Thursday, July 9, 2015

AZMEX UPDATE 9-7-15

AZMEX UPDATE 9 JUL 2015

Note:  disinformation?  Does BLM not keep records of the agency's weapons?


Land agency: Agent's gun may have been used in pier slaying
 July 8, 2015 @ 10:24 am


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that it is investigating whether an agent's gun was used in the shooting death of a woman walking on a popular San Francisco pier.



BLM spokeswoman Dana Wilson said the agency is trying to determine who owned the gun and whether it was a personal or service weapon -- the latest twist in a case that has become a flashpoint in the country's debate over immigration.


San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr says the weapon was stolen from a federal agent's car.

Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, who has been deported to his native Mexico five times and is suspected of living in the United States illegally, told television news stations that he found the gun on the pier and that it accidentally fired. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder charges in Kathryn Steinle's death.

Steinle, 32, was gunned down last week while strolling with her father along San Francisco's popular waterfront area.

Federal officials transferred Sanchez to San Francisco's jail in March to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge after he completed his latest prison term for entering the country illegally.

The San Francisco sheriff, citing the city's "sanctuary city" policy, released Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped the drug charge, despite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request to hold him for federal authorities so deportation proceedings could begin.

He told two television stations who interviewed him in jail that he found the gun used in Steinle's killing wrapped in a shirt on the pedestrian pier she was walking on. Sanchez said the gun went off in his hands, and his public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said Tuesday that the San Francisco woman's death appeared accidental.

The shooting has touched off criticism from leading Republican lawmakers and from top Democrats, including California's U.S. senators.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told CNN that San Francisco was wrong to ignore the ICE detainer request and release Sanchez from custody.

"The city made a mistake not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported," Clinton said.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein called on San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to start cooperating with federal immigration officials who want to deport felons such as Sanchez.

"I strongly believe that an undocumented individual, convicted of multiple felonies and with a detainer request from ICE, should not have been released," Feinstein said.

The mayor's office said it has reached out to Homeland Security officials to determine if there's a way to cooperate while still upholding the city's sanctuary policy.

"Mayor Lee shares the senator's concerns surrounding the nature of Mr. Sanchez's transfer to San Francisco and release," said Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said she asked Gov. Jerry Brown if state law was followed in Sanchez's release.

"For decades, I have supported deporting violent criminals, and I have always believed that sanctuary should not be given to felons," Boxer said.

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has defended Sanchez's release and the city law requiring his office to ignore ICE detainer requests. The sheriff said ICE could have obtained a warrant or court order to keep Sanchez in custody.   "ICE knew where he was," Mirkarimi said Monday.

State and federal Republicans, meanwhile, said they would look into the matter.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Senate's homeland security committee, criticized federal officials and demanded to know why Sanchez was not deported.
"Does that make any sense to you?" Johnson demanded to know at a hearing Tuesday. "Because I'll tell you it doesn't make any sense to the American public."

At Sanchez's arraignment Tuesday, prosecutor Dianna Garcia argued against releasing Sanchez on bail, saying, "This was an act of random violence, shooting an innocent victim in the back."

The judge set bail at $5 million, which Sanchez's public defender said will keep him jailed pending trial.

___
END


Note:  Still would be very interesting to get the data on age and gender of the "children".
Anyone in Congress interested?   Media?   A shortage of "homeboys" in the U.S.?


Few unaccompanied immigrant minors returned to home countries
 CRONKITE NEWS/AUBREY RUMORE | July 8, 2015 @ 10:03 am


WASHINGTON -- Fewer than 2,000 of the 51,000 unaccompanied immigrant children who showed up at the Southwest border last year have been repatriated, a Senate panel was told Tuesday, a pace that critics said may have "incentivized" more migration.

Border officials testified that the number of unaccompanied minors showing up at the Southwest border is less than half of what it was last summer, when a flood of children led to what President Barack Obama called a "humanitarian crisis" at the border.

But members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee were clearly frustrated by delays in sending those children back home, after administration promises last year to "show these Central American countries we are sending people back."

Failure to do so just creates an incentive for immigrant children to make the dangerous journey to cross the border where "90 percent or more of you will be able to stay," said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, the committee chairman.

