AZMEX F&F EXTRA 31 JUL 2014
Another suspect in Terry slaying extradited to US
1 hour ago • Arizona Daily Star
http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/another-suspect-in-terry-slaying-extradited-to-us/article_c8c7c86c-190e-11e4-960b-001a4bcf887a.html
Another suspect in the slaying of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has been extradited from Mexico and will appear in federal court in Tucson on Friday, federal officials said.
Ivan Soto-Barraza is charged with first-degree murder in Terry's death. Terry was killed in a firefight that agents had with armed robbers trying to steal marijuana loads near Rio Rico in 2010. Five men have been charged in connection with his death.
Soto-Barraza was captured in Mexico in September 2013 near the town of El Fuerte in Sinaloa. He was extradited today, U.S. officials said.
Of the five suspects, one has pleaded guilty and sentence to 30 years in prison, two are now awaiting trial and two are fugitives. A sixth man, who was in custody at the time of Terry's death, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to the case and sentenced to eight years in prison.
In July 2012, the U.S. government offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of four of the fugitives, include Soto-Barraza.
"We will never stop seeking justice against those who do harm to our best and bravest," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a news release announcing the extradition.
Another suspect in the death, Lionel Portillo-Meza, is being held as he awaits trial in federal court in Tucson. His trial has been delayed.
The case sparked national controversy when it was revealed two guns found at the scene were sold by a Phoenix-area dealer to a man suspected in a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation called Operation Fast and Furious in which the federal agency lost track of about 2,000 weapons.
END
Suspect in border agent's death extradited to US
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 31, 2014 - 5:18 pm
http://ktar.com/22/1755050/Suspect-in-border-agents-death-extradited-to-US
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A suspect in the 2010 killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been extradited from Mexico and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Tucson.
Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Ivan Soto-Barraza has been indicted on first-degree murder and other charges.
The slaying is at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Prosecutors say Soto-Barraza is among five men charged in the Dec. 14, 2010 death of Agent Brian Terry near the Arizona border city of Nogales.
Terry allegedly was killed when armed robbers targeting marijuana smugglers opened fire on agents.
The death brought to light the federal government's botched gun smuggling investigation in which they planned to track guns sold to criminals who were buying them for weapon smugglers.
END
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Fwd: Our 'border convoy' is coming to Arizona!
FYI May be of interest to several
thx
Begin forwarded message:
thx
Begin forwarded message:
Friends in Arizona,
Grassfire.com and LibertyNews.com are proud to announce we're the primary sponsors of the upcoming August 'Border Convoy.' The Border Convoy departs Murrieta, CA and ends in Laredo and Mission, TX. The convoy will go from August 1st through August 9th. You can get a full route schedule by clicking here.
The Border Convoy, soon to be featured on Fox News, is set up with a purpose of supporting border patrol agents and citizen patrols along the border, calling for Americans to get more involved in stopping the invasion at the border, and launching a national PR/media campaign to raise awareness of how wide open our borders really are.
Because you live in Arizona we would like to invite you to come on out and join us on the convoy. If you have an RV and want to camp, or if you have a car/SUV/MC and can do cheap hotels, this would be a great opportunity for you to join like-minded folks as we drive along the border during this campaign.
There are already 25 vehicles registered to join us and we haven't even really officially announced in public. In fact, our Facebook page crossed 2,000 fans and it's only a few days old!
There is no cost to register (outside of your own travel and food costs) and free registration is not required. But those who register will be given daily schedules and will be included in the core real time contact list.
The Grassfire/Liberty News vehicle will be leading the convoy and we would love to have you out there with us! Please click here to register to join on all or part of the convoy through Arizona.
REGISTER NOW AND JOIN US AS WE CONVOY THROUGH ARIZONA (Route Map and Basic Schedule Here)
Also, we're spending significant money helping fund the convoy from Murrieta. If you can throw in a few bucks to help us with gas and food it would be greatly appreciated! We're also sponsoring the 24/7 live feed, a media RV and more while on the road. Click here to donate now.
Thanks and we'll see you in Arizona!
More information about our border convoy can be found at BorderConvoy.com.
-Eric Odom
Director of Interactive Media, Grassfire.com
-----
P.S. This border convoy takes the Murrieta stand to the next level. Now America must follow Murrieta's lead and take a massive stand at the border. Click here to help us get this started.
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Friday, July 18, 2014
AZMEX POLICY 18-7-14
AZMEX POLICY 18 JUL 2014
Note: more on detention facility issue, this in a border county which seldom catches anyone.
Supes, sheriff reach deal on jail funding
Curt Prendergast
jail funding
Sheriff's Lt. Roberto Morales, head of the county jail, left, and Sheriff Antonio Estrada listen to complaints from the county supervisors about the jail district's finances.
Posted: Friday, July 18, 2014 8:05 am | Updated: 9:01 am, Fri Jul 18, 2014.
By Curt Prendergast
Nogales International | 0 comments
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/supes-sheriff-reach-deal-on-jail-funding/article_ffbf8364-0e8c-11e4-89b8-001a4bcf887a.html
After a $1.4 million transfer to the jail district was cut out of the Santa Cruz County budget on July 2, the County Supervisors reached a compromise with the Sheriff's Office to shift up to $450,000 to the district.
The cuts do not touch the state-required $3.1 million annual payment to the jail and the voter-approved sales tax revenue expected to bring in about $2.8 million in fiscal year 2014-15. Instead, the $450,000 will make up the difference between the sales tax revenue and the annual $3.2 million payment needed to service the $44.5 million in bonds issued in 2008 to build the county jail.
During a meeting Wednesday, the county supervisors unanimously approved the allocation, which came in under the $600,000 Sheriff Antonio Estrada said he needed to maintain current staffing levels and house an average of about 40 U.S. Marshal's Service holds, which generally are migrants caught trying to cross the border illegally and bring in $65 per inmate daily.
"Anything less than that puts us in a very precarious situation," Estrada said.
The funds will give the Sheriff's Office "a little room to work with" as the county tries to find a permanent solution to the jail's financial troubles, said Supervisor Rudy Molera.
Supervisor Manuel Ruiz called the move "a fair compromise," given the county's financial position, while Supervisor John Maynard told Estrada the supervisors are trying to "meet you halfway on this."
While the allocation approved Wednesday was less than the amount Estrada requested, it was an improvement over the $2.4 million cut previously suggested by the supervisors, which Estrada said was "totally unreasonable" and would "gut" the department and create public safety issues.
If the jail does not have enough staff to hold local people accused of crimes, "they're going to be out there" in the community, Estrada said. Low staffing levels also could prohibit the jail from holding daily commitments from the courts, and therefore deny those accused of crimes the chance to work and support their families.
Ruiz pointed to a staffing report that indicates the Sheriff's Office is "top heavy" in administration.
"Why can't you move your administrative teams down into detention and that way you don't have to give any pink slips?" Ruiz asked, noting the report was for 240 inmates, more than twice the 102 currently being held at the jail.
Sheriff's Lt. Roberto Morales, who runs the jail, said the report was only a draft and did not take into account the staffing needed to work the jail's classification system, in which inmates are separated according to security risk.
The jail is staffed by 45 officers, seven less than national corrections standards, Morales said. If the jail were to change its classification system, the jail would still need 47 officers to meet those standards.
"The first to know there is a reduction in jail workforce are the inmates," Morales said, noting an incident last week in which inmates "confronted" two jail officers.
"As staff numbers go down, liability goes up," he said, as well as increases in officer fatigue, burnout, turnover, and unexpected overtime.
A matter of luck
While recognizing the potential public safety issues, all three supervisors pointed to the cost the county has had to shoulder as revenues declined at the jail district, including a $1 million payment in July 2013.
"I have nothing but praise for the Sheriff's Office," Molera said, but the jail is operating at less than 25-percent occupancy. "It's very difficult to continue to pump money into a situation that is not moving forward."
"It's a matter of luck," Molera said of the declining number of federal inmates, which is caused by a number of variables beyond the county's control.
Ruiz noted other departments, such as health, sanitation, and public works, also are responsible for public safety.
"We have to make a decision and what you're asking us to do is decide that out of all the departments and all the employees here, your employees are the most important ones," he said.
"We've gone into our savings year after year after year and there comes a point in time where we're not going to have those kinds of savings," Ruiz said. "Hopefully, with this it will stem it a little bit."
County Manager Carlos Rivera stated at a previous meeting the county would run out of cash reserves by 2016 if it continues to spend at the current rate without an increase in revenues.
Maynard said he agreed the county needed a new jail to replace the aging facility on Hohokam Drive.
"We all knew that and we all agreed upon that," he said, adding he expected the county's required payment, sales tax revenue, and U.S. Marshal's holds to cover the jail's operating costs.
"I don't know that I can continue to support your department more than any other department in the county," Maynard said, adding he has looked at the problem in a number of ways without finding a solution.
"I feel I have been personally very fair and very honorable and I've spent three years as a supervisor in discussion with you and members of your department," he said.
Since January, he has told county staff he likely could not support making another $1 million payment to the jail.
Maynard thanked Estrada for discussing the matter with him, including a meeting "over coffee," that allowed Maynard to speak freely "out of the limelight of a public hearing, where quite frankly I'm not comfortable always saying what's truly on my mind, but having to say certain things that I think are important to say in such a setting."
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Print
Note: more on detention facility issue, this in a border county which seldom catches anyone.
Supes, sheriff reach deal on jail funding
Curt Prendergast
jail funding
Sheriff's Lt. Roberto Morales, head of the county jail, left, and Sheriff Antonio Estrada listen to complaints from the county supervisors about the jail district's finances.
Posted: Friday, July 18, 2014 8:05 am | Updated: 9:01 am, Fri Jul 18, 2014.
By Curt Prendergast
Nogales International | 0 comments
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/supes-sheriff-reach-deal-on-jail-funding/article_ffbf8364-0e8c-11e4-89b8-001a4bcf887a.html
After a $1.4 million transfer to the jail district was cut out of the Santa Cruz County budget on July 2, the County Supervisors reached a compromise with the Sheriff's Office to shift up to $450,000 to the district.
The cuts do not touch the state-required $3.1 million annual payment to the jail and the voter-approved sales tax revenue expected to bring in about $2.8 million in fiscal year 2014-15. Instead, the $450,000 will make up the difference between the sales tax revenue and the annual $3.2 million payment needed to service the $44.5 million in bonds issued in 2008 to build the county jail.
During a meeting Wednesday, the county supervisors unanimously approved the allocation, which came in under the $600,000 Sheriff Antonio Estrada said he needed to maintain current staffing levels and house an average of about 40 U.S. Marshal's Service holds, which generally are migrants caught trying to cross the border illegally and bring in $65 per inmate daily.
"Anything less than that puts us in a very precarious situation," Estrada said.
The funds will give the Sheriff's Office "a little room to work with" as the county tries to find a permanent solution to the jail's financial troubles, said Supervisor Rudy Molera.
Supervisor Manuel Ruiz called the move "a fair compromise," given the county's financial position, while Supervisor John Maynard told Estrada the supervisors are trying to "meet you halfway on this."
While the allocation approved Wednesday was less than the amount Estrada requested, it was an improvement over the $2.4 million cut previously suggested by the supervisors, which Estrada said was "totally unreasonable" and would "gut" the department and create public safety issues.
If the jail does not have enough staff to hold local people accused of crimes, "they're going to be out there" in the community, Estrada said. Low staffing levels also could prohibit the jail from holding daily commitments from the courts, and therefore deny those accused of crimes the chance to work and support their families.
Ruiz pointed to a staffing report that indicates the Sheriff's Office is "top heavy" in administration.
"Why can't you move your administrative teams down into detention and that way you don't have to give any pink slips?" Ruiz asked, noting the report was for 240 inmates, more than twice the 102 currently being held at the jail.
Sheriff's Lt. Roberto Morales, who runs the jail, said the report was only a draft and did not take into account the staffing needed to work the jail's classification system, in which inmates are separated according to security risk.
The jail is staffed by 45 officers, seven less than national corrections standards, Morales said. If the jail were to change its classification system, the jail would still need 47 officers to meet those standards.
"The first to know there is a reduction in jail workforce are the inmates," Morales said, noting an incident last week in which inmates "confronted" two jail officers.
"As staff numbers go down, liability goes up," he said, as well as increases in officer fatigue, burnout, turnover, and unexpected overtime.
A matter of luck
While recognizing the potential public safety issues, all three supervisors pointed to the cost the county has had to shoulder as revenues declined at the jail district, including a $1 million payment in July 2013.
"I have nothing but praise for the Sheriff's Office," Molera said, but the jail is operating at less than 25-percent occupancy. "It's very difficult to continue to pump money into a situation that is not moving forward."
"It's a matter of luck," Molera said of the declining number of federal inmates, which is caused by a number of variables beyond the county's control.
Ruiz noted other departments, such as health, sanitation, and public works, also are responsible for public safety.
"We have to make a decision and what you're asking us to do is decide that out of all the departments and all the employees here, your employees are the most important ones," he said.
"We've gone into our savings year after year after year and there comes a point in time where we're not going to have those kinds of savings," Ruiz said. "Hopefully, with this it will stem it a little bit."
County Manager Carlos Rivera stated at a previous meeting the county would run out of cash reserves by 2016 if it continues to spend at the current rate without an increase in revenues.
Maynard said he agreed the county needed a new jail to replace the aging facility on Hohokam Drive.
"We all knew that and we all agreed upon that," he said, adding he expected the county's required payment, sales tax revenue, and U.S. Marshal's holds to cover the jail's operating costs.
"I don't know that I can continue to support your department more than any other department in the county," Maynard said, adding he has looked at the problem in a number of ways without finding a solution.
"I feel I have been personally very fair and very honorable and I've spent three years as a supervisor in discussion with you and members of your department," he said.
Since January, he has told county staff he likely could not support making another $1 million payment to the jail.
Maynard thanked Estrada for discussing the matter with him, including a meeting "over coffee," that allowed Maynard to speak freely "out of the limelight of a public hearing, where quite frankly I'm not comfortable always saying what's truly on my mind, but having to say certain things that I think are important to say in such a setting."
More Coverage
Jail district may have dodged an IRS bullet
Jail debt casts long shadow at county
More about Jail
ARTICLE: Jail district may have dodged an IRS bullet
ARTICLE: Jail is a puzzle to be solved
ARTICLE: Jail debt casts long shadow at county
More about Sheriff Antonio Estrada
ARTICLE: Jail district may have dodged an IRS bullet
ARTICLE: Jail debt casts long shadow at county
More about Santa Cruz County Board Of Supervisors
ARTICLE: County tax rate goes up 22.5 cents
ARTICLE: Jail district may have dodged an IRS bullet
ARTICLE: Jail debt casts long shadow at county
Discuss
Thursday, July 17, 2014
AZMEX POLICY2 17-7-14
AZMEX POLICY2 17 JUL 2014
Feds decide not to continue ICE deal
At least 100 Pinal employees to lose jobs
Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2014 8:40 am
By ADAM GAUB, Maricopa Monitor
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/feds-decide-not-to-continue-ice-deal/article_7daa4a64-0cff-11e4-b7c8-0019bb2963f4.html
FLORENCE — After months of waiting for a response from the federal government about a contract to house prisoners for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pinal County finally has its answer: No.
County officials learned Tuesday — just 10 days before the contract expires — that ICE is rejecting the county's proposal. County officials notified ICE in April that they wanted to increase the per diem rate for ICE detainees from $59.64 to $87.96.
The absence of ICE detainees means some employees at the Pinal County Adult Detention Facility won't have jobs after next week.
According to a letter obtained by the Maricopa Monitor, the number of ICE detainees being held at the detention center has dwindled in recent weeks to the point where portions of the facility are empty. According to the letter, penned by a volunteer at the detention center, staff members were told last Thursday that their jobs would end later this month — some on July 21 and the rest on July 25 when the contract officially expires.
The total number of detention officers and other employees on the county payroll who could lose their jobs as a result of the ICE contract cancellation has yet to be finalized. When Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu addressed the matter before county supervisors in May 2013, when the board was first considering dropping the contract, he said up to 200 jobs could be at stake. Other estimates put that number between 100 and 130 positions.
Attempts to reach County Manager Greg Stanley on Tuesday were unsuccessful, but Stanley told the Monitor earlier this month that he had been "pessimistic" about reaching a deal with ICE before the deadline.
County Supervisor Steve Miller, who has been one of the most vocal proponents of ending the ICE deal, declined to comment until Stanley made the announcement official.
Miller did say, however, that internal estimates done at the county level show canceling the contract could save Pinal upwards of $3 million annually.
