Thursday, April 27, 2017

AZMEX UPDATE 26-4-17

AZMEX UPDATE 26 APR 2017

Note: from our friends at Borderland Beat www.borderlandbeat.com
Map, etc. at link.
Another option not mentioned is legal consequences (jail) for the dopers, besides addiction.
Gracias



From the Sinaloa truce, to the empowerment of the CJNG
Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2017/04/from-sinaloa-truce-to-empowerment-of.html#more

Subject Matter: Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

In the study of the project Justice in Mexico at the University of San Diego, the struggle between the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel has been analyzed, for control of the zones and routes for narco trafficking has led to a 20% increase in homicides in 2016. Augmented by the poor socio-economic conditions in Mexico and the heroin epidemic in the United States, investigators urge that the drugs problem is a problem of public health.

Reporter: Ines Garcia Ramos
The dispute for the territory controlled by Joaquin "El Chapo Guzman" against the CJNG in alliance with other organizations against the Sinaloa Cartel in different regions of Mexico, is one of the causes for the rise in homicides in the last few years.

David Shirk, Director of the program Justice in Mexico, spoke with Zeta about this and other announcements in the annual report "Violence and narco trafficking in Mexico", after his presentation in the University of San Diego.

Justice in Mexico started in 2001 as an investigative initiative to study the systems of justice in Mexico. Since then it has evolved into a study of public politics that could reduce the levels of crimes and violence.

The analysis carried out by Shirk with two investigators of the program, Octavio Rodriguez Ferreria and Kimberly Heinle, reviewed data bases corresponding to 2016 to explain the augmentation in crime levels and in particular homicides.

"We observed a substantive increase of almost 20% in homicides over the whole country, in areas linked to narco trafficking, for example, in Tijuana and the Pacific Coast.", detailed the Professor from the University of San Diego.

For the investigator, the second detention of "El Chapo", in January of 2016, fired up the level of violence, in the plazas that are controlled by narco traffickers, with disputes.

"There are reports that indicate that members of his cartel and that of the CJNG are starting to contest these spaces and routes for narco trafficking."

There the emphasis of the study is on the failed strategy that was started by the Mexican Government to debilitate the Cartels, to decapitate its principal leaders, as occurred with El Chapo, Osiel Cardenas and Benjamin Arellano Felix.
"The result was a grave conflict between different organizations intent on taking plazas, expressed Shirk from the Croc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.

The prognostics of Shirk detected, in the data bases, interviews with functionaries, monitoring of newspapers, and the interchange of information with other organizations that" we believe that the wave of violence will continue until these criminal groups establish and equilibrium, or a monopoly or a pact."

The specialist included about public security in Mexico that, "we are not ruling out that an alliance between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG, could implicate a significant reduction in the violence."

CJNG the new "Chapos"

In 2010, after the arrests of Benjamin Arellano Felix, Osiel Cardenas, Vincente Carrillo Fuentes and the execution of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the Sinaloa Cartel consolidated their criminal organization to obtain major control of narco trafficking operations in the whole of Mexico as well as the United States.

This, explains the study, provoked the violence that descended gradually in the period known as the Sinaloa truce, or the Sinaloa peace, this explains why Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez at the lowest levels of homicide between 2011 and 2014.

This stage doesn't only implicate a fortified position of the organization led by El Chapo Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, but also its implicit pacts or explicit pacts with functionaries to continue control of its plazas.

However, with the first recapture of El Chapo Guzman, in February of 2014, there was an observed change in respect of the homicides in some zones of control, among them, Tijuana.

For the Doctor, David Shirk, the second detention of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, occurred in January of 2016, after he fled from the maximum security "Altiplano" prison in 2015, as well as when he was transferred to the Ciudad Juarez prison, in May of 2016, debilitated the stature of the capo. This provoked strong confrontations in the Pacific Coast territories.

This was because after his arrest, members of the Sinaloa Cartel were able to ally themselves with the BLO and the CJNG. Although the CJNG is based in Jalisco, it has a presence in Baja California, Chihuahua, Colima, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Nayarit, Guerrero, Morelos, Veracruz and Mexico City.

The organization led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, details the study, will continue to consolidate in the future. Their alliances, for example, with the remnants of the CAF in Tijauana and the Juarez Cartel in Chihuahua, have demonstrated their capacity for strength and financing, which gives them the possibility to position themselves as the new "Chapos", says the expert.

The government is not controlling the violence

The report not only takes into account the dynamics of the black market and the strategies, but the actions and reactions of the cartels during their expansions and or defense of territories, as triggering the violence in Mexico.

In one of its sections, the researchers analyze the socio-economic factors that coincided in 2016, the second year in which the number of intentional homicides in the country rose.

These include the devaluation of the pesos, the stagnation of economic growth, the few job and educational opportunities, uncertainty and financial instability and the terrible levels of approval of the President of the Republic, Enrique Pena Nieto.

In 2016, the report indicates that the five states with the highest number of intentional homicides are Guerrero with 2,123, State of Mexico with 2053, Michoacan with 1887, Veracruz with 1258, and Colima with 1232. They were followed by Baja California with 1179 and Sinaloa with 1110 and Jalisco with 1500.

It highlights how that year, with 871 Felony homicides, Tijuana had the third highest number in the last ten years, with 871. While from January 1st to April 20th of 2017, there were 417 executions the highest number in the last ten years in this period.

In conclusion, the report stresses that " the effort to improve public security in Mexico is not accurate and simple, since even the reduction in violence seen in previous years ( 2012 - 2014 ) can not be directly attributed to compliance with the law."

As part of public policies to reduce violence, the program raises not only the training and professionalization of police corporations, but also work on accountability as the basis for the justice system.

The heroin epidemic and the legalization debate

According to the study, 591,000 people over the age of 12 acknowledged having used heroin in the United States during 2015, this triggered 12,990 deaths from overdoses of this drug.

The dramatic increase, the researchers explain, is related to two reasons. On the one hand, more doctors prescribe opiates to reduce pain in patients, and on the other hand, the production of heroin by cartels in Mexico.

Since these cartels do not have capacity in the production chains as broad as those of their predecessors in South America, " for a few organizations like the CJNG, it is much easier to enter the heroin market as Mexico cannot produce enough", says Shirk.

The solution, he says, is not to fight the Cartels from the Government, since with the large amounts of money in the hands of criminals like El Mayo and El Mencho, it is impossible to prevent Governmental collusion with narcos to provide them with protection.

"The key is to reduce the amount of money the organizations can generate, and the best way to do it is to stop using drugs in the United States or legalize them", he said.

Since the Merida initiative was strengthened in 2008, the United States has provided 2.6 billion dollars in support of public safety institutions in Mexico to combat drugs. However, the specialist says; "We have to have a conversation between Mexico, the United States and other countries that suffer from this endless war on drugs to identify a strategy that turns what has been treated as public security problem, as a problem of Public Health".

Seven of the 59 entities that make up the American Union have already legalized the use of marijuana, but Shirk indicates that this drug only makes up 20% of the drugs trafficked from Mexico.

For the researcher, the solution must cover other factors such as the conditions that lead to the consumption of these drugs, especially in the North and Centre of the Country, and appoint it as a public health policy.

We have to think of broader solutions than sending cops to stop people who sell drugs. It is now a solution too simplified as we have seen over the last 50 years, that it has not worked and how Mexico pays the price of the consumption of these drugs in the United States, Its just not fair.

Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana

end


Also: http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/25/ranchers-fire-back-after-nancy-pelosi-calls-border-wall-immortal-unwise

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

AZMEX POLICY 26-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 26 APR 2017


Mexico talks tough on Trump with NAFTA talks looming
By Frank Jack Daniel | MEXICO CITY

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-politics-idUSKBN17R2CD?il=0

Mexico's government on Tuesday said it would fight any measures in a U.S. tax overhaul that broke international trade rules, and threatened to review cross-border cooperation on migration and security if upcoming negotiations founder.

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico was watching to see if plans by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to shake up taxation included a levy on remittances sent home by Mexican workers or the imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.

"If they are put forward, we'll have to act with absolute firmness, using all the political, diplomatic and obviously legal means at our disposal," he told a session of the foreign relations committee of the lower house of Congress.

Trump has vowed to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that underpins the bulk of Mexican exports if he cannot rework it in his homeland's favor, and talks between the signatories - Mexico, the United States and Canada - on modernizing the accord are expected to start later this summer.

Regional trade tensions picked up this week, with the Trump administration on Monday announcing a 20 percent duty on Canadian softwood lumber in retaliation for what it sees as unfair restrictions on dairy exports.

And on Tuesday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that Mexico could take retaliatory trade measures against the United States in a dispute over tuna fishing.

Mexico has said it wants to put "all the issues" on the table, including security, migration and trade in negotiations with the United States.

