Immigration News

[Soldier4Christ]

In Minnesota, immigration evenhandedness
There's wide disparity nationally in asylum decisions, but region's two judges are close to the norm


They hold the power to grant citizenship or to deport. They can give asylum or send desperate people back to a country in turmoil. They do much of their work outside public scrutiny.

That anonymity has been shattered in recent months. Recent allegations of unprofessional conduct and a rebuke of sorts from U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have cast an uncomfortable spotlight on the nation's 208 federal immigration judges, including two in Minnesota.

And a report released this week guarantees the glare won't go away any time soon.

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research division at Syracuse University, crunched and analyzed nearly 300,000 asylum decisions between 1994 and last year. The report ranked 208 immigration judges in cases where the asylum applicant was represented by legal counsel.

It concluded that there is a wide and troubling disparity in how these cases are decided by immigration court judges, who actually are administrative law judges employed by the U.S. Justice Department and regulated by the agency's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The report, for example, found that one judge in Miami, Maylon Hanson, denied nearly 98 percent of the 1,118 asylum cases he presided over in the past five years. In contrast, Mary McManus, a New York immigration judge, denied just fewer than 10 percent of the 1,638 cases she handled during the same period. The report also found wide variations in similar cases involving judges within the same court jurisdiction.

Minnesota's two sitting federal immigration judges — Joseph Dierkes and Kristin Olmanson — had denial rates much closer to the median the report found — 65 percent. Dierkes, on the immigration bench here since 1997, denied nearly 64 percent of the 667 cases he handled from 2000 to 2005. Olmanson had a 77 percent denial rate for 516 cases.

Last year, the two Minnesota judges rejected 74 percent of the 270 asylum request cases decided by the Bloomington-based immigration court. The court also handles cases from the Dakotas.

The group's researchers believe the report's findings underscore a fairness problem and a "long-standing, widespread and systematic weakness in both the operation and the management of this court.''

"It is clear that these findings directly challenge the (immigration review office's) commitment to providing a 'uniform application of the nation's immigration laws in all cases.' ''

The report follows criticism by prominent members of the federal appellate judiciary after sharply worded reversals of cases that they said underlined a pattern of unprofessionalism and bias.

Perhaps the biggest verbal blow came from Joseph Posner, a noted scholar and appeals judge in Chicago, who said the handling of these cases "at the administrative level has fallen below the minimum standards of legal justice. "

Gonzales publicly acknowledged a problem, chiding some judges' behavior as "intemperate and even abusive." He ordered a sweeping review of the immigration court system. A report may be released as early as this month.

Immigration attorneys and others who deal with the local court, however, described Dierkes and Olmanson as "above average'' and mostly professional, even in cases that went against their clients. They also stressed that a small fraction of asylum cases rise to the level of appellate review.

"Our judges are good people, and try to do their jobs well,'' said Michele Garnett McKenzie, director of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights' refugee and immigration program.

McKenzie finds the disparity "not surprising but troubling.''

"I think that a first step is being taken by the court administration to look at these allegations of misconduct and unfairness, as well as better training and oversight of the courts,'' she said.

Ben Casper, an immigration lawyer, agrees with McKenzie that the selection of federal immigration judges in recent years has been top-heavy on former Immigration and Naturalization Service prosecutors.

"I believe a balance of people, from other fields … might be a healthier mix.'' Casper says a key factor in the disparity lies in the way judges assess credibility.

Unlike most cases, asylum seekers don't come to court with a note from their torturer or the government that may want to persecute them. Most cases, absent clear and convincing evidence, center on the truthfulness, or lack thereof, of the person's tale. "What may also help is finding a way for judges to better calibrate their credibility level,'' he said.

John Keller, executive director of the Immigration Law Center of Minnesota, said he has heard ''horror stories'' from immigration lawyers across the country about the way cases have been adjudicated.

But he also gives the local judges, particularly Dierkes, a general thumb's up.

"I have no complaints,'' Keller said. "He's (Dierkes) been fair on a number of occasions and he doesn't want to send people back to hell or to a dangerous situation.''

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigration law firm grows

Siskind Susser Immigration Lawyers has merged with the New York-based Eric Bland Law Firm, creating Siskind Susser Bland P.C.

Following the merger, Memphis-based Siskind Susser, already one of the largest immigration law firms in North America, is poised to become one of the nation's premier law firms for clients in the arts, sports and fashion industries.

"Eric's firm is one of top immigration firms in the country for the entertainment and fashion industries," said Greg Siskind, partner. "We've been doing a lot of that kind of work recently ourselves, so expanding with his firm made sense."

