AZMEX UPDATE 6 MAR 2019
Tucson Sector Welcomes New Chief Patrol Agent
Release Date: March 4, 2019
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/tucson-sector-welcomes-new-chief-patrol-agent
TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Border Patrol leadership has selected Roy Villareal as the new Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent.
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Customs
and Border Protection
Today, Chief Villareal began leading more than 3,900 agents and mission support staff in one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors in the nation. Chief Villareal is responsible for securing 262 linear miles of Arizona's border with Mexico and all operational and administrative aspects of the Tucson Sector.
Throughout his more than 30-year accomplished career, Chief Villareal has co-authored the Border Patrol's Evidence Policy, served as the Border Safety Initiative coordinator in Washington D.C. and was instrumental in the establishment of Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue Team BORSTAR, serving as its first commander.
Prior to his selection, Chief Villareal served multiple leadership positions to include Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the San Diego and El Centro Sectors. He has also served as an Assistant Chief Patrol Agent and Acting Deputy Chief Patrol Agent for the Yuma Sector.
Chief Villareal earned a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of San Diego, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from California State University (CSU), San Marcos and an Associate of Arts degree with a Pre-Law emphasis. In 2009 he graduated from the Command Leadership Academy. He is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Senior Executive Fellows Program at Harvard University.
"I look forward to working with the men and women of the Tucson Sector and I am confident we will continue to make strides in border security here in Arizona," said Chief Villareal. "We will face what challenges may come together with our federal, state, local and tribal partners, to build safer border communities and a more secure nation."
END
ALSO:
Cambia Patrulla Fronteriza de Jefe
manuel POSTED ON 06/03/2019
Omar Chiquete
Nuevo Día/Nogales, Arizona
http://nuevodia.com.mx/2019/03/06/cambia-patrulla-fronteriza-de-jefe/
Roy Villarreal fue designado como Jefe de la Patrulla Fronteriza, del Sector Tucson, durante ceremonia realizada en la Ciudad de Tucson, Arizona.
El nuevo jefe de la Patrulla Fronteriza es responsable de asegurar 262 millas lineales de la frontera de Arizona con México y los aspectos operativos y administrativos del Sector de Tucson.
A lo largo de más de 30 años de carrera, el Jefe Villareal es coautor de la Política de Evidencia de la Patrulla Fronteriza; se desempeñó como Coordinador de la Iniciativa de Seguridad Fronteriza, en Washington DC y fue fundamental en el establecimiento del Equipo de Búsqueda, Trauma y Rescate de la Patrulla Fronteriza, BORSTAR, sirviendo como Primer Comandante.
Antes de su selección, el Jefe Villareal se desempeñó en varios puestos de liderazgo entre ellos, Agente Adjunto de Patrulla de los Sectores de San Diego y El Centro.
También se ha desempeñado como agente asistente de jefe de patrulla y agente adjunto interino de patrulla para el Sector de Yuma.
El Jefe Villareal obtuvo una Maestría en Artes en Relaciones Internacionales por la Universidad de San Diego, una Licenciatura en Ciencias Políticas, por la Universidad del Estado de California (CSU), San Marcos y una Licenciatura en Artes, con énfasis en Pre-Ley.
En 2009 se graduó en la Academia de Liderazgo de Mando. Se graduó en el Programa de Estudiantes Ejecutivos Senior, de la Escuela de Gobierno John F. Kennedy, en la Universidad de Harvard.
"Espero trabajar con los hombres y mujeres del Sector de Tucson y confío en que continuaremos haciendo progresos en la seguridad fronteriza, aquí en Arizona", dijo el Jefe Villareal.
"Enfrentaremos los desafíos que puedan surgir con nuestros socios federales, estatales, locales y tribales, para construir comunidades fronterizas más seguras y una nación más segura".
END
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
AZMEX I3 6-3-19
AZMEX I3 6 MAR 2019
More than 700 Central American migrants taken into custody in El Paso
by KFOX14 Staff | Associated Press
Wednesday, March 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/more-than-700-central-american-migrants-taken-into-custody-in-el-paso
Rio Grande River near the Chihuahuita neighborhood in southcentral El Paso.
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) —
Since midnight Wednesday, hundreds of migrants from Central America turned themselves in at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, according to Border Patrol.
Fresh footprints can be seen along a dirt embankment alongside the Rio Grande River near the Chihuahuita neighborhood in southcentral El Paso.
The migrants are being taken to the Border Patrol stations to be processed, according to Border Patrol agents Joe Romero.
Earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen insisted the crisis at the southern border is not manufactured, as she faced questions from Democrats for the first time since they took control of the House.
"We face a crisis — a real, serious and sustained crisis at our borders," she said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing. "Make no mistake: This chain of human misery is getting worse."
She was asked about conversations with President Trump as he declared a national emergency at the border to try to gain funding for his proposed wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
"There is an emergency," Nielsen said. "I have seen the vulnerable populations. This is a true humanitarian crisis that the system is enabling. We have to change the laws."
Investigative reporter Genevieve Curtis is riding along with agents.
Follow her on Twitter at @CurtisKFOX_CBS as she documents the apprehensions.
END
More than 700 Central American migrants taken into custody in El Paso
by KFOX14 Staff | Associated Press
Wednesday, March 6th 2019
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/more-than-700-central-american-migrants-taken-into-custody-in-el-paso
Rio Grande River near the Chihuahuita neighborhood in southcentral El Paso.
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) —
Since midnight Wednesday, hundreds of migrants from Central America turned themselves in at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, according to Border Patrol.
Fresh footprints can be seen along a dirt embankment alongside the Rio Grande River near the Chihuahuita neighborhood in southcentral El Paso.
The migrants are being taken to the Border Patrol stations to be processed, according to Border Patrol agents Joe Romero.
Earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen insisted the crisis at the southern border is not manufactured, as she faced questions from Democrats for the first time since they took control of the House.
"We face a crisis — a real, serious and sustained crisis at our borders," she said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing. "Make no mistake: This chain of human misery is getting worse."
She was asked about conversations with President Trump as he declared a national emergency at the border to try to gain funding for his proposed wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
"There is an emergency," Nielsen said. "I have seen the vulnerable populations. This is a true humanitarian crisis that the system is enabling. We have to change the laws."
Investigative reporter Genevieve Curtis is riding along with agents.
Follow her on Twitter at @CurtisKFOX_CBS as she documents the apprehensions.
END
AZMEX SPECIAL 5-3-19
AZMEX SPECIAL 5 MAR 2019
Comment: still don't need that wall? Photos, etc. at links.
Gracias
Mexican government apologizes for deaths after police handed youths over to ruthless drug gang
Lucia I. Suarez Sang | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexican-government-apologizes-for-deaths-after-police-handed-youths-over-to-ruthless-drug-gang
A relative of five youths killed in 2016 after police kidnapped them and then turned them over to members of a drug gang, reacts during a public apology by the Veracruz state government, in Mexico City, Mexico March 4, 2019.
Mexican government officials offered a rare apology to the families of four innocent boys and one girl who were kidnapped by corrupt police officers and turned over to a brutal drug gang after mistaking them for members of a rival gang.
The five youths – identified as Bernardo Benitez, Jose Benitez, Susana Tapia, Mario Arturo Orozco and Jose Alfredo Gonzalez – were on their way home from a birthday party on January 11, 2016 when they were stopped by local police in the Gulf state of Veracruz, one of Mexico's most violent states that has seen an increase in deadly turf wars among increasingly splintered criminal cartels.
A Civil Forces police officer stands next to a banner with pictures of five youngsters who went missing January 11, 2016, in Tierra Blanca community, Veracruz State, Mexico. (AFP/Getty)
The corrupt police officers, colluding with the notoriously violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel, were of the mistaken belief that the youths had ties to a rival gang and turned them over to the cartel. They were murdered and their bodies incinerated, according to preliminary findings.
Some of their remains were identified four days later in a mass grave about 37 miles from where the five friends were first stopped.
Mexican businesswoman beheaded after husband 'wouldn't pay' ransom
The decapitated body of Mexican businesswoman Susana Carrera was found last week after her family was unable to pay kidnappers the ransom they demanded.
The grave at Rancho El Limon also contained the remains of hundreds of bodies and is thought to have been a dumping ground used by drug cartels and corrupt police officers, the BBC reported.
KIDNAPPINGS, MURDERS ON THE RISE IN MEXICAN STATE WHERE WOMAN WAS DECAPITATED: 'THERE IS A LOT OF SUFFERING GOING ON'
On Monday, Alejandro Encinas, the deputy interior minister of human rights, acknowledged the state's "profound responsibility" and vowed to revive the investigations into the case in which eight police officers were among the 21 suspects so far arrested, Reuters reported.
"We know that organized crime works with government officials at all levels," Encinas said at the event attended by family members at Mexico City's Museum of Memory and Tolerance.
