local agents' union.

Terry and the other agents came across a group of five people. There was no sign that they were hauling drugs, but two were carrying rifles, said Judd, who didn't know what prompted the firefight.

Bonner, whose group represents 17,000 agents, said the fatal shooting shows that the border is still dangerous.

"This is a sign that the politicians and bureaucrats are overly optimistic in their assessment that the borders are more secure now than at any point in our history. It showed just the opposite," Bonner said.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who has railed against border violence and signed Arizona's new illegal-immigration law earlier this year, struck a similar tone.

"Although we needed no reminder of the ever-increasing dangers along our southern border, this tragedy serves as stark notice that the threats facing all who serve in protecting our state and nation are real and are increasing on a daily basis," Brewer said.

Terry, a native of the Detroit area, served in the Marines and as a police officer in the Michigan cities of Ecorse and Lincoln Park before joining the Border Patrol in 2007. He wasn't married and didn't have any children. He is survived by his mother, father, a brother and two sisters.

Terry's older sister, Michelle Terry-Balogh, told The Associated Press from Flat Rock, Mich., that her brother loved his job. "It was his life," she said. "He said it was very dangerous, but he loved what he did and wanted to make a difference."
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Judge Dismisses Part of Challenge to Ariz. Immigration Law

2010-12-11T02:55:00.001-06:00

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Published December 11, 2010 | Associated Press

PHOENIX -- A federal judge has dismissed parts of the U.S. Department of Justice's challenge to Arizona's new immigration law.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's ruling on Friday struck down the federal government's challenge to the portion of the law that prohibits the transport of illegal immigrants.

But Bolton's ruling didn't have any effect on the portions of the law that she previously prevented from taking effect, including a requirement that immigrants get or carry immigration registration papers.

In that ruling in July, Bolton let other portions take effect, including a ban on obstructing traffic while seeking or offering day-labor services on public streets.

Bolton on Friday denied Gov. Jan Brewer's request to dismiss challenges to the law's most controversial sections.

14-year-old: Mexican drug gang made me behead 4

2010-12-04T07:55:00.005-06:00

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Published December 03, 2010 Associated Press

In cargo pants and a T-shirt, the skinny, American-born 14-year-old looked like he should be in middle school. Instead he was surrounded by three armed Mexican soldiers in ski masks and camouflage as he told reporters that he helped a Mexican drug gang behead four people.

Mexican officials say they arrested the youth known as "El Ponchis" late Thursday at an airport south of Mexico City with a 19-year-old sister who is accused of helping him dump the bodies. Authorities said he was caught with two cell phones that held photographs of tortured victims.

Many youths have been used by drug cartels in their bloody battles against the government and each other, but the story of El Ponchis may be the most shocking. A YouTube video that emerged a month ago sparked talk of a child hit man — said by some to be as young as 12.

"I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that
if I didn't, they would kill me," the boy said calmly when he was handed over to
the federal prosecutor Friday morning, showing no remorse.

Authorities identified the curly-haired suspect by his first name only — Edgar.

He told reporters early Friday he was kidnapped at the age of 11 and forced to work for the Cartel of the South Pacific, a branch of the splintered Beltran Leyva gang, and that he had participated in at least four decapitations.

Authorities said the siblings were detained at an airport near Cuernavaca in Morelos state with paid tickets to flee the country.

Morelos Gov. Marco Adame Castillo said the boy was born in San Diego, California, and Mexican officials were researching whether he has dual nationality. A U.S. Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to embassy policy said American officials had not yet confirmed his citizenship.

The boy's sister said they were headed for Tijuana, where they planned to cross the border and seek refuge with their stepmother in San Diego. Their mother sent them money for the tickets, she said, but it was not clear where their parents are.

The army did not say whether the children had passed security when they were detained. Neither has been formally charged.

The two allegedly worked for Julio "El Negro" Padilla, who has been fighting for control of the drug trade in Morelos, formerly part of the territory under the Beltran Leyva gang, which broke up with the killing of leader Arturo Beltran Leyva by Mexican marines a year ago. The battle among remnants of the gang has caused an unprecedented spike in violence in Morelos and in neighboring Guerrero state, where the resort city of Acapulco is located.

El Ponchis' sister said she was the girlfriend of Padilla and part of a group of girls called Las Chabelas, who helped dump bodies on streets and freeways in and around Cuernavaca, a city about 56 miles (90 kilometers) south of Mexico City. She said her brother introduced them.

An adult sister picked up at the airport appeared with the two Friday, but authorities said she has no ties to drug trafficking.

Stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared last month with teens mugging for the camera next to corpses and guns. One boy on the video alleged that "El Ponchis" was his accomplice. State and federal authorities refused to confirm El Ponchis even existed.

In the video, the youth told an unseen questioner that his gang was paid $3,000 per killing.

"When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people, maybe a construction
worker or a taxi driver," the youth is heard saying.

Figures obtained by The Associated Press from Mexico's attorney general's office show that the number of youths 18 and under detained for drug-related crimes has climbed steadily since President Felipe Calderon launched his assault on cartels in 2006. There were 482 that year and 810 in 2009. There were 562 in the first eight months of this year, on track to surpass last year.

Calderon has acknowledged that "in the most violent areas of the country, there is an unending recruitment of young people without hope, without opportunities."

The federal government has said the cartels are recruiting ever younger assassins to replace those killed or arrested in the current wars among the gangs and with the government. The government also has said that cartels prefer underage youths because they shorter sentences if caught.

Unlike the United States, Mexico has no system for trying juveniles as adults, though a bill that would establish such a provision is before the Mexican Senate. In Mexico, juveniles are sentenced to youth detention centers and are freed at age 18.

Although state courts handle crimes by juveniles in Mexico, authorities in Morelos have asked Mexico's federal government to take over the case because of the gravity of the crimes.

Neighbors said the siblings were living in a cartel safehouse in a poor neighborhood of Jiutepec, a working-class suburb of Cuernavaca. The area has an industrial area with Nissan, Unilever and other factories, rustic single-level concrete homes and some farms.

________

Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report from Cancun.
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Nine Latin America countries join U.S. Justice Dept against Arizona

2010-11-18T01:07:00.000-06:00

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KTAR News
by KTAR.com (November 16th, 2010 @ 11:56am)

PHOENIX -- Anger about Arizona's tough immigration law has spread from Mexico throughout Latin America, according to a report in "USA Today."

Ecuador Ambassador Luis Gallegos told the United Nations Human Rights Council in early November that he is extremely concerned that the Arizona law will lead to widespread stereotyping of both legal and illegal immigrants.

The council included the Arizona law in its list of concerns sent to the U.S. State Department.

Ecuador and nine other Latin America countries have signed on to a brief supporting the U.S. Justice Department's suit challenging Arizona's law. A U.S. District court judge put the main parts of the law on hold just before it was to take effect in July. Arizona is appealing that ruling before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

State Department spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet told USA Today that the Arizona law has become a topic of discussion "in all our interactions" with Latin American countries.

Mauricio Cardenas, director of the Latin American Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said,

"The countries in Latin American are already perceiving some distance and disengagement from the U.S. The Arizona law makes Latin America more and more interested in developing stronger relations with other parts of the world."

In the brief filed in support of the Justice Department suit challenging Arizona's law, the 10 Latin America countries argue the law harms their citizens living and working in Arizona and could hurt "bilateral economic, immigration and security policies" between the United States and those countries.

Other states are considering immigration laws similar to Arizona's, and Gallegos said that is of significant concern.

"My basic question is, are we going to have a more protectionist United States that is more inclined to discriminating and persecuting groups like the migrants?" Gallegos said in an interview from Geneva. "We would hope that the federal government would be wise enough to enact a law which encompasses these issues."

Brewer said Arizona was forced to act and pass the law because the federal government has failed to secure the border and stop illegal immigration.
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Study: 100,000 Hispanics Left Arizona After SB1070

2010-11-13T00:43:00.000-06:00

Published November 12, 2010 | Associated Press

MEXICO CITY -- A new study suggests there may be 100,000 fewer Hispanics in Arizona than there were before the debate over the state's tough new immigration law earlier this year.

BBVA Bancomer Research, which did the study, worked with figures from the U.S. Current Population Survey. The study says the decline could be due to the law known as SB1070, which partly entered into effect in July, or to Arizona's difficult economic situation.

The study released Wednesday also cites Mexican government figures as saying that 23,380 Mexicans returned from Arizona to Mexico between June and September.

U.S. census figures from 2008 say about 30 percent of people living in Arizona are Hispanic, or about 1.9 million.

The state is appealing a ruling that put on hold parts of the law, which would have allowed police to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.

Immigrants are heavily employed in Arizona's construction industry, which has suffered -- along with the rest of the state's economy -- in the economic downturn.

In that and other studies released at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, BBVA Bancomer Research -- part of the financial group of the same name -- estimated that probably about 720,000 Mexican migrants were unemployed in the United States when the study concluded in late October.