The work includes handling non-immigrant and immigrant visas, citizenship proceedings, visa processing at U.S. embassies abroad and other compliance issues.

The combined firm will have 18 attorneys and about 30 employees overall, with offices in Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and now New York.

Some of Siskind Susser's entertainment industry clients have included Cirque de Soleil, the British Broadcasting Corp and production companies behind Broadway shows such as "Hairspray" and "Wicked."

In New York, Bland has represented some of the world's best known recording studios and studio design firms.

Bland has also collectively represented a number of top modeling agencies and processed visa applications for several of the world's most famous international models, including Helena Christensen, Petra Nemcova, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, among others.

"This merger allows our firm to join some of the top firms in the fashion and entertainment industry as far as immigration is concerned," said firm partner David Jones. "It's an opportunity to broaden the services we offer and become a leader in a very interesting practice area."

Bland said the combination of the two firms will improve service for both firms' clients.

"We want to keep a boutique feel and are committed to client service and relationships even as we grow," Bland said. "The expansion will allow us to implement new technology, increase the depth of our knowledge in several key areas and more effectively serve our clients nationally and internationally."

Having a larger New York office will also strengthen the national identity of the firm Siskind said.

"As we're doing more global work, it is important to have an expanded office in New York City, the financial capital of the country," he said.

Still, Siskind said much of the immigration work that's currently being done in New York will likely be moved to Memphis because it's cheaper to do it here.

That does not mean, however, that Memphians might be catching glimpses of Shalom Harlow or Naomi Campbell at the Rendezvous anytime soon.

"The models themselves won't be coming around Memphis," Siskind said. "But we do plan on expanding our staff and will be looking for attorneys with arts and entertainment experience."

Through its participation in Visalaw International, a global immigration lawyers' alliance, Siskind Susser Bland also maintains affiliate offices in twelve countries.

[Soldier4Christ]

2 Border Patrol agents
face 20 years in prison
Officers prosecuted – wounded drug trafficker
given full immunity in exchange for testimony

When Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos pulled the trigger last February, all he knew was that his partner was lying on the ground behind him – bloodied from a struggle with a fleeing suspect – shots had been fired and now, it appeared, the drug smuggler he was pursuing had turned toward him with what looked to be a gun in his hand.

In the split-second he had to respond, Ramos determined the course of his and his partner's lives – federal prison for the next 20 years for assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, violating civil rights and obstruction of justice.

Ramos, 37, is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year.

On February 17, he responded to a request for back up from agent Jose Alonso Compean, 28, who noticed a suspicious van near the levee road along the Rio Grande River near the Texas town of Fabens, about 40 miles east of El Paso.

Ramos, who headed toward Fabens hoping to cut off the van, soon joined a third agent already in pursuit.

Behind the wheel of the van was an illegal alien, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila of Mexico. Unknown to the growing number of Border Patrol agents converging on Fabens, Aldrete-Davila's van was carrying 800 pounds of marijuana.

Unable to outrun Ramos and the third agent, Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on the levee, jumped out and started running toward the river. When he reached the other side of the levee, he was met by Compean who had anticipated the smuggler's attempt to get back to Mexico.

"We both yelled out for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop, and he just kept running," Ramos said. Aldrete-Davila crossed a canal.

"At some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired," Ramos said. "Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler."

At that point, Ramos said, Aldrete-Davila turned toward him, pointing what looked like a gun.

"I shot," Ramos said. "But I didn't think he was hit, because he kept running into the brush and then disappeared into it. Later, we all watched as he jumped into a van waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all."

The commotion and multiple calls for back up had brought seven other agents – including two supervisors – to the crossing by this time. Compean picked up his shell casings, but Ramos did not. He also did not follow agency procedure and report that he had fired his weapon.

"The supervisors knew that shots were fired," Ramos told the Ontario, Calif., Daily Bulletin. "Since nobody was injured or hurt, we didn't file the report. That's the only thing I would've done different."

Had he done that one thing differently, it's unlikely it would have mattered to prosecutors.

Over two weeks after the incident, Christopher Sanchez, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, received a call from a Border Patrol agent in Wilcox, Ariz. The agent's mother-in-law had received a call from Aldrete-Davila's mother in Mexico telling her that her son had been wounded in the buttocks in the shooting.

Sanchez followed up with a call of his own to the smuggler in Mexico.

In a move that still confuses Ramos and Compean, the U.S. government filed charges against them after giving full immunity to Aldrete-Davila and paying for his medical treatment at an El Paso hospital.

At trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof told the court that the agents had violated an unarmed Aldrete-Davila's civil rights.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of someone's Fourth Amendment rights to shoot them in the back while fleeing if you don't know who they are and/or if you don't know they have a weapon," said Kanof.

Kanof dismissed Ramos' testimony that he had seen something shiny in the smuggler's hand, saying that the agent couldn't be sure it was a gun he had seen.

Further, Kanof argued, it was a violation of Border Patrol policy for agents to pursue fleeing suspects.

"Agents are not allowed to pursue. In order to exceed the speed limit, you have to get supervisor approval, and they did not," she said.

Those shell casings Compean picked up were described to the jury as destroying the crime scene and their failure to file an incident report – punishable by a five-day suspension, according to Border Patrol regulations – an attempted cover up.

The Texas jury came back with a guilty verdict. Conviction for discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence has an automatic 10-year sentence. The other counts have varying punishments. Ramos and Compean will be sentenced next month.

"How are we supposed to follow the Border Patrol strategy of apprehending terrorists or drug smugglers if we are not supposed to pursue fleeing people?" said Ramos, who noted that he only did on that day what he had done for the previous 10 years. "Everybody who's breaking the law flees from us. What are we supposed to do? Do they want us to catch them or not?"

He also noted that none of the other agents who had responded to the incident filed reports that shots were fired and, besides, both supervisors at the scene knew they had discharged their weapons.

"You need to tell a supervisor because you can't assume that a supervisor knows about it," Kanof countered. "You have to report any discharge of a firearm."

"This is the greatest miscarriage of justice I have ever seen," said Andy Ramirez of the nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol. "This drug smuggler has fully contributed to the destruction of two brave agents and their families and has sent a very loud message to the other Border Patrol agents: If you confront a smuggler, this is what will happen to you."

The El Paso Sheriff's Department has increased its patrols around the Ramos home. The family is receiving threats from people they believe are associated with Aldrete-Davila.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexico calling on U.S. to stem weapons trade


MEXICO CITY - Mexico's top organized crime prosecutor has called on U.S. officials to do more to halt illegal weapons trafficking to help Mexico stem a wave of bloody, drug-fueled violence.

Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, in remarks Thursday, said the rising brutality of recent drug executions was due to hit men taking over cartels after their bosses were arrested.

"It's foreseeable that this type of violence will continue like this," Santiago Vasconcelos told a small group of foreign reporters, "because the Mexican government will never make any deals" with drug gangs.

"We know that there is a large amount of arms traffic ... in the United States, that they have to bring under control," Santiago Vasconcelos said. "There's this incredibly big black market that has to be controlled."

"The last time we spoke with (U.S. officials), we told them ... 'If these types of weapons weren't flowing through, they'd have to use stones to attack each other,' " he said.

He said Mexico also is troubled by increasing amounts of cocaine as well as small-scale heroin shipments arriving from Venezuelan airports.

[Soldier4Christ]

9 Illegal Immigrants Die in Ariz. Crash


YUMA, Ariz. - A sport utility vehicle crammed with illegal immigrants swerved to avoid a Border Patrol spike strip and rolled over, killing nine people and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.

Five of the injured were in critical condition, Sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said

The large sport utility vehicle was carrying up to 22 people, he said.

Yuma, in southwestern Arizona, has become the nation's busiest immigrant-smuggling hotspot. This spring, Border Patrol agents had been seeing spikes in arrests of illegal immigrants and cases every day of criminals preying on border crossers.

[Soldier4Christ]

Stitch this: Illegals sewn into van seats
Federal officials extract 2 men, 1 woman who tried entering from Mexico

Calif. Man Arrested After Migrants Allegedly Sewn In Seats

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a U.S. man Tuesday morning after they say he tried to smuggle three migrants into the country hidden in the seats of his vehicle.

CBP officers said they encountered the driver, a 33-year-old resident of Rosarito, Mexico, as he entered the port at about 5 a.m. driving a GMC Vendura van.

According to authorities, the driver stated he was a citizen of the United States and presented a valid California identification and birth certificate to the officer.

The primary officer said the driver has a nervous demeanor. The officer referred the vehicle and occupant to a secondary lot for a more in-depth examination.

In the secondary lot, CBP officers discovered three undocumented migrants sewn into three seats of the conversion van, including the driver’s seat. CBP officers said they carefully extracted two men and a woman from inside the seats.

Officers determined that the two men and woman are citizens of Mexico. They are being detained as material witnesses in the prosecution case.

The driver was charged with alien smuggling and was transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center to await arraignment. The vehicle was seized by CBP.

