AZMEX UPDATE2 7 DEC 2012
High-speed chase ends in drug bust for Pinal deputies
13 hours ago • Kimberly Matas, Arizona Daily Star
http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/police-beat/high-speed-chase-ends-in-
drug-bust-for-pinal-deputies/
article_ebfbf5f0-400d-11e2-8519-001a4bcf887a.html
A routine traffic stop turned high-speed chase ended in the arrest of
three people and the seizure of $226,500 in marijuana.
A Pinal County Sheriff's Deputy was on patrol along Interstate 8 near
Casa Grande around 11:30 a.m. Dec. 4, when he tried to pull over a
speeding SUV, said Tim Gaffney, spokesman for the Pinal County
Sheriff's Office.
The driver of the SUV took an exit and left the interstate, leading
the deputy on a high-speed chase, up to 95 miles per hour on a
Central Arizona Project Canal Road.
When the SUV got stuck in a rocky area, the driver and two passengers
jumped out and ran, Gaffney said. The driver was quickly apprehended.
The passengers were found by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office Air
Unit about two miles away attempting to hide in the desert. All three
were in the United States illegally. The two passengers were turned
over the U.S. Border Patrol for deportation.
Inside of the SUV, which turned out to be a rental, deputies found
302 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $226,500, Gaffney said.
The driver, 28-year-old Trinidad Cordova-Villena of Mexico, was
arrested and booked into the Pinal County jail for felony flight,
possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and
transportation of marijuana.
So far this year the Pinal County Sheriff's Office has seized 65,760
pounds of marijuana worth more than $49,320,000; and more than 19
kilos (nearly 42 pounds) of cocaine and methamphetamines, said
Sheriff Paul Babeau.
Note: numerous reports of increased and larger groups of IA's and
dope runners along AZMEX border in last 3 months.
Illegal population now seems static, Pew report says
7 hours ago • Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services Comments
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/illegal-population-now-seems-
static-pew-report-says/article_02483183-bbc4-54a4-b96d-c7f53bf6767d.html
PHOENIX - A new report Thursday says the United States is no longer
the beacon for illegal immigration it was when the economy here was
expanding rapidly.
Figures from the Pew Hispanic Center estimate 11.1 million illegal
immigrants lived in the country last year, virtually no change from
the 11.2 million estimate for 2010 or the 11.1 million figure the
year before that.
The number peaked at 12 million in 2007 after rising steadily for at
least a decade. Pew puts the number of illegal immigrants in the
country in 2000 at just 8.4 million.
The 11.1 million figure is identical to what it was in 2005, in the
early stages of the economic boom.
Thursday's report could have political implications.
It suggests that, at least for the time being, people are not
crossing the border illegally in large numbers. That, according to
Pew researchers, is driven largely by a decrease in the number of new
immigrants from Mexico, which is the largest source of migrants.
At its peak in 2000, Pew estimates about 770,000 immigrants arrived
each year from Mexico, mostly illegally. By the end of the decade,
that had slowed to about 140,000.
And Pew figures that the number of Mexicans and their children who
moved back home in the last half of the decade is about twice as much
as the first half.
What that means is less need for the debate about illegal immigration
to focus on enhanced border security and more on what to do about the
people who are already here, and, by all indications, have been here
for some time.
The Obama administration already has staked out its position, saying
those who arrived as children but were not yet 30 should not be
deported. While the action does not provide the group - potentially
1.7 million according to Pew - any legal status, it sets the stage
for potential congressional action.
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., along with fellow lame-duck
Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, proposed something similar
to what the president already has enacted.
It also could have implications for some businesses that have
depended on a steady flow of foreign-born workers, legal and
otherwise, to fill the jobs they have: If immigrants are not arriving
from Mexico, the United States will have to depend on people from
elsewhere.
Pew had no Arizona-specific numbers. But staffers said given the
static figures nationwide, it is likely that the illegal immigrant
population here is little different from their 2010 estimate.
That report pegged the likely number of those without documents in
Arizona at 400,000. But researchers acknowledged the figure could be
anywhere from 275,000 to 500,000.
D'Vera Cohn, a writer with Pew Hispanic, said reports anticipated for
release next year are likely to have state-by-state numbers.
Coming up with an exact number requires a bit of massaging of the
numbers that the U.S. Census Bureau provides on an annual basis
through its sampling. That data is then adjusted to compensate for
undercounting.
Those numbers do include, though, estimates of foreign-born population.
But since the Census Bureau does not ask about legal status, Pew uses
numbers that it does have from other sources, like naturalized
citizens, legal permanent residents, temporary legal residents and
refugees, to figure out what's left. And that is presumed to be the
total of illegal immigrants.
By the numbers
Estimates of illegal immigrants in US, in millions:
2000 8.4
2001 9.3
2002 9.4
2003 9.7
2004 10.4
2005 11.1
2006 11.3
2007 12.0
2008 11.6
2009 11.1
2010 11.2
2011 11.1
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
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