Witnesses from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security said many of those children face persecution back home and most will qualify for asylum here. But they are caught here waiting for a hearing in backlogged immigration courts to hear their asylum pleas, the officials said.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said that while the "numbers are clearly down" at the border from last year, he said some of the immigrants who showed up then were recently told they might not get a hearing until November 2019.   "Clearly, this is unacceptable," Carper said.

Juan Osuna, the director of the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, said immigration courts had a backlog of 449,569 cases pending on May 26, a "101 percent backlog increase over the past five years."   "The immigration court system is facing many challenges," Osuna testified. He said the department is "engaged in a focused process to hire many more immigration judges to adjudicate these cases."

But Carper said the backlog is only part of the problem. The government still has "humanitarian responsibilities to protect the children in our custody" while they're awaiting a court date, he said.

While many children remain, the committee was told that fewer are showing up.

After jumping from 12,000 in 2012 to 23,000 in 2013, the number of unaccompanied children at the border spiked to nearly 58,000 last year, said Philip Miller, assistant director of field operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The number was down to 18,246 through the first three quarters of fiscal 2015, he said.

Johnson blamed the increase directly on the president's 2012 announcement of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that delays deportation of immigrants who were brought here illegally as children.   "There's one dramatic event that occurred in 2012 - the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals," Johnson said, adding that while there were many contributing factors, DACA was "the primary cause for that surge."

But Mark Greenberg, an acting assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, said that violence in their Central American home countries plays a large part in the decision to migrate.

Johnson agreed that violence and threats are an underlying cause, but noted that homicide rates in most Central American countries have actually decreased in recent years. He again pointed to DACA as the cause for the continuing migration.

Whatever the cause, Greenberg said the government is better positioned now than it was last year "to be prepared to provide humanitarian care as rapidly as possible, given the myriad of factors that can impact migration flows."

Johnson concluded by saying the government needs to start making "incremental improvements." He called for a "step-by-step, continuous improvement plan," to address the issue.

end


Note:  close today's AZMEX UPDATE with this stinking story.

Dille: Video shows drug bundles blocking sewer line
Courtesy City of Nogales
Blockage
A video feed shows the blockage in the sewer line. City Manager Shane Dille called it "drug bundles and some sort of rack."
Posted: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 2:34 pm | Updated: 5:34 pm, Tue Jul 7, 2015.
By Manuel C. Coppola 
Nogales International

The plug in the cross-border sewer line that caused a home on Morley Avenue to flood with up to three feet of raw sewage appears on video footage to be drug bundles, City Manager Shane Dille said Tuesday.
"We were able to capture video inside the IOI and determined that what was blocking the line were drug bundles and some sort of rack" possibly used to try to haul the bundles out of the pipe, Dille said.
In an 8 a.m. interview on Tuesday at the home on 470 N. Morley Ave., Dille explained that crews were cutting out a section of the street asphalt to clear the pipe and conduct repairs on the International Outflow Interceptor (IOI), as the sewer line is called. He also gave a reporter an exclusive look inside the home just south of the Nogales Clinic.

The walls still had the markings indicating the depth the sewer water reached inside the home. The opening to a tunnel that led to a concrete-boxed area of the Nogales Wash was visible in the corner of the living room.
Officials believe the tunnel was dug for the purpose of extracting drugs being smuggled across the border through the sewer line, but the culprits damaged the pipe in the process.
Dille pointed to oxygen tanks and what appeared to be a hose used to pump air into the tunnel as further evidence of the illicit activity. A drill was discovered as well.
The home first flooded on Sunday afternoon, and while city officials immediately suspected the problem was caused by smuggling activity, conditions at the scene made investigation difficult.

The U.S. Border Patrol, which generally handles drug-tunnel discoveries in Nogales, has yet to issue a statement on the incident.

Crews blocked the pipe at a manhole upstream and diverted the sewer into the Nogales Wash, which is damned near Hohokam Drive so that the sewage water drains back into the IOI. The line runs along the Nogales Wash and carries at least 10 million gallons of sewage per day from Mexico to the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant in Rio Rico.