"This case illustrates the length to which smugglers will go to transport undocumented people into the United States," said Adele Fasano, director of field operations in San Diego. "This involved good basic police work by alert CBP officers who intercepted this case."

[Soldier4Christ]

Deja Vu for Driver in Deadly Crash


YUMA, Ariz.
A man accused of trying to flee from Border Patrol agents before crashing a vehicle packed with illegal immigrants, killing nine, was accused of leading authorities on a similarly dangerous chase last year, federal court records show.

After that chase, Adan Pineda Doval, 20, was sentenced on a misdemeanor charge, according to the records.

Pineda is in federal custody on a charge of felony transportation of illegal aliens for Monday's crash more than 30 miles north of Yuma, which also injured a dozen immigrants.

Federal officials said he was trying to avoid a Border Patrol checkpoint and led agents on a chase before trying to make a U-turn and overturning the Chevrolet Suburban he was driving.

Pineda led agents on a similar pursuit north of Yuma in June 2005, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Yuma.

"During the pursuit the defendant drove erratically, swerving toward (Arizona Department of Public Safety) officers and Border Patrol agents, putting the lives of the agents and his passengers in danger," federal officials alleged in a statement included with the 2005 complaint against Pineda.

Pineda had entered the U.S. illegally near Andrade, Calif., and was charged with illegal entry. The federal statement listed several more serious crimes, including aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and endangerment, but he was sentenced to six months in a federal facility on the misdemeanor entry count less than a week after the crash.

Pineda apparently received a plea deal that federal prosecutors call a "flip-flop" - used because there are so many smuggling cases, said Ann Harwood, a spokeswoman for the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office.

In a flip-flop, normally offered to smugglers who didn't endanger those they were smuggling, the defendant is charged with a felony and a misdemeanor but is allowed to plead guilty only to the lesser charge.

Harwood told The Sun of Yuma that without knowing the evidence against Pineda in the first case she could not say whether he should have been prosecuted on more serious charges.

Pineda is charged only with one felony in Monday's incident but may face further counts, federal officials said.

[Soldier4Christ]

9 charged in Asia-U.S. prostitution ring

SEATTLE -- Authorities said nine people were arrested Thursday as investigators broke an international sex-trafficking ring that smuggled Asian women into the U.S. in shipping containers.

Seven conspirators in a "highly organized national network prostitution ring" were arrested in Seattle and two in Los Angeles, the U.S. attorney's office said.

According to court documents, Yong Jun Kang, 36, of Seattle, operated brothels in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, where he and others would bring Asian women, most of whom were in the United States illegally.

Authorities allege that Kang told confidential informants that women were being smuggled into the U.S. in shipping containers after paying as much as $50,000. Some of the women, investigators said, were brought into the United States by crossing the Canadian border.

The women came from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Laos, and were forced to pay debts to smugglers by working in brothels, federal prosecutors said.

Others arrested are accused of managing the brothels, transporting prostitutes and operating an escort service that allegedly served as a front for prostitution. A woman identified as a prostitute and a close confidant of Kang's also was arrested.

They face charges of conspiracy to transport individuals in furtherance of prostitution, conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.

A message left with Kang's attorney Thursday afternoon was not immediately returned.

Authorities said the 21-month investigation by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Seattle police used confidential informants, court-approved wiretaps and Global Positioning Satellite units to identify participants.

[Soldier4Christ]

Police pull over immigrants, find cash, cell phones
Man from Republic of Georgia had laptop computer, global-positioning software

Foreigner Found With Prepaids, Cash In Murrysville Is Held By Feds

A man from the Republic of Georgia is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison after he and another man from that country were found with 15 prepaid cell phones and $4,200 in cash, police said.

The Tribune-Review reported that Malkhaz Zakutashvili, 53, was held through the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Murrysville police said the federal agency told police not to hold the second man, Zurabi Maisuradze, 25.

Police said the men were questioned just before 8 p.m. Saturday because their van, which did not have a permanent registration plate, was stopped in a lane of traffic in the Franklin Plaza parking lot.

The men said they were immigrants, but each displayed Michigan driver's licenses, police said.

Zakutashvili told police he was in the country illegally, Tappe said. Maisuradze claimed to have a visa, but he said he had forgotten to bring it with him.

The prepaid cell phones, which the men had recently purchased in Monroeville and Murrysville, were found inside the van. Also in the van were a laptop computer and global-positioning software.

A bomb-sniffing dog found nothing suspicious in the van, which had no seats or wall paneling inside, police said.