Videgaray said existing security agreements were not under threat, at least for now, adding that Mexico would not be signing any additional pacts.
"What we're not prepared to do is increase or create new systems of coordination, and if negotiation on other issues - migrants, border, trade - is not to Mexico's satisfaction, we'll have to review our current cooperation," he said.

Lawmakers questioned Videgaray extensively about his policy toward the administration of Trump, who has caused deep anger in Mexico with his plans to build a southern border wall to keep out illegal immigrants and his threats to restrict trade.

Videgaray said his government considered the building of the wall a "hostile" act and repeated it would contribute nothing toward it. Trump says Mexico will ultimately pay for the wall.

The foreign minister said Mexico regarded remittances, which Trump had threatened to go after to pay for the wall, as non-negotiable, saying they could prove a "breaking point" issue in any dialogue that encompassed other matters.

Videgaray said any tax on Mexican-made imports by Trump was a "bad idea" that would only end up hurting U.S. consumers.
"However, these types of measures would obviously be against not just the North American accords but particularly the rules of the World Trade Organization, and so we would have the legal means to act against them," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Adriana Barrera; editing by Dave Graham and Phil Berlowitz)

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/04/25/1159692




Note: unlike many cities and states in the US, Mexico has little tolerance for unorganized vote fraud.
gracias


INE and institutions go after false credentials
Details Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2017,
Written by Editor / El Diario
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=88873

Hermosillo

The National Electoral Institute (INE) asserted that the identity thefts that are not with credentials that have been generated by the INE and correspond to false documents, why it is institutions can identify the veracity of those cards.

Olga Alicia Castro Ramírez explained that for election matters, those with a real credential are on the nominal list and those who arrive and do not appear on that list will be forced to remain without the credential and will be denounced.

"Agreements have been concluded with them so that they can verify the identity of their users of services through our database, then that is one of several mechanisms," said the Vocal Executive of the Local Board in Sonora.

She said that in recent years and thanks to the technology they have to detect false id's, many complaints have been made to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Crimes (Fepade) and have issued the corresponding arrest warrants.

Castro Ramirez commented that Sonora has seen cases of identification of people who try to obtain a credential with false information, with a program that is already permanent and that when the applicants present themselves in the modules, a cross reference of information is done in and in several Cases it turns out that they have credentials in other states.

"The person is personally sought in the two states to know what the real process is or what the real data is, and even the one that is not real is dropped and also the complaint is filed so that the corresponding criminal authority in This case the Fepade, if they did it in a deliberate way, with false documents, "he explained.

In the case of minors who have false voter credentials to enter bars and are discovered by security personnel, he said that INE expects that the complaint will be lodged by the Directorate General of Alcoholic Beverages or the owners of those Centers of diversion. (Bars)

END

AZMEX POLICY 26-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 26 APR 2017


Mexico talks tough on Trump with NAFTA talks looming
By Frank Jack Daniel | MEXICO CITY

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-politics-idUSKBN17R2CD?il=0

Mexico's government on Tuesday said it would fight any measures in a U.S. tax overhaul that broke international trade rules, and threatened to review cross-border cooperation on migration and security if upcoming negotiations founder.

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico was watching to see if plans by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to shake up taxation included a levy on remittances sent home by Mexican workers or the imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.

"If they are put forward, we'll have to act with absolute firmness, using all the political, diplomatic and obviously legal means at our disposal," he told a session of the foreign relations committee of the lower house of Congress.

Trump has vowed to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that underpins the bulk of Mexican exports if he cannot rework it in his homeland's favor, and talks between the signatories - Mexico, the United States and Canada - on modernizing the accord are expected to start later this summer.

Regional trade tensions picked up this week, with the Trump administration on Monday announcing a 20 percent duty on Canadian softwood lumber in retaliation for what it sees as unfair restrictions on dairy exports.

And on Tuesday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that Mexico could take retaliatory trade measures against the United States in a dispute over tuna fishing.

Mexico has said it wants to put "all the issues" on the table, including security, migration and trade in negotiations with the United States.

Videgaray said existing security agreements were not under threat, at least for now, adding that Mexico would not be signing any additional pacts.
"What we're not prepared to do is increase or create new systems of coordination, and if negotiation on other issues - migrants, border, trade - is not to Mexico's satisfaction, we'll have to review our current cooperation," he said.

Lawmakers questioned Videgaray extensively about his policy toward the administration of Trump, who has caused deep anger in Mexico with his plans to build a southern border wall to keep out illegal immigrants and his threats to restrict trade.

Videgaray said his government considered the building of the wall a "hostile" act and repeated it would contribute nothing toward it. Trump says Mexico will ultimately pay for the wall.

The foreign minister said Mexico regarded remittances, which Trump had threatened to go after to pay for the wall, as non-negotiable, saying they could prove a "breaking point" issue in any dialogue that encompassed other matters.

Videgaray said any tax on Mexican-made imports by Trump was a "bad idea" that would only end up hurting U.S. consumers.
"However, these types of measures would obviously be against not just the North American accords but particularly the rules of the World Trade Organization, and so we would have the legal means to act against them," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Adriana Barrera; editing by Dave Graham and Phil Berlowitz)

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/04/25/1159692


Note: unlike many cities and states in the US, Mexico has little tolerance for unorganized vote fraud.
gracias


INE and institutions go after false credentials
Details Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2017,
Written by Editor / El Diario
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=88873

Hermosillo

The National Electoral Institute (INE) asserted that the identity thefts that are not with credentials that have been generated by the INE and correspond to false documents, why it is institutions can identify the veracity of those cards.

Olga Alicia Castro Ramírez explained that for election matters, those with a real credential are on the nominal list and those who arrive and do not appear on that list will be forced to remain without the credential and will be denounced.

"Agreements have been concluded with them so that they can verify the identity of their users of services through our database, then that is one of several mechanisms," said the Vocal Executive of the Local Board in Sonora.

She said that in recent years and thanks to the technology they have to detect false id's, many complaints have been made to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Crimes (Fepade) and have issued the corresponding arrest warrants.

Castro Ramirez commented that Sonora has seen cases of identification of people who try to obtain a credential with false information, with a program that is already permanent and that when the applicants present themselves in the modules, a cross reference of information is done in and in several Cases it turns out that they have credentials in other states.

"The person is personally sought in the two states to know what the real process is or what the real data is, and even the one that is not real is dropped and also the complaint is filed so that the corresponding criminal authority in This case the Fepade, if they did it in a deliberate way, with false documents, "he explained.

In the case of minors who have false voter credentials to enter bars and are discovered by security personnel, he said that INE expects that the complaint will be lodged by the Directorate General of Alcoholic Beverages or the owners of those Centers of diversion. (Bars)

END

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

AZMEX UPDATE 24-4-17

AZMEX UPDATE 24 APR 2017

Note: the Chicago stye culture of corruption marches on.


Mexico sees 2,020 killings in March, worst month since 2011
By: By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press
Posted: Apr 24, 2017 11:24 AM MDT
Updated: Apr 24, 2017 11:24 AM MDT

http://www.kvia.com/news/us-world/mexico-sees-2020-killings-in-march-worst-month-since-2011/460523962

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico has surpassed 2,000 homicides in a month for the first time since the summer of 2011 and had more killings in the first quarter of 2017 than in the start of any year in at least two decades, according to data released Friday.

Unlike 2011, when bloody cartel clashes in Ciudad Juarez drove the national toll to new heights, the killings pushing the 2017 total have been spread across a number of states. Authorities attribute them to vicious turf battles resulting from breakdowns in the leadership of some cartels and the splintering of others into smaller gangs.

The southern state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, continues to be the homicide leader, with 550 during the first three months of the year.

But Baja California Sur with 133 slayings during the first quarter had the largest year-on-year percentage increase, skyrocketing 682 percent from the 17 homicides it had during the same period in 2016. A territorial dispute between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels is believed to be driving much of the violence in the southern part of the peninsula popular with foreign tourists.

Nationally, there were 2,020 homicides in March, up about 11 percent from February. For January through March, the national total was 5,775 killings, up 29 percent from the same three months last year.


Pioquinto Damian Huato, a business leader in the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo, led an anti-crime crusade until an attempt was made on his life that resulted in the death of his daughter-in-law in 2014.

"Every now and then bagged bodies appear in Chilpancingo," he said. "Yesterday three appeared." The leader of the state's leftist Democratic Revolution Party, Demetrio Saldivar, also was killed Wednesday night in Chilpancingo.

"I live in my home with armored doors to be able to protect my family," Damian Huato said. "How could I go out when they could kill me in any moment?"


Mexico's surge in violence comes at a time when legislators are debating a national security law that would have implications for the military's continued role in domestic security. Rising violence could pose a problem for the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party of President Enrique Pena Nieto in next year's presidential election.

Other states seeing significantly more homicides this year include the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, which registered 372 through March, up 94 percent from the same period last year. A former Veracruz governor, Javier Duarte, was arrested last weekend in Guatemala after six months on the run from corruption charges.