No senior Veracruz security officials have been investigated in the case, a point criticized by the families.
Cuitlahuac Garcia, Veracruz's newly sworn-in governor, apologized to the relatives of the five murdered youths, saying that the "collusion between police and organized crime wasn't stopped in time."
Garcia, who was sworn in on December 1, has launched an emergency plan to drive down the number of disappeared and requested help from international organizations to find those missing.
MEXICAN BUSINESSWOMAN DECAPITATED AFTER 'FAMILY WOULDN'T PAY' RANSOM, REPORTS SAY
Bloody turf battles among increasingly splintered criminal cartels have left more than 40,000 people missing in the past two decades, as well as around 26,000 unidentified corpses in over 1,100 mass graves, according to official data.
Cartels fight to control trafficking routes, human smuggling, extortion, and kidnapping, among other activities.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people to not break the law. Its slogan is: "We're all going to behave." (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Last month, local reports claimed there had been at least 366 murders in Veracruz in the first 80 days since Garcia – and new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – took office. That is more than 4.5 murder each day.
Lopez Obrador has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people not to break the law. Its slogan is: "We're all going to behave."
There were also at least 69 reported kidnappings over the same period. It was the highest across Mexico with the State of Mexico (Edomex) and Mexico reporting 63 and 32 kidnappings respectively, a nonprofit organization revealed last month.
Fifty-one of the kidnappings in Veracruz happened in the month of January, Alto al Secuestro reported.
CANCUN CLUB SHOOTING LEAVES 5 DEAD, 5 WOUNDED, AUTHORITIES SAY
Mexican government figures from January showed that homicide cases in Mexico rose by 15 percent in 2018 – with 28,816 investigations opened last year, compared to 25,036 the previous year. Each of these cases may have involved more than one victim, so the total number of homicides is likely to be higher.
American tourists risk death to vacation in Mexico
2018 promises to be one of the most violent years on record in Mexico. Homicides shot up 16 percent during the first half of this year as drug traffickers and gangs battle for dominance.
On Monday, relatives of the Veracruz youths said the government's apology was the first recognition that they were victims and not criminals as officials initially asserted when they went missing.
"More than anything, we want to reclaim the good name of our kids ... and demand justice for them and for thousands of others who experience the same thing," Columba Arroniz, a mother of one of the dead, told Reuters with tears streaming down her face.
The U.S. Department of State issued a travel advisory for Americans visiting Mexico last year, saying to exercise increased caution due to crime. While five Mexican states – including Michoacan and Sinaloa – are listed as places not recommended for travel, the advisory for Veracruz has no restrictions.
This case resembles that of 43 students who disappeared from the town of Iguala in 2014 after being seized by local police in Guerrero, who handed them over to a drug gang. To date, the remains of only one of the 43 have been definitely identified.
End
Comment: still don't need that wall? Photos, etc. at links.
Gracias
Mexican government apologizes for deaths after police handed youths over to ruthless drug gang
Lucia I. Suarez Sang | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexican-government-apologizes-for-deaths-after-police-handed-youths-over-to-ruthless-drug-gang
A relative of five youths killed in 2016 after police kidnapped them and then turned them over to members of a drug gang, reacts during a public apology by the Veracruz state government, in Mexico City, Mexico March 4, 2019.
Mexican government officials offered a rare apology to the families of four innocent boys and one girl who were kidnapped by corrupt police officers and turned over to a brutal drug gang after mistaking them for members of a rival gang.
The five youths – identified as Bernardo Benitez, Jose Benitez, Susana Tapia, Mario Arturo Orozco and Jose Alfredo Gonzalez – were on their way home from a birthday party on January 11, 2016 when they were stopped by local police in the Gulf state of Veracruz, one of Mexico's most violent states that has seen an increase in deadly turf wars among increasingly splintered criminal cartels.
A Civil Forces police officer stands next to a banner with pictures of five youngsters who went missing January 11, 2016, in Tierra Blanca community, Veracruz State, Mexico. (AFP/Getty)
The corrupt police officers, colluding with the notoriously violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel, were of the mistaken belief that the youths had ties to a rival gang and turned them over to the cartel. They were murdered and their bodies incinerated, according to preliminary findings.
Some of their remains were identified four days later in a mass grave about 37 miles from where the five friends were first stopped.
Mexican businesswoman beheaded after husband 'wouldn't pay' ransom
The decapitated body of Mexican businesswoman Susana Carrera was found last week after her family was unable to pay kidnappers the ransom they demanded.