Video footage on Tuesday also pinpointed an 18-inch breach in the pipe near the tunnel, Dille said. Material is on order and expected to arrive Wednesday morning to affix a "sleeve" over the hole to stop the leak. He said he hopes the line repair to be completed by Wednesday. Repaving will probably not be completed until Thursday.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Nogales Clinic at Morley Avenue and La Castellana Drive remained open. Patients were detouring up through East Adams Street and down to La Castellana to get to their appointments on Tuesday.

end



Wednesday, July 8, 2015

AZMEX UPDATE 8-7-15

AZMEX UPDATE 8 JUL 2015

Note:  Will be very interesting to see how, or if, this one is prosecuted.   Several fed and AZ laws could be used.  

4 facing drug, weapons charges after traffic stop near Rimrock
Posted: Jul 08, 2015 6:13 AM CEST
Updated: Jul 08, 2015 7:50 AM CEST
By Catherine Holland 

Robert Gorman, 33 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
Alyssa Martinez, 27 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
Danica Trujillo, 25 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office) 
Jessie Gutierrez, 27 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)

RIMROCK, AZ (KPHO/KTVK) -
Four people are facing a variety of drug and weapons charges after a deputy with the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office stopped their vehicle on Interstate 17 near Rimrock last week.

According to YCSO, the deputy initially stopped the sedan for equipment and moving violations.

After discovering multiple weapons and drugs, including 0.5 pound of meth, deputies arrested Jessie Gutierrez, 27; Robert Gorman, 33; Alyssa Martinez, 27; and Danica Trujillo, 25. 
Gutierrez, Gorman and Martinez are from Mexico. Trujillo is an Arizona resident.

Deputies became suspicious while talking to Trujillo, who was driving the car.

"During the conversation, Trujillo exhibited abnormal nervousness and Gutierrez Gorman Martinez Trujillo had a hard time identifying her passengers," according to YCSO. Deputies later learned that Trujillo was wants on a drug possession warrant out of New Mexico.

Trujillo claimed Gutierrez was the owner of the car.

Deputies said Gutierrez pretended to be asleep in the front seat and then claimed not to have the ownership documentation for the sedan.

"When the deputy directed him to exit the vehicle, Gutierrez refused and began digging around his seat," according to YCSO. "Sensing he might be reaching for a weapon, the occupants were held at gunpoint and eventually removed with the assistance of additional deputies."

While searching the car, deputies discovered a loaded 9mm handgun stuffed between the seat and the front console, as well a  bag of marijuana and a container of meth in the console.

In the back seat, they found a plastic bag of meth and a syringe with what appeared to be meth residue.

Moving on to the truck, deputies recovered five more weapons, including two semi-automatic rifles and a sawed-off rifle. There also were nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as a bullet proof vest and more drugs and drug paraphernalia.

YCSO said the investigation into the suspects' activities is ongoing.

Rimrock is about 90 minutes north of Phoenix.




UPDATES on SF murder   Also reported that the firearm belonged to a fed agent.   Unknown at this time which fed agency, or if the firearm will get the death penalty.  Boots, anti-nausea drug, or stiff drink  suggested for many of the quotes in next two stories.   "Accidental"  


A look at release of the immigrant charged in pier killing
By AMY TAXIN and JANIE HAR
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The city of San Francisco has come under fire after it released Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally, despite a request by federal immigration authorities to keep him in custody so they could deport him for a sixth time.

Sanchez, who has four prior felony drug convictions, is now charged with murder in the killing last week of a woman at a city pier. He has pleaded not guilty.

San Francisco does not honor requests from immigration authorities to hold individuals in custody. The city is one of dozens of communities in the nation that don't fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities on the requests known as detainers, which are used to hold arrestees once their criminal cases have concluded so officials can seek to deport them.

Here are some things to know about the case:

WHY WAS SANCHEZ IN THE SAN FRANCISCO JAIL?

Sanchez pleaded guilty in 2011 to illegally re-entering the U.S. after having been deported and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. He was finishing up his sentence when he was turned over in March to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department on a two-decades-old drug charge.

HOW DID SANCHEZ GET RELEASED?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer asking San Francisco authorities to keep Sanchez in custody so he could be deported again after the drug case was resolved. The detainer was issued, immigration authorities say, because immigration violations are administrative, not criminal.

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said his office routinely ignores the detainers unless they are backed by an active arrest warrant. He said ICE was aware of San Francisco's policy. Sanchez was released after prosecutors eventually dismissed the drug case because it was so old and involved a small amount of marijuana.

WHY DON'T SOME JURISDICTIONS FULLY COMPLY WITH IMMIGRATION DETAINERS?