The study also predicts that remittances -- the money sent home by migrants working abroad -- won't recover their peak value of about $26 billion until 2012 or 2013.

Remittances fell in 2008 and 2009, largely because of the U.S. slowdown.

Remittances are Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income after oil exports. Nearly all of the money comes from the U.S., where nearly 12 million Mexicans live.

The research center also estimated that remittances were dwarfed by the amount of money Mexican migrants paid in taxes in the United States -- about $53 billion in 2008.
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'Major' Human Smuggling Cell Busted in Arizona

2010-11-10T22:40:00.000-06:00

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Published November 10, 2010 | Associated Press

Authorities have dismantled a major cell of a human smuggling ring that may be responsible for the transportation of thousands of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to Phoenix and other parts of the country, investigators said Wednesday.

Nine people were arrested Wednesday after a yearlong investigation. They have not yet been charged but are accused of picking up illegal immigrants after they crossed the border by foot, and taking them to what are known as drop houses in Phoenix before they were distributed to other parts of the country.

The group was led by a man who told them his name is Mark Rodriguez-Banks, although investigators were working to determine whether that is his real name and if he was living in the country legally, said Arizona Department of Public Safety Capt. Fred Zumbo.

All but one of those arrested are believed to be in the country illegally. Their names were not released.

Rodriguez-Banks provided vehicles for the immigrants' transportation from the border to Phoenix, and from there to other parts of the country, Zumbo said.

Authorities seized 62 vans from the group Wednesday, some of which were disguised as belonging to flower or carpet cleaning companies. None of the vehicles had been reported stolen but were registered to people with addresses that don't exist.

Zumbo said the group specialized in smuggling people from Central America, and that many of their customers -- who paid to be taken to various U.S. cities -- came from Guatemala.

The group has been connected to a June 2009 vehicle rollover near the southern Arizona town of Sonoita in which 11 illegal immigrants from Central America in the vehicle were killed. Twenty-seven people had been "stacked like wood" inside, and most were ejected after a tire blew and the vehicle rolled.

Members of the group also were involved in two other reports last year of transporting illegal immigrants. Charges in those cases involved resisting arrest, fleeing law enforcement, aggravated assault on an officer and endangerment.

The group displayed a "total disregard" for human life, said Zumbo, who leads the Illegal Immigration Prevention & Apprehension Co-op Team, a task force of Arizona law enforcement agencies that targets human smuggling.

"We have put a huge dent in the human smuggling arena, not only in Maricopa County but in Arizona," he said. "We are going after the mid- to upper-level players in these organizations."

The seized vans surely would have been used to smuggle more people, Zumbo said.

"The biggest thing that we need to look at on this case is what we prevented possibly, because this group was very violent," he said. "These vans were potential hazards on our highways, they were possibly going to hurt and injure our citizens because of the reckless disregard of these human smugglers."

Arizona is the busiest illegal entry point for human and drug smugglers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Between 40 percent and 50 percent of all immigrant arrests each year on the border are made in the state, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
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Wife of Man Missing on Border Lake Wants Obama to Take On Mexican Cartels

2010-10-25T01:29:00.000-05:00

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Published October 24, 2010 | FoxNews.com

Tiffany Hartley, the wife of David Hartley who was allegedly shot and killed by Mexican pirates on a border lake with Texas, is telling President Obama that it's time to take on drug cartels.

"He should wake up and look what's going on in our backyards," she told the Denver Post.

Hartley says her husband's death should be a focal point as to why the U.S. should take on these drug cartels.

"David is not the only American who has been killed, but this situation may be a turning point," she told the paper.

Hartley returned to Colorado on Saturday to be with her family from McAllen, Texas, where the couple had been living.

"The hardest part of it all was leaving without him," she told Colorado Fox affiliate KDVR.com.

She says she wants to continue raising awareness about the ongoing border violence crisis.

"I am ready for the challenge. I don't want his death to have been in vain," she told the Denver Post

Hartley told authorities the couple were sightseeing when her husband was shot Sept. 30 by gunmen who ambushed them on the Mexico side of Falcon Lake, where pirates have robbed several Americans this year.

Authorities have not found David Hartley's body.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here for more on this story from KDVR.com.

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Texas Nat'l Guardsman Murdered in Juarez

2010-10-22T00:11:00.001-05:00

Published October 21, 2010 | FoxNews.com

A 21-year-old Texas National Guardsman was one of two men murdered Wednesday in the violent border city Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the FBI says.