Chihuahua state, home to Ciudad Juarez, is also seeing more violence this year. Its 384 homicides through March were 78 percent more than the same period last year.

end

Chicago homicides for March? Only 37. Only 179 for the year so far.
http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/homicides

Population of Mexico (estimated) 130,000,000
Population of Chicago (estimated) 2,700,000

end

Monday, April 24, 2017

AZMEX POLICY 23-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 23 APR 2017


EDITORIAL: Know your land rights in case of border wall land takeover
THE MONITOR EDITORIAL BOARD 4 hrs ago

http://www.themonitor.com/opinion/editorials/article_634f1bb2-2765-11e7-85d1-37f2df48f661.html

With the Trump Administration's intent to build a border wall on the Southwest border, come the potential for hundreds of landowners in the Rio Grande Valley to be affected. And while the government has the right to claim land for "national security" reasons, there are many rights that landowners also have, according to our U.S. Constitution, that can delay the process, ensure citizens are paid justly for their losses, and in some cases, successfully fight the takeover of private lands.

But most importantly, landowners must be aware of their rights and they must be prepared with how they plan to respond if, and when, the government comes calling.

Because an informed citizen will be an engaged citizen.

Informed citizens will understand that in order to take their land, the federal government must offer them "just compensation." The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution does enable the taking of private lands "for public use," through eminent domain, but only if the landowner is paid a fair price.

That's an important distinction, Efrén Olivares, racial and economic justice director at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told us last week. It means that a landowner does not have to accept the first offer, especially if they believe it is not at fair market value.

"You can refuse the first offer and you have the right to bring in your own estimates," Olivares said during a news conference Wednesday at his Alamo office. And part of that estimate should include not only the price for the land they are taking, but the devaluation of the existing land that is left, he said. An example would be a farmer whose field is bisected and left unusable for its intended purpose in the future.

Olivares said letters have already gone out to many Valley residents, including some in San Benito. He said that earlier this month he went to speak to homeowners there, and one landowner told him he was unaware that he could refuse an initial offer, which he accepted but said it came in quite low.

Olivares said the offers always increase and homeowners do not have to settle for less. He said that when the government was acquiring private land, under the 2006 Secure Fences Act, to build a border fence/levee here, there was one case in which a woman had border land in her family for "several generations." She did not want to sell and was also originally offered $100. "Ultimately she got $56,000," he told us.

That case from 2008 was settled, but Olivares said there are almost 100 of the 300 cases filed at that time that still remain unresolved and are clogging the court system. Now, his nonprofit organization is offering free legal services to landowners and is trying to rally them to file cases that "could take years," he said.

"We are prepared to fight the long haul for these landowners, either through the preventing of taking (the land) entirely or if that's not possible, ensuring that the landowners receive full compensation for the value of their land," he told us.


There's no doubt that these pro bono services are being offered to politically tilt the issue: And that is to stop a border wall.

We are not advocating that. We recognize that President Donald Trump wants to build a wall and we recognize the legal footing his administration has in claiming this necessary for "national security" reasons. We do, however, urge residents and landowners to educate themselves on the process.

This includes knowing that the government must clearly communicate, in writing, exactly what pieces of land they seek; how much will be paid for each piece and what the intent is for the land — will it be used as an easement for agents to gain access to the border wall, for instance, or will concrete for a 30-foot wall be poured there.

The bottomline is that citizens must be treated with respect and the government must give them their due process.


Those who refuse offers, or cannot come to negotiable terms, have the right to request a jury trial in federal court.

Also be aware that if the federal government wants the land they can act quickly and swiftly to legally change the title into their name, once they have communicated the land, price offered and intended use and deposited the money to the landowners, they legally become title holders with the local court registry. But in order for the government to begin work on said property, they must first file a "motion for immediate possession" and if that is challenged, then that can delay the process, which can buy the landowner more time.


There are about 150 border landowners in Hidalgo County and another 150 in Cameron County; El Paso County has 300, Olivares said. His agency is offering services to all 600 and he said volunteer lawyers throughout Texas and other parts of the United States also have offered their pro bono services to help landowners fight the takeover of their property and to ensure their rights are upheld.

In 2008, all of the 300 filed cases opposing the border fence were sent to the court of U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen. Hanen is the well-known judge whose court heard the controversial DACA/DAPA case against the Obama Administration, which was sued by Texas and several other states which opposed the deferred adjudication program for immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and children of immigrants. It is uncertain whether Hanen's court would be responsible for an onslaught of new cases, especially since nearly 100 eminent domain cases from 2008 are still pending there.


We expect that the government will provide additional courts to hear the cases, as well as patience and prudence in the treatment of landowners whose lives will be uprooted and forever changed by the taking of their lands in order to build a border wall here.

END

AZMEX EXTRA 21-4-17

AZMEX EXTRA 21 APR 2017


Local man tries to cross border with loaded gun
Apr 17, 2017

http://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/local-man-tries-to-cross-border-with-loaded-gun/article_2c4e598a-23c2-11e7-b3fc-ab90961596a2.html

A Douglas man was arrested Saturday after he tried to cross into Mexico carrying a loaded 40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun with nine rounds of ammunition in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Raul Hector Castro Port in Douglas arrested a 27-year-old Douglas man Saturday morning when he attempted to walk across the border into Mexico with a loaded firearm.

When a CBP officer monitoring southbound pedestrian traffic attempted to stop the man for questioning, the man tried to run across the border but was caught.

Officers then searched the man and discovered he was carrying a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun with nine rounds of ammunition in the magazine and one round in the chamber.

Officers turned the man, who is not being identified, over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

end


Note: Photo at link.

Seize weapons and cartridges in Nogales, Son.
Details Posted on Wednesday April 19, 2017,
Written by Editor / El Diario

Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=88637

Nogales

Operative coordinated by elements of the State Police of Public Security (PESP) and Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) secured long arms known as the "goat horn" with more than 200 cartridges inside a stolen vehicle.

The events were recorded on Monday, April 17, in the Buenos Aires colony, where they located a vehicle with a robbery report in an apparent state of abandonment, within which were the firearms.

PESP and personnel of the Mexican Army carried out the inspection of the vehicle that had been reported robbery since May 7, 2016, and managed to secure a total of 3 rifles, a 9mm caliber handgun, 4 magazines and 201 cartridges.

With the security measures carried out, the seizure being available to the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic following the First Respondent National Protocol.

END

Thursday, April 20, 2017

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 20-4-17

AZMEX F&F EXTRA 20 APR 2017

Note: Fast & Furious, Mexican Lives didn't Matter
Given the players behind the bloody scheme, many believe the motive was much more to undermine American's 2nd Amendment Rights and bring back a ban on semi automatic rifles, than a Hollywood movie scheme to catch the drug lords.
thx


Suspected shooter in 2010 Border Patrol slaying arrested in Mexico
By Alexis Egeland
Cronkite News Apr 18, 2017 Updated Apr 18, 2017 (0)

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/suspected-shooter-in-border-patrol-slaying-arrested-in-mexico/article_ae318df4-23cd-11e7-88a1-3fa780a60c0e.html

It's been more than six years since Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with drug smugglers near Rio Rico, and his family was beginning to lose hope that the suspects would be caught.

That's why Terry's sister, Michelle Balogh, was "so ecstatic" last Wednesday morning to get the call that a sixth suspect, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, who authorities believe may have been the triggerman, was arrested in Mexico in connection with the December 2010 shooting.
"It's been a whirlwind few days," Balogh said Friday. "It's a weird feeling, knowing they caught him, but Brian deserves it."

Terry was patrolling west of Rio Rico on Dec. 14, 2010, when he and other agents ended up in a gunfight with suspected Mexican cartel members. Terry was shot and killed in the fight.

At least one of the smugglers' guns that was found at the scene was later traced back to Operation Fast and Furious, a botched gun-running investigation that was started in 2009 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That operation was supposed to uncover large-scale gun-trafficking operations by turning a blind eye to people who bought guns illegally in Arizona and then tracking the guns to bigger smugglers. But of the roughly 2,000 guns – including AK-47s and .50-caliber rifles – and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition that were allowed to "walk" in the operation, hundreds were never accounted for.

The operation led to years of congressional investigations and calls for the resignation of then-Attorney General Eric Holder, and led to the replacement of the U.S. Attorney for Arizona and the ATF chief in the state.

After Terry's killing, federal prosecutors in 2014 filed murder, drugs, weapons and other charges against seven suspects in the case, and warrants for their arrests.

Five had already been arrested, convicted and given sentences ranging from eight years for one suspect to life in prison for two others, when Mexican authorities arrested Osorio-Arellanes in Chihuahua late last Tuesday.

Osorio-Arellanes was arrested "based on a provisional arrest warrant issued at the request of the United States," according to a statement released Thursday by the Justice Department. He faces nine counts, including a charge of killing Terry.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in that statement that he is proud of the work that has been done to secure the border, and he sees this arrest as a great way to send a message to America's enemies.
"Working closely with our international partners, we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will bring you to justice," his statement said.