"We just approved a 2.5 percent raise for our employees that cost us about $2.5 million, so if we can save $3 million a year, that would help right there," Miller said.
County officials have said the county loses an estimated $55,000 per week housing inmates under the current contract. Officials estimate the county has spent $15 million on housing detainees above the amount ICE has paid the county.
The county first entered a deal with ICE to house inmates in 2006.
Late last month, supervisors approved a new reduction in force policy, in part as a contingency in the event of the contract's termination
END
US rejects Arizona county's proposal on detainee payments
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 17, 2014 - 12:14 pm
http://ktar.com/22/1751237/US-rejects-Arizona-countys-proposal-on-detainee-payments
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- The federal government has rejected Pinal County's proposal that the county be paid more to house immigration detainees in the county jail.
The county had notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April that it would terminate the county's money-losing contract unless the federal agency accepted the county's proposal to raise the daily per-detainee payment rate.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reported that county officials learned of the rejection on Tuesday, just 10 days before the contract's expiration.
The county intended for the contract initially signed in 2006 to help pay for construction of the new jail. However, county officials say it has turned out that the county's taxpayers have been subsidizing federal costs for detention.
The county proposed increasing the daily rate per detainee to $87.96 from $59.64.
END
Feds decide not to continue ICE deal
At least 100 Pinal employees to lose jobs
Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2014 8:40 am
By ADAM GAUB, Maricopa Monitor
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/feds-decide-not-to-continue-ice-deal/article_7daa4a64-0cff-11e4-b7c8-0019bb2963f4.html
FLORENCE — After months of waiting for a response from the federal government about a contract to house prisoners for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pinal County finally has its answer: No.
County officials learned Tuesday — just 10 days before the contract expires — that ICE is rejecting the county's proposal. County officials notified ICE in April that they wanted to increase the per diem rate for ICE detainees from $59.64 to $87.96.
The absence of ICE detainees means some employees at the Pinal County Adult Detention Facility won't have jobs after next week.
According to a letter obtained by the Maricopa Monitor, the number of ICE detainees being held at the detention center has dwindled in recent weeks to the point where portions of the facility are empty. According to the letter, penned by a volunteer at the detention center, staff members were told last Thursday that their jobs would end later this month — some on July 21 and the rest on July 25 when the contract officially expires.
The total number of detention officers and other employees on the county payroll who could lose their jobs as a result of the ICE contract cancellation has yet to be finalized. When Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu addressed the matter before county supervisors in May 2013, when the board was first considering dropping the contract, he said up to 200 jobs could be at stake. Other estimates put that number between 100 and 130 positions.
Attempts to reach County Manager Greg Stanley on Tuesday were unsuccessful, but Stanley told the Monitor earlier this month that he had been "pessimistic" about reaching a deal with ICE before the deadline.
County Supervisor Steve Miller, who has been one of the most vocal proponents of ending the ICE deal, declined to comment until Stanley made the announcement official.
Miller did say, however, that internal estimates done at the county level show canceling the contract could save Pinal upwards of $3 million annually.
"We just approved a 2.5 percent raise for our employees that cost us about $2.5 million, so if we can save $3 million a year, that would help right there," Miller said.
County officials have said the county loses an estimated $55,000 per week housing inmates under the current contract. Officials estimate the county has spent $15 million on housing detainees above the amount ICE has paid the county.
The county first entered a deal with ICE to house inmates in 2006.
Late last month, supervisors approved a new reduction in force policy, in part as a contingency in the event of the contract's termination
END
US rejects Arizona county's proposal on detainee payments
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 17, 2014 - 12:14 pm
http://ktar.com/22/1751237/US-rejects-Arizona-countys-proposal-on-detainee-payments
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- The federal government has rejected Pinal County's proposal that the county be paid more to house immigration detainees in the county jail.
The county had notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April that it would terminate the county's money-losing contract unless the federal agency accepted the county's proposal to raise the daily per-detainee payment rate.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reported that county officials learned of the rejection on Tuesday, just 10 days before the contract's expiration.
The county intended for the contract initially signed in 2006 to help pay for construction of the new jail. However, county officials say it has turned out that the county's taxpayers have been subsidizing federal costs for detention.
The county proposed increasing the daily rate per detainee to $87.96 from $59.64.
END
AZMEX POLICY 17-7-14
AZMEX POLICY 17 JUL 2014
Note: From the Kimery Report at Homeland Security Today A long, but very interesting read. Staffers may want to do a close read of this one.
BTW, the detention capacity was worsened by the BHO administration ending use of local facilities and funding.
Thx
The Kimery Report
Anthony L. Kimery, Editor-in-Chief, draws on 30 years of experience and extensive contacts as he investigates and analyzes homeland security, counterterrorism and border security. "The Kimery Report" was awarded a 2008 National ASBPE Award for Original Web News Section. He most recently won a 2014 regional gold ASBPE award for impact/investigative journalism. His report, "Savage Struggle on the Border," was the lead report in the series of the same title that won the 2010 National ASBPE Gold Award for best magazine series. Read more about Tony...
See all The Kimery Report blogs and comments
NEW - $4 Billion For Border Crisis Contrasts With President's Gutted FY 2015 DHS Budget Request
July 14, 2014
By: Anthony Kimery, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/the-kimery-report/blog/new-4-billion-for-border-crisis-contrasts-with-presidents-gutted-fy-2015-dhs-budget-request/5e91cb66b7de8467de8c15f4ec38cbc1.html
President Obama's request for nearly $4 billion in emergency funding for what the White House insists is "a proactive" effort to confront the unprecedented wave after wave of unaccompanied children and "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) surging across the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is in stark contrast with the dramatic, across the board cuts he requested in the budgets of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components in his Fiscal Year 2015 DHS budget sent to Congress in March.
The budget was drafted not only at a time when the crisis on the border had been predicted by US Border Patrol years earlier, but also as the numbers of OTMs entering the US through the RGV had already began to escalate, officials told Homeland Security Today on background.
In further contrast to the President's request for $4 billion to address the border crisis, his FY 2015 DHS budget didn't explicitly request any resources to address the nearly historic increase of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) transiting the Southwest border which, according to both DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), was already up ten-fold since 2011 and was predicted to possibly exceed more than 90,000 this fiscal year and more than 145,000 in FY 2015.
The White House's supplemental request for $4 billion to address the border crisis "is so much smoke and mirrors," legislators, law enforcement and other federal officials said. The bulk of the money is earmarked for resettlement rather than for removal and border enforcement. Out of the White House's $3.7 billion request, $1.8 billion, or about 49 percent of the entire supplemental request, would go to HHS for resettlement of illegal minors and entire family units, including adult men and women. Funds would be provided "for acquisition, construction, improvement, repair, operation and maintenance of real property and facilities." According to a leaked ICE Office of Intelligence document, 47 percent of the adults subject to expedited removal would be relocated and resettled.
The administration's supplemental request also includes a "general provision" by which it would be allowed to move around as much as 30 percent of the funding as they choose. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be given $15 million to hire attorneys to defend unaccompanied alien children against deportation in removal proceedings before an immigration judge and $1.1 million would be given to DOJ for "immigration litigation attorneys."
"While administration leaders publicly claim they are working to effectively stem the tide of arrivals and ensure their speedy removal, everything about the budget request suggests this is more about resettlement, prolonging removal proceedings into infinity, and then quietly letting the tens of thousands of most recent arrivals recede into the woodwork of society to join the more than 840,000 aliens who are already fugitives from immigration courts around the country," said Center for Immigration Studies fellow Dan Cadman, author of the report, "Analysis of the Supplemental Budget Request."
"The White House and its allies in Congress accuse some members of the House of 'wanting it both ways' for not immediately acquiescing to the terms of the emergency supplemental, but an examination of the details in the supplemental shows clearly that it is the administration which wants it both ways," Cadman stated, adding, "The supplemental request represents an illusion of progress, while taking no concrete steps either to remove the recent arrivals or to effectively dissuade future arrivals."
Meanwhile, Obama declared that "the challenge is, is Congress refuses to put the resources in place" to address this crisis.
With crisis underway, President sent Congress slashed DHS budget
The reality is, in glaring contrast to Obama's declaration that Congress is refusing to give him the nearly $4 billion he wants to address the Southwest border crisis, his DHS budget request for FY 2015 included the following reductions as compared to fiscal year 2014 enacted levels:
A reduction of -3,461 detention beds, or a -10.2 percent reduction to ICE's detention capacity;
A -2 percent reduction in ICE's investigative capacity;
A nearly -18 percent reduction of ICE's transportation capacity; and
A reduction of -12 percent to CBP Air and Marine Operations, including a more than -30 percent reduction in flight hours.
Beyond these proposed resource reductions, further analysis of Obama's FY 2015 DHS budget request revealed the following performance impacts, according to the House Committee on Appropriations' FY 2015 DHS budget report:
An inability of ICE to sustain detention capacity, which also prevents ICE from fully complying with statutory mandates to detain criminal immigration law violators and detaining all other aliens in removal proceedings who are likely to abscond or pose threats to community safety;
A significant deterioration of ICE's capacity to investigate severe transnational crimes, such as illegal weapons exportation, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, intellectual property theft and cyber crime, including child exploitation; and no investigative or financial support to long-standing, authorized programs that address missing and exploited children;
A substantial reduction in operating capabilities of CBP aviation assets along our borders and coastlines;
The lowest level of drug interdiction effectiveness in the past five years; and
The inability of the Coast Guard to fulfill its patrol boat mission requirements.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said upon reviewing the President's 2015 DHS budget request that, "I must say, I was disappointed that the President's FY 2015 request proposes new entitlement spending while recommending nearly a billion dollars in cuts to the Department of Homeland Security … the realities of growing threats are not reflected in the proposed budget."
"While domestic programs are important, now is not the time to create new entitlements at the expense of national security," McCaul said. "The President is calling for $56 billion to fund non essential programs, like climate research – while at the same time, reducing funding for United States Coast Guard and border security missions, and cutting DHS Science & Technology explosives detection research by $15.5 million. Last year, after the Boston Marathon Bombing, Congress undid the multi-year funding decline for the Office of Bombing Prevention, by providing $13.5 million. This year's budget request, unfortunately, drops that amount back down to $11.5 million, nearly as low as before the tragic attack."
"From our skies to our seas," McCaul said, DHS "cannot sustain its mission under this proposed budget. The proposal reduces the Coast Guard's acquisition budget by $300 million just as old assets that should be replaced are retired, and proposes a $32 million cut in funding to CBP Air and Marine flight hours along the border -- reducing our situational awareness of what is coming across. At the same time, the administration again is aiming to reduce the number of congressionally mandated ICE detention beds by 3,500. This is all while the budget gives over $320 million to [the] General Services Administration and DHS to construct access roads and a building to house the [DHS] secretary's office at the St. Elizabeth's Headquarters -- a construction project that is now slated to be finished in 2026. This means the administration, in my judgment, is putting bureaucracy over the safety and security of our own shores. The Navy has already stopped counter drug missions in South America post-sequestration; and now we're retiring a significant part of our Coast Guard fleet, without replacements on deck."
McCaul said "the majority of the cuts to the department fall under its most critical mission areas, and the current budget request is strikingly similar to those we've seen under your predecessor. Ultimately beyond the cuts, today we must discuss the lack of new strategic planning that the budget proposal reflects."
Yet, now, as the crisis on the border is spinning out of control, the White House is declaring that the nearly $4 billion it's requesting from Congress to "proactively" address the crisis on the Southwest border will help increase the detention, care and transportation of unaccompanied children and speed up the removal of adults with children by increasing the capacity of immigration courts and increasing prosecution of smuggling networks – all of which the President proposed to slash in his DHS budget. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector said DHS has sent scarce transportation assets from an already resource impaired Coast Guard – which the President's FY 2015 DHS budget would also substantially cut-- to help transport the children pouring over the border and requiring a budget strained ICE to lease additional charter aircraft.
Obama's FY 2015 DHS budget request also includes:
A reduction of approximately -483 Coast Guard military billets; multiple, accelerated decommissionings of operational assets; and an estimated -27 percent reduction in Coast Guard recapitalization programs;
A reduction of -$294.5 million, or -13.2 percent, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) first responder grants; and
* * * * *
An abrupt end to DHS's support for investigations into missing and exploited children.
* * * * *
Now, however, the President wants $29 million for increased CBP support of the Border Security Task Forces, particularly along the Southwest Border, and $39 million for an additional 16,526 Office of Air and Marine flight hours, which he'd wanted to reduce by 30 percent in his FY 2015 DHS budget request, and 16 additional crew members for CBP's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which he also wanted cut in his DHS budget -- so much that there would be a substantial reduction in the operating capabilities of CBP aviation assets, including UASs, along the nation's borders and coastlines.
The President also now wants $109 million to support increased efforts to detect, disrupt and dismantle human smuggling efforts across US borders. Yet, his FY 2015 DHS budget would have virtually disassembled these activities, especially those conducted by ICE Homeland Security Investigations, which he wants a 2 percent reduction in its investigative capacity. His supplemental $4 billion request also includes $46 million for 179 additional members of the Border Security Task Forces, particularly along the Southwest Border, and $38 million for additional domestic and international investigations and intelligence support, which he also wanted significantly cut back in his proposed FY 2015 DHS budget.
Of the $1.104 billion the President is now asking from Congress for ICE, $995 million is for operational costs to include the detention, alternatives to detention, prosecution and removal of family groups, as well as transportation costs …" His FY 2015 DHS budget not only called for a nearly18 percent reduction in ICE's transportation capacity, but also a reduction of 3,461 detention beds or a 10.2 percent reduction to ICE's detention capacity, as well as an inability to perform adequate enforcement.
As the House Appropriations Committee's DHS budget report stated, "In sum, the fiscal year 2015 budget request for DHS proposes to not only reduce the current resources of the department's most critical frontline components, but also to substantially and perhaps irreparably diminish the long-term security and enforcement capabilities of our nation. For the fourth consecutive year, the committee categorically rejects yet another flawed DHS budget request from the current administration."
Restoring funding DHS requires
The committee's budget report said its "fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill for DHS reallocates scarce funding towards our nation's security priorities and rectifies the President's ill-considered and imbalanced budget proposal for [DHS]. The funding recommendations and oversight requirements contained in this bill and report are intended to prioritize operations and frontline staffing to rectify the administration's repeated, proposed reductions to border security, border enforcement, immigration enforcement, maritime security, state and local preparedness and counternarcotics capabilities."
The House DHS appropriations bill "is constructed upon four principles:"
Providing sufficient resources to support essential mission requirements;
Compelling fiscal discipline and efficiency;
Administering greater oversight and accountability; and
Instilling long overdue reforms.
"In particular, the bill includes targeted increases directly related to current threats, including recent domestic and international security events," the committee's report said. "These increases above the request include [more] than +$471 million enhancement to ICE resources to overcome proposed, but unjustified, reductions and enable the agency to fulfill its mission of enforcing our nation's customs and immigration laws, including increases above the request to the following:"
Fugitive operations, visa overstay investigations and enforcement, detention capacity, investigative operations, 287(g) training, legal proceedings and necessary transportation capabilities related to detainees and unaccompanied alien children;
A +$50 million increase in border security technology for immediate, substantial enhancement of situational awareness along the Southwest border, primarily targeted toward areas associated with the greatest threats and highest number of border incursions;
A +$79.2 million increase to CBP's Office of Air and Marine to provide immediate enhancements in support of the Border Patrol's border security and interdiction operations; and restoration of $294.5 million to FEMA's first responder grants to sustain the amount provided in fiscal year 2014; and
A more than +$297.5 million increase to US Coast Guard operations and recapitalization resources to enable the agency to adequately perform its statutory missions and substantially address unfunded priorities. This increase above the request is primarily targeted at restoring the Coast Guard's counternarcotics and interdiction capabilities.
In addition, the bill further supports essential security activities by:
Highlighting the critical, cross-cutting functionality of the Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC);
Restoring the proposed reductions to the Secret Service's investigative operations, including the investigations of cyber crimes and support for the prevention of child exploitation;
Adding $5.0 million for additional Transportation Security Administration (TSA) canine enforcement teams, fully funding the training pipeline for canine teams through fiscal year 2016;
Fully funding all viable cybersecurity activities, including federal network security and deployment;
Fully funding DHS's efforts to consolidate and categorize disparate classified and unclassified data to maximize information sharing while ensuring appropriate access controls and privacy protections;
Continuing to fully fund E-Verify; and
Fully funding the completion of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).
Overall, the House Appropriations Committee's FY 2015 DHS budget "recommends $39,220,000,000 in discretionary funding for DHS for fiscal year 2015, +$887,756,000, or +2.32 percent, above the amount requested by the administration and -$50,000,000, or -0.13 percent, below fiscal year 2014 enacted levels (when excluding requested, but unauthorized increases to fee collections)."