El Paso FBI Officer Michael Martinez says Pfc. Jose Gil Hernandez, an El Paso native, was shot Wednesday afternoon in the Colonia Revolucion Mexicana in Ciudad Juarez.

"We were informed yesterday afternoon of the incident at 4pm Mountain Standard Time. Right now we are determining what happened so we can determine if we will open an investigation and what type of investigation it will be," Martinez told Fox News.

The identity of the other victim was not available.

Martinez said the FBI is working closely with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division but the fact that the incident happened in Mexico, and specifically in Juarez, could hinder an investigation.

"Liaisons are in Mexico right now gathering information. Then we will determine a course of action," he said.

Ciudad Juarez has become one of the world's deadliest cities amid a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels. More than 2,000 people have been killed this year in the city, which is across the border from El Paso.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Feds knew Mexican Assassins in AZ; did nothing more than put up signs

2010-10-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

DHS Alerted AZ Sheriffs That Mexican Drug Cartel Was Sending Assassins Into Arizona Valley, Then Did No More Than Set Up Signs To Warn Travelers Away

Friday, October 15, 2010
By Penny Starr

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has made public an e-mail sent by the Department of Homeland Security to law enforcement officials in Arizona in May warning of Mexican drug cartel operations in the state's Vekol Valley, located about 70 miles from the U.S. border with Mexico.

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned Arizona law enforcement officials in May that Mexican drug cartels were deploying assassins to kill bandits highjacking their drug loads in the Vekol Valley, 70 miles inside Arizona. Then the federal government set up signs in the region to warn American citizens away from this area of U.S. sovereign territory.

That local law enforcement would be left to confront agents of a foreign cartel coming across the international border of the United States to carry out a deadly drug war on U.S. soil is further evidence that the federal government is not doing its duty to secure the border, said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

“This is confirmed intelligence that Mexican drug cartels are now working in concert to protect their drug loads in the United States, literally, to send well-armed, military trained--even with ballistic vests--up to my county,” Babeu told CNSNews.com.

“This clearly is no longer a public safety issue,” he said. “This is a national security issue. The violence is bleeding into America and we must stop it.”

The DHS sent an e-mail on May 13, 2010 to several law enforcement agencies warning that Mexican drug cartels were deploying “sicarios” (assassins) into the western part of Pinal County, Ariz., to “take out” bandits that were robbing drug smugglers who had entered the United States from Mexico through the Arizona desert.

The e-mail was sent on May 13, 2010, and made public this Friday, Oct. 15, after local media in Arizona obtained the e-mail and questioned local law enforcement about it.

Babeu said that until now the e-mail was kept private because it was considered “law enforcement sensitive.” But Babeu, a critic of the Obama administration’s handling of immigration and border security issues, said he released it today because it constitutes further evidence that the government is not protecting Americans from the threats posed by a porous border.

“This is unacceptable for our federal government not to secure the border and not to respond to these threats,” Babeu told CNSNews.com. “How has it become in America [that] local sheriffs and law enforcement have to go up onto hillsides and pull people out of caves and take lookouts and scouts, who have binoculars, and night vision, and communication devices which are encrypted and rolling – they said so, right in the memo.”

The May 13 e-mail reads, in part: “

We just received information from a proven credible confidential source who reported that last weekend, a meeting was held in Puerto Penasco in which every smuggling organization who utilized the Vekol Valley was told to attend. This included rival groups within the Guzman cartel.

“It was decided that the cartel would send a group of fifteen, very well equipped and armed sicarios complete with bullet proof vests, into the Vekol Valley” the e-mail continues. “The Cartel has a map of where the most bandit activity has been occurring. The group will walk into the valley taking four days to get into LPOP positions and communicate back to Penasco. Penasco will then send groups of simulated backpackers carrying empty boxes covered with burlap into the Vekol Valley to draw out the bandits. Once the bandits have been identified, the sicarios will take out the bandits.”

“Incidentally” the e-mail continues,” the night of the Vekol Valley shooting, we received information from a source who reported that the scouts in the valley (the Cartel has 23 scout locations with rolling encryption) were reporting that bandits had shot two sheriff’s deputies and the area was covered with cops.”

The last portion of the e-mail apparently refers to the reported ambush of Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll, who was shot while scouting the Vekol Valley area on April 30, two weeks before DHS sent the e-mail warning of drug cartel operations in the small location.