The men said they were on the way to Philadelphia and had visited a local drug store to buy batteries, police said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Duty in desert competitive, not all serious

The humvee is a mere silhouette on the ridgeline, visible only from the east after almost a half-hour drive on rocky cattle roads.

And even then, as the trail winds higher, closer to the military truck, the vehicle still appears to be a toy set atop the rugged mountain.

From the other side, down in the Rio Grande Valley, the truck is invisible.

So are the faces behind the binoculars surveying a distant roadway and ranch land below.

The three Arkansas National Guardsmen atop this mountain boast that they have helped capture more illegal immigrants and smugglers than any other team.

In the month they’ve been working these hills, they’ve been involved in 54 apprehensions. Each watch team works a 24-hour shift, followed by 48 hours off. Of course, the hourslong commute to these remote locations cuts into that time off.

Ask any of the 120 Arkansas soldiers who are working on the southern border of New Mexico and they’ll tell you the competition among them is keen. They are deployed there as part of Operation Jump Start, President Bush’s plan to use guardsmen to bolster border security until 6, 000 more border agents are added to the ranks.

“I like it, I volunteered for this one,” said Sgt. Jeff Clark of Redwater, Texas. “I like being a part of history. I wanted to come down here and tell my kids I was down here.”

Clark looked down to the glistening water below and vowed to cross the fabled river before the six-month deployment is over. Blue and gray mountains rise on each side of the river valley.

Soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard will be deployed in New Mexico until 2008 on sixmonth rotations.

The current rotation is Charlie Company, 1 st Battalion of Arkansas’ 39 th Infantry Brigade.

The company saw some of the toughest fighting in Baghdad during the brigade’s Iraq deployment in 2004-05. Clark, who was assigned to a different company in Baghdad, wears a bullet scar on his right cheek.

They say their experience in Iraq brings perspective to helping protect the nation’s border.

“It’s been a good experience,” Spc. William Wesson of Bismarck said. “People don’t realize what these guys [border agents ] have to do.”

“We’ve seen some pretty unscrupulous smugglers, women with babies, you name it,” said Steve Higgs, agent in charge of the Las Cruces Border Patrol Station, who traveled Wednesday to the observation post. Higgs said he’s seen cars with fake batteries packed full of cocaine while smaller batteries inside powered the vehicles.

There’s a lot of levity on this mountaintop, though.

The soldiers laugh about a Georgia soldier who spotted movement in a different sector using a thermal scope and ended up calling out the Border Patrol on a renegade cow.

“I check it with someone else before I call it in,” Clark laughed. “I’m not going to be the guy who calls in a cow.”

Wesson stood on the mountain and watched a rainstorm pound a peak on the ridge to the west.

“I like the other site we work better,” he said. “We spotted more there.”

Rains washed out the area, preventing them from working it for a few days. Rain in the desert comes in torrents, able to wash away vehicles in a flash and leaving deep mud for weeks.

“I think the closest we’ve been to anybody is three miles,” Wesson said. “We spot ’em, call it in and the agents go get ’em. Those guys are good. They can pick up footprints and track them.”

Under a camouflage cover, Spc. Paul Wagner hunkers down behind his binoculars, looking left, then right.

The 22-year-old from Bismarck was coached by his fellow soldier, Wesson, in Little League years ago. They didn’t know they were both going to the border until they started sharing the same observation posts.

“I’ve been enjoying it, a little time away from home,” Wagner said.

For the Border Patrol, it’s all about having more eyes on the ground.

“We like to put people out there when we can, but don’t always have the manpower,” said Higgs. The first day on the job, fresh from Arkansas, the soldiers on this mountain spotted a group of 23 illegal immigrants.

For the soldiers, it’s about surveillance — a soldier’s specialty.

“This is truly an infantry mission,” said Col. Don Cronkhite, director of military support for the Arkansas National Guard, after seeing the outpost. “This is what we do.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Immigrant critically hurt in smuggling crash gives birth

YUMA - A pregnant woman critically injured in the crash of a smuggler's SUV Monday gave birth by Caesarean section at a Phoenix hospital.

The 3-pound, 11-ounce baby girl was doing well, said Jorge Solchaga of the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix.

The baby, born on Tuesday, has been nicknamed Milagros, or "Miracles."

The pregnant woman was with a smuggler and 20 other illegal immigrants in a Chevy Suburban that overturned Monday while trying to elude U.S. Border Patrol agents about 30 miles north of Yuma. Nine immigrants were killed and 12 injured.

The mother and four other injured migrants remain hospitalized, but eight others have been released from hospitals in Yuma and Phoenix.