"Funding for the Coast Guard's support of the Global War on Terrorism/Overseas Contingency Operations is not included in the bill nor is it addressed in any way by the committee in this report since the President has yet to submit a request for such funds," the budget report explained.
"The committee's intention with this bill, in contrast to the wholly inadequate budget request [submitted by President Obama], is to prioritize funding for frontline security operations," the committee's budget report stated."Therefore, the committee designed the bill to enable DHS to rapidly and aggressively address current threats; support the rapid, but responsible acquisition of much needed operational capabilities; address long-standing federal computer network security vulnerabilities; compel the department to set clear and well-reasoned priorities that align to stated mission requirements; and require the department to practice sound financial and program management that aligns resources to missions and results in improved security."
"The committee remains deeply committed to helping [DHS] confront long-standing and emergent homeland security threats, and sincerely appreciates the hard work and dedication of the thousands of agents, officers, Coast Guard military personnel, watchstanders and mission support staff who make it their business every day to enforce federal laws, work to keep the nation safe from terrorist threats, and improve the nation's resiliency to disasters," the report concluded.
The writing was on the wall
For some time before the President submitted his DHS budget, statistics from DHS had hinted that something huge was about to happen, Border Patrol officials said on background. According to Border Patrol, Southwest border apprehensions year to date (YTD) through May (323,675) increased 15 percent from FY 2013, while apprehensions of OTMs along the Southwest border YTD through May (162,757) accounted for 50 percent of total Southwest border apprehensions, the highest number of which, 96,829, were caught in the RGV. Comparatively, from October 1 through September 30, 2013, there were 414,397 total Southwest border apprehensions.
For the first time, illegal immigrant apprehensions by Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley outnumbered those in Arizona. RGV apprehensions YTD through May (163,542) escalated 74 percent from FY 2013 -- the highest number since 1999. OTM apprehensions in the RGV YTD through May (122,070) surged to 75 percent of total RGV apprehensions.
Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector has nine stations (Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Falfurrias, Fort Brown, Harlingen, Kingsville, McAllen, Rio Grande City and Weslaco), two checkpoints, air and marine operations and an intelligence office. Sector agents patrol over 320 river miles, 250 coastal miles and 19 counties equating to more than 17,000 square miles. It's a land mass that Border Patrol said includes land that's just as inhospitable as that in the Tucson Sector – but the shortest route from Central America.
Despite the unprecedented surge of illegals crossing the border and its overwhelming the resources of CBP, Border Patrol, ICE and immigration courts to effectively and efficiently manage this mass migration, a CBP official told Homeland Security Today on background last week that "This is not considered a mass migration situation." A position senior Border Patrol agents said on background they disagree with.
Although CBP's website says that, "Beginning last year and specifically in the last few months, CBP has seen an overall increase in the apprehension of Unaccompanied Alien Children from Central America at the Southwest Border, specifically in the Rio Grande Valley," the rise in apprehensions in the RGV, especially OTMs, wasn't a surprise to Border Patrol or CBP intelligence analysts, officials said. The writing had been on the wall for years. A June 23 Congressional Research Service report stated that, "Over the past three years, there has been an increase in Border Patrol apprehensions of third-country nationals. While the number of those apprehended from Mexico decreased slightly (from 286,154 to 267,734), the number of apprehended third-country nationals increased almost three-fold from 54,098 to 153,055."
Furthermore, in 2011, Border Patrol predicted the crisis that's now occurring, officials said. Homeland Security Today also first reported in December 2011 that Mexican organized crime cartels' smuggling of drugs and the illegal entry of "Special Interest Aliens" (SIAs) – a class of OTMs who may pose a threat to national security -- into the RGV had risen so quickly that Border Patrol and law enforcement officials had begun to refer to the "Valley" as "the new Arizona."
The "Valley" in 2011 was already becoming "ground zero" on the Southwest border for narco-trafficking and the illegal smuggling of OTMs, according to numerous authorities interviewed by Homeland Security Today.
Federal and state officials familiar with the escalating problem in the RGV confirmed that by late 2011, the region had become the new "hot spot" for Mexico's transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and OTMs. They acknowledged that the Valley was becoming the next big narco-trafficking "problem area" for Border Patrol and CBP's Field Operations. One particular area of the Valley was dubbed "smugglers alley" by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) pilots.
The RGV by this time had become so "hot," in fact, that Border Patrol agents working the Tucson Sector – which had been the southern border's busiest narco-smuggling corridor – were redeployed to the Rio Grande Valley Sector to help deal with the rising numbers of OTMs crossing into the US there.
While Border Patrol officials did not officially confirm that there'd been a redeployment of agents from the Tucson Sector to the RGV, one official acknowledged that "drug seizures and illegal apprehensions are up in the sector so much that they anticipate increased funding and manpower."
According to a Texas law enforcement official, the RGV had always been the "hottest" trafficking plaza in the Longhorn state – and "quite possibly" the entire southern border. He was echoed by Texas DPS officials who'd repeatedly stated publicly that the Rio Grande Valley is the busiest smuggling corridor in the state.
In the summer of 2011, DPS assigned 15 helicopters – a large chunk of its border aviation assets - to border areas from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley.
A top Border Patrol Agent for the Rio Grande Valley Sector at the time admitted publicly that the Valley is one of the busiest smuggling corridors in Texas. And so, too, did the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which said narco-trafficking in the Valley had doubled over the previous two years.
In FY 2013, there were nearly 94,000 apprehensions in the RGV, marking the first time this Border Patrol sector accounted for the highest number of apprehensions of illegals in any Southwest border sector since FY 1965, when there were 8,057 illegals apprehended. In FY 2012, there were 97,762 apprehensions in the RGV, just below the 120,000 who were apprehended by Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector. In FY 2013, 89,822 were apprehended in the Tucson Sector.
While Border Patrol apprehensions of Mexicans in FY 2013 remained largely unchanged from FY 2012, apprehensions of OTMs, predominately individuals from Central America, increased by 55 percent, which included SIAs from countries that support or harbor Islamist terrorists. There were 49,939 SIAs caught in the RGV in FY 2012, the highest number since FY 2007 and the most OTMs apprehended in any of Border Patrol's Southwest border sectors. In fact, OTMs arrested in the RGV accounted for more than half of all OTMs apprehended along the Southern border in FY 2012, according to CBP data.
"Based on the numbers we're seeing, [the] RGV appears to be the preferred route for Other Than Mexicans," a Texas law enforcement official told Homeland Security Today at the time.
"[The RGV is] were half of the SIAs have crossed," another law enforcement official familiar with the matter said. "[And] if there's new activity in this region, it would mean that there's a lot more [SIA smuggling] activity going on."
And there is, Homeland Security Today has learned, and will shortly be exclusively reporting on.
Note: From the Kimery Report at Homeland Security Today A long, but very interesting read. Staffers may want to do a close read of this one.
BTW, the detention capacity was worsened by the BHO administration ending use of local facilities and funding.
Thx
The Kimery Report
Anthony L. Kimery, Editor-in-Chief, draws on 30 years of experience and extensive contacts as he investigates and analyzes homeland security, counterterrorism and border security. "The Kimery Report" was awarded a 2008 National ASBPE Award for Original Web News Section. He most recently won a 2014 regional gold ASBPE award for impact/investigative journalism. His report, "Savage Struggle on the Border," was the lead report in the series of the same title that won the 2010 National ASBPE Gold Award for best magazine series. Read more about Tony...
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NEW - $4 Billion For Border Crisis Contrasts With President's Gutted FY 2015 DHS Budget Request
July 14, 2014
By: Anthony Kimery, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/the-kimery-report/blog/new-4-billion-for-border-crisis-contrasts-with-presidents-gutted-fy-2015-dhs-budget-request/5e91cb66b7de8467de8c15f4ec38cbc1.html
President Obama's request for nearly $4 billion in emergency funding for what the White House insists is "a proactive" effort to confront the unprecedented wave after wave of unaccompanied children and "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) surging across the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is in stark contrast with the dramatic, across the board cuts he requested in the budgets of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components in his Fiscal Year 2015 DHS budget sent to Congress in March.
The budget was drafted not only at a time when the crisis on the border had been predicted by US Border Patrol years earlier, but also as the numbers of OTMs entering the US through the RGV had already began to escalate, officials told Homeland Security Today on background.
In further contrast to the President's request for $4 billion to address the border crisis, his FY 2015 DHS budget didn't explicitly request any resources to address the nearly historic increase of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) transiting the Southwest border which, according to both DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), was already up ten-fold since 2011 and was predicted to possibly exceed more than 90,000 this fiscal year and more than 145,000 in FY 2015.
The White House's supplemental request for $4 billion to address the border crisis "is so much smoke and mirrors," legislators, law enforcement and other federal officials said. The bulk of the money is earmarked for resettlement rather than for removal and border enforcement. Out of the White House's $3.7 billion request, $1.8 billion, or about 49 percent of the entire supplemental request, would go to HHS for resettlement of illegal minors and entire family units, including adult men and women. Funds would be provided "for acquisition, construction, improvement, repair, operation and maintenance of real property and facilities." According to a leaked ICE Office of Intelligence document, 47 percent of the adults subject to expedited removal would be relocated and resettled.
The administration's supplemental request also includes a "general provision" by which it would be allowed to move around as much as 30 percent of the funding as they choose. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be given $15 million to hire attorneys to defend unaccompanied alien children against deportation in removal proceedings before an immigration judge and $1.1 million would be given to DOJ for "immigration litigation attorneys."
"While administration leaders publicly claim they are working to effectively stem the tide of arrivals and ensure their speedy removal, everything about the budget request suggests this is more about resettlement, prolonging removal proceedings into infinity, and then quietly letting the tens of thousands of most recent arrivals recede into the woodwork of society to join the more than 840,000 aliens who are already fugitives from immigration courts around the country," said Center for Immigration Studies fellow Dan Cadman, author of the report, "Analysis of the Supplemental Budget Request."
"The White House and its allies in Congress accuse some members of the House of 'wanting it both ways' for not immediately acquiescing to the terms of the emergency supplemental, but an examination of the details in the supplemental shows clearly that it is the administration which wants it both ways," Cadman stated, adding, "The supplemental request represents an illusion of progress, while taking no concrete steps either to remove the recent arrivals or to effectively dissuade future arrivals."
Meanwhile, Obama declared that "the challenge is, is Congress refuses to put the resources in place" to address this crisis.
With crisis underway, President sent Congress slashed DHS budget
The reality is, in glaring contrast to Obama's declaration that Congress is refusing to give him the nearly $4 billion he wants to address the Southwest border crisis, his DHS budget request for FY 2015 included the following reductions as compared to fiscal year 2014 enacted levels:
A reduction of -3,461 detention beds, or a -10.2 percent reduction to ICE's detention capacity;
A -2 percent reduction in ICE's investigative capacity;
A nearly -18 percent reduction of ICE's transportation capacity; and
A reduction of -12 percent to CBP Air and Marine Operations, including a more than -30 percent reduction in flight hours.
Beyond these proposed resource reductions, further analysis of Obama's FY 2015 DHS budget request revealed the following performance impacts, according to the House Committee on Appropriations' FY 2015 DHS budget report:
An inability of ICE to sustain detention capacity, which also prevents ICE from fully complying with statutory mandates to detain criminal immigration law violators and detaining all other aliens in removal proceedings who are likely to abscond or pose threats to community safety;
A significant deterioration of ICE's capacity to investigate severe transnational crimes, such as illegal weapons exportation, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, intellectual property theft and cyber crime, including child exploitation; and no investigative or financial support to long-standing, authorized programs that address missing and exploited children;
A substantial reduction in operating capabilities of CBP aviation assets along our borders and coastlines;
The lowest level of drug interdiction effectiveness in the past five years; and
The inability of the Coast Guard to fulfill its patrol boat mission requirements.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said upon reviewing the President's 2015 DHS budget request that, "I must say, I was disappointed that the President's FY 2015 request proposes new entitlement spending while recommending nearly a billion dollars in cuts to the Department of Homeland Security … the realities of growing threats are not reflected in the proposed budget."
"While domestic programs are important, now is not the time to create new entitlements at the expense of national security," McCaul said. "The President is calling for $56 billion to fund non essential programs, like climate research – while at the same time, reducing funding for United States Coast Guard and border security missions, and cutting DHS Science & Technology explosives detection research by $15.5 million. Last year, after the Boston Marathon Bombing, Congress undid the multi-year funding decline for the Office of Bombing Prevention, by providing $13.5 million. This year's budget request, unfortunately, drops that amount back down to $11.5 million, nearly as low as before the tragic attack."
"From our skies to our seas," McCaul said, DHS "cannot sustain its mission under this proposed budget. The proposal reduces the Coast Guard's acquisition budget by $300 million just as old assets that should be replaced are retired, and proposes a $32 million cut in funding to CBP Air and Marine flight hours along the border -- reducing our situational awareness of what is coming across. At the same time, the administration again is aiming to reduce the number of congressionally mandated ICE detention beds by 3,500. This is all while the budget gives over $320 million to [the] General Services Administration and DHS to construct access roads and a building to house the [DHS] secretary's office at the St. Elizabeth's Headquarters -- a construction project that is now slated to be finished in 2026. This means the administration, in my judgment, is putting bureaucracy over the safety and security of our own shores. The Navy has already stopped counter drug missions in South America post-sequestration; and now we're retiring a significant part of our Coast Guard fleet, without replacements on deck."
McCaul said "the majority of the cuts to the department fall under its most critical mission areas, and the current budget request is strikingly similar to those we've seen under your predecessor. Ultimately beyond the cuts, today we must discuss the lack of new strategic planning that the budget proposal reflects."
Yet, now, as the crisis on the border is spinning out of control, the White House is declaring that the nearly $4 billion it's requesting from Congress to "proactively" address the crisis on the Southwest border will help increase the detention, care and transportation of unaccompanied children and speed up the removal of adults with children by increasing the capacity of immigration courts and increasing prosecution of smuggling networks – all of which the President proposed to slash in his DHS budget. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector said DHS has sent scarce transportation assets from an already resource impaired Coast Guard – which the President's FY 2015 DHS budget would also substantially cut-- to help transport the children pouring over the border and requiring a budget strained ICE to lease additional charter aircraft.
Obama's FY 2015 DHS budget request also includes:
A reduction of approximately -483 Coast Guard military billets; multiple, accelerated decommissionings of operational assets; and an estimated -27 percent reduction in Coast Guard recapitalization programs;
A reduction of -$294.5 million, or -13.2 percent, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) first responder grants; and
* * * * *
An abrupt end to DHS's support for investigations into missing and exploited children.
* * * * *
Now, however, the President wants $29 million for increased CBP support of the Border Security Task Forces, particularly along the Southwest Border, and $39 million for an additional 16,526 Office of Air and Marine flight hours, which he'd wanted to reduce by 30 percent in his FY 2015 DHS budget request, and 16 additional crew members for CBP's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which he also wanted cut in his DHS budget -- so much that there would be a substantial reduction in the operating capabilities of CBP aviation assets, including UASs, along the nation's borders and coastlines.
The President also now wants $109 million to support increased efforts to detect, disrupt and dismantle human smuggling efforts across US borders. Yet, his FY 2015 DHS budget would have virtually disassembled these activities, especially those conducted by ICE Homeland Security Investigations, which he wants a 2 percent reduction in its investigative capacity. His supplemental $4 billion request also includes $46 million for 179 additional members of the Border Security Task Forces, particularly along the Southwest Border, and $38 million for additional domestic and international investigations and intelligence support, which he also wanted significantly cut back in his proposed FY 2015 DHS budget.
Of the $1.104 billion the President is now asking from Congress for ICE, $995 million is for operational costs to include the detention, alternatives to detention, prosecution and removal of family groups, as well as transportation costs …" His FY 2015 DHS budget not only called for a nearly18 percent reduction in ICE's transportation capacity, but also a reduction of 3,461 detention beds or a 10.2 percent reduction to ICE's detention capacity, as well as an inability to perform adequate enforcement.
As the House Appropriations Committee's DHS budget report stated, "In sum, the fiscal year 2015 budget request for DHS proposes to not only reduce the current resources of the department's most critical frontline components, but also to substantially and perhaps irreparably diminish the long-term security and enforcement capabilities of our nation. For the fourth consecutive year, the committee categorically rejects yet another flawed DHS budget request from the current administration."