While Vekol Valley in southwest Arizona is about 70 miles north from the U.S.-Mexico border, Puerto Penasco – the site where DHS said the drug cartels were meeting to discuss the assassination plot – is a resort town on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, a little more than 60 miles south from the border.

Babeu said despite the federal government’s intelligence, it failed to respond to its own warning, except to install 15 billboard-sized warning notices in the Vekol Valley area cited in the DHS e-mail.

“It is right in that exact location,” Babeu said of the signs that were erected shortly after the e-mail was sent. “That’s why they put up these signs. They knew of this and the only thing they did was put up signs warning our citizens to stay out.”

Babeu said the federal government’s border security policy has failed and action should be taken immediately to stem further violence by Mexican drug cartels on U.S. soil.

DHS did not respond to phone or e-mail requests from CNSNews.com for comment on this story and the May 13 e-mail.
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Justice Dept. asks judge to force Ariz. sheriff to turn over documents in civil-rights probe

2010-09-14T17:21:00.000-05:00

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Published September 13, 2010 | Associated Press

The Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Arizona to force Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office to provide full and immediate access to records and facilities for a civil-rights investigation without going to trial.

The motion for summary judgment filed Monday also asks the court to force the sheriff's office to comply with all future requests involving the probe.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department filed an unprecedented lawsuit against Arpaio's office for refusing to turn over documents or allow federal officials to evaluate jails and interview staff.

The sheriff's office has challenged whether the Justice Department is entitled to everything it has requested, such as records on booking procedures, language services and arrests.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/13/justice-dept-asks-judge-force-ariz-sheriff-turn-documents-civil-rights-probe/
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States Join Legal Brief Supporting Ariz. Immigration Law as Donations Roll Into Gov. Brewer's Defense Fund

2010-09-04T20:47:00.000-05:00

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Published September 04, 2010 | Associated Press

PHOENIX -- Nearly a dozen states have filed a legal brief in support of Arizona's controversial immigration law.

A"friend of the court" brief filed with the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday argues that a federal judge was wrong to block implementation of key provisions of the law.

The brief submitted by Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox argues that the judge used the wrong legal standard to rule on the U.S. Justice Department's request for a preliminary injunction.

It also says the judge erred in ruling that the law interferes with the executive branch's immigration enforcement priorities.

Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia joined in the filing.

In addition to the legal brief, a Wyoming man has given more than $1.5 million to help defend Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement measure in court, Gov. Jan Brewer's office said Thursday.

The contribution from Timothy Mellon of Saratoga is the largest to Brewer's defense fund, which has amassed more than $3.6 million from 41,000 donors nationwide. Mellon could not immediately be reached for comment.

The latest legal bills released Thursday show Brewer's office has spent more than $440,000 for the first two months of defending the law.

The bills, obtained through a public records request by The Associated Press, are for work performed through June by Phoenix law firm Snell & Wilmer. They do not cover July hearings in federal court before a judge Susan Bolton temporarily blocked enforcement of the law's most controversial provisions.

Brewer has appealed Bolton's order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Her office is defending the state against seven lawsuits challenging Arizona's law, including cases filed by the U.S. Justice of Department, civil rights groups and two police officers.

Bolton has dismissed two of the cases.

"The fees incurred have been, and will continue to be, sizeable," Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said, noting there have been more than 900 legal filings totaling more than 12,000 pages.

Arizona's law would generally require officers enforcing other measures to check the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.

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Massive Manhunt Underway After Sheriff's Deputy Shot and Killed Near Ariz. Border

2010-08-27T14:20:00.002-05:00

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Massive Manhunt Underway After Sheriff's Deputy Shot and Killed Near Ariz. Border

Published August 27, 2010 | FoxNews.com

Authorities in Utah are investigating a "credible sighting" of a gunman who allegedly shot and killed a Utah sheriff's deputy in a remote desert area in northern Arizona, Fox13Now.com reported.

Utah police said Kane County, Utah, Deputy Sheriff Brian Harris was shot Thursday about three miles east of Fredonia, a small town just south of the Utah border.

Officials say Harris, 41, was chasing a burglary suspect, identified as Scott Curley, 23, on foot Thursday afternoon when the suspect allegedly opened fire on Harris, killing the deputy with a high-powered rifle.

The manhunt for Curley continued through the night and into Friday. Scores of police officers, including FBI agents and U.S. Marshals from multiple states, scoured the remote desert area for any sign of Curley, described by authorities as Native American and 5"7', weighing 170 pounds.

On Friday, authorities said they received a 911 call from a woman in Kanab, Utah, who claimed she spotted a man matching Curley's description, according to the station.