Officials with the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Arizona declined to comment further on the case.

Balogh said the arrest – and the fact that investigators told her they believe Osorio-Arellanes was "the trigger-puller" – have lifted a weight from her family's shoulders. Even though they were told the extradition process could take over a year, they are continuing to fight.

She said this latest arrest has restored her family's hope that the seventh, and final, suspect will be caught.
"The government is working hard with Mexican authorities, so we're very hopeful," Balogh said. "We're still fighting that fight, so it's just a matter of time before they catch him."

But she said they are fighting for more than just her brother.

"We're not just doing it for Brian, we're doing it for everybody," she said. "Especially law enforcement, the ones who protect us – they deserve answers and they deserve the truth."

END

AZMEX I3 20-4-17

AZMEX I3 20 APR 2017

Note: A de facto "sanctuary" city. All about illegal immigration and "protecting" illegal immigrants. "Immigrant" = illegal immigrant.
thx


Phoenix police to not take part in federal immigration deportations
KTAR.COM | April 19, 2017 @ 6:12 pm

https://ktar.com/story/1536938/phoenix-police-to-not-take-part-in-federal-immigration-deportations/

PHOENIX — Phoenix city council members voted to protect the local police department from taking part in a federal immigration deportation force on Wednesday.

In a press release, the city council said it voted to "reject efforts by the Trump Administration to conscript Phoenix Police officers as part of a federal immigration deportation force."

The Phoenix Police Department will also, according to the release, "modernize its policies to more clearly outline when officers can and cannot inquire about the immigration status of members of the public, particularly to protect crime victims, witnesses and juveniles on school campuses."

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said in the release the Department of Homeland Security is pressuring local police departments to assist with mass deportation plans, but assured residents that the city's police officers would not be taking part.

The changes come from six recommendations made by an Ad Hoc subcommittee that Stanton formed in February in response to President Donald Trump's immigration executive order.

The recommendations included collecting and reporting data that is related to Senate Bill 1070 "more thoroughly," working with local school districts to "foster trust" between resource officers and students, creating a program for refugees to learn English and pursue a higher education and establishing a website for resources available to refugees.

The police order recommendation passed with a 6-3 vote, while the rest passed with a 7-2 vote. Councilmen Jim Waring and Sal DiCiccio voted no on all of the recommendations, according to Stanton's spokesman Robbie Sherwood, and Councilwoman Thelda Williams voted no on the first recommendation.

Stanton, who has been an outspoken advocate for protecting immigrants in the community, said officers need to "focus on community policing and will not enter into any scheme to turn our officers into federal immigration agents."

"It's important for Phoenix schools to focus on education, not immigration, and that we protect the civil rights of all Phoenix residents," Stanton said in the release, adding that the department will continue to focus on catching violent criminals.

Trump has taken a hard-line stance against illegal immigration and refugees by enacting two executive orders — one of which was shut down by federal courts and reinstated through a new executive order — since he took office in January.

Since the executive orders were issued, Phoenix has been in the spotlight after two of its residents — Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos and Juan Carlos Fomperosa Garcia — were deported following routine check-ins with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In February, the Phoenix City Council voted down a measure to declare the city as a sanctuary city in order to protect immigrants, but councilmembers, and Stanton himself, said it would not work due to SB 1070.

Data obtained from local and federal law enforcement authorities have also shown the number of immigrant arrests and number of immigrant removals have slowly climbed in Arizona.

END

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

AZMEX I3 19-4-17

AZMEX I3 19 APR 2017

Comment: Another fake/ false/ dishonest headline. ICE did not remove more than 5,000 immigrants.
Honest reporting, if it still existed, would have read:
"ICE removes more than 5,000 illegal immigrants from Arizona in first three months of 2017"
Also there are no laws to keep the families from joining them.
thx


ICE removes more than 5,000 immigrants from Arizona in first three months of 2017
KTAR.COM |
April 19, 2017 @ 10:49 am
http://ktar.com/story/1536185/ice-removes-5000-immigrants-arizona-first-three-months-2017/

PHOENIX — More than 5,000 illegal immigrants were removed from Arizona in the first three months of 2017, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In an email, ICE said 5,283 people had been removed as of March 31.
Of those, 1,780 were removed from the state in January, followed by 1,613 in February and 1,890 in March.

The figures include immigrants who were forcibly deported, those who voluntarily deported and those removed from the country by Border Patrol.


Of the 5,283 immigrants, 3,074 had been convicted of a crime.


Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported fewer than 1,000 immigrants had been arrested in the Phoenix area between Jan. 1 and mid-March. The Post's number is lower because the ICE data does not address arrest numbers, but instead people who were removed from Arizona.

The ICE data did not specify the nationality of any person who was removed or if anyone had been removed more than one time.

KTAR News has requested last year's removal numbers. ICE is looking into the request.

In late January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that made all illegal immigrants, regardless of the crime, the focus of deportation efforts.

Arizona made the immigration spotlight shortly after the order was signed when two undocumented immigrants convicted of a crime — Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos and Juan Carlos Fomperosa Garcia — were detained and deported following routine check-ins with ICE.

"Fugitives who commit egregious crimes in their home country should not expect to find refuge in the U.S.," Henry Lucero, the field office director for ICE in Phoenix, said in a release about the arrest and deportation of Juan Garica-Rendon, who was wanted for murder in Mexico.

The arrests garnered controversy among pro-immigration groups, who argued that the deportations were splitting up families and were not for the public good.

end

AZMEX I3-2 18-4-17

AZMEX I3-2 18-4-17

Note: related story in AZMEX I3 18-4-17

Immigration activist goes missing while in caravan to US border from Mexico
Published April 18, 2017 FoxNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/18/immigration-activist-goes-missing-while-in-caravan-to-us-border-from-mexico.html

Border Angels has put out a missing poster reads showing Hugo Castro's most recent pictures.
A U.S. pro-immigrant activist visiting Mexico has been reported missing after he lost touch with family and friends on April 13. Hugo Castro, a volunteer coordinator at the San Diego-based group Border Angels, was last seen that day on a Facebook Live pleading for help.

"I need help. I'm here with very little money, they do not want to take dollars, and I was attacked by a group of criminals," Castro said. "If some compañeros could come for me. It's outside Mexico City (...)near Puebla."


Castro, a 40-year-old American citizen, was reportedly taking part in an activity called the Víacrucis del Migrante, an annual march from Central America to Tijuana meant to raise awareness about the dangers migrants face on their route to the United States.


"They want to kill me," he said at some point, visibly distressed, identifying his attackers as "adoradores de la muerte" or death adorers. He said they had caused him to separate from his caravan and to go into hiding.

In the 20-minute recording posted late Thursday afternoon, Castro said that he had been followed for days by individuals he believed were part of the government and even the police.
"I can't trust the police," he said.

According to KPBS, the U.S. Consulate is following the case closely.

"The welfare of U.S. citizens is one of the Department's highest priorities," said Preeti Shah, a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate, as quoted by KPBS. "We stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time."

A little over a month ago, Castro posted another Facebook video saying that he had received a death threat by taxi drivers for interfering with his plans to pick up the deported migrants.

KPBS reported the he posted it on March 10 on the San Ysidro Port of Entry, where he was working with a newly deported group offering tips on how to avoid being robbed, kidnapped and exploited in Tijuana.
"If anything happens to me, I hold responsible the Taxi Amarillo line of cabs here in Tijuana," he said then.

END

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

AZMEX I3 18-4-17

AZMEX I3 18 APR 2017


Updated Apr 18, 2017 - 11:09 am
Number of immigrant arrests in Phoenix area on the rise in 2017
KTAR.COM | April 18, 2017 @ 5:45 am
http://ktar.com/story/1533696/number-of-immigrant-arrests-in-phoenix-area-slowly-climb-in-2017/

In this Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, photo released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign nationals are arrested during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)

PHOENIX — Nearly 1,000 immigrants were arrested in the Phoenix area from January through mid-March of this year, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 986 immigrants in the Phoenix area from Jan. 20 to March 13, a number that spiked from the 2016 numbers over the same time period. Just one year prior, only 864 immigrants were arrested by border agents.

However, the statistic from 2017 seemed to be on the decline compared to the numbers from 2014 and 2015. During the same time period in 2014, 1,209 immigrants were arrested in the Phoenix area, compared to 1,046 in 2015.

The number of non-criminal immigrants who were arrested in 2017 also climbed steadily compared to years prior.

Out of the 986 immigrants arrested in 2017, 315 did not have a criminal record. (non media math = 671 with criminal records )
In 2016, 253 non-criminal immigrants were arrested, compared to 264 immigrants in 2015 and 408 in 2014.

In addition to the number of immigrants who were arrested, 1,157 immigrants were detained from January to March 2017. Only 684 immigrants were detained over the same time period in 2016, compared to 1,136 immigrants in 2015 and 1,354 in 2014.