Restoring funding DHS requires
The committee's budget report said its "fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill for DHS reallocates scarce funding towards our nation's security priorities and rectifies the President's ill-considered and imbalanced budget proposal for [DHS]. The funding recommendations and oversight requirements contained in this bill and report are intended to prioritize operations and frontline staffing to rectify the administration's repeated, proposed reductions to border security, border enforcement, immigration enforcement, maritime security, state and local preparedness and counternarcotics capabilities."
The House DHS appropriations bill "is constructed upon four principles:"
Providing sufficient resources to support essential mission requirements;
Compelling fiscal discipline and efficiency;
Administering greater oversight and accountability; and
Instilling long overdue reforms.
"In particular, the bill includes targeted increases directly related to current threats, including recent domestic and international security events," the committee's report said. "These increases above the request include [more] than +$471 million enhancement to ICE resources to overcome proposed, but unjustified, reductions and enable the agency to fulfill its mission of enforcing our nation's customs and immigration laws, including increases above the request to the following:"
Fugitive operations, visa overstay investigations and enforcement, detention capacity, investigative operations, 287(g) training, legal proceedings and necessary transportation capabilities related to detainees and unaccompanied alien children;
A +$50 million increase in border security technology for immediate, substantial enhancement of situational awareness along the Southwest border, primarily targeted toward areas associated with the greatest threats and highest number of border incursions;
A +$79.2 million increase to CBP's Office of Air and Marine to provide immediate enhancements in support of the Border Patrol's border security and interdiction operations; and restoration of $294.5 million to FEMA's first responder grants to sustain the amount provided in fiscal year 2014; and
A more than +$297.5 million increase to US Coast Guard operations and recapitalization resources to enable the agency to adequately perform its statutory missions and substantially address unfunded priorities. This increase above the request is primarily targeted at restoring the Coast Guard's counternarcotics and interdiction capabilities.
In addition, the bill further supports essential security activities by:
Highlighting the critical, cross-cutting functionality of the Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC);
Restoring the proposed reductions to the Secret Service's investigative operations, including the investigations of cyber crimes and support for the prevention of child exploitation;
Adding $5.0 million for additional Transportation Security Administration (TSA) canine enforcement teams, fully funding the training pipeline for canine teams through fiscal year 2016;
Fully funding all viable cybersecurity activities, including federal network security and deployment;
Fully funding DHS's efforts to consolidate and categorize disparate classified and unclassified data to maximize information sharing while ensuring appropriate access controls and privacy protections;
Continuing to fully fund E-Verify; and
Fully funding the completion of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).
Overall, the House Appropriations Committee's FY 2015 DHS budget "recommends $39,220,000,000 in discretionary funding for DHS for fiscal year 2015, +$887,756,000, or +2.32 percent, above the amount requested by the administration and -$50,000,000, or -0.13 percent, below fiscal year 2014 enacted levels (when excluding requested, but unauthorized increases to fee collections)."
"Funding for the Coast Guard's support of the Global War on Terrorism/Overseas Contingency Operations is not included in the bill nor is it addressed in any way by the committee in this report since the President has yet to submit a request for such funds," the budget report explained.
"The committee's intention with this bill, in contrast to the wholly inadequate budget request [submitted by President Obama], is to prioritize funding for frontline security operations," the committee's budget report stated."Therefore, the committee designed the bill to enable DHS to rapidly and aggressively address current threats; support the rapid, but responsible acquisition of much needed operational capabilities; address long-standing federal computer network security vulnerabilities; compel the department to set clear and well-reasoned priorities that align to stated mission requirements; and require the department to practice sound financial and program management that aligns resources to missions and results in improved security."
"The committee remains deeply committed to helping [DHS] confront long-standing and emergent homeland security threats, and sincerely appreciates the hard work and dedication of the thousands of agents, officers, Coast Guard military personnel, watchstanders and mission support staff who make it their business every day to enforce federal laws, work to keep the nation safe from terrorist threats, and improve the nation's resiliency to disasters," the report concluded.
The writing was on the wall
For some time before the President submitted his DHS budget, statistics from DHS had hinted that something huge was about to happen, Border Patrol officials said on background. According to Border Patrol, Southwest border apprehensions year to date (YTD) through May (323,675) increased 15 percent from FY 2013, while apprehensions of OTMs along the Southwest border YTD through May (162,757) accounted for 50 percent of total Southwest border apprehensions, the highest number of which, 96,829, were caught in the RGV. Comparatively, from October 1 through September 30, 2013, there were 414,397 total Southwest border apprehensions.
For the first time, illegal immigrant apprehensions by Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley outnumbered those in Arizona. RGV apprehensions YTD through May (163,542) escalated 74 percent from FY 2013 -- the highest number since 1999. OTM apprehensions in the RGV YTD through May (122,070) surged to 75 percent of total RGV apprehensions.
Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector has nine stations (Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Falfurrias, Fort Brown, Harlingen, Kingsville, McAllen, Rio Grande City and Weslaco), two checkpoints, air and marine operations and an intelligence office. Sector agents patrol over 320 river miles, 250 coastal miles and 19 counties equating to more than 17,000 square miles. It's a land mass that Border Patrol said includes land that's just as inhospitable as that in the Tucson Sector – but the shortest route from Central America.
Despite the unprecedented surge of illegals crossing the border and its overwhelming the resources of CBP, Border Patrol, ICE and immigration courts to effectively and efficiently manage this mass migration, a CBP official told Homeland Security Today on background last week that "This is not considered a mass migration situation." A position senior Border Patrol agents said on background they disagree with.
Although CBP's website says that, "Beginning last year and specifically in the last few months, CBP has seen an overall increase in the apprehension of Unaccompanied Alien Children from Central America at the Southwest Border, specifically in the Rio Grande Valley," the rise in apprehensions in the RGV, especially OTMs, wasn't a surprise to Border Patrol or CBP intelligence analysts, officials said. The writing had been on the wall for years. A June 23 Congressional Research Service report stated that, "Over the past three years, there has been an increase in Border Patrol apprehensions of third-country nationals. While the number of those apprehended from Mexico decreased slightly (from 286,154 to 267,734), the number of apprehended third-country nationals increased almost three-fold from 54,098 to 153,055."
Furthermore, in 2011, Border Patrol predicted the crisis that's now occurring, officials said. Homeland Security Today also first reported in December 2011 that Mexican organized crime cartels' smuggling of drugs and the illegal entry of "Special Interest Aliens" (SIAs) – a class of OTMs who may pose a threat to national security -- into the RGV had risen so quickly that Border Patrol and law enforcement officials had begun to refer to the "Valley" as "the new Arizona."
The "Valley" in 2011 was already becoming "ground zero" on the Southwest border for narco-trafficking and the illegal smuggling of OTMs, according to numerous authorities interviewed by Homeland Security Today.
Federal and state officials familiar with the escalating problem in the RGV confirmed that by late 2011, the region had become the new "hot spot" for Mexico's transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and OTMs. They acknowledged that the Valley was becoming the next big narco-trafficking "problem area" for Border Patrol and CBP's Field Operations. One particular area of the Valley was dubbed "smugglers alley" by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) pilots.
The RGV by this time had become so "hot," in fact, that Border Patrol agents working the Tucson Sector – which had been the southern border's busiest narco-smuggling corridor – were redeployed to the Rio Grande Valley Sector to help deal with the rising numbers of OTMs crossing into the US there.
While Border Patrol officials did not officially confirm that there'd been a redeployment of agents from the Tucson Sector to the RGV, one official acknowledged that "drug seizures and illegal apprehensions are up in the sector so much that they anticipate increased funding and manpower."
According to a Texas law enforcement official, the RGV had always been the "hottest" trafficking plaza in the Longhorn state – and "quite possibly" the entire southern border. He was echoed by Texas DPS officials who'd repeatedly stated publicly that the Rio Grande Valley is the busiest smuggling corridor in the state.
In the summer of 2011, DPS assigned 15 helicopters – a large chunk of its border aviation assets - to border areas from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley.
A top Border Patrol Agent for the Rio Grande Valley Sector at the time admitted publicly that the Valley is one of the busiest smuggling corridors in Texas. And so, too, did the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which said narco-trafficking in the Valley had doubled over the previous two years.
In FY 2013, there were nearly 94,000 apprehensions in the RGV, marking the first time this Border Patrol sector accounted for the highest number of apprehensions of illegals in any Southwest border sector since FY 1965, when there were 8,057 illegals apprehended. In FY 2012, there were 97,762 apprehensions in the RGV, just below the 120,000 who were apprehended by Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector. In FY 2013, 89,822 were apprehended in the Tucson Sector.
While Border Patrol apprehensions of Mexicans in FY 2013 remained largely unchanged from FY 2012, apprehensions of OTMs, predominately individuals from Central America, increased by 55 percent, which included SIAs from countries that support or harbor Islamist terrorists. There were 49,939 SIAs caught in the RGV in FY 2012, the highest number since FY 2007 and the most OTMs apprehended in any of Border Patrol's Southwest border sectors. In fact, OTMs arrested in the RGV accounted for more than half of all OTMs apprehended along the Southern border in FY 2012, according to CBP data.
"Based on the numbers we're seeing, [the] RGV appears to be the preferred route for Other Than Mexicans," a Texas law enforcement official told Homeland Security Today at the time.
"[The RGV is] were half of the SIAs have crossed," another law enforcement official familiar with the matter said. "[And] if there's new activity in this region, it would mean that there's a lot more [SIA smuggling] activity going on."
And there is, Homeland Security Today has learned, and will shortly be exclusively reporting on.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
AZMEX I3 11-4-14 (correct date)
AZMEX I3 11 APR 2014
Note: yet more interesting background Date is correct mostly computer english
Calls CNDH to put a halt to the plight of migrants in Mexico
Organización Editorial Mexicana
April 10, 2014
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas/n3354402.htm
Hugo Hernandez / El Sol de Mexico
. Ciudad de Mexico - It's time to put a stop to the plight suffered by the migrant population in our country; this imminent demand and priority issue by all the organs of the State and the Civil Society, considered the head of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Raúl Plascencia Villanueva.
The national ombudsman stressed the urgent need to implement more effective programs to end suffering vulnerability decides to migrate.
By participating in the forum "Migrant Person: Centre for Immigration Policy", organized by the CNDH and the Senate, the Plascencia Villanueva highlighted the complex and large proportions of the phenomenon in Mexico, where migration and internal displacement converge migration of external origin, transit and destination of return.
He said that the National Commission has recorded and reported promptly on the abuse that these people suffer not only for their immigration status but also to be abused by organized criminal groups that sometimes have had tolerance, acquiescence or participation of agents of the authorities immigration or police.
Before senators and deputies, civil servants of migration issues and foreign affairs, foreign diplomats, leaders of humanitarian organizations serving migrants and subject specialists who participated in the Forum, Plascencia Villanueva said are unacceptable abuse and indifference towards migrants .
Change of territory in search of better opportunities is a completely legitimate concern and should be a free choice and planned.
Given the multidimensional phenomenon, he said, a holistic view is required because it is influenced by demographic, labor, business, the environment and especially human rights factors, which can not and should not be tackled only from the perspective of public safety.
He said that those who decide to leave their place of origin are only seeking greater happiness, better quality of life, family reunification or protect themselves from violence, so it does not deserve to be treated as criminals, much less victimized by crime.
He added that the construction of a more just and equitable country demand eradicate any sign of rejection and discrimination by nationality, origin, color, creed, cultural expressions, language, social status or any other that represents an affront to human dignity.
- See more at:
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas/n3354402.htm # sthash.YXogn3Do.dpuf
end
Note: yet more interesting background Date is correct mostly computer english
Calls CNDH to put a halt to the plight of migrants in Mexico
Organización Editorial Mexicana
April 10, 2014
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas/n3354402.htm
Hugo Hernandez / El Sol de Mexico
. Ciudad de Mexico - It's time to put a stop to the plight suffered by the migrant population in our country; this imminent demand and priority issue by all the organs of the State and the Civil Society, considered the head of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Raúl Plascencia Villanueva.
The national ombudsman stressed the urgent need to implement more effective programs to end suffering vulnerability decides to migrate.
By participating in the forum "Migrant Person: Centre for Immigration Policy", organized by the CNDH and the Senate, the Plascencia Villanueva highlighted the complex and large proportions of the phenomenon in Mexico, where migration and internal displacement converge migration of external origin, transit and destination of return.
He said that the National Commission has recorded and reported promptly on the abuse that these people suffer not only for their immigration status but also to be abused by organized criminal groups that sometimes have had tolerance, acquiescence or participation of agents of the authorities immigration or police.
Before senators and deputies, civil servants of migration issues and foreign affairs, foreign diplomats, leaders of humanitarian organizations serving migrants and subject specialists who participated in the Forum, Plascencia Villanueva said are unacceptable abuse and indifference towards migrants .
Change of territory in search of better opportunities is a completely legitimate concern and should be a free choice and planned.
Given the multidimensional phenomenon, he said, a holistic view is required because it is influenced by demographic, labor, business, the environment and especially human rights factors, which can not and should not be tackled only from the perspective of public safety.
He said that those who decide to leave their place of origin are only seeking greater happiness, better quality of life, family reunification or protect themselves from violence, so it does not deserve to be treated as criminals, much less victimized by crime.
He added that the construction of a more just and equitable country demand eradicate any sign of rejection and discrimination by nationality, origin, color, creed, cultural expressions, language, social status or any other that represents an affront to human dignity.
- See more at:
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas/n3354402.htm # sthash.YXogn3Do.dpuf
end
AZMEX SPECIAL2 15-7-14
AZMEX SPECIAL2 15 JUL 2014
Outbreak on the Border
Federal health authorities contain pneumonia, swine flu outbreaks among illegal children in California
BY: Bill Gertz
July 14, 2014 6:42 pm
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/outbreak-on-the-border/
Health authorities at a Navy base in Southern California took steps last weekend to curtail an outbreak of pneumonia and swine flu among illegal immigrant children housed at the facility, according to U.S. officials.
The outbreak of disease among several of the nearly 600 immigrant children at the Naval Base Ventura County, located north of Los Angeles, initially was thought to be caused by deadly bacterial streptococcal meningitis, according to one official close to the issue.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said he was not aware of any cases of meningitis at the base.
The pneumonia cases and meningitis scare last weekend followed two cases of H1N1 swine flu among other child immigrants—one at the California base and another in Texas. The virus caused a global pandemic in 2009, but officials said it is considered less dangerous than the pneumonia and initially suspected meningitis outbreak that began over the past weekend.
Naval officials, along with HHS and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials, sought to block the disease outbreak by quarantines and halting transfers of children into and out of the facility.
Several of the children developed symptoms that included fever and were at first thought to be meningitis.
The swine flu case, discovered late last week, involved a 16-year-old Salvadoran boy who, like others at the facility, had been transferred recently from Nogales, Ariz.
The sick children were moved to local hospitals where they are being treated.
HHS spokesman Kenneth J. Wolfe said reports of respiratory illness at the naval base involved minors who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and who had been relocated.
"Preliminary reports indicate that several unaccompanied minors in the shelter had become ill with what appears to be pneumonia and influenza," he said in a statement to the Free Beacon. The illnesses "likely pose little or no risk to the general public," he added.
The arriving children have been screened at U.S. border stations for health problems and given medical treatment if needed, he said.
For Pentagon locations, children have been given childhood vaccinations three days prior to entering Defense Department facilities.
"If it is determined that children have certain communicable diseases or have been exposed to such communicable diseases, they are placed in a program or facility that has the capacity to quarantine," Wolfe said. "Children with serious health conditions are treated at local hospitals. The cost of this care is fully paid by the federal government."
Both diseases are contagious. According to the CDC, pneumonia is caused by bacteria or viruses and can be severe.
The H1N1 virus is considered less dangerous and has been detected in the United States since the 2009 pandemic. The swine flu virus jumped from pigs to humans and can be fatal in some cases.
The boy who contracted swine flu was part of the flood of illegal immigrant children who have crossed the Mexican border into the United States over the past several months. The crisis is straining both border patrol and law enforcement resources.
Other immigrant children are being held at bases in Texas and Oklahoma. The current plan calls for releasing the immigrant children to relatives prior to their court proceedings on illegal immigration charges.
A U.S. official said that in addition to the Salvadoran youth treated for swine flu, another case of swine flu was detected in June at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. More than 1,000 immigrant children are being held at Lackland.
CDC did not comment directly on the disease outbreaks in California.
"CDC is providing consultation to federal partners that are leading the response to the increase in unaccompanied children entering the United States," the center said in a statement.
The support includes consultation on medical screening and providing disease surveillance screening tools.
The disease outbreak is the latest element of a burgeoning immigration crisis that has left the Obama administration scrambling for a solution.