The driver of the Suburban, 20-year-old Adan Pineda Doval, is jailed on a federal charge of felony transportation of illegal immigrants.

[Soldier4Christ]

10th person dies from injuries in smuggling crash
20-year-old driver jailed after similar chase last year, allowed to plead to misdemeanor

A 17-year-old boy injured when a car packed with illegal immigrants rolled while fleeing the U.S. Border Patrol has died, bringing to 10 the number killed in the wreck, a Mexican Consulate official said.

The boy died Friday at a hospital in Phoenix, where four other injured migrants remain hospitalized, said Jorge Solchaga, head of the protection department of the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix. A premature baby girl born to an injured woman also remains hospitalized.

The rollover happened Monday morning about 30 miles north of Yuma while the sports utility vehicle was being pursued by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The driver lost control and the SUV rolled while trying to avoid a spike strip agents had placed in its path.

The consulate has identified five of the six illegal immigrants originally sent to the Phoenix hospital, but has not released their names or the names of the dead. Solchaga said a woman remains unidentified, and one person was released Thursday.

The Suburban was packed with 20 migrants and an alleged smuggler, who is being held on a federal charge of felony transportation of illegal aliens. Federal officials said additional charges are possible against 20-year-old Adan Pineda Doval.

[Soldier4Christ]

Migrants evicted again

In what may seem like déjà vu, people living in migrant camps in McGonigle Canyon will be ordered to move soon.

It will be the latest attempt to clear people living in illegal huts from the undeveloped land between Carmel Valley and Rancho Peñasquitos, an area that is shrinking as it gives way to new houses.

An outdoor chapel with a small stucco altar, pews and a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe that has served canyon residents for more than 15 years probably will be torn down.

This eviction, officials say, could be the last.

“This is an ongoing situation,” said Pam Hardy, spokeswoman for Scott Peters, the San Diego City Council president who is spearheading the current plan to clear the camps. “We hope a coordinated effort this time is successful.”

Peters' office is working with police and at least six landowners in McGonigle Canyon to post no-trespassing signs within 30 days – the date has not been officially set – and begin enforcing them, Hardy said. The landowners include a trust under the name Robert Barczewski, developers Pardee Homes and DR Horton, the city of San Diego, the Poway Unified School District and a group using the name Horseshoe Investors.

Two years ago, camps were removed from the Barczewski and Pardee properties, Hardy said, only to have them to crop up on the DR Horton land, a more interior parcel. That's why Peters contacted all the landowners this time, Hardy said.

Environmental and public health concerns are prompting this latest effort, Hardy said, as well as “increasingly hostile relations between supporters of migrants and opponents of illegal immigration.”

Many of the men living in the canyon are undocumented, though not all, police say. Immigration agents will not be present when the no-trespassing signs are first enforced, said Capt. Jim Collins of the San Diego Police Department's Northeast Division.

An encounter last month between Minutemen and their supporters and a mobile health clinic that visits the camp to treat workers was described by police as a pushing and shouting match that led to no injuries or arrests. But people on both sides said they felt threatened, and men in the camps say they are often harassed by Minutemen filming there.

 At least two documentary filmmakers from Los Angeles – one a self-described Minuteman supporter, the other who says he wants to document “the Third World living conditions” in the camps – have spent months filming, too. They describe scenes ranging from men living in huts with snakes and rodents to encampments littered with beer cans and condoms.

Nearby residents say condoms found at the camp are evidence of prostitution. Collins said there is no evidence of prostitution or human trafficking at the camp, but said police are still gathering information.

Meanwhile, community groups that offer supplies and medical and spiritual services for the migrant workers say they will follow the men . . . again.

Encampments in McGonigle Canyon grew from a small collection of crude huts for male migrant workers in the late 1980s to a vibrant mini-village also housing women and children by the early 1990s. It was complete with a store, restaurant, political factions which disputed leadership in elections and police problems including domestic abuse. In 1993, there was even a wedding that included a cake and pink and white streamers.

But by 1994, city officials began working with landowners to shut down the enclave because it had grown so large and was considered out of control. About 750 people, including entire families, were moved into apartments, and the camps faded from public view.

Today, as many as 300 people, mostly men, are living in McGonigle Canyon again. There are also a few families, those familiar with the camps say.

Their shelters remain basic, sometimes boxy structures resembling tiny sheds made from scraps of wood or plastic. Often home is just plastic sheeting propped up by trees.

As housing developments spring up around them, the workers' shelters have grown smaller and less conspicuous, said Enrique Morones, director of Border Angels, a group looking for housing for canyon residents. But men still bathe, do laundry and drink out of streams that flow along the canyon floor.