According to The Washington Post, immigration arrests nationwide rose more than 32 percent during the first weeks of President Donald Trump's administration.

Border agents arrested 21,362 immigrants in 2017, compared to 16,104 in the same period last year.

But the statistic that supports the theory that "Trump has ditched his predecessor's protective stance toward most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States," the Post reported, is the number of arrests of non-criminal immigrants. That number has doubled to 5,441 nationwide, according to the data.

In a statement to The Washington Post, ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in a statement that the agency "focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.

"However, as [Homeland Security] Secretary [John F.] Kelly has made clear, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," she added.

Arizona made the immigration spotlight this year after two undocumented immigrants — Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos and Juan Carlos Fomperosa Garcia — were detained and deported following routine check-ins with ICE following Trump's immigration executive order.

The arrests garnered controversy among pro-immigration groups, who argued that the deportations were simply splitting up families and were not for the public good.

end



Group of 200 migrants tame the Beast and halt the trip.
The people of Central American origin took five tank cars carrying fuel;
Camp to the side of the machinery; Participated in refugee movements
04/17/2017 15:17 JOSÉ DE JESÚS CORTÉS

Http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/04/17/1158155

MEXICO CITY

Since yesterday afternoon the freight train known as La Bestia is taken over by a group of 200 Central Americans who participated in the migrant refugee movement and in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, tried to continue their journey to Veracruz aboard the train.

According to Cristóbal Sánchez, one of the organizers of the viacrucis, the migrants took five tank cars that transport fuel to make their camps and travel yesterday afternoon to Medias Aguas.

But due to the presence of the migrants, the company Ferro Sur determined yesterday to suspend the departure of the train until the tank cars are released due to the risk that the Central Americans travel in the cars with flammable material.

From yesterday afternoon the train is parked in the switch yard of the Ixtepec station.

end

AZMEX I3 15-4-17

AZMEX I3 15 APR 2017

Note: As usual mostly meant for illegal immigrants.
Don't even think of interfering in Mexico's affairs.
Because: "Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017

Comment: Could Pavlovich Arellano and Videgaray Caso be not Mexicans, but Russians?
Gracias / cпасибо


Governor Pavlovich presents online services for Sonoran migrants
Los Angeles, California, April 8, 2017.-

Http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/66140

Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano stopped in Los Angeles, California, to maintain unity around Mexican migrants, to move forward together and for no one to stand in the way.

In continuing the work of the Conago delegation in Los Angeles, California, Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano signed the agreement to join efforts to the consular network in the United States, to offer legal advice and that required by nationals, regardless of their place of residence. Those with origin in Mexico.

In her capacity as Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the National Conference of Governors, Conago, along with 6 of her counterparts, as well as members of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Governor Pavlovich presented online services that can be used by Sonorans in The United States, whose system, she said, is available to entities wishing to implement it.

At a meeting of the delegation of governors and foreign officials with the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, Governor Pavlovich said that Sonoran migrants can for file birth, marriage and death certificates online from the United States.

This, she said, allows them to have an official identity document, an example that she proposed to be replicated for citizens from other states.

"I want to put into the hands of my fellow Governors this instrument that we have in Sonora, and that also serves us Sonorenses in California, which are online in minutes, birth certificates, marriage records and death certificates, It's very easy to get them out of your computer at home, "she said.

Mayor acknowledges Sonoran contribution to LA
The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, acknowledged the contribution that Sonorans have made to the city's prosperity, recalling that it was the families of the state who founded it.
"Governor Pavlovich, I tell you that thousands of Angelians and visitors are coming through the history of this month, the enriching culture of this state, it is very important to have this approach for all residents of Los Angeles," he said.

United to protect migrants
Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano called for working together to protect Mexicans living in the United States, providing all kinds of legal counseling for themselves and their families. She said that although the times are complicated, only the this instrument will make the migrant the center of attention and joint effort of the federal and state governments.

"We have to be together, and I believe that in this time that we are going through difficult times or we are all moving towards the same path, or we are moving forward and leaving people by the way, and that is not the right thing to do, our people deserve to be treated as a human being, and the human being is the center of everything, and we must defend the most vulnerable, and especially at this moment the migrants who are having problems and who are in great fear, "he said.

The Governor of Morelos and President of the National Conference of Governors, Graco Ramírez, announced that among the agreements reached by the visit of the seven governors to Los Angeles was the approval of the centers for migrants in the states, to protect any citizen As well as making available to migrants legal counsel for the 50 consulates of Mexico in the United States.

"We agreed with our House of Attention to Migrants (Casa de Atención a Migrantes) in the United States, the creation of a network that will allow homologation of protocols of action," he said.

The following were present: Miguel Ángel Mancera, Head of Government of Mexico City; The Governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid; The Governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Márquez Márquez; The Governor of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa; And the Governor of Durango, José Rosas Aispuro.

In addition to the General Consul of Mexico in Los Angeles, Carlos García de Alba Zepeda; The Undersecretary of North America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Manuel Sada Solana; The Head of the Office of the Executive, Natalia Rivera Grijalva, the Secretary of Economy, Jorge Vidal Ahumada.

END

Monday, April 17, 2017

AZMEX POLICY2 17-4-17

AZMEX POLICY2 17 APR 2017

Note: How many here already?
Thx


Venezuela illegally issued 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, report says
Published April 17, 2017
FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/17/venezuela-illegally-issued-10000-passports-to-syrians-iranians-report-says.html

http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/nuevo-herald-gobierno-entrego-unos-10000-pasaportes-ilegalmente_177474#

A former director of Venezuela's Office of Identification, Migration and Foreigners said that during his 17 months in the post, the socialist government gave at least 10,000 Venezuelan passports and other documents to citizens of Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In an interview with El Nuevo Herald, Colonel Vladimir Medrano Rengifo said the operation was headed by current Vice President Tareck El Aissami. He said most passports and visas were granted in the Venezuelan Consulate in Damascus, Syria's capital.

"Today we don't know where these people are, nor what they are doing," said Medrano, who currently resides in the United States.

"They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation," adding that the number of Middle Eastern individuals with irregular Venezuelan documentation could be much larger.

Colonel Medrano was dismissed in October 2009 by El Aissami, who was then Minister of Interior and Justice. According to Medrano, El Aissami fired him because he knew he was trying to dismantle the human smuggling network.

El Aissami, one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, has long been investigated in the United States for his alleged links to drug trafficking and to the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.

In January he became the most senior Venezuelan official to ever be targeted by the U.S., when the Trump administration decreed sanctions against him and Samark Lopez, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman believed to be his front man in Miami.

In the Sunday interview, Medrano told El Nuevo Herald that El Aissami was directly involved in the passport scheme. He said that whenever his office reported irregularities involving Syria-issued passports, El Aissami ordered him to look the other way.

Medrano said the passports were legitimate, but the people carrying them were not Venezuelans.

"[El Aissami] called me every time these flights landed (…) and we tried to detain [the people carrying the suspicious passports]. He pressured us in an excessive manner so this would not be done and let his 'cousins' get in, as he called them," Medrano told the Herald.

Upon review by immigration officials at the airport, Medrano explained, the identity linked to those passports turned out to belong to deceased persons, with a different name.


Venezuela, once the wealthiest South American nation, has fallen on increasingly hard financial times since Nicolás Maduro took power following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chávez in 2013.

A drop in global oil prices has crippled the country's economy and Venezuela has been plagued with the worst inflation rate in the world, close to 700 per cent last year, according to International Monetary Fund.

In this May 31, 2016 photo, Pedro Hernandez, left, and his friend Luis Daza, pick up tomatoes from the trash area of the Coche public market in Caracas, Venezuela. At Coche, even once middle class Venezuelans made desperate by the country's economic collapse have taken to sifting through the trash to resell or feed themselves on discarded fruits and vegetables. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuelans pick through trash for food to eat or sell

Across town, unemployed people converge every dusk at a trash heap on a downtown Caracas sidewalk to pick through rotten fruit and vegetables tossed out by nearby shops.

END

AZMEX POLICY 17-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 17 APR 2017

Note: from CNN.

Supreme Court won't hear case challenging government's expedited removal of undocumented immigrants
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 10:44 AM ET, Mon April 17, 2017

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/politics/supreme-court-castro-expedited-removal/index.html

Story highlights
The case was initially brought under the Obama administration
The case comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws
(CNN)The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court opinion rejecting claims by undocumented Central American women and children -- who were apprehended immediately after arriving in the country without authorization -- seeking asylum.

Lawyers for the families sought to challenge their expedited removal proceedings in federal court arguing they face gender-based violence at home, but a Philadelphia-based federal appeals court held that they have no right to judicial review of such claims.

The court's action means the government can continue to deny asylum seekers placed in expedited removal a chance to have their cases heard by federal court.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has his first full week on the court starting Monday, did not participate in the decision.