So far, the main response from the White House to the flood of immigrants, mainly in Texas and Arizona, has been to apply diplomatic pressure on Central and South American governments to step up border enforcement in halting the northward migration.
The immigration crisis was triggered by reports in Central America that the United States was offering amnesty to children who reached the country.
The refugee tide is said to be the result Central Americans seeking to flee poverty and violence in the region.
However, it also appears the flood of illegal immigrants is based on beliefs among those in the region that they can gain entry using a two-step process—first sending thousands of children on a dangerous migration northward into the United States, and then later anticipating that the U.S. government will grant entry to some or the rest of their families in a humanitarian gesture.
The outbreaks at the base followed a tour of the Ventura naval facility last week by pro-immigration supporters. The visit by community leaders and local elected officials followed earlier anti-illegal immigrant protests at some locations, such as Murrieta, Calif., where busloads of immigrant children were turned away by people angered at the immigrant flood that has taxed governments and increased crime.
State Sen. Kevin de Leon told the Los Angeles Times after the visit that "collectively, we came to the conclusion that we are quite satisfied with the conditions" at the Naval base.
President Barack Obama has not dealt directly with the crisis. During a recent visit to Denver, the president was photographed drinking beer and playing pool while declining to visit the border or facilities where the children are being held in crowded, refugee-camp-like conditions.
The White House instead has asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion for dealing with the crisis. Both the House and Senate have balked at providing the funding during a time of fiscal austerity.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest criticized Republicans on Monday for not dealing with the immigration crisis during a White House press briefing.
"We've seen a lot of talk from Republicans about how urgent and pressing this situation is, but not a lot of action when it comes to acting on a proposal the president has now put forward," he said.
The thousands of immigrants currently are caught up in a government bureaucratic legal system that is delaying rapid deportation back to their home countries.
Critics of the delay say the illegals should be flown back without delay to their home countries, which include Guatemala and El Salvador, on military transport aircraft.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R.) said on CBS on Sunday that the president is ultimately responsible for the border crisis.
Perry said he alerted the president in May 2012 to the flood of alien children who were traveling north on trains "and we laid out exactly what we felt was going to happen if we didn't address that."
"And now we're seeing that become reality, with literally tens of thousands of these young children making this long, arduous, very dangerous trip, being separated from their parents," Perry said on "Face the Nation."
"And it could have been stopped years ago had the administration listened, had the administration been focused on the border with Texas," Perry said.
END
Outbreak on the Border
Federal health authorities contain pneumonia, swine flu outbreaks among illegal children in California
BY: Bill Gertz
July 14, 2014 6:42 pm
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/outbreak-on-the-border/
Health authorities at a Navy base in Southern California took steps last weekend to curtail an outbreak of pneumonia and swine flu among illegal immigrant children housed at the facility, according to U.S. officials.
The outbreak of disease among several of the nearly 600 immigrant children at the Naval Base Ventura County, located north of Los Angeles, initially was thought to be caused by deadly bacterial streptococcal meningitis, according to one official close to the issue.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said he was not aware of any cases of meningitis at the base.
The pneumonia cases and meningitis scare last weekend followed two cases of H1N1 swine flu among other child immigrants—one at the California base and another in Texas. The virus caused a global pandemic in 2009, but officials said it is considered less dangerous than the pneumonia and initially suspected meningitis outbreak that began over the past weekend.
Naval officials, along with HHS and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials, sought to block the disease outbreak by quarantines and halting transfers of children into and out of the facility.
Several of the children developed symptoms that included fever and were at first thought to be meningitis.
The swine flu case, discovered late last week, involved a 16-year-old Salvadoran boy who, like others at the facility, had been transferred recently from Nogales, Ariz.
The sick children were moved to local hospitals where they are being treated.
HHS spokesman Kenneth J. Wolfe said reports of respiratory illness at the naval base involved minors who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and who had been relocated.
"Preliminary reports indicate that several unaccompanied minors in the shelter had become ill with what appears to be pneumonia and influenza," he said in a statement to the Free Beacon. The illnesses "likely pose little or no risk to the general public," he added.
The arriving children have been screened at U.S. border stations for health problems and given medical treatment if needed, he said.
For Pentagon locations, children have been given childhood vaccinations three days prior to entering Defense Department facilities.
"If it is determined that children have certain communicable diseases or have been exposed to such communicable diseases, they are placed in a program or facility that has the capacity to quarantine," Wolfe said. "Children with serious health conditions are treated at local hospitals. The cost of this care is fully paid by the federal government."
Both diseases are contagious. According to the CDC, pneumonia is caused by bacteria or viruses and can be severe.
The H1N1 virus is considered less dangerous and has been detected in the United States since the 2009 pandemic. The swine flu virus jumped from pigs to humans and can be fatal in some cases.
The boy who contracted swine flu was part of the flood of illegal immigrant children who have crossed the Mexican border into the United States over the past several months. The crisis is straining both border patrol and law enforcement resources.
Other immigrant children are being held at bases in Texas and Oklahoma. The current plan calls for releasing the immigrant children to relatives prior to their court proceedings on illegal immigration charges.
A U.S. official said that in addition to the Salvadoran youth treated for swine flu, another case of swine flu was detected in June at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. More than 1,000 immigrant children are being held at Lackland.
CDC did not comment directly on the disease outbreaks in California.
"CDC is providing consultation to federal partners that are leading the response to the increase in unaccompanied children entering the United States," the center said in a statement.
The support includes consultation on medical screening and providing disease surveillance screening tools.
The disease outbreak is the latest element of a burgeoning immigration crisis that has left the Obama administration scrambling for a solution.
So far, the main response from the White House to the flood of immigrants, mainly in Texas and Arizona, has been to apply diplomatic pressure on Central and South American governments to step up border enforcement in halting the northward migration.
The immigration crisis was triggered by reports in Central America that the United States was offering amnesty to children who reached the country.
The refugee tide is said to be the result Central Americans seeking to flee poverty and violence in the region.
However, it also appears the flood of illegal immigrants is based on beliefs among those in the region that they can gain entry using a two-step process—first sending thousands of children on a dangerous migration northward into the United States, and then later anticipating that the U.S. government will grant entry to some or the rest of their families in a humanitarian gesture.
The outbreaks at the base followed a tour of the Ventura naval facility last week by pro-immigration supporters. The visit by community leaders and local elected officials followed earlier anti-illegal immigrant protests at some locations, such as Murrieta, Calif., where busloads of immigrant children were turned away by people angered at the immigrant flood that has taxed governments and increased crime.
State Sen. Kevin de Leon told the Los Angeles Times after the visit that "collectively, we came to the conclusion that we are quite satisfied with the conditions" at the Naval base.
President Barack Obama has not dealt directly with the crisis. During a recent visit to Denver, the president was photographed drinking beer and playing pool while declining to visit the border or facilities where the children are being held in crowded, refugee-camp-like conditions.
The White House instead has asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion for dealing with the crisis. Both the House and Senate have balked at providing the funding during a time of fiscal austerity.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest criticized Republicans on Monday for not dealing with the immigration crisis during a White House press briefing.
"We've seen a lot of talk from Republicans about how urgent and pressing this situation is, but not a lot of action when it comes to acting on a proposal the president has now put forward," he said.
The thousands of immigrants currently are caught up in a government bureaucratic legal system that is delaying rapid deportation back to their home countries.
Critics of the delay say the illegals should be flown back without delay to their home countries, which include Guatemala and El Salvador, on military transport aircraft.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R.) said on CBS on Sunday that the president is ultimately responsible for the border crisis.
Perry said he alerted the president in May 2012 to the flood of alien children who were traveling north on trains "and we laid out exactly what we felt was going to happen if we didn't address that."
"And now we're seeing that become reality, with literally tens of thousands of these young children making this long, arduous, very dangerous trip, being separated from their parents," Perry said on "Face the Nation."
"And it could have been stopped years ago had the administration listened, had the administration been focused on the border with Texas," Perry said.
END
AZMEX SPECIAL 15-7-14
AZMEX SPECIAL 15 JUL 2014
Note: Public health issues. Some more background Oaxaca a southern Mexico border state used for transit north to U.S.
Cases of dengue advance in Oaxaca; the most vulnerable are the young 15 to 19
There have been 224 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 144 in the state, reported health services
06/27/2014 15:31 Patricia Briseno / Correspondent
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/27/967734
There have been 224 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 144 in the state, health services reported.
OAXACA, June 27, -. The health services in the state recorded 224 cases of classic dengue and hemorrhagic fever 144, according to the clinical classification, according to the head of the Department of Prevention of Vector Borne Diseases, Ivan Santibanez Matus .
He said that as of epidemiological week number 25 are 368 cases, while 2013 recorded in the same week they were 424.
The most affected group is aged 15 to 19 years with 65 cases.
He explained that these figures to the state located in eleventh place in the national table, making sure that it keeps close operational entomological surveillance in locations of risk.
According to data provided by the six health districts in the Central Valley region are 144 cases; Isthmus, 42; Tuxtepec, 35; Costa, 126, Mixteca, Sierra Norte 17 and 14.
By gender, 200 are women and 168 men attended this year, for the Health Services in the state.
An official of the Ministry of Health urged to join in Oaxaca activities trash removal, cleaning of patios and terraces, plus properly cover stores water, as this helps to reduce the presence of the vector.
Reminded that if you have symptoms such as headache, joints, bones and behind the eyes, fever or nausea, seek immediate medical unit nearest and emphasized avoid self-medication, which can complicate the condition.
Finally indicated that instructions state governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo, will continue to coordinate efforts to increase the number of buildings certified as "free larvae" which will contribute to the fight against dengue schools.
jpg
Note: Dengue like symptoms go to link for photos;
What is the Chikungunya Virus?, Mexico detects first case
Chikungunya virus causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue and rashes
26/06/2014 14:48 Editor
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/26/967526
There is no cure for this disease. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, including joint pain.
Photo: Pan American Health Organization
March 1
MEXICO CITY, June 26 -. Jalisco Mexico recorded the first case of chikungunya virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, infection detected between three and seven days later.
The disease, which mainly occurred in Africa, Asia and India, was first reported in Europe in 2007. Whereas in 2013, the first cases in America, according to the Pan American Health Organization were recorded.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Chikungunya virus causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue and rash. Often confused in the first instance with dengue.
There is no cure for this disease. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, including joint pain. There is no available to prevent infection with this virus vaccine, "said PAHO.
Moreover, the Undersecretary for Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Pablo Kuri, said that in Mexico, it is a case 'imported' which means that the virus is not yet native way in the country.
jgl
More Spanish language links:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/07/08/el-virus-chikungunya-una-amenaza-de-talla-en-zonas-tropicales-de-america-7365.html
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/06/27/confirma-la-ssa-primer-caso-por-el-virus-chikungunya-4743.html
¿Qué es el virus de Chikungunya?, México detecta primer caso
El virus de Chikungunya causa fiebre, dolores severos en articulaciones, dolores musculares, dolores de cabeza, nausea, fatiga y salpullidos
COMPARTIR 26/06/2014 14:48 Redacción
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/26/967526
No hay cura para esta enfermedad. El tratamiento se concentra en aliviar los síntomas, incluyendo el dolor en las articulaciones. Foto: Organización Panamericana de la Salud
1 de 3
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 26 de junio.- México registró en Jalisco el primer caso del virus de Chikungunya, el cual es transmitido por la picadura de mosquitos Aedes Aegypti y Aedes Albopictus, logrando detectarse entre tres y siete días después.
La enfermedad, que principalmente se presentó en África, Asia e India, se reportó por vez primera en Europa en el 2007. Mientras que en 2013, se registraron los primeros casos en América, de acuerdo a la Organización Panamericana de la Salud.
¿CUÁLES SON LOS SÍNTOMAS?
El virus de Chikungunya causa fiebre, dolores severos en articulaciones, dolores musculares, dolores de cabeza, nausea, fatiga y salpullidos. Suele confundirse en primera instancia con el dengue.
No hay cura para esta enfermedad. El tratamiento se concentra en aliviar los síntomas, incluyendo el dolor en las articulaciones. No existe una vacuna disponible para prevenir la infección por este virus", asegura la OPS.
Por otra parte, el subsecretario de Prevención de la Secretaría de Salud, Pablo Kuri, destacó que en México, se trata de un caso 'importado' lo cual significa que el virus aún no se encuentra de manera autóctona en el país.
jgl
Casos de dengue avanzan en Oaxaca; jóvenes los más vulnerables
En el estado se han registrado 224 casos de dengue clásico y 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, informaron los servicios de salud
27/06/2014 15:31 Patricia Briseño/ Corresponsal
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/27/967734
En el estado se han registrado 224 casos de dengue clásico y 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, informaron los servicios de salud.
OAXACA, 27 de junio.- Los servicios de salud en el estado registran 224 casos de dengue clásico y, 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, de acuerdo con su clasificación clínica, informó el jefe de Departamento de Prevención de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vector, Iván Santibáñez Matus.
Refirió que hasta la semana epidemiológica número 25 son 368 casos, mientras que los registrados en 2013 a la misma semana eran 424. El grupo de edad más afectados el de 15 a 19 años con 65 casos.
Explicó que estas cifras ubican al estado en onceavo lugar en la tabla nacional, por lo que aseguró que se continúa con la estrecha vigilancia entomológica operativa en las localidades de riesgo.
De acuerdo con los datos aportados por las seis jurisdicciones sanitarias en la región de Valles Centrales son 144 casos; Istmo, 42; Tuxtepec, 35; Costa, 126, Mixteca, 17 y Sierra Norte, 14.
Por género, son 200 mujeres y 168 hombres atendidos en este año, por los Servicios de Salud en la entidad.
El funcionario de la Secretaría de Salud exhortó a los oaxaqueños a sumarse en las actividades de descacharrización, limpieza de patios y azoteas, además de tapar correctamente los almacenes de agua, ya que ello ayuda a reducir la presencia del vector.
Recordó que en caso de presentar síntomas como: dolor de cabeza, articulaciones, huesos y detrás de los ojos, fiebre o náuseas, acudan de inmediato a la unidad médica más cercana, y enfatizó evitar la automedicación, lo que puede complicar el padecimiento.
Finalmente indicó que por instrucciones del mandatario estatal, Gabino Cué Monteagudo, se continuará con la coordinación de esfuerzos para incrementar el número de edificios y escuelas certificadas como "libres de larvas" lo que coadyuvará en la lucha contra el dengue.
jpg
Note: Public health issues. Some more background Oaxaca a southern Mexico border state used for transit north to U.S.
Cases of dengue advance in Oaxaca; the most vulnerable are the young 15 to 19
There have been 224 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 144 in the state, reported health services
06/27/2014 15:31 Patricia Briseno / Correspondent
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/27/967734
There have been 224 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 144 in the state, health services reported.
OAXACA, June 27, -. The health services in the state recorded 224 cases of classic dengue and hemorrhagic fever 144, according to the clinical classification, according to the head of the Department of Prevention of Vector Borne Diseases, Ivan Santibanez Matus .
He said that as of epidemiological week number 25 are 368 cases, while 2013 recorded in the same week they were 424.
The most affected group is aged 15 to 19 years with 65 cases.
He explained that these figures to the state located in eleventh place in the national table, making sure that it keeps close operational entomological surveillance in locations of risk.
According to data provided by the six health districts in the Central Valley region are 144 cases; Isthmus, 42; Tuxtepec, 35; Costa, 126, Mixteca, Sierra Norte 17 and 14.
By gender, 200 are women and 168 men attended this year, for the Health Services in the state.
An official of the Ministry of Health urged to join in Oaxaca activities trash removal, cleaning of patios and terraces, plus properly cover stores water, as this helps to reduce the presence of the vector.
Reminded that if you have symptoms such as headache, joints, bones and behind the eyes, fever or nausea, seek immediate medical unit nearest and emphasized avoid self-medication, which can complicate the condition.
Finally indicated that instructions state governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo, will continue to coordinate efforts to increase the number of buildings certified as "free larvae" which will contribute to the fight against dengue schools.
jpg
Note: Dengue like symptoms go to link for photos;
What is the Chikungunya Virus?, Mexico detects first case
Chikungunya virus causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue and rashes
26/06/2014 14:48 Editor
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/26/967526
There is no cure for this disease. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, including joint pain.
Photo: Pan American Health Organization
March 1
MEXICO CITY, June 26 -. Jalisco Mexico recorded the first case of chikungunya virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, infection detected between three and seven days later.
The disease, which mainly occurred in Africa, Asia and India, was first reported in Europe in 2007. Whereas in 2013, the first cases in America, according to the Pan American Health Organization were recorded.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Chikungunya virus causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue and rash. Often confused in the first instance with dengue.