Many jurisdictions believe the detainers erode police relations with immigrant communities by making people reluctant to report crimes. The criticism increased after the federal government rolled out its Secure Communities program giving immigration agents access to information about arrestees booked into local jails.

Advocates rallied against the program when some immigrants found themselves facing deportation after being arrested on minor charges, and California passed a law limiting when detainers could be honored.

Last year, a number of jurisdictions stopped releasing arrestees to ICE altogether after a federal court ruling in Oregon found a woman's rights were violated when she was held in jail without probable cause.

WHAT IS AN IMMIGRATION DETAINER?

Detainers call for a law enforcement agency to hold people for as long as 48 hours beyond their release date until they can be picked up by ICE. Since some agencies have stopped honoring the detainers, ICE has started asking in some instances for notification by police when arrestees are going to be released.

The agency has also said it will focus on detaining immigrants who are convicted of serious crimes or pose a threat to public safety.


AP Source: US agent's gun used in San Francisco pier slaying
By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A law enforcement official says the weapon used in the shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco pier belonged to a federal agent - the latest twist in a case that has become a flashpoint in the country's debate over immigration.

The official, who had been briefed on the matter, said Tuesday that a check of the gun's serial number shows it belonged to a federal agent.

The official - who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity - declined to elaborate.

The San Francisco Police Department, which is investigating the case, refused to comment on the disclosure.

The suspected gunman, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, has been deported to his native Mexico five times and is suspected of living in the United States illegally when Kathryn Steinle, 32, was gunned down last week while on an evening stroll with her father along San Francisco's popular waterfront area.

Federal officials transferred Sanchez to San Francisco's jail in March to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge after Sanchez completed his latest prison term for illegally entering the country.

The San Francisco sheriff, citing the city's "sanctuary city" policy, released Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped the drug charge, despite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request to hold him for federal authorities so deportation proceedings could begin.

Sanchez pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder.

He told two television stations who interviewed him in jail that he found the gun used in Steinle's killing wrapped in a shirt on the pedestrian pier she was walking on. Sanchez said the gun went off in his hands, and his public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said Tuesday that the San Francisco woman's death appeared accidental.

Regardless of the reason behind Steinle's death, the shooting has touched off criticism from leading Republican lawmakers - and from top Democrats, including both of California's U.S. senators.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told CNN that San Francisco was wrong to ignore the ICE detainer request and release Sanchez from custody.
"The city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported," Clinton said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein called on San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to start cooperating with federal immigration officials who want to deport felons such as Sanchez.
"I strongly believe that an undocumented individual, convicted of multiple felonies and with a detainer request from ICE, should not have been released," Feinstein said.

The mayor's office said it has reached out to Homeland Security officials to determine if there's a way to cooperate while still upholding the city's sanctuary policy.   "Mayor Lee shares the senator's concerns surrounding the nature of Mr. Sanchez's transfer to San Francisco and release," said Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, also from Northern California, said she asked Gov. Jerry Brown if state law was followed in Sanchez's release.   "For decades, I have supported deporting violent criminals, and I have always believed that sanctuary should not be given to felons," Boxer said.

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has defended Sanchez's release and the city law requiring it to ignore ICE detainer requests. The sheriff said ICE could have obtained a warrant or court order to keep Sanchez in custody.   "ICE knew where he was," Mirkarimi said Monday.

State and federal Republicans, meanwhile, said they would look into the matter.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Senate's homeland security committee, criticized federal officials and demanded to know why Sanchez was not deported.
"Does that make any sense to you?" Johnson demanded to know at a hearing Tuesday. "Because I'll tell you it doesn't make any sense to the American public."

Republican state Sen. Jeff Stone said he would introduce legislation in Sacramento to require cities to comply with ICE detainer requests.

At Sanchez's arraignment Tuesday, prosecutor Dianna Garcia argued against releasing Sanchez on bail, saying, "This was an act of random violence, shooting an innocent victim in the back."

The judge set bail at $5 million, which Gonzalez said will keep Sanchez jailed pending trial.


More:  






Note:  Winner of this week's Pravda Prize. 