The grave at Rancho El Limon also contained the remains of hundreds of bodies and is thought to have been a dumping ground used by drug cartels and corrupt police officers, the BBC reported.
KIDNAPPINGS, MURDERS ON THE RISE IN MEXICAN STATE WHERE WOMAN WAS DECAPITATED: 'THERE IS A LOT OF SUFFERING GOING ON'
On Monday, Alejandro Encinas, the deputy interior minister of human rights, acknowledged the state's "profound responsibility" and vowed to revive the investigations into the case in which eight police officers were among the 21 suspects so far arrested, Reuters reported.
"We know that organized crime works with government officials at all levels," Encinas said at the event attended by family members at Mexico City's Museum of Memory and Tolerance.
No senior Veracruz security officials have been investigated in the case, a point criticized by the families.
Cuitlahuac Garcia, Veracruz's newly sworn-in governor, apologized to the relatives of the five murdered youths, saying that the "collusion between police and organized crime wasn't stopped in time."
Garcia, who was sworn in on December 1, has launched an emergency plan to drive down the number of disappeared and requested help from international organizations to find those missing.
MEXICAN BUSINESSWOMAN DECAPITATED AFTER 'FAMILY WOULDN'T PAY' RANSOM, REPORTS SAY
Bloody turf battles among increasingly splintered criminal cartels have left more than 40,000 people missing in the past two decades, as well as around 26,000 unidentified corpses in over 1,100 mass graves, according to official data.
Cartels fight to control trafficking routes, human smuggling, extortion, and kidnapping, among other activities.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people to not break the law. Its slogan is: "We're all going to behave." (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Last month, local reports claimed there had been at least 366 murders in Veracruz in the first 80 days since Garcia – and new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – took office. That is more than 4.5 murder each day.
Lopez Obrador has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people not to break the law. Its slogan is: "We're all going to behave."
There were also at least 69 reported kidnappings over the same period. It was the highest across Mexico with the State of Mexico (Edomex) and Mexico reporting 63 and 32 kidnappings respectively, a nonprofit organization revealed last month.
Fifty-one of the kidnappings in Veracruz happened in the month of January, Alto al Secuestro reported.
CANCUN CLUB SHOOTING LEAVES 5 DEAD, 5 WOUNDED, AUTHORITIES SAY
Mexican government figures from January showed that homicide cases in Mexico rose by 15 percent in 2018 – with 28,816 investigations opened last year, compared to 25,036 the previous year. Each of these cases may have involved more than one victim, so the total number of homicides is likely to be higher.
American tourists risk death to vacation in Mexico
2018 promises to be one of the most violent years on record in Mexico. Homicides shot up 16 percent during the first half of this year as drug traffickers and gangs battle for dominance.
On Monday, relatives of the Veracruz youths said the government's apology was the first recognition that they were victims and not criminals as officials initially asserted when they went missing.
"More than anything, we want to reclaim the good name of our kids ... and demand justice for them and for thousands of others who experience the same thing," Columba Arroniz, a mother of one of the dead, told Reuters with tears streaming down her face.
The U.S. Department of State issued a travel advisory for Americans visiting Mexico last year, saying to exercise increased caution due to crime. While five Mexican states – including Michoacan and Sinaloa – are listed as places not recommended for travel, the advisory for Veracruz has no restrictions.
This case resembles that of 43 students who disappeared from the town of Iguala in 2014 after being seized by local police in Guerrero, who handed them over to a drug gang. To date, the remains of only one of the 43 have been definitely identified.
End
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
AZMEX UPDATE2 5-3-19
AZMEX UPDATE2 5 MAR 2019
Note: from a friend. There will be no link.
Thx
Nancy Pelosie and her treasonous Democratic colleagues care more about illegals than the good citizens of this country. Selfish, self serving evils!!! Anything for a vote!!
________________________________
From L.
"I live on the Border and NO one but us knows what is happening.
"I live 1/2 mile from the border in El Indio, Texas. Last week, we had over 40 people pass through our ranch.
One group of about 15 men pulled a gun on my husband and had a 13 yr old Mexican girl that they kidnapped from Guerrerro, MX.
She had blood all over her and had urinated on herself
My husband was able to, with the help of Border Patrol agents in a helicopter who passed over, get the gun from the illegal man (he was Honduran)
and they rushed the poor girl to the emergency room for help because she had in fact been kidnapped and gang raped by these men.
This is just one of many stories we have.