There is no cure for this disease. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, including joint pain. There is no available to prevent infection with this virus vaccine, "said PAHO.
Moreover, the Undersecretary for Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Pablo Kuri, said that in Mexico, it is a case 'imported' which means that the virus is not yet native way in the country.
jgl
More Spanish language links:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/07/08/el-virus-chikungunya-una-amenaza-de-talla-en-zonas-tropicales-de-america-7365.html
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/06/27/confirma-la-ssa-primer-caso-por-el-virus-chikungunya-4743.html
¿Qué es el virus de Chikungunya?, México detecta primer caso
El virus de Chikungunya causa fiebre, dolores severos en articulaciones, dolores musculares, dolores de cabeza, nausea, fatiga y salpullidos
COMPARTIR 26/06/2014 14:48 Redacción
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/26/967526
No hay cura para esta enfermedad. El tratamiento se concentra en aliviar los síntomas, incluyendo el dolor en las articulaciones. Foto: Organización Panamericana de la Salud
1 de 3
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 26 de junio.- México registró en Jalisco el primer caso del virus de Chikungunya, el cual es transmitido por la picadura de mosquitos Aedes Aegypti y Aedes Albopictus, logrando detectarse entre tres y siete días después.
La enfermedad, que principalmente se presentó en África, Asia e India, se reportó por vez primera en Europa en el 2007. Mientras que en 2013, se registraron los primeros casos en América, de acuerdo a la Organización Panamericana de la Salud.
¿CUÁLES SON LOS SÍNTOMAS?
El virus de Chikungunya causa fiebre, dolores severos en articulaciones, dolores musculares, dolores de cabeza, nausea, fatiga y salpullidos. Suele confundirse en primera instancia con el dengue.
No hay cura para esta enfermedad. El tratamiento se concentra en aliviar los síntomas, incluyendo el dolor en las articulaciones. No existe una vacuna disponible para prevenir la infección por este virus", asegura la OPS.
Por otra parte, el subsecretario de Prevención de la Secretaría de Salud, Pablo Kuri, destacó que en México, se trata de un caso 'importado' lo cual significa que el virus aún no se encuentra de manera autóctona en el país.
jgl
Casos de dengue avanzan en Oaxaca; jóvenes los más vulnerables
En el estado se han registrado 224 casos de dengue clásico y 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, informaron los servicios de salud
27/06/2014 15:31 Patricia Briseño/ Corresponsal
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/27/967734
En el estado se han registrado 224 casos de dengue clásico y 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, informaron los servicios de salud.
OAXACA, 27 de junio.- Los servicios de salud en el estado registran 224 casos de dengue clásico y, 144 de fiebre hemorrágica, de acuerdo con su clasificación clínica, informó el jefe de Departamento de Prevención de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vector, Iván Santibáñez Matus.
Refirió que hasta la semana epidemiológica número 25 son 368 casos, mientras que los registrados en 2013 a la misma semana eran 424. El grupo de edad más afectados el de 15 a 19 años con 65 casos.
Explicó que estas cifras ubican al estado en onceavo lugar en la tabla nacional, por lo que aseguró que se continúa con la estrecha vigilancia entomológica operativa en las localidades de riesgo.
De acuerdo con los datos aportados por las seis jurisdicciones sanitarias en la región de Valles Centrales son 144 casos; Istmo, 42; Tuxtepec, 35; Costa, 126, Mixteca, 17 y Sierra Norte, 14.
Por género, son 200 mujeres y 168 hombres atendidos en este año, por los Servicios de Salud en la entidad.
El funcionario de la Secretaría de Salud exhortó a los oaxaqueños a sumarse en las actividades de descacharrización, limpieza de patios y azoteas, además de tapar correctamente los almacenes de agua, ya que ello ayuda a reducir la presencia del vector.
Recordó que en caso de presentar síntomas como: dolor de cabeza, articulaciones, huesos y detrás de los ojos, fiebre o náuseas, acudan de inmediato a la unidad médica más cercana, y enfatizó evitar la automedicación, lo que puede complicar el padecimiento.
Finalmente indicó que por instrucciones del mandatario estatal, Gabino Cué Monteagudo, se continuará con la coordinación de esfuerzos para incrementar el número de edificios y escuelas certificadas como "libres de larvas" lo que coadyuvará en la lucha contra el dengue.
jpg
AZMEX UPDATE 14-7-14
AZMEX UPDATE 14 JUL 2014
Note: Once again, the burden is from illegal immigration, not legal immigration.
Influx of women, children crossing into US straining border counties' budgets
By Jim Cross
Originally published: Jul 14, 2014 - 7:42 am
http://ktar.com/22/1750232/Influx-of-women-children-crossing-into-US-straining-border-counties-budgets
PHOENIX -- The wave of women and children from Central America into the United States is putting a strain on border counties, said a border group.
Carlos Aguilar with the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition said border enforcement is a federal responsibility but taxpayers will likely be picking up much of the costs of dealing with the immigrants.
"It's an unfair burden on border counties, border states and border communities, Aguilar said. "Counties are not prepared to deal with the impacts of the undocumented immigrants flowing into the country and for years the federal government has neglected providing full funding for meeting their responsibilties regarding immigration."
The federal government provides funding for dealing with natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. The "national nightmare" on the border should qualify, Aguilar said.
"The Obama adminstration has said that they're fully aware of the problem but there hasn't been direct funding to these counties to meet the federal responsibilities," he said.
Aguilar is among those who believe President Obama should visit the border to meet with leaders who are dealing with the wave of immigrants.
END
Note: "updated" usually only the criminals and police have guns in Mexico.
Armed men rob migrants in Nogales, Sonora, shelter
Border and immigration news
4 hours ago • By Perla Trevizo1
http://tucson.com/news/local/border/armed-men-rob-migrants-in-nogales-sonora-shelter/article_e0c1e7bf-11a3-5f37-8ed7-7c1357a7fd5d.html
A group of migrants was asleep when men with guns burst through the door of the shelter they were staying at in Nogales, Sonora, witnesses said.
"They broke down the door and using bad words, told us to get up," said a 53-year-old from Central Mexico, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. "They put us face down and went through our pockets. They got my wallet and took 800 pesos (about $60)."
Twenty migrants, mostly from Central America, were staying Thursday night at La Roca, a popular Christian shelter for Central Americans trying to get to the United States or who were just deported.
The armed group included 19 men in ski masks and a woman who appeared to be leading the operation. They wore police uniforms and were riding in at least eight marked patrol units, said the Kino Border Initiative group in a news release.
Aldo Saracco, first inspector of the state commission of human rights in Sonora, said Saturday he could not confirm if the gunmen were members of the state and municipal police because it was too early in the investigation.
A call and emails to Nogales and Sonora state police went unanswered Saturday. Rights groups have filed complaints with Mexican state and federal authorities, as well as with state and federal human rights commissions.
"We want to know exactly what happened so police don't feel they can do whatever they want," said Marla Conrad, an advocate with the Kino Border Initiative, a binational organization that works on immigration issues in both sides of the border.
The group is helping the seven men who came forward to file an official complaint and is assisting the family that runs the shelter.
Saracco confirmed the agency received a formal complaint and is working with authorities, who have 15 days to respond.
On Monday, Francisco Arce, deputy director for public safety in Nogales, Sonora Francisco Arce said municipal police officers weren't involved.
"Municipal police are instructed to reach out to migrants and ask if they need any assistance," he said. "We are aware of the suffering they go through and our function is to answer their questions and direct them to the right agency."
Migrants making the journey north are often preyed upon by criminal organizations or in some cases by the authorities themselves. Central Americans are particularly vulnerable, experts and officials say.
"It is something that has always existed, but people are afraid to report it," Saracco said. "They fear deportation and come with the idea that they have to put up with everything in order to fulfill their dream."
The state commission has received reports of incidents in the Benjamin Hill area, about 90 miles south of Nogales, he said, where the train tracks cross and migrants get off one train to either head to Nogales or to Altar. About two years ago they had an incident involving Honduran immigrants who were taken by municipal police officers to a nearby ranch to be extorted. Four officers were imprisoned for extortion and kidnapping, while one remains at large, he said.
In Thursday night's incident, Conrad said, the armed men went through the immigrants' belongings, taking their money and cell phones, before locking them in a room and threatening to deport them. After approximately 90 minutes the group left.
Shelter residents called the city's emergency number for help, but instead of aid the original group returned.
They came in and asked who made the call, the migrant from Central Mexico said Saturday in a telephone interview. When they refused to say, the intruders took a picture of every migrant at the shelter and said they would be beaten or killed if any of them talked.
"Many of the immigrants left immediately because they were afraid," the man said. He decided to stay to report the crime and was threatened again Saturday morning as he left the comedor, a space where the Kino Border Initiative feeds migrants near the border.
"Don't you understand that you have to leave or we will kill you?" the man said he was told by men in a white pick-up truck.
Conrad said local and state authorities have been helpful in responding to the claims, but have provided no security measures to protect the immigrants who filed the complaint or to the family that runs the shelter.
The family, which includes six children, is originally from El Salvador and was threatened with deportation even though they have Mexican resident status.
Members of the Kino Border Initiative are working to move the migrants to other locations as soon as possible.
"We need everyone to be watching so this doesn't happen again," she said, "and so that the family is not retaliated against."
end
Mexican customs reduces work time at US border
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 13, 2014 - 2:14 pm
http://ktar.com/23/1750020/Mex-customs-reduces-work-time-at-border
SANTA TERESA, N.M. (AP) -- The decision this month to drastically trim their hours of operation, which has led to traffic gridlock at one port of entry, will help streamline the flow of international trade, Mexican customs officials said.
Mexico's Tax Administration began reducing hours in all its customs offices along the U.S. border on July 4.
Officials told The Associated Press that the changes will help them to better utilize staff, technology and infrastructure for the processing of merchandise.
But Mexican citizens bringing back used vehicles purchased in the U.S. through Santa Teresa say the new hours have left them frustrated. Drivers waiting in a mile-long line Wednesday told the Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/W18OIa ) that they have had to wait several hours or even overnight to get across.
"This is pretty bad," said Carlos Cruz, who was stuck in line with his used Chevrolet Tahoe during hot weather. "I have another two days to cross, but with this line, just imagine."
Drivers must hand over the vehicle title to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for authentication at least 72 hours before export to prevent trafficking of stolen vehicles. After that, the vehicle has to be exported within seven days. The increased congestion has been compounded by the fact that commercial trucks going south have to share the same road.
Cheap, used and even banged-up cars and trucks from the U.S. and Canada are popular with Mexican consumers. For many, they represent an affordable way to get a car. Others work for dealers and junk yards based in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Claudia Salas, who was driving a Volkswagen Jetta for a dealer, said she planned to spend the night in the car just to keep her place in line.
"The deal is that people don't respect the places in line," Salas said. "If I don't get this car across, I won't earn any money."
A NAFTA provision led to the border being open to vehicles in 2005. According to the Mexican Association of Automotive Dealerships, an estimated 7.5 million vehicles have been imported to Mexico since then. More than 226,000 were imported through May of this year.
Ruben Jauregui, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso whose field of operation includes New Mexico, said Santa Teresa is the only port of entry with a lane for processing vehicles. As a result, it is considered one of the busiest ports.
Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection officials said none of the same gridlock has been reported in ports of entry in California, Texas or Arizona.
Associated Press writer Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Note: Once again, the burden is from illegal immigration, not legal immigration.
Influx of women, children crossing into US straining border counties' budgets
By Jim Cross
Originally published: Jul 14, 2014 - 7:42 am
http://ktar.com/22/1750232/Influx-of-women-children-crossing-into-US-straining-border-counties-budgets
PHOENIX -- The wave of women and children from Central America into the United States is putting a strain on border counties, said a border group.
Carlos Aguilar with the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition said border enforcement is a federal responsibility but taxpayers will likely be picking up much of the costs of dealing with the immigrants.
"It's an unfair burden on border counties, border states and border communities, Aguilar said. "Counties are not prepared to deal with the impacts of the undocumented immigrants flowing into the country and for years the federal government has neglected providing full funding for meeting their responsibilties regarding immigration."
The federal government provides funding for dealing with natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. The "national nightmare" on the border should qualify, Aguilar said.
"The Obama adminstration has said that they're fully aware of the problem but there hasn't been direct funding to these counties to meet the federal responsibilities," he said.
Aguilar is among those who believe President Obama should visit the border to meet with leaders who are dealing with the wave of immigrants.
END
Note: "updated" usually only the criminals and police have guns in Mexico.
Armed men rob migrants in Nogales, Sonora, shelter
Border and immigration news
4 hours ago • By Perla Trevizo1
http://tucson.com/news/local/border/armed-men-rob-migrants-in-nogales-sonora-shelter/article_e0c1e7bf-11a3-5f37-8ed7-7c1357a7fd5d.html
A group of migrants was asleep when men with guns burst through the door of the shelter they were staying at in Nogales, Sonora, witnesses said.
"They broke down the door and using bad words, told us to get up," said a 53-year-old from Central Mexico, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. "They put us face down and went through our pockets. They got my wallet and took 800 pesos (about $60)."
Twenty migrants, mostly from Central America, were staying Thursday night at La Roca, a popular Christian shelter for Central Americans trying to get to the United States or who were just deported.
The armed group included 19 men in ski masks and a woman who appeared to be leading the operation. They wore police uniforms and were riding in at least eight marked patrol units, said the Kino Border Initiative group in a news release.
Aldo Saracco, first inspector of the state commission of human rights in Sonora, said Saturday he could not confirm if the gunmen were members of the state and municipal police because it was too early in the investigation.
A call and emails to Nogales and Sonora state police went unanswered Saturday. Rights groups have filed complaints with Mexican state and federal authorities, as well as with state and federal human rights commissions.
"We want to know exactly what happened so police don't feel they can do whatever they want," said Marla Conrad, an advocate with the Kino Border Initiative, a binational organization that works on immigration issues in both sides of the border.
The group is helping the seven men who came forward to file an official complaint and is assisting the family that runs the shelter.
Saracco confirmed the agency received a formal complaint and is working with authorities, who have 15 days to respond.
On Monday, Francisco Arce, deputy director for public safety in Nogales, Sonora Francisco Arce said municipal police officers weren't involved.
"Municipal police are instructed to reach out to migrants and ask if they need any assistance," he said. "We are aware of the suffering they go through and our function is to answer their questions and direct them to the right agency."
Migrants making the journey north are often preyed upon by criminal organizations or in some cases by the authorities themselves. Central Americans are particularly vulnerable, experts and officials say.
"It is something that has always existed, but people are afraid to report it," Saracco said. "They fear deportation and come with the idea that they have to put up with everything in order to fulfill their dream."
The state commission has received reports of incidents in the Benjamin Hill area, about 90 miles south of Nogales, he said, where the train tracks cross and migrants get off one train to either head to Nogales or to Altar. About two years ago they had an incident involving Honduran immigrants who were taken by municipal police officers to a nearby ranch to be extorted. Four officers were imprisoned for extortion and kidnapping, while one remains at large, he said.
In Thursday night's incident, Conrad said, the armed men went through the immigrants' belongings, taking their money and cell phones, before locking them in a room and threatening to deport them. After approximately 90 minutes the group left.
Shelter residents called the city's emergency number for help, but instead of aid the original group returned.
They came in and asked who made the call, the migrant from Central Mexico said Saturday in a telephone interview. When they refused to say, the intruders took a picture of every migrant at the shelter and said they would be beaten or killed if any of them talked.
"Many of the immigrants left immediately because they were afraid," the man said. He decided to stay to report the crime and was threatened again Saturday morning as he left the comedor, a space where the Kino Border Initiative feeds migrants near the border.
"Don't you understand that you have to leave or we will kill you?" the man said he was told by men in a white pick-up truck.
Conrad said local and state authorities have been helpful in responding to the claims, but have provided no security measures to protect the immigrants who filed the complaint or to the family that runs the shelter.
The family, which includes six children, is originally from El Salvador and was threatened with deportation even though they have Mexican resident status.
Members of the Kino Border Initiative are working to move the migrants to other locations as soon as possible.
"We need everyone to be watching so this doesn't happen again," she said, "and so that the family is not retaliated against."
end
Mexican customs reduces work time at US border
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 13, 2014 - 2:14 pm
http://ktar.com/23/1750020/Mex-customs-reduces-work-time-at-border
SANTA TERESA, N.M. (AP) -- The decision this month to drastically trim their hours of operation, which has led to traffic gridlock at one port of entry, will help streamline the flow of international trade, Mexican customs officials said.
Mexico's Tax Administration began reducing hours in all its customs offices along the U.S. border on July 4.