Texas Man On Probation Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of Woman At San Francisco Pier 14
July 2, 2015 4:34 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A man has been arrested in the shooting death of a woman who was walking along San Francisco's Embarcadero with her family Wednesday evening.
Texas resident Francisco Sanchez had been detained as a person of interest south along the Embarcadero shortly after the shooting at Pier 14 after witnesses on the pier snapped his photo, which was quickly forwarded to officers investigating the killing.


UPDATE: Man Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of Woman At SF Pier 14 Had Been Deported 5 Times
Sanchez was arrested Thursday. He is 45 or 46 years old and on probation out of Texas.


Sources told KPIX 5 that police divers Thursday recovered a weapon from the black, silty bay waters just off the Embarcadero. It was not clear whether it was the weapon used in the killing.

The victim was identified as 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle, who had recently moved to San Francisco. Police said Steinle suffered a single gunshot wound to her torso and that the shooting appeared to be completely random.

"There were no words exchanged between the suspect and the victim," said Sgt. Michael Andraychak. "The victim said something to her family members to the extent that she didn't feel well, that she just realized something had taken place and she fell to the ground."
Her brother, Brad Steinle, said she was simply walking with her father along the busy tourist locale when she was shot.
Her father and bystanders tried to perform CPR on her, police said, but she was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital about two hours after the shooting.

Steinle was from Pleasanton and a graduate of Amador Valley High School who had moved to San Francisco to work for medical technology firm Medtronic. She is survived by her parents and her brother.
"She was the most wonderful, loving caring person and if anybody could take anything from this — if you love somebody, just tell them that you love them," said brother Brad Steinle.

Andraychak said the Steinle family wanted the police department to relay a message to the public, expressing their gratitude to all the Good Samaritans who tried to help their daughter following the shooting and to all those who provided police with information about the suspect.


END  


Saturday, July 4, 2015

AZMEX SPECIAL 4-7-15

AZMEX SPECIAL 4 JUL 2015

Note:  Appeared on AOL of all places.  In CA, he must have passed the UBC to have obtained a firearm?
"San Francisco is a sanctuary city and local money cannot be spent to cooperate with federal immigration law."  Also, SEVEN felony convictions - why wasn't he still in prison?  


San Francisco: No 'legal basis' to hold shooting suspect
The Associated PressAPJ
Jul 3rd 2015 8:32PM



SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man suspected in the shooting death of a woman at a busy San Francisco tourist destination has seven felony convictions and has been deported five times, most recently in 2009, a federal agency said Friday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had turned Francisco Sanchez over to San Francisco police March 26 on an outstanding drug warrant, agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
Officers arrested Francisco Sanchez on about an hour after Wednesday's seemingly random slaying of Kathryn Steinle at Pier 14 — one of the busiest attractions in the city. People gather there to take in the views, joggers exercise, and families push strollers at all hours.

Sanchez was on probation for an unspecified conviction, police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said Thursday.
Kice said ICE issued a detainer for Sanchez in March, requesting to be notified if he was going to be released. The detainer was not honored, she said.

Freya Horne, counsel for the sheriff's office, said Friday that federal detention orders are not a "legal basis" to hold someone, so Sanchez was released April 15. San Francisco is a sanctuary city and local money cannot be spent to cooperate with federal immigration law.

The city does not turn over people who are in the country illegally unless there's an active warrant for their arrest, she said. Horne said they checked and found none. ICE could have issued an active warrant if they wanted the city to keep him, she said.

"It's not legal to hold someone on a request to detain. This is not just us. This is a widely adopted position," Horne said.

Steinle was gunned down while out for an evening stroll with her father along the waterfront. Police said witnesses heard no argument or dispute before the shooting, suggesting it was a random attack.
Liz Sullivan told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1IuWbKw) the killing of her daughter was unbelievable and surreal. "I don't think I've totally grasped it," Sullivan said.

Police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said witnesses snapped photos of Sanchez immediately after the shooting, and the images helped police make the arrest while he was walking on a sidewalk a few blocks away.
Police were still waiting for fingerprint identification on Sanchez, who is believed to be a 45-year-old whose last address was in Texas. Authorities said he does not yet have a lawyer who could be reached for comment.