Two nights ago, 3 men came up to our house. One of them was an elderly man who was almost dead.
We gave them water and protein bars, called BP and 911 for the man to go to the emergency room.
We are kind people and believe in helping people in need BUT there have been 3 attacks on my husband on our ranch,
2 of which were directly at my home, in the last 3 months.
And that really means something because we are considered an area that does not NEED alot of help!!!
I got so MAD when I watched and heard what Pelosi and Schumer said concerning Trump's "manufactured" drama with the border.
That is such garbage!!!! They are ignorant liars!!! How many people have to be hurt or attacked?
There has to be someone in our government who stands up and helps our Border Patrol. From Eagle Pass to Laredo,
there are only 3-5 guys on call, and it could be 2 guys against a group of 50+.
Its horrible!! We need help!! The wall needs to be built, not at the port of entries but between them.
Pelosi is a moron if she thinks that added more security at the borders will help because,
Hello Nancy, they are NOT COMING THROUGH THE BORDERS. ( ports of entry )
THEY ARE COMING THROUGH ( the ) MESQUITE AND BRUSH.
End
Note: from a friend. There will be no link.
Thx
Nancy Pelosie and her treasonous Democratic colleagues care more about illegals than the good citizens of this country. Selfish, self serving evils!!! Anything for a vote!!
________________________________
From L.
"I live on the Border and NO one but us knows what is happening.
"I live 1/2 mile from the border in El Indio, Texas. Last week, we had over 40 people pass through our ranch.
One group of about 15 men pulled a gun on my husband and had a 13 yr old Mexican girl that they kidnapped from Guerrerro, MX.
She had blood all over her and had urinated on herself
My husband was able to, with the help of Border Patrol agents in a helicopter who passed over, get the gun from the illegal man (he was Honduran)
and they rushed the poor girl to the emergency room for help because she had in fact been kidnapped and gang raped by these men.
This is just one of many stories we have.
Two nights ago, 3 men came up to our house. One of them was an elderly man who was almost dead.
We gave them water and protein bars, called BP and 911 for the man to go to the emergency room.
We are kind people and believe in helping people in need BUT there have been 3 attacks on my husband on our ranch,
2 of which were directly at my home, in the last 3 months.
And that really means something because we are considered an area that does not NEED alot of help!!!
I got so MAD when I watched and heard what Pelosi and Schumer said concerning Trump's "manufactured" drama with the border.
That is such garbage!!!! They are ignorant liars!!! How many people have to be hurt or attacked?
There has to be someone in our government who stands up and helps our Border Patrol. From Eagle Pass to Laredo,
there are only 3-5 guys on call, and it could be 2 guys against a group of 50+.
Its horrible!! We need help!! The wall needs to be built, not at the port of entries but between them.
Pelosi is a moron if she thinks that added more security at the borders will help because,
Hello Nancy, they are NOT COMING THROUGH THE BORDERS. ( ports of entry )
THEY ARE COMING THROUGH ( the ) MESQUITE AND BRUSH.
End
AZMEX UPDATE 5-3-19
AZMEX UPDATE 5 MAR 2019
Note: video, etc. at link.
Poisoned pills: Phoenix firefighter, war hero dies after taking fentanyl-laced pill
LiAna Enriquez
Posted Mar 3, 2019
https://www.azfamily.com/news/investigations/opioid_crisis/fentanyl/poisoned-pills-phoenix-firefighter-war-hero-dies-after-taking-fentanyl/article_641128a2-3dfb-11e9-aa01-ef9d2c536fef.html
Juston Doherty died after an accidental mixed drug overdose involving fentanyl.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - It can be called a silent killer, and to say it's scary understates what is happening in neighborhoods across the Valley.
One Phoenix family knows all too well the power of this. He was a firefighter, a war hero and a father
who was taken down by something so small but so deadly.
It only takes something as small as two grains of sand to take a life and most people have no idea what they're taking.
[RELATED: AZ police assuming every pill sold on the street laced with deadly drug]
"This was a guy who protected me. I didn't know how to feel safe in the world," says Nicole Elinski,
as she tearfully remembers her brother, Juston Doherty.
He was a highly decorated Army Ranger and military veteran.
He continued to serve his country as a training instructor for the Army National Guard and as a Phoenix Fire captain.
"He dedicated his life to saving people," said Elinski.
At 45 years old, Doherty was at the peak of his life, when it suddenly came to an end.
"I fell to the ground and I was like there's just no way," said Elinski.