Not far from the camps, a small outdoor chapel that was built by the workers in the early days survives at the base of the canyon near a gurgling stream. Mass is held there on Sundays, usually by a priest from the nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Rancho Peñasquitos.

Last Sunday, a crowd of more than 60 men and members of the church gathered for the service in the tiny structure, hidden among the canyon's trees. Church leaders told the men that the days are numbered for the camps in McGonigle, and suggested they move to others farther from public view because there is no available housing.

Church leaders also announced that the chapel, which survived the first big eviction, is scheduled to be dismantled this time. The landowner may allow the small structure to stay longer than the camps, Hardy said, or could allow church members time to dismantle it themselves, she said. Church leaders are still holding out hope that it could be remain on the property.

As news of the chapel being closed was announced Aug. 6, votive candles flickered before the image of the Virgin, representing prayers that she will help secure steady jobs, safe families and strong bodies.

“We are the pilgrim church that he founded . . . Our friend Jesus will guide us,” the men sang over the noise of the nearby creek.

Farmworker Jose Antonio Espildora, 17, has lived in the canyon for a year because he cannot afford rent, he said. He's on the verge of completing his First Communion, he said, and has made friends at the Sunday services. He's not worried about moving, he said, as long as he completes receiving the sacrament.

Church leaders tried to comfort the workers.

“All of us are the church, and we move with the church,” community leader Jose Gonzalez told them in the Mixtec language.

After the service, the men were served food, given medical treatment by volunteers and offered small tents to prepare them for their move.

“Maybe these will help you survive,” said Christauria Welland, who has been organizing Mass and other events at the camp for about 14 years.

Over the years, dozens of church volunteers have helped at the chapel. Welland has been godmother to children and young men completing their sacraments there.

“A church is a community,” Welland said. “The place means a lot to me. It's wonderful to see people interact. We share the same faith.”

Police say they are working with the nonprofit group Border Angels to find housing for the men. Morones, the human rights activist who heads the group, said Border Angels has been talking to church and other nonprofit groups to find places, but so far without any success.

 At a recent community meeting, Council President Peters told Rancho Peñasquitos residents that the city has hit a roadblock in finding housing, too. The mostly federal affordable-housing money available for families in 1994 has dried up.

Sharon Johnson, Homeless Services Administrator for San Diego, said the city could apply for a $3 million state grant to build farmworker housing. The operational costs for such housing would still be unfunded, though, and there is a larger problem: no place to build.

Johnson said the city owns property in the canyon that was considered for farmworker housing. Five locations were scouted, but each had problems, she said, including land that was not scheduled to remain in agricultural use, an American Indian burial ground, a parcel with no public access and a parcel that included land earmarked for wetlands preservation. The active search is over.

“This is one of those times when it just didn't come together,” Johnson said.

At least one resident of McGonigle Canyon is planning to move before the no-trespassing signs go up.

“There isn't much work,” said Romulo Muñoz, 41, from Oaxaca. If he can't afford to rent an apartment soon, he said, “I'm thinking of moving back to Mexico.”

[Soldier4Christ]

'Private Police Force' group sets sights on illegal immigrants, plans to make citizen's arrests


LA CRESTA -- Fed up with what it says is a failure on the part of authorities to act on the area's illegal immigrant problem, a group purporting to be residents of the affluent, sprawling and isolated La Cresta, Tenaja and Santa Rosa communities is vowing to take matters into its own hands.

A group calling itself Private Police Force announced last week on a new Web site that it will begin doing the job U.S. Border Patrol and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department aren't doing by conducting citizens' arrests on illegal immigrants and detaining them.

If it follows through on its promise, the group would be taking things further than other anti-illegal immigration groups, such as The Minutemen Project, which have previously deployed their members to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border and only report illegal immigrant sightings.

The Private Police Force is threatening to actually detain illegal immigrants.

"They will be handcuffed to the Oak Trees," according to the group's Web site, so they can be picked up by authorities.

"Don't treat this website lightly," the group states. "We will make Citizens Arrests on Illegal Aliens. We will File Criminal and Civil Complaints if you Hire or House an Illegal. If you have sold a vehicle to an illegal, we will prosecute you under the DMV law too. If you house an illegal, we will also prosecute you under the Zoning Laws."

Wendy Lee, a San Diego-based spokeswoman for the U.S. Border Patrol, defended the job her agency has done in the area. The La Cresta-Tenaja-Santa Rosa area is handled by the agency's Murrieta station, she said, and it has done a good job of both being proactive and being responsive when individuals come to the station with tips.