The woman reportedly told police that the man was armed and standing near a trailer on a dirt road just six miles east of Kanab.

Arizona court records show multiple arrests for Curley, whom acquaintances describe as violent and unstable. Fox13Now.com reported that the incident first unfolded when Curley broke into Fredonia High School on Thursday, looking to steal chemicals in the science lab to make methamphetamine. A school custodian caught Curley, who then held him hostage for more than three hours, the station reported.

Coconino County sheriff's commander Kurt Braatz said Harris was a resident of Mount Carmel, Utah, married with two daughters.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert described the sheriff's deputy as a lawman who put "himself in a dangerous situation to protect his community."

Harris' friends and family members gathered at his home on Friday to offer comfort and condolences.

"He was our go-to guy," his mother Bonnie Harris told The Salt Lake City Tribune. "He did everything for us."

The Gulf War veteran joined the sheriff's office after returning from the Mideast and enjoyed his work, especially rescuing lost or stranded people, said his brother, Bert Harris.

"He loved law enforcement. It was his thing," said his father Bruce Harris.

Click here to read more on this story from Fox13Now.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Arizona Hits Back at Immigration Ruling as 'Wrong' on Law

2010-08-26T23:54:00.000-05:00

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Arizona Files Legal Brief Hitting Back at Federal Ruling Against State's Immigration Law

Published August 26, 2010 | FoxNews.com

PHOENIX -- Gov. Jan Brewer's lawyers on Thursday filed the first brief in their appeal of a ruling that put the most controversial elements of Arizona's new immigration law on hold.

The governor says the federal ruling blocking portions of Arizona's controversial immigration law "has caused irreparable harm" to the state's residents.

Brewer wants the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reverse the ruling U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton made last month.

The governor's office says Bolton abused her discretion by applying the wrong legal standards and basing her ruling on the federal government's speculation that it would be harmed by Arizona's law. Brewer says the judge ignored key provisions of federal law that allow states to enforce immigration law.

"The decision to suspend portions of SB 1070 has caused irreparable harm to the safety and well-being of Arizona's citizens who continue to suffer every day that the federal government refuses to do its job," Brewer said in a written statement.

The U.S. Justice Department went to court in a bid to invalidate the law.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment Thursday.

Bolton blocked provisions of the law that requires immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers and that require police, while enforcing other laws, to question people's immigration status if there is a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.

But the judge let other portions take effect late last month, such a ban on blocking traffic when people seek or offer day-labor services on streets, and amendments to existing state immigration laws.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Ariz. Shelves Plan to Alter Immigration Law

2010-08-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

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- Associated Press, August 18, 2010

PHOENIX -- Arizona legislators are setting aside Gov. Jan Brewer's suggestion that lawmakers consider changing parts of the state's controversial immigration law.

Brewer on July 30 floated the idea of making "tweaks" to the law shortly after a federal judge blocked implementation of numerous provisions. Legislative aides said Tuesday the idea has been shelved, at least temporarily, mainly because of the state's pending appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Everyone agreed ... that it would have been acting in haste to act at this point," said Victor Riches, chief of staff for the House of Representatives' Republican majority.

There's still a possibility that lawmakers could take up the issue in the future but nothing is in the works now, Riches added.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brewer didn't suggest specific changes to the law but expressed a willingness to consider changes in response to the preliminary injunction issued July 28 by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton.

Legislative leaders voiced skepticism about Brewer's idea from the get-go but had aides review it before concluding that no immediate action should be taken.

"It's in the middle of the appeal process. We need to see how at least what the 9th Circuit says," said Greg Jernigan, general counsel to Senate Republicans.

Legislative aides said Brewer raised the possibility of considering changes to the immigration law during a brief special session held last week on an unrelated topic, but she ultimately didn't include it in her special session call.

Jernigan noted that the appellate court has agreed to put the case on a fast track, scheduling a hearing on the case in early November.

Although lawmakers could narrow the reach of a blocked provision barring release of arrested people pending checks of their immigration status, it wasn't realistic to consider changing other provisions blocked by Bolton on grounds that they're pre-empted by federal authority over immigration matters, Jernigan said.

The pre-emption issue will have to be settled by the courts, Jernigan added.

Besides the provision on immigration checks for arrested people, blocked provisions included a requirement that police check a person's status while enforcing other laws if there's a reasonable suspicion the person is in the United States illegally. Bolton also blocked provisions that required immigrants to carry their papers and banned immigrants from soliciting employment in public places.
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