The case, initially brought under the Obama administration, comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws.
Originally, 28 mothers and their children entered the US border in Texas in late 2015. They were immediately placed in expedited removal proceedings. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, they argue they suffered "gender-based violence, including sexual assault, by men from whom they could not escape" and that they were targeted by gangs because "they are single women residing without a male household member to protect them." They sought to challenge their removal proceedings in federal court, arguing that they did not receive substantive procedural rights to which they were entitled.

A federal appeals court ruled against the petitioners, arguing that Congress could deny review for those who have been denied initial entry into the country who were apprehended close to the border. The court essentially treated the petitioners as equal to those who arrived at the border but had not yet entered.

"We conclude that Congress may, consonant with the Constitution, deny habeas review in federal court of claims relating to an alien's application for admission to the country, at least as to aliens who have been denied initial entry or who, like Petitioners, were apprehended very near the border and, essentially, immediately after surreptitious entry into the country," wrote the majority of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lee Gelernt, of the ACLU, argued the lower court decision was wrong in part because individuals who have entered the country "cannot be treated as noncitizens arriving at the border and thereby denied constitutional rights, particularly habeas corpus rights."

In court papers, the US government countered that the families were allowed to meet with an asylum officer who held that they had not established a "credible fear of persecution."

Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall argued the lower court got the decision right.
"The court simply held that such aliens may not invoke the Constitution to demand procedural steps or measures regarding their applications for admission beyond those provided by existing statutes and regulations," he wrote.

END

AZMEX POLICY 15-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 15 APR 2017

Note: Numerous reports cite illegals with multiple deportations. Usually only makes the media when they are charged / convicted of other crimes.

A sample: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/6/kate-steinle-kates-law-congress-gets-another-chanc/

thx


Arizona prosecutors work to comply with AG Sessions' orders on border crimes
ASSOCIATED PRESS |
April 15, 2017 @ 7:52 am

https://ktar.com/story/1529860/us-prosecutors-geared-target-border-crossers-2/

SAN DIEGO — Through Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, the top federal prosecutor on California's border with Mexico has resisted going after people caught entering the U.S. illegally on their first try and instead targeted smugglers and serial offenders.

That approach may face a day of reckoning under President Donald Trump.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new directive on border crimes suggests prosecutors in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas will be forced to tow a narrow line.

He said each should consider felony prosecution for anyone convicted twice of entering illegally and develop plans to target first-time offenders and charge them with misdemeanors that could send them to jail for up to six months.

The president and attorney general typically set broad priorities for the Justice Department's 94 appointed U.S. attorneys and give them significant leeway. Prosecutors in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have taken a stance closer to what Sessions wants.

Not so in California's Southern District covering about 140 miles of border from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona.

Peter Nunez, the top federal prosecutor in the district from 1982 to 1985 who believes the change is long overdue, said Trump is the first president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s to make immigration enforcement a top priority and U.S. attorneys "will not be able to ignore that."

Immigration cases already make up about half of arrests in federal courts and more along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Any increase is likely to meet resistance from some judges and prosecutors in California.

James Stiven, a retired federal judge in San Diego, told the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year that the California border district chose its cases carefully, "preserving resources throughout the federal criminal-justice system rather than squandering them on unproven `zero-tolerance' approaches." Of the proposed shift announced by Sessions on Tuesday, he said, "I can't imagine it would be well-received by the judges."

Carol Lam, who was named U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in 2002 by President George W. Bush and forced to resign nearly five years later, prosecuted fewer immigrant smuggling cases and turned limited resources on "the most dangerous offenders," according to a report by the U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog on the bungled dismissals of Lam and eight other U.S. attorneys.

The Justice Department's inspector general concluded Lam's low immigration and firearms caseloads led to her firing. Some Republican members of Congress and at least one Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, questioned Lam's record on immigration.

But her successor, Karen Hewitt, took a similar approach to immigration from 2007 to 2010. By the time Hewitt left, most border districts had embraced zero-tolerance policies. There were 70 crossers shackled together at the ankles each day for lightning-quick appearances at the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, and 80 a day in tiny Del Rio, Texas.

First-time offenders generally spent less than a week behind bars but their misdemeanor convictions exposed them to felonies if caught again.

Prosecutions of low-level border crossers more than quadrupled from 2002 to 2008 to more than 50,000 a year, while smuggling cases climbed modestly and drug cases fell sharply in border districts, according to a 2010 article by Joanna Lydgate in the California Law Review.

Hewitt focused on smugglers and generally avoided prosecutions of first-time crossers. She told Lydgate that her approach was "consistent with what the public (in the Southern District of California) would like to see."

Laura Duffy, Hewitt's successor, hewed to the same strategy until she resigned in December to become a state judge. U.S. attorneys often change under new administrations, and Trump is expected to name permanent replacements soon.

END

Friday, April 14, 2017

AZMEX UPDATE2 14-4-17

AZMEX UPDATE2 14 APR 2017

Note: Rocky Point shooting photos of patrol car at link:

Repel armed aggression in Puerto Peñasco; No injuries
El Imparcial | 4/14/2017 1:17 PM

Http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Sonora/14042017/1203813-Repelen-agresion-armada-en-Puerto-Penasco-no-hay-lesionados.html


PUERTO PEÑASCO, Sonora (GH)
The mixed coordinated group of members of the State Police for Public Security (PESP) and Municipal Police were unharmed after repelling the aggression of the individuals who were shooting at them as they were in a vehicle chase.

The facts were presented in the colonia López Portillo when PESP officers answered a call via C4 at dawn, where the Municipal Police requested support in the pursuit of a black double cab, Silverado Pick Up , with gunshots from the occupants of the reported vehicle.

When arriving at the place, the officers of the PESP that attended the call were attacked by the crew of the pickup, the officers returned fire to repel the aggression.

It was in on calle Samuel Ocaña and Dimas Noriega where they were captured the above-mentioned vehicle, the firearms, as well as two subjects, so it will be the Attorney General's Office who will take care of the corresponding legal procedures.

END

AZMEX I3-2 14-4-17

AZMEX I3-2 14 APR 2017

Note: "young (illegal) immigration advocates"

A reminder:
"Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=87134

end


Student volunteers visit ICE detainees at Eloy facility
By CHARLENE SANTIAGO Cronkite News Apr 13, 2017 Updated 24 min ago (0)

http://www.pinalcentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/student-volunteers-visit-ice-detainees-at-eloy-facility/article_15420acd-0a20-5520-bd85-08a6bd780d28.html

The Eloy Detention Center houses more than 1,500 inmates.
ELOY -- Sandra Ojeda is familiar with search procedures and the visitor registration process at the Eloy Detention Center.

She carried nothing but a sheet of paper with the names of six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and their A-number — identification issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to undocumented immigrants.

She assigned one detainee to each first-time visitor.

Welcome to one of the country's largest detention facility where young immigration advocates make time to visit men and women they have never met before.

Four college students arrived with Ojeda at the privately-owned detention center. They had no prior relationship with the people with whom they would spend an hour talking on an early Saturday morning. The students were nervous and uncertain, but Ojeda guided them through the process.

Yvonne Bueno, a sophomore at Arizona State University, visited for the first time and said she made the trip from Phoenix not knowing what to expect.
"I went through with it because I knew it was important," she said.

Bueno was assigned by Ojeda to visit Jorge Castillo. According to Bueno, Castillo has been detained in Eloy for approximately 16 months when they met. Visits are promised to last at least one hour, but they vary depending on the number of visitors waiting in the lobby.

As the hour passed slowly for Bueno, she said Castillo did not have much to talk about. Bueno said she noticed how Castillo showed his lack of trust through silence. She couldn't avoid feeling helpless, she said.
"I sat there knowing there isn't anything I can do to help these individuals get out, but I wanted to try my best to do anything I could," she said as she recalled her experience.


Juan Cornejo, a former Eloy detainee, said visits are important for an inmate's mental and emotional health. "It's a daily mental battle when you're in there," Cornejo said as he recalled his incarceration.

Now free and seeking asylum, Cornejo and his wife Ojeda organize and coordinate regular visits to Eloy as an act of support and solidarity. Cornejo said he appreciated the time volunteers invested in accompanying him when his family couldn't make the trip. "Visit hours are times for you (detainee) to breathe, feel calm, and forget about the problems that haunt you in there," he said.


Ojeda is notified by inmates of fellow detainees who haven't had many visits. Sergio Ledezma Caballero has been detained for two years and provides Ojeda with names and A-numbers of detainees. Ledezma Caballero has received visits from volunteers.

Ledezma Caballero is being treated for depression. His father passed away in November and his wife Adela Lozano is suffering from a pulmonary embolism. As she takes care of her two teenage sons, Lozano isn't able to visit every weekend and Ojeda assigns Ledezma Caballero a visit from a volunteer.

Giovanni Cisneros, a first-time visitor, recognized the importance of the visits. Cisneros said he went with the intention to help the detainees gain some sense of humanity, "by simply being there and showing them that I care," he said. His experience was different from his peers.