Sullivan told the Chronicle that her 32-year-old daughter turned to her father after she was shot and said she didn't feel well before collapsing.
"She just kept saying, 'Dad, help me, help me,' " Sullivan said.
Her father immediately began CPR before paramedics rushed the woman to the hospital. "She fought for her life," Sullivan said.
Steinle went to high school and previously lived about 40 miles east of San Francisco, the newspaper said. She recently moved just blocks from the waterfront and worked for a medical technology company.
___
This story has been corrected to show the shooting happened Wednesday instead of Thursday.

end

Friday, July 3, 2015

[FWD: What_They're_Saying_About_my_Bill_to_End_Catch_and_Release]



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: What_They're_Saying_About_my_Bill_to_End_Catch_and_Release
From: "Representative Matt Salmon" <AZ05MSIMA@mail.house.gov>
Date: Thu, July 02, 2015 2:16 pm


       
In Case You Missed It
Click here to open this e-mail in its own browser window Click here to open a plain text version of this email

Dear Friend,
This week I was honored to announce a new bill I've introduced to honor Grant Ronnebeck, the 21-year-old clerk who was murdered in cold blood by an illegal immigrant in Mesa earlier this year.  Apolinar Altamirano, his murderer, was a convicted felon released by ICE.
Grant's Law would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain any alien who is unlawfully present in the United States and is arrested for criminal offenses which would render them inadmissible or deportable.  It would also mandate completion of their removal proceedings within 90 days.
In case you missed it, please take a look at this opinion piece by an Arizona Republic Columnist and let me know your thoughts.  Nothing we do can bring Grant back, but we can require that the President's broken Catch-and-Release policy stop.
Matt

Salmon's immigration bill a fitting answer to tragedy
by Laurie Roberts, The Republic | azcentral.com
Rep. Matt Salmon has introduced a bill that would bar federal authorities from releasing undocumented immigrants who have been accused or convicted of serious crimes.

And he wants them deported within 90 days.

The fact that we need legislation to accomplish this is astonishing.

But apparently we do.

Just ask Steve Ronnebeck. His 21-year-old son, Grant, was killed in January over a pack of cigarettes. Apolinar Altamirano – a convicted felon allowed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to walk the streets for TWO YEARS while awaiting deportation – now stands accused of Grant Ronnebeck's murder.

This didn't need to happen. It shouldn't have happened.

More: Salmon pitches bill to detain immigrants accused or convicted of serious crimes

Altamirano had been arrested in August 2012 after a home invasion in which a woman said she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office allowed him to plead guilty to a low-level burglary. He was sentenced to two years' probation and in January 2013 was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Four days later, ICE released him on a $10,000 bond, to await his deportation hearing.

It didn't matter that he was a felon. It didn't matter that two orders of protection were filed against him, including one from a woman who said he's threatened to kill her and pointed a gun at her boyfriend.

But it mattered greatly to the Ronenbeck family. They just didn't know it until 4 a.m. on Jan. 22. Police say Altamirano walked into a Mesa QuikTrip, dumped a jar of change on the counter and demanded a pack of cigarettes. When Grant wasn't quick enough to comply, he was murdered. The gunman then stepped over Grant's body to grab two packs of cigarettes and left.

Grant Ronnebeck isn't the only victim of federal incompetence. Between 2010 and 2014, the Department of Homeland Security admits that 121 undocumented immigrants who committed crimes and were released while awaiting deportation went on to kill someone – or at least be charged with some form of homicide.

Altamirano makes 122.

The Obama administration has said deportation of criminals is its highest priority yet more than 66,000 convicted felons awaiting deportation were released by ICE in fiscal 2013 and 2014, according to DHS.

Meanwhile, the immigration courts are swamped. Arizona has the eighth largest backlog of pending deportation cases, with an average wait time of 695 days, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Grant Ronnebeck died on Day 749 of Altamirano's wait.

Steve Ronnebeck is hoping that the sacrifice of his son might prompt our leaders to finally do something.

Salmon's bill – Grant's law, he's calling it – would end the "catch and release" policy that allows the Altamiranos of the world to walk free and it would require deportation within 90 days.

Presumably it comes along with the hefty infusion of resources clearly needed for the court system.

But surely this is something that both Democrats and Republicans can agree that we need to do.

To figure out a way to hold serious criminals who weren't supposed to be here in the first place. To figure out a way to quickly deport them and then to keep them out.

Tragically, the only way to get Altamirano off the streets was over Grant Ronnebeck's dead body. How many more Grants must there be before our leaders fix this?
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