Officials told The Associated Press that the changes will help them to better utilize staff, technology and infrastructure for the processing of merchandise.
But Mexican citizens bringing back used vehicles purchased in the U.S. through Santa Teresa say the new hours have left them frustrated. Drivers waiting in a mile-long line Wednesday told the Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/W18OIa ) that they have had to wait several hours or even overnight to get across.
"This is pretty bad," said Carlos Cruz, who was stuck in line with his used Chevrolet Tahoe during hot weather. "I have another two days to cross, but with this line, just imagine."
Drivers must hand over the vehicle title to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for authentication at least 72 hours before export to prevent trafficking of stolen vehicles. After that, the vehicle has to be exported within seven days. The increased congestion has been compounded by the fact that commercial trucks going south have to share the same road.
Cheap, used and even banged-up cars and trucks from the U.S. and Canada are popular with Mexican consumers. For many, they represent an affordable way to get a car. Others work for dealers and junk yards based in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Claudia Salas, who was driving a Volkswagen Jetta for a dealer, said she planned to spend the night in the car just to keep her place in line.
"The deal is that people don't respect the places in line," Salas said. "If I don't get this car across, I won't earn any money."
A NAFTA provision led to the border being open to vehicles in 2005. According to the Mexican Association of Automotive Dealerships, an estimated 7.5 million vehicles have been imported to Mexico since then. More than 226,000 were imported through May of this year.
Ruben Jauregui, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso whose field of operation includes New Mexico, said Santa Teresa is the only port of entry with a lane for processing vehicles. As a result, it is considered one of the busiest ports.
Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection officials said none of the same gridlock has been reported in ports of entry in California, Texas or Arizona.
Associated Press writer Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
AZMEX I3 15-7-14
AZMEX I3 15 JUL 2014
Updated Jul 15, 2014 - 1:20 pm
Immigrant child busing to southern Arizona facility delayed
By KTAR.com
Originally published: Jul 15, 2014 - 12:09 pm
http://ktar.com/22/1750589/Immigrant-child-busing-to-southern-Arizona-facility-delayed
PHOENIX -- Several busloads of Latin American children will not be dropped off at a southern Arizona facility on Tuesday, a congressman's office said.
The office of Rep. Raul Grijalva confirmed reports the children would not be dropped off at Sycamore Canyon Academy in Oracle, Ariz.
The buses would have been met by about 100 protesters who do not want the facility used to house illegal immigrant children.
"We will turn the buses around. They will not get through us," said protester Ron Thompson. "We are not willing to accept this. It's an illegal act by the federal government -- the Obama Administration to be specific. These are illegal people and they should be deported."
Many of those who plan to demonstrate say they will risk arrest to make sure the government doesn't succeed in dropping the children off in Oracle.
The protest was similar to that held in Murrieta, Calif., that forced several buses carrying immigrant children to be rerouted.
There was no immediate timetable for the children to be taken to the ranch. It is unknown if that is still the plan.
end
5 hours ago
http://www.kvoa.com/full-coverage/migrant-children/
Immigrants posing as "fake families" to stay in the U.S.
The influx of unaccompanied immigrant children crossing the border may be triggering yet another problem for Border Patrol agents--fake family units.
Although there are no official numbers available, there are reports of unaccompanied immigrant children being approached by adult immigrants and told to pose as a family in order to have a better chance of staying in the U.S.
Border Patrol does have a screening process for immigrant family units, but the Border Patrol lacks adequate man power and resources to thoroughly process the current overwhelming number of undocumented immigrants.
Just like the overall issue of illegal border crossings, fake family units not only raise concern from a legal standpoint, but also as a humanitarian issue.
Read more: http://bit.ly/1qcBqMb
end
Protest planned as undocumented children arrive at Oracle ranch
Posted: Jul 15, 2014 5:46 AM PDT
Updated: Jul 15, 2014 7:50 AM PDT
By Kevin Adger - email
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/26020858/protest-planned-as-undocumented-children-arrive-at-oracle-ranch
ORACLE, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
A large group of undocumented children are scheduled to be moved to a boy's ranch near Oracle, Arizona.
Sycamore Canyon Academy is a facility for troubled youths. The federal government has not given a specific time when the buses of children will arrive.
One protest group is already set up in front of the ranch entrance this morning, while another in support of the children has left a church on the south side and is traveling to the ranch.
Officials with Sycamore Canyon Academy say there was an urgent request by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide safe and temporary care for the children.
The children will be on the campus until they are processed and placed with a sponsor or returned to their home country.
Officials with the ranch have released a statement on the situation. They are not taking a position on the immigration debate in any way. "Our mission is to improve the lives of youth and we will continue to fulfill our mission by focusing on our work with children."
The protest group has already been asked to move their vehicles from blocking the road, according to officials with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, who are on hand to provide security for the busload of children. PCSO is also saying the academy has increased their staff by 30 people to help with the children.
A spokesperson for the group has said moving their vehicle's does not matter, they will block the bus from entering by standing in the street instead. Though when asked by law enforcement to move they will comply. The group plans to be on site until at least 7 p.m. this evening.
END
Supporters in Oracle to welcome children to Sycamore Canyon Academy
Posted: Jul 15, 2014 6:00 AM PDT
Updated: Jul 15, 2014 8:15 AM PDT
By Maria Hechanova - email
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/26021024/supporters-on-way-to-welcome-children-to-sycamore-canyon-academy
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Supporters of the undocumented children are now in Oracle this morning. The group met at the Southside Presbyterian Church at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and caravanned to Oracle.
The group arrived a short time ago and plan on welcoming the busload of children from the Nogales center.
According to one of the supporters they plan on being a 'peaceful presence' for the children, who may have experienced violence in their home countries. They do not plan on confronting the protesters who are also at the entrance to Sycamore Canyon Academy.
Tucson's supporters are hoping that a larger group from Phoenix will be joining them shortly, swelling their number to almost 100. They also plan on being in the area until 11 a.m. today.
Stay with Tucson News Now for more on this situation.
END
Updated Jul 15, 2014 - 1:20 pm
Immigrant child busing to southern Arizona facility delayed
By KTAR.com
Originally published: Jul 15, 2014 - 12:09 pm
http://ktar.com/22/1750589/Immigrant-child-busing-to-southern-Arizona-facility-delayed
PHOENIX -- Several busloads of Latin American children will not be dropped off at a southern Arizona facility on Tuesday, a congressman's office said.
The office of Rep. Raul Grijalva confirmed reports the children would not be dropped off at Sycamore Canyon Academy in Oracle, Ariz.
The buses would have been met by about 100 protesters who do not want the facility used to house illegal immigrant children.
"We will turn the buses around. They will not get through us," said protester Ron Thompson. "We are not willing to accept this. It's an illegal act by the federal government -- the Obama Administration to be specific. These are illegal people and they should be deported."
Many of those who plan to demonstrate say they will risk arrest to make sure the government doesn't succeed in dropping the children off in Oracle.
The protest was similar to that held in Murrieta, Calif., that forced several buses carrying immigrant children to be rerouted.
There was no immediate timetable for the children to be taken to the ranch. It is unknown if that is still the plan.
end
5 hours ago
http://www.kvoa.com/full-coverage/migrant-children/
Immigrants posing as "fake families" to stay in the U.S.
The influx of unaccompanied immigrant children crossing the border may be triggering yet another problem for Border Patrol agents--fake family units.
Although there are no official numbers available, there are reports of unaccompanied immigrant children being approached by adult immigrants and told to pose as a family in order to have a better chance of staying in the U.S.
Border Patrol does have a screening process for immigrant family units, but the Border Patrol lacks adequate man power and resources to thoroughly process the current overwhelming number of undocumented immigrants.
Just like the overall issue of illegal border crossings, fake family units not only raise concern from a legal standpoint, but also as a humanitarian issue.
Read more: http://bit.ly/1qcBqMb
end
Protest planned as undocumented children arrive at Oracle ranch
Posted: Jul 15, 2014 5:46 AM PDT
Updated: Jul 15, 2014 7:50 AM PDT
By Kevin Adger - email
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/26020858/protest-planned-as-undocumented-children-arrive-at-oracle-ranch
ORACLE, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
A large group of undocumented children are scheduled to be moved to a boy's ranch near Oracle, Arizona.
Sycamore Canyon Academy is a facility for troubled youths. The federal government has not given a specific time when the buses of children will arrive.
One protest group is already set up in front of the ranch entrance this morning, while another in support of the children has left a church on the south side and is traveling to the ranch.
Officials with Sycamore Canyon Academy say there was an urgent request by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide safe and temporary care for the children.
The children will be on the campus until they are processed and placed with a sponsor or returned to their home country.
Officials with the ranch have released a statement on the situation. They are not taking a position on the immigration debate in any way. "Our mission is to improve the lives of youth and we will continue to fulfill our mission by focusing on our work with children."
The protest group has already been asked to move their vehicles from blocking the road, according to officials with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, who are on hand to provide security for the busload of children. PCSO is also saying the academy has increased their staff by 30 people to help with the children.
A spokesperson for the group has said moving their vehicle's does not matter, they will block the bus from entering by standing in the street instead. Though when asked by law enforcement to move they will comply. The group plans to be on site until at least 7 p.m. this evening.
END
Supporters in Oracle to welcome children to Sycamore Canyon Academy
Posted: Jul 15, 2014 6:00 AM PDT
Updated: Jul 15, 2014 8:15 AM PDT
By Maria Hechanova - email
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/26021024/supporters-on-way-to-welcome-children-to-sycamore-canyon-academy
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Supporters of the undocumented children are now in Oracle this morning. The group met at the Southside Presbyterian Church at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and caravanned to Oracle.
The group arrived a short time ago and plan on welcoming the busload of children from the Nogales center.
According to one of the supporters they plan on being a 'peaceful presence' for the children, who may have experienced violence in their home countries. They do not plan on confronting the protesters who are also at the entrance to Sycamore Canyon Academy.
Tucson's supporters are hoping that a larger group from Phoenix will be joining them shortly, swelling their number to almost 100. They also plan on being in the area until 11 a.m. today.
Stay with Tucson News Now for more on this situation.
END
AZMEX I3-2 15-7-14
AZMEX I3-2 15 JUL 2014
Note: Mr. Kozachik's concerns seldom extend to U.S. citizens and their rights.
Immigrant intake to move from Greyhound station
Guatemalan migrants at Greyhound Lines
Guatemalan migrant Danel Yoel Valdez, 2, looked into a tub of donated toys as he waited with his mom for bus departure earlier this month at a volunteer processing area in the Greyhound Lines station, 471 W. Congress St.
15 hours ago • By Luis F. Carrasco
http://tucson.com/news/local/border/immigrant-intake-to-move-from-greyhound-station/article_527ef772-5593-50cf-a971-35d766f5e536.html
The makeshift intake center set up at the Greyhound bus station to help immigrants dropped off by immigration officials is moving to better accommodate the families coming through Tucson.
But the location of the new center is not being disclosed over concerns about anti-immigration groups.
"We don't want the kinds of protests that we are seeing in Murrieta and that are now starting to pop up in Arizona," said City Councilman Steve Kozachik, referring to the Southern California town where demonstrations recently led U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop busing immigrants to the area.
Kozachik is part of Project Mariposa, a group created to address the needs of immigrant families being released in Tucson with a notice to appear before an immigration official at their final destination. The group gets its name from Casa Mariposa, an organization that had been helping people released from detention centers and later the women and children dropped off at the bus stations until it became overwhelmed by the increasing numbers.
So far the families, mostly women and children from Central America, have been left at the Greyhound station, something that will change when the new intake center opens on Aug. 1.
After that date, immigrants will be taken to the new center before being transported to the bus station when they are ready to leave. Most of them secure passage the same day, but some stay with volunteers for up to three days.
The improvised intake room at the back of the Greyhound bus station is crowded by plastic containers with donated clothes, sorted by size and gender, boxes of diapers and tables full of instant soups and oral electrolyte solutions to help the women and children who often come in dehydrated.
Although volunteers have tried to make it as comfortable as possible, it is still a waiting room.
The new site, which is being provided by Catholic Community Services, will offer an outdoor fenced-in play area, more comfortable seating, a kitchenette and a more private setting for meetings with consulate officials.
Casa Mariposa and Project Mariposa have organized more than 200 volunteers who take turns going to the bus station on different days and shifts because there are no set times for drop-off by Customs and Border Protection officials.
"The response has been amazing," said volunteer coordinator Sabrina Lopez. "There is a large number of volunteers, which I think speaks volumes about the Tucson community. So many people have just been eager to help."
While Kozachik said he was proud of the welcoming attitude by the community at large as well as area nonprofits, the risk of exposing the families to anti-immigrant groups is keeping Project Mariposa from disclosing the new center's location.
"These people protesting need to understand what the people coming here have been through," he said. "They need to set their flags down, get on these buses and learn some of these stories."
end
Note: Mr. Kozachik's concerns seldom extend to U.S. citizens and their rights.
Immigrant intake to move from Greyhound station
Guatemalan migrants at Greyhound Lines
Guatemalan migrant Danel Yoel Valdez, 2, looked into a tub of donated toys as he waited with his mom for bus departure earlier this month at a volunteer processing area in the Greyhound Lines station, 471 W. Congress St.
15 hours ago • By Luis F. Carrasco
http://tucson.com/news/local/border/immigrant-intake-to-move-from-greyhound-station/article_527ef772-5593-50cf-a971-35d766f5e536.html
The makeshift intake center set up at the Greyhound bus station to help immigrants dropped off by immigration officials is moving to better accommodate the families coming through Tucson.
But the location of the new center is not being disclosed over concerns about anti-immigration groups.
"We don't want the kinds of protests that we are seeing in Murrieta and that are now starting to pop up in Arizona," said City Councilman Steve Kozachik, referring to the Southern California town where demonstrations recently led U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop busing immigrants to the area.
Kozachik is part of Project Mariposa, a group created to address the needs of immigrant families being released in Tucson with a notice to appear before an immigration official at their final destination. The group gets its name from Casa Mariposa, an organization that had been helping people released from detention centers and later the women and children dropped off at the bus stations until it became overwhelmed by the increasing numbers.
So far the families, mostly women and children from Central America, have been left at the Greyhound station, something that will change when the new intake center opens on Aug. 1.
After that date, immigrants will be taken to the new center before being transported to the bus station when they are ready to leave. Most of them secure passage the same day, but some stay with volunteers for up to three days.
The improvised intake room at the back of the Greyhound bus station is crowded by plastic containers with donated clothes, sorted by size and gender, boxes of diapers and tables full of instant soups and oral electrolyte solutions to help the women and children who often come in dehydrated.
Although volunteers have tried to make it as comfortable as possible, it is still a waiting room.
The new site, which is being provided by Catholic Community Services, will offer an outdoor fenced-in play area, more comfortable seating, a kitchenette and a more private setting for meetings with consulate officials.
Casa Mariposa and Project Mariposa have organized more than 200 volunteers who take turns going to the bus station on different days and shifts because there are no set times for drop-off by Customs and Border Protection officials.
"The response has been amazing," said volunteer coordinator Sabrina Lopez. "There is a large number of volunteers, which I think speaks volumes about the Tucson community. So many people have just been eager to help."
While Kozachik said he was proud of the welcoming attitude by the community at large as well as area nonprofits, the risk of exposing the families to anti-immigrant groups is keeping Project Mariposa from disclosing the new center's location.
"These people protesting need to understand what the people coming here have been through," he said. "They need to set their flags down, get on these buses and learn some of these stories."
end
AZMEX I3-2 13-7-14
AZMEX I3-2 13 JUL 2014
Local flights carrying migrant families end
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 6:57 pm | Updated: 9:51 pm, Fri Jul 11, 2014.
By James Gilbert, Yuma Sun staff writer
http://www.yumasun.com/news/local-flights-carrying-migrant-families-end/article_92b060b4-0968-11e4-b482-001a4bcf6878.html
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has announced that the agency will no longer be flying Central American children and families arrested in Texas to Yuma and San Diego.
According to Brett Worsencraft, president of the Local 2595 Border Patrol Union, which represents agents in Yuma, Wellton and Blythe, the flight carrying migrant families that landed at Yuma International Airport on Friday was the last one. "There will be no more flights. The last one came in today." Worsencraft said. "They aren't staying here. The airport is just being used as a transfer point."
The El Centro Sector Border Patrol, which transported the migrant families to the agency's station in El Centro for processing on a previous flight, declined to comment on Friday's most recent flight.
"Due to security considerations, we are not providing any further information regarding the schedule or location of migrant transfers at this time," said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Miguel A. Garcia, of the El Centro Sector Public Affairs Office. "Our foremost priority is the safety of the DHS personnel who are conducting these transfers and the welfare of those who have been entrusted to their custody."