Cisneros wasn't able to visit an inmate because he didn't have proper identification, but he saw family members registering as visitors, waiting in despair to see their loved ones. "I had no expectations when I went, but what I saw was the destruction of families," Cisneros said as he recalled seeing kids and families leaving their visits with tears in their eyes.

Sandra Cornejo, 19, arrived with Cisneros and Bueno for the first time as a visitor. She knew what to expect. She had already experienced visits in Eloy with Ojeda, her mother, when her father, Juan Cornejo, was detained for eight months. She said visiting a stranger was different than visiting her father.
"Visiting my dad, there was a feeling of hopelessness," Sandra Cornejo said. "While visiting a stranger, I felt as if I had some sort of power."

From her father's experience, she said she learned the importance visit hours can be for a detainee's day-to-day uncertainty.

Sandra Cornejo visited a young man who introduced himself as Juan. She said she was surprised to meet somebody under ICE custody that is her age and a father of twin girls. She said he was taken into custody by ICE when he was 18 and almost close to his high school graduation.
"I cannot imagine how hard it must be to have your freedom ripped away from you," she said as she recalled her conversation with him.

Although she said she was helping the detainees, Cornejo said she couldn't avoid thinking "what if" after every visit as a daughter and after her first time as a volunteer. "There is a worry of leaving them behind, "she said. "There have been many deaths in detention centers and every time I leave Eloy, I wonder if the person I just visited could be the next."

The detention center has made national headlines for its troubling conditions and its high suicide rates. As of 2015, Eloy accounted for 9 percent (14 deaths) of the nation's deaths in detention centers in the past 12 years.

Since 2013, volunteers have carpooled to detention centers in Arizona. Currently, the Puente Human Rights movement, which sponsors the deportation visits, is running an online fundraising campaign to purchase a new van that will provide families with reliable transportation to the immigration facilities.

Despite transportation challenges, Juan Cornejo said volunteers will continue to make regular visits and will transport those who have detained family members.
"We will keep visiting, with or without a van," he said in Spanish.

END

AZMEX I3 14-4-17

AZMEX I3 14 APR 2017

Note: Despite the story, legally crossing is not a problem, as many do it every day. No Problemo.

"He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker."
¿Perhaps a job for EPN (President of Mexico) and the Mexican govt.?
thx



DETOUR
Fear of Trump Makes Migrants Disappear From Mexican Border
Their border-town shelter used to be full of migrants on their way to the United States. Now it stands nearly empty, thanks to America's president.
Betsy Woodruff

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/14/fear-of-trump-makes-migrants-disappear-from-mexican-border.html

04.13.17 10:13 PM ET
NOGALES, Mexico—In the 35 years Gilda and Juan Francisco Loureiro have been running a shelter in northern Mexico for undocumented immigrants, they've never seen a week like this one.
The shelter, called Albergue San Juan Bosco, is perched on a steep hillside looking over the busy border town of Nogales, Mexico. Its walls are painted bright turquoise and tangerine, and its wide-open double doors look west over low hills and Highway 15. Since they opened it, upward of 1 million people have slept there on their way to the U.S. But on the day I visited, it was almost empty.

It didn't used to be this way, Gilda and Juan Francisco, known as Paco, explained. In the decades since they opened the space to give migrants a place to shower and sleep before crossing the border, the shelter—with separate rooms full of bunkbeds for men and women—would regularly house 100 migrants per night. Sometimes, that number would hit 300 or more, and Gilda and Paco would pull out thin mattresses to fit everyone on the floor.

But today, those mattresses are neatly stacked in a closet, untouched. And the shelter is almost empty—no women travelers, and fewer than a dozen men. That's despite the fact that April, with its mild weather, should be the busiest time of year for migrants. The place is all but dead. Gilda and Paco have never seen anything like it.

They can only think of one explanation: President Donald Trump.
Trump hasn't yet made good on his bombastic campaign trail promises. The wall is still just a twinkle in his eye, and the deportation force hiring sprees haven't happened yet. ICE agents have conducted raids targeting undocumented immigrants, but they aren't actually that different in scale from raids that happened during the early years of the Obama administration.

But the symbolism of Trump in the Oval Office and the threat of extended detention has already deterred many migrants. Migrants are scared, explained Jose, a young Honduran man staying at the San Bosco shelter in hopes of getting to the U.S. They might be less scared in the future, he said, but for now they're waiting.
The Trump administration seems to have figured this out. In a speech on the Arizona side of the border the day before, Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted that the number of people caught illegally crossing the border had dropped by 72 percent from December 2016 to March 2017.

"This is no accident," Sessions told an audience of reporters and Customs and Border Protections officials.
He then detailed new priorities for federal prosecutors, including felony prosecutions in certain situations of people who re-enter the U.S. illegally after being deported. According to AllLaw.com, a felony conviction for illegal re-entry typically carries a sentence of up to two years.


The migrants who spoke to The Daily Beast hadn't heard of Jeff Sessions. But they'd heard about his plans.
"Is it true I'll go to prison for two years if I get arrested?" a Honduran man named Mynor asked in Spanish.

He said he'd been deported from the U.S. four times already, and that he hadn't been convicted of any crimes. But he'd spent several months in jails in Nevada, Texas, and Arizona before those deportations, he added, and he didn't want to go back.


The two-year rumor was correct, I explained. Then I asked why he kept trying to make it in the U.S. instead of returning to his native country.
"La violencia," he replied.

Still, the threat of two years in federal prison gave him second thoughts about making a fifth trip across the border, he added. Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with rampant government corruption and extraordinary levels of cartel violence. Despite this, Trump has him considering going back.
Mynor and a handful of other migrants sat in a small chapel in the shelter waiting for dinner to be ready. A large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe hung on the wall, and a nearly life-size crucifix draped with plastic rosary beads stood beside it. On a table in front, there was a pile of Know Your Rights pamphlets from the Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, a Mexican group, and the ACLU.

"Tus derechos humanos viajan contigo," one pamphlet read. "Porque ningún ser humano es ilegal…"
In English: Your human rights travel with you, because no human being is illegal.

Throughout the border town of Nogales, residents say it's strangely silent. The men who drive shuttles taking Mexicans who legally cross the border to Tucson and Phoenix have seen their business slow down—likely because many fear that having the legal right to enter the U.S. won't necessarily protect them from detention or deportation.

And the Kino Border Initiative, a Roman Catholic humanitarian aid group that provides food and clothing to recently deported migrants on the Mexico side, has seen things slow. Joanna Williams, the group's director of education and advocacy in the U.S., said their Mexican shelter would normally help 500 to 700 people every month. But in March, she added, they only worked with 200—likely because fewer people are being deported to Nogales, because fewer people are crossing the border there in the first place.

But Williams added that though the overall number of migrants crossing the border has dropped, the numbers from some parts of Mexico have risen significantly. Her group asks migrants to share what city and state of Mexico they came from—a valuable data trove—and noticed there's been an uptick in travelers from the city of Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero on Mexico's southwest coast. A conflict between two cartels there has displaced 250,000 people, according to Sky News.

Williams said she expects the number of migrants crossing the border to go back up because Trump hasn't changed the structural realities that drive migration: He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker. The changes in the last month are significant, she said, but temporary.

Paco agreed.
"Mexicans are very stubborn," he said, "and there is not a wall that can restrain them."

end

AZMEX UPDATE 14-4-17

AZMEX UPDATE 14 APR 2017

Note: the lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and Comrade Raul; attached.
Only 42 pages.
Thx

Thursday, April 13, 2017

AZMEX F&F SPECIAL2 13-4-17

AZMEX F&F SPECIAL2 13 APR 2017

Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives Didn't Matter.

'Fast and Furious' Suspected Gunman Arrested in Mexico: Fox News
April 13, 2017 By Dave Workman

http://libertyparkpress.com/fast-furious-suspected-gunman-arrested-mexico-fox-news/

Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, shown here in a widely used image, was killed in a gun battle in December 2010. His death ignited the Fast and Furious scandal.
(Source: YouTube screen snip, Tales from Fast and Furious Part 1)

The suspected gunman who allegedly pulled the trigger on U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010, leading to the exposure of an Obama administration scandal called Operation Fast and Furious, has been arrested in Mexico, according to Fox News.

The story broke Wednesday under the byline of veteran reporter William Lajeunesse, one of a handful of journalists who doggedly pursued the scandal over the course of several years.

( http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html )

Now in jail is Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, an alleged drug cartel member who is suspected of firing the shot that killed Terry during an operation in southern Arizona. The gun he allegedly used was one of two recovered at the scene that were traced back to Fast and Furious, a mismanaged gun running sting mounted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during the Obama administration. The new development is also being reported in The Hill.

The operation allowed some 2,000 guns to be "walked" across the border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Guns connected to the operation have continued to turn up at crime scenes. Many in the firearms community believed the operation was launched as an effort to discredit gun dealers and allow the administration to push for more restrictive gun control measures.