In this case, that isn't happening, she said Tuesday.

"We haven't had a complaint from the community around (Murrieta) stating there is a problem there," Lee said. "We haven't had any reports that I know of. ... If they want to report it to us, we will take care of it."

When asked whether the Private Police Force group could legally conduct citizens' arrests, Lee said she did not have an answer. If the group is found to be violating the rights of individuals, she said, it will have to answer for that.

"This is a free country," Lee said. "They will have to face authorities."

Though it states it is prepared to identify those in the community sympathetic to illegal immigrants, the group ---- which launched its Web site through an anonymous Internet-hosting company ---- is not yet identifying any of its own members.

The names and photos of those who oppose the group's efforts will be posted on the Web site, www.privatepoliceforce.com, according to a statement on the site. The names and photos of known illegal-immigrant workers will also be posted, the statement says.

Also, arrests will be recorded on video and offered for viewing on the Web site, the group states.

The only information provided on the site about the group's members is that "We have three lawyers and several regular police officers who have pledged private investigation time in our area," and that the group would be hiring "a few security professionals."

Requests for interviews through the group's e-mail address were not returned this week.

According to the group's statement, "Many Mexican illegals are stealing from many residents on the Santa Rosa Plateau, including La Cresta, Tenaja and the surrounding communities." The immigrants camp in the nearby canyons and other areas and are employed by homeowners in the community, the statement says.

Many of them have escaped or have been released from Mexican jails and have lengthy criminal records that include child molestation, rape and murder, according to the statement.

Proof is not offered to support any of those claims.

Longtime La Cresta resident Vicki Long said Tuesday that the area has had its share of problems with illegal immigrants over the years. Though she said she is not aware what the situation is now, Long said there was a time several years ago when illegal immigrants would deal drugs and fire guns from a camp near her property.

The group and its Web site, she said, are an indication that it is probably still a problem.

"I just question why they're having to do that when we've got other agencies that should be handling the problem," Long said. "We pay our taxes for that sort of thing. I don't know why law enforcement isn't helping these people. They sound quite desperate."

Though the group echoes some of the things Long said about the illegal immigrant problem in the area on its Web site, it does so with much more inflammatory language.

In a section of the Web site ---- which appears professionally done and features photos of police officers, barbed wire and a set of hands cuffed behind someone's back ---- titled "How to Recognize an Illegal/Thief," the group offers several tips.

Among the things to look for, it states, are "If they carry a short garden hose, used to siphon gas from your car at night" and "If they carry their lunch in a plastic bag composed of stolen oranges and burritos."

[Soldier4Christ]

Proposal could cut
penalties for illegals
California dreamers: It's better
not to get driver's license at all


California lawmakers are working on a plan that would cut the penalty for some of the people who drive without licenses, giving a huge break to those who just don't want to bother with all that nuisance of getting one.

The state Senate has voted 25-14 to endorse a plan that would reduce a required 30-day impoundment of vehicles to 24-hours – if the drivers never bothered to get a license, according to a report by columnist Debra J. Saunders on SFGate.com, an internet portal for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The old law required that 30-day parking plan for the vehicles of drivers caught without licenses, whether they never had one or their licenses were forfeited or suspended.

The new plan keeps that 30-day penalty if a driver's license is suspended or forfeited, but cuts it to 24 hours for those who didn't bother with the system in the first place.

"Break federal immigration law, then break California law by driving without a license, and Sacramento wants you to get your car back the next day so that you can continue driving without a license – and probably without insurance, because you need a license to qualify for it," Saunders wrote.

"It's' almost as if the Legislature is telling illegal immigrants that the state expects them to drive without a license."

State Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, noted it actually penalizes those who try to comply with state law.

The SFGate report said that the bill's author, Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, described the bill as making it "fairer" because it would stop the "excessive penalties" against those "unable to obtain drivers licenses."

John Whitney, a member of the Christian group One LA, told Saunders that his organization has worked for the plan because as a "conservative Christian evangelical," he wanted to see special treatment for those who cannot get licenses because they are not legal residents.

"I am sure that Whitney is right that a month-long impounding of their cars is a hardship on working families. It is also a hardship on people who drive with suspended licenses – as it is meant to me," Saunders wrote.

"The pro-illegal immigrant lobby likes to complain that the law sends mixed messages to illegal immigrants. Then they push for laws – like a slap on the wrist for driving without a license – that muddle the message again," Saunders wrote.

Former Gov. Gray Davis did sign in 2003 a short-lived law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain California licenses. That was repealed when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office.