Gen Grosse, spokesperson for the Yuma International Airport, confirmed that the airport provides aviation services to Customs and Border Protection when contacted, but did not know if that flight was carrying migrant families. "We don't have their schedule," Grosse said. "We are unaware of any future arrivals or departures."
The flights have been a rallying cry for anti-illegal immigration activists because families are typically released as they await hearings in immigration court.
One flight earlier this month sparked a backlash in which protesters outside the Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., blocked a road and forced the rerouting of busloads of immigrants.
The Border Patrol has denied that the protests outside its Murrieta station influenced its decision to end the flights, instead claiming it has reduced its backlog of families being held in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and has improved processing there.
The government has chartered three flights to San Diego since July 1, with each carrying about 140 Central American adults and their young children. They had been scheduled to arrive every three days.
Another flight landed in Yuma on July 2. According to the Yuma Sector Public Affairs Office, the reason the plane landed in Yuma was because the runway at the airport in El Centro, where they were originally going to be taken, is not long enough to accommodate such a flight.
Worsencraft explained that Yuma Sector agents were not involved in either of the flights.
Flights to San Diego may resume, but there are currently no plans to do so.
The Border Patrol also flew a large number of families from Texas to Tucson in late May, drawing criticism from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer when U.S. immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) dropped them off at bus stations.
Before the latest surge of Central Americans to this country, there was only one family detention center in the country, designed for 85 people in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Since then, CBP has opened three more facilities, one in Oklahoma, one in McAllen, Texas, and one in Artesia, New Mexico, which is designed to hold as many as 700 people.
END
Local flights carrying migrant families end
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 6:57 pm | Updated: 9:51 pm, Fri Jul 11, 2014.
By James Gilbert, Yuma Sun staff writer
http://www.yumasun.com/news/local-flights-carrying-migrant-families-end/article_92b060b4-0968-11e4-b482-001a4bcf6878.html
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has announced that the agency will no longer be flying Central American children and families arrested in Texas to Yuma and San Diego.
According to Brett Worsencraft, president of the Local 2595 Border Patrol Union, which represents agents in Yuma, Wellton and Blythe, the flight carrying migrant families that landed at Yuma International Airport on Friday was the last one. "There will be no more flights. The last one came in today." Worsencraft said. "They aren't staying here. The airport is just being used as a transfer point."
The El Centro Sector Border Patrol, which transported the migrant families to the agency's station in El Centro for processing on a previous flight, declined to comment on Friday's most recent flight.
"Due to security considerations, we are not providing any further information regarding the schedule or location of migrant transfers at this time," said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Miguel A. Garcia, of the El Centro Sector Public Affairs Office. "Our foremost priority is the safety of the DHS personnel who are conducting these transfers and the welfare of those who have been entrusted to their custody."
Gen Grosse, spokesperson for the Yuma International Airport, confirmed that the airport provides aviation services to Customs and Border Protection when contacted, but did not know if that flight was carrying migrant families. "We don't have their schedule," Grosse said. "We are unaware of any future arrivals or departures."
The flights have been a rallying cry for anti-illegal immigration activists because families are typically released as they await hearings in immigration court.
One flight earlier this month sparked a backlash in which protesters outside the Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., blocked a road and forced the rerouting of busloads of immigrants.
The Border Patrol has denied that the protests outside its Murrieta station influenced its decision to end the flights, instead claiming it has reduced its backlog of families being held in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and has improved processing there.
The government has chartered three flights to San Diego since July 1, with each carrying about 140 Central American adults and their young children. They had been scheduled to arrive every three days.
Another flight landed in Yuma on July 2. According to the Yuma Sector Public Affairs Office, the reason the plane landed in Yuma was because the runway at the airport in El Centro, where they were originally going to be taken, is not long enough to accommodate such a flight.
Worsencraft explained that Yuma Sector agents were not involved in either of the flights.
Flights to San Diego may resume, but there are currently no plans to do so.
The Border Patrol also flew a large number of families from Texas to Tucson in late May, drawing criticism from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer when U.S. immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) dropped them off at bus stations.
Before the latest surge of Central Americans to this country, there was only one family detention center in the country, designed for 85 people in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Since then, CBP has opened three more facilities, one in Oklahoma, one in McAllen, Texas, and one in Artesia, New Mexico, which is designed to hold as many as 700 people.
END
AZMEX UPATE 11-7-14
AZMEX UPDATE 11 JUL 2014
Comment: Evidently the Mexican government has taken note of Common Core and other educational deficiencies in the reacquired territories and has decided to intervene?
Arizona prison system to receive gift of textbooks from Mexico
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 10, 2014 - 6:35 am
http://ktar.com/22/1749176/Arizona-prison-system-to-receive-gift-of-textbooks-from-Mexico
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Mexico's government is donating more than 1,600 Spanish-language textbooks to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
The department said the textbooks will be distributed to prisons statewide to assist inmates who are receiving educational instruction in prisons.
Arizona's state prison population includes thousands of foreign nationals, with Mexican citizens being the largest group.
Officials scheduled a Thursday presentation at the Tucson prison complex.
The department is being represented by Director Charles Ryan. The Mexican government is being represented by Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, the Mexican consul general in Phoenix.
END
Note: A "pool" photo?
Immigrant flood prompts plans for Guatemalan consulate here
Immigration Overload
Ross D. Franklin
Two young girls watch a World Cup soccer match on a television from their holding area where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Nogales, Ariz. CPB provided media tours Wednesday of two locations in Brownsville, Texas, and Nogales, that have been central to processing the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally since Oct. 1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)
July 08, 2014 10:00 pm • By Darren DaRonco
http://tucson.com/news/local/immigrant-flood-prompts-plans-for-guatemalan-consulate-here/article_1aea39c5-e463-5df1-9b12-5dc283f60b63.html
The Guatemalan government plans to open a consulate in Tucson to help deal with the wave of immigrants from that country illegally crossing into the United States and winding up in at the downtown Greyhound station.
Guatemala's consul general in Phoenix, Jímena Díaz, said the nation had considered opening an office in Tucson months ago, but recent events hastened those plans.
"With the huge amount of immigrants coming to Tucson, they decided to open it as soon as possible," Díaz said.
Talk about a Tucson office surfaced last week when Guatemala's first lady, Rosa Leal de Pérez, visited Tucson, Díaz said. But the discussion was only cursory.
Next week a consulate staffer will visit Tucson to check out sites.
Díaz said an opening date for the office depends on how soon a suitable space can be found. She said Guatemala was looking for an office comparable to the current Mexican Consulate in Tucson.
A city official said a meeting was scheduled Tuesday morning to show a consulate representative several potential office sites, but the representative canceled.
City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who orchestrated the meeting, said the tour would have included La Placita, the new Pima County Courthouse, the Transamerica Building and four other sites.
Kozachik said no city money will be spent on the Guatemalan Consulate. He said a private real estate agent was going to show the properties.
LACK OF MONEY CITED
Guatemala had a person in Tucson who was working with immigrants as they arrived at the Greyhound station. But they had to eliminate that position recently because the money ran out to fund it, Díaz said.
And that has placed a larger burden on social-service groups assisting the roughly 30 immigrants who arrive at the Greyhound station every day, Kozachik said.
Kozachik said that person would be Immigration and Customs Enforcement's contact for immigrants getting dropped off at the Greyhound station.
"We've got volunteers now just hanging out at the bus station not having any idea who's coming, when and how many," said Kozachik, who held a meeting a few weeks ago to coordinate local nonprofit agencies to address the bus station.
He said if the Guatemalan government has enough money to pay for the first lady to take a sightseeing trip to Tucson, it can continue to pay for a liaison at the bus station.
"The people of Tucson have been carrying their load for long enough," Kozachik said. "It's well past time that they do something other than just send a dignitary here to survey the situation, do some photo ops and head back home thinking something had been accomplished."
Díaz said a consulate representative would split time between Nogales and Tucson until the consulate opens.
end
Note: meanwhile back at the border.
BP agents seize 29 pounds of meth, arrest 1
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized 29.8 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $89,400 and arrested one suspected smuggler Wednesday. The meth was hidden inside the gas tank seen here.
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2014 7:27 pm | Updated: 11:21 pm, Thu Jul 10, 2014.
From staff reports
http://www.yumasun.com/news/bp-agents-seize-pounds-of-meth-arrest/article_99ba11fe-08a3-11e4-9710-0017a43b2370.html
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized 29.8 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $89,400 and arrested one suspected smuggler Wednesday.
Agents assigned to Blythe Station working at the immigration checkpoint on Highway 78 referred a vehicle to a secondary inspection area after a working dog indicated the possible presence of contraband inside the vehicle.
After the driver reportedly consented to a vehicle search, agents allegedly discovered 14 shrink-wrapped packages of meth hidden in two non-factory compartments within the gas tank.
The driver was arrested and the meth and vehicle were seized.
END
Arizona man shot outside casino in Nogales, Sonora
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 2:48 pm | Updated: 3:03 pm, Fri Jul 11, 2014.
Nogales International
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/arizona-man-shot-outside-casino-in-nogales-sonora/article_10a211d0-0945-11e4-8056-001a4bcf887a.html
An Arizona man was taken to a local hospital after being shot last night in the parking lot of a Nogales, Sonora casino, authorities said.
The 26-year-old man was shot twice by an unknown assailant at approximately 11:35 p.m. Thursday outside a business in the El Greco neighborhood, the Sonora State Investigative Police (PEI) said in a news release. The Nogales, Sonora municipal police said the business was the Caliente casino.
The PEI identified the victim as Jose Miguel Espinoza Sanchez of Tucson; the municipal police called him Jose Miguel Mendoza Sanchez and said he lives in Rio Rico.
According to the PEI, Sanchez and two other people were in the parking lot when a late-model vehicle pulled up and two men got out and walked toward them. One of the men then pulled out a handgun and shot Sanchez before both subjects got back into their vehicle and fled.
The municipal police report cited an eyewitness as describing the vehicle as a white, Jeep Cherokee-type SUV. That report also said one of the bullets entered the left side of Sanchez's back, puncturing a lung before exiting from his left chest. The other bullet struck him in the right buttock and exited his groin area, injuring his bladder in the process.
Paramedics from the Cruz Roja brought Sanchez to a local hospital, and he was then transferred to a hospital in Nogales, Ariz., both police agencies said. A spokeswoman at Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales did not immediately respond to a message seeking information on his condition.
The PEI said investigators recovered two 45-millimeter shell casings at the scene of the shooting.
end
Comment: Evidently the Mexican government has taken note of Common Core and other educational deficiencies in the reacquired territories and has decided to intervene?
Arizona prison system to receive gift of textbooks from Mexico
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jul 10, 2014 - 6:35 am
http://ktar.com/22/1749176/Arizona-prison-system-to-receive-gift-of-textbooks-from-Mexico
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Mexico's government is donating more than 1,600 Spanish-language textbooks to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
The department said the textbooks will be distributed to prisons statewide to assist inmates who are receiving educational instruction in prisons.
Arizona's state prison population includes thousands of foreign nationals, with Mexican citizens being the largest group.
Officials scheduled a Thursday presentation at the Tucson prison complex.
The department is being represented by Director Charles Ryan. The Mexican government is being represented by Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, the Mexican consul general in Phoenix.
END
Note: A "pool" photo?
Immigrant flood prompts plans for Guatemalan consulate here
Immigration Overload
Ross D. Franklin
Two young girls watch a World Cup soccer match on a television from their holding area where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Nogales, Ariz. CPB provided media tours Wednesday of two locations in Brownsville, Texas, and Nogales, that have been central to processing the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally since Oct. 1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)
July 08, 2014 10:00 pm • By Darren DaRonco
http://tucson.com/news/local/immigrant-flood-prompts-plans-for-guatemalan-consulate-here/article_1aea39c5-e463-5df1-9b12-5dc283f60b63.html
The Guatemalan government plans to open a consulate in Tucson to help deal with the wave of immigrants from that country illegally crossing into the United States and winding up in at the downtown Greyhound station.
Guatemala's consul general in Phoenix, Jímena Díaz, said the nation had considered opening an office in Tucson months ago, but recent events hastened those plans.
"With the huge amount of immigrants coming to Tucson, they decided to open it as soon as possible," Díaz said.
Talk about a Tucson office surfaced last week when Guatemala's first lady, Rosa Leal de Pérez, visited Tucson, Díaz said. But the discussion was only cursory.
Next week a consulate staffer will visit Tucson to check out sites.
Díaz said an opening date for the office depends on how soon a suitable space can be found. She said Guatemala was looking for an office comparable to the current Mexican Consulate in Tucson.
A city official said a meeting was scheduled Tuesday morning to show a consulate representative several potential office sites, but the representative canceled.
City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who orchestrated the meeting, said the tour would have included La Placita, the new Pima County Courthouse, the Transamerica Building and four other sites.
Kozachik said no city money will be spent on the Guatemalan Consulate. He said a private real estate agent was going to show the properties.
LACK OF MONEY CITED
Guatemala had a person in Tucson who was working with immigrants as they arrived at the Greyhound station. But they had to eliminate that position recently because the money ran out to fund it, Díaz said.
And that has placed a larger burden on social-service groups assisting the roughly 30 immigrants who arrive at the Greyhound station every day, Kozachik said.
Kozachik said that person would be Immigration and Customs Enforcement's contact for immigrants getting dropped off at the Greyhound station.
"We've got volunteers now just hanging out at the bus station not having any idea who's coming, when and how many," said Kozachik, who held a meeting a few weeks ago to coordinate local nonprofit agencies to address the bus station.
He said if the Guatemalan government has enough money to pay for the first lady to take a sightseeing trip to Tucson, it can continue to pay for a liaison at the bus station.
"The people of Tucson have been carrying their load for long enough," Kozachik said. "It's well past time that they do something other than just send a dignitary here to survey the situation, do some photo ops and head back home thinking something had been accomplished."
Díaz said a consulate representative would split time between Nogales and Tucson until the consulate opens.
end
Note: meanwhile back at the border.
BP agents seize 29 pounds of meth, arrest 1
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized 29.8 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $89,400 and arrested one suspected smuggler Wednesday. The meth was hidden inside the gas tank seen here.
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2014 7:27 pm | Updated: 11:21 pm, Thu Jul 10, 2014.
From staff reports
http://www.yumasun.com/news/bp-agents-seize-pounds-of-meth-arrest/article_99ba11fe-08a3-11e4-9710-0017a43b2370.html
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized 29.8 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $89,400 and arrested one suspected smuggler Wednesday.
Agents assigned to Blythe Station working at the immigration checkpoint on Highway 78 referred a vehicle to a secondary inspection area after a working dog indicated the possible presence of contraband inside the vehicle.
After the driver reportedly consented to a vehicle search, agents allegedly discovered 14 shrink-wrapped packages of meth hidden in two non-factory compartments within the gas tank.
The driver was arrested and the meth and vehicle were seized.
END
Arizona man shot outside casino in Nogales, Sonora
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 2:48 pm | Updated: 3:03 pm, Fri Jul 11, 2014.
Nogales International
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/arizona-man-shot-outside-casino-in-nogales-sonora/article_10a211d0-0945-11e4-8056-001a4bcf887a.html
An Arizona man was taken to a local hospital after being shot last night in the parking lot of a Nogales, Sonora casino, authorities said.
The 26-year-old man was shot twice by an unknown assailant at approximately 11:35 p.m. Thursday outside a business in the El Greco neighborhood, the Sonora State Investigative Police (PEI) said in a news release. The Nogales, Sonora municipal police said the business was the Caliente casino.
The PEI identified the victim as Jose Miguel Espinoza Sanchez of Tucson; the municipal police called him Jose Miguel Mendoza Sanchez and said he lives in Rio Rico.
According to the PEI, Sanchez and two other people were in the parking lot when a late-model vehicle pulled up and two men got out and walked toward them. One of the men then pulled out a handgun and shot Sanchez before both subjects got back into their vehicle and fled.
The municipal police report cited an eyewitness as describing the vehicle as a white, Jeep Cherokee-type SUV. That report also said one of the bullets entered the left side of Sanchez's back, puncturing a lung before exiting from his left chest. The other bullet struck him in the right buttock and exited his groin area, injuring his bladder in the process.
Paramedics from the Cruz Roja brought Sanchez to a local hospital, and he was then transferred to a hospital in Nogales, Ariz., both police agencies said. A spokeswoman at Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales did not immediately respond to a message seeking information on his condition.
The PEI said investigators recovered two 45-millimeter shell casings at the scene of the shooting.
end
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