In what many believe was a politically-motivated move to exploit the debacle, the Obama administration instituted additional reporting requirements for firearms dealers in four states, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. This created the impression that gun dealers were somehow responsible for the "gun walking" scandal, according to many critics. But dealers directly involved had been working with ATF agents, and e-mails recovered during an investigation of the operation showed at least one retailer who expressed grave concerns about the operation.

While the story was reported, and given national attention by then-CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson's interview of an ATF whistleblower who helped expose the scandal, the dominant mainstream media largely ignored it. Many in the firearms community believe the reason was so that the Obama administration would not be tarnished by a scandal that resulted in the death of an American law enforcement officer, and untold numbers of Mexican citizens.

The scandal was initially uncovered by two online writers, David Codrea, writing at the time for Examiner.com, and the late "citizen journalist" Mike Vanderboegh, who died last year. Both Codrea and Attkisson earned awards for their work on the story.

Fast and Furious became the subject of congressional hearings before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. During one of those sessions, an ATF agent dubbed the operation a "perfect storm of idiocy." The scandal resulted in the resignation of former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, the Arizona Republic recalled.

Initially, Capitol Hill involvement started in the office of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley and ultimately led to the House investigation under California Congressman Darrell Issa, then chair of the Oversight Committee. Issa and fellow Republicans on the committee pushed the Justice Department and then-Attorney General Eric Holder for thousands of documents. When Holder refused to turn over some of those documents, former President Barack Obama extended executive privilege, but that was eventually overturned by a federal court.

Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress, in 2012, and he eventually stepped down, to be replaced by Loretta Lynch.

According to Fox News, Osorio-Arellanes was nabbed "by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)."

At least one book was written about Fast and Furious, and images of Terry have been widely circulated on social media in the six-plus years since his death. A Border patrol station was named after him.

Liberty Park Press has reached out to Issa for a reaction to this latest development.

END


Fast and Furious scandal: Suspected triggerman in border agent's murder arrested
By William Lajeunesse, Laura Prabucki Published April 12, 2017 FoxNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html

Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was killed on Dec. 14 near Rio Rico, Ariz., according to a statement released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. (FNC)

EXCLUSIVE – The cartel member suspected of shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010 with a gun supplied by the U.S. government was arrested in Mexico Wednesday, senior law enforcement, Border Patrol, and congressional sources told Fox News.

The suspect, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC).

A $250,000 reward had been sought for information leading to the arrest of Osorio-Arellanes, who was captured at a ranch on the border of the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua. U.S. authorities have said they will seek his extradition.

Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010 in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a five-man cartel "rip crew," which regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob.

The agent's death exposed Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them once they made their way into Mexico. But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry's killing.

The operation set off a political firestorm, and then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation.

Four members of the "rip crew" already been sentenced to jail time in the U.S. Manual Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in February 2014.

In October 2015, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Sanchez-Meza were convicted by a federal jury of nine different charges, including first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery.

Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, accused of assembling the "rip crew," was sentenced to 27 years in prison after striking a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The last remaining member of the "rip crew," Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, is believed to still be at large.

END

AZMEX F&F SPECIAL 13-4-17

AZMEX F&F SPECIAL 13 APR 2017

Note: Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives didn't Matter.

Also: . "catch trafficking kingpins"? Sure, just like in the movies.
Given the people behind the scheme, it strongly believed that the real motive was to attack 2nd Amendment Rights and restore the semiautomatic rifle ban.
Those behind the scheme have yet to face justice. But then, Mexican Lives didn't Matter.
thx



Report: Man who killed Border Patrol agent in Arizona arrested
BY KTAR.COM | April 12, 2017 @ 4:06 pm

http://ktar.com/story/1527811/man-killed-border-patrol-agent-arizona-arrested/

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (AP Photo)

PHOENIX — A man who allegedly shot and killed a Border Patrol agent in Arizona several years ago was reportedly arrested in Mexico on Wednesday.

Fox News reported Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was captured on a ranch on the border of Mexican states Sinaloa and Chihuahua.

Officials believe Osorio-Arellanes was the gunman who killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010. A $250,000 reward was being offered for information in the case.

Two other men, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, were found guilty of Terry's murder in 2015, though it was still thought Osorio-Arellanes killed Terry.

The three men were working as part of a rip crew that robs drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border when they ran into Terry's patrol. A shootout ensued and Terry was killed.

One of the rip crew members was injured. That man was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Osorio-Arellanes allegedly used a gun that was supplied by the U.S. government in a failed gun-tracking operation.

Operation Fast and Furious, the gun-smuggling effort, was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but federal agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons — including AK-47s and other high-powered assault rifles.

Two of the guns purchased illegally with the government's knowledge were found at the site where Terry was killed near Nogales in 2010.

END

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

AZMEX POLICY 12-4-17

AZMEX POLICY 12 APR 2017


Sessions outlines immigration enforcement priorities during visit to Nogales
By Kendal Blust
Nogales International 21 hrs ago (2)

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/sessions-outlines-immigration-enforcement-priorities-during-visit-to-nogales/article_f54228aa-1f06-11e7-92dd-ef9b11c2950f.html

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new criminal immigration enforcement guidelines at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales on Tuesday, April 11.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new mandates for federal prosecutors as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration enforcement and border security during a visit to Nogales Tuesday morning.

Speaking at the Mariposa Port of Entry after a brief tour of the border, Sessions outlined plans to amp up prosecutions and detentions for immigrants apprehended at the border.

The new guidelines, he said, reflect the administration's hardened stance against illegal immigration, drug smuggling and transnational gangs and cartels, as well as increased support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who he described as the frontline against "criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent civilians and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders."

"It is here, on this sliver of land, on this border, where . . . we first take our stand," he continued, reading from a prepared statement.

Sessions said the new mandate requires federal prosecutors to focus on prosecuting those transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants; immigrants who unlawfully return to the United States after being deported, especially those with "certain aggravating circumstances," such as gang affiliations; and those in the country illegally who have committed document fraud or identity theft.

He said he will also require all 94 U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country to prioritize prosecution for assault on a federal law enforcement officer, and he also mandated that each office appoint a Border Security Coordinator by next Tuesday, April 18, to coordinate immigration enforcement for that district.

"For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era," he said. "The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over."

In addition to the new guidelines for federal prosecutors, Sessions also reiterated his intention to have "all adults who are apprehended at the border" detained, and to place immigration judges in detention centers.

In addition to 25 judges already assigned to border detention centers, Sessions said 50 more will be added to the bench this year and 75 the following year under a "streamlined hiring plan."

Calling President Donald Trump's executive order on border security the "guidepost," Sessions said the new administration will prosecute immigration and drug smuggling offenses to "the full extent of the law."

Following the more than 10-minute news conference, Sessions fielded questions from reporters.

He did not directly respond to questions about the administration's stance on family separation or funding for the wall. He did, however, defend the wall as a deterrent to illegal re-entry, despite touting declining apprehensions in recent months as proof that the new administration's policies are working.

"This is no accident. This is what happens when you have a president who understands the threat, who is not afraid to publicly identify the threat and stand up to it, and who makes clear to law enforcement that the leadership of their country finally has their back, and tells the whole world that the illegality is over" he said. "So together we will further drastically reduce the danger posed by criminal aliens, gang members and cartel henchmen."

Sessions' tour of the border was part of a day-long trip to Arizona that also included stops in Litchfield Park, Ariz. and Luke Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon, where Sessions spoke to law enforcement and military personnel.

END




Grijalva, wildlife group file lawsuit over Trump's proposed border wall
The Associated Press Apr 12, 2017 Updated 51 min ago

http://tucson.com/news/local/grijalva-wildlife-group-file-lawsuit-over-trump-s-proposed-border/article_b0340610-1fac-11e7-8cb2-5f552c1ca4e8.html

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
A conservation group and U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva have filed what they say is the first federal lawsuit against the proposed border wall.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Tucson by Grijalva, D-Arizona, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Wildlife conservationists say the wall would be detrimental to rare animals such as jaguars and ocelots that are known to traverse the international line.

The lawsuit seeks to require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to put together a report on construction of the wall and the environmental impact of expanded operations on the U.S.-Mexico border.

This includes environmental impact statements on the the wall itself, border road construction, off-road vehicle patrols, installation of high-intensity lighting, construction of base camps and checkpoints and other activities, according to a news release announcing the lawsuit.

President Donald Trump has promised to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it, though Mexico has refused.

"American environmental laws are some of the oldest and strongest in the world and they should apply to the borderlands just as they do everywhere else," said Grijalva, who expansive district includes about 300 miles of the border. "Trump's wall — and his fanatical approach to our southern border — will do little more than perpetuate human suffering while irrevocably damaging our public lands and the wildlife that depend on them."

The lawsuit names as defendants Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Kevin K. McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and the CBP.

END