Last July, while on duty at the National Guard base in Phoenix, Doherty was found dead.
"When the (Medical Examiner's) report came out, we were completely blindsided," said Elinski.
That report stated Doherty died of an accidental mixed drug overdose.
"On the day that he passed, he was at drill working with a broken hand, awaiting surgery.
He was under a doctor's care," said Elinski.
Doherty's sister says the "substances" in his system were prescribed medications taken as directed, except for one, fentanyl.
[RELATED: What is fentanyl and why is it 'the deadliest drug in the world'?]
"He knew more than the average person what that drug could do so there's just no way
that my brother would willingly take something knowing that it had fentanyl in it," said Elinski.
She says authorities told them the fentanyl in his system came from a pressed pill.
"What they're doing is they're putting together pills that look, this was confirmed by an undercover cop,
that they look identical to regular Percocet," said Elinski.
"Four years ago, we seized zero fentanyl in Arizona.
Last year, we seized enough Fentanyl to kill 75 to 80 million people"
said Arizona Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Fentanyl's fatal fallout]
He says this is the worst and most potent drug crisis he's ever seen.
"So the cartels realized that they could manufacture these pressed pills that look like oxycodone pills
here in the United States. They're fentanyl-laced pills," said Coleman.
He says Arizona is being hit especially hard because it's a main smuggling hub.
"We still see some smaller quantities coming in from China but the major production, the mass quantities,
those are coming in along southern borders specifically mainly through Arizona," Coleman said.
[RELATED: Americans more likely to die by opioid overdose than in a car crash]
And he says it only takes the smallest amount to be lethal.
"Two milligrams is like, it's literally like a grain of sand," said Coleman.
Elinski believes her brother was in so much pain and trying to work through it that he took what he thought was just a pain pill.
"I think somebody said, 'I see you struggling,' and I don't believe they even knew that there was fentanyl
or that there was the amount of fentanyl in the pill.
I don't think anybody did something to him on purpose.
I believe that they gave it to him thinking they were helping him," Elinski said.
[TIMELINE: Emergence of the opioid crisis]
It turned out to be one laced pill that ended it all.
"I miss my brother every day and if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone," said Elinski.
One law enforcement official said that pretty much any pain pill bought off the street or purchased without a prescription
will likely have fentanyl.
These pills are coming from Mexico, and the reason for the fentanyl comes down to money.
"One hundred ninety people are dying every day," Coleman said.
The body count behind the fentanyl crisis is devastating.
"We're losing entire pieces of a generation of young America to this epidemic," says Coleman.
A death sweep is continuing to spread across the U.S.
"We're seizing heroin or fentanyl powder or fentanyl pills just about every single day," said Coleman.
So, what brought on this drug's infectious killing spree? Demand and greed, according to Coleman.
"Initially, it came in from foreign sources, mainly the Chinese.
The Mexican cartel realized that someone was cutting in on their business
and so they started ordering the precursor chemicals,
the chemicals you need to actually make fentanyl and they started manufacturing it themselves," said Coleman.
(From China?)
He says it comes down to basic economics.
"If you make a kilogram of fentanyl well, that's a million milligrams. So if you split that all the way up to 2 milligrams per pill,
you've just made 500,000 pills from that 1 kilogram of pure fentanyl," said Coleman.
And he says the return on investment is huge.
"Well, you can spend $2,500 and because you can sell it in such small quantities,
you can make millions of dollars off of that $2,500 investment," said Coleman.
It's a money machine that's turned into a death trap.
"This is not [done] in a chemical laboratory.
This is in somebody's garage, so when they mix everything up to start your pill press,
you don't know if that pill has 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which you might be able to survive,
or 8 milligrams of fentanyl and that's the end of their life," said Coleman.
The average pill in the Valley costs about $10 to $15 per pill.
But to manufacture that one pill in Mexico, it costs mere pennies.
End
Re: AZMEX UPDATE 4-3-19
Mesa, AZ homes searched map at link.
https://www.azfamily.com/map-mesa-homes-searched-as-part-of-drug-bust/html_9fc3fb6a-3ec6-11e9-a1fc-17b961c38a4d.html
DEA officials bust drug ring operation involving MS-13
DEA officials say six people, including a member of MS-13, have been arrested after a lengthy multi-agency investigation.
End
Note: video, etc. at link.
Poisoned pills: Phoenix firefighter, war hero dies after taking fentanyl-laced pill
LiAna Enriquez
Posted Mar 3, 2019
https://www.azfamily.com/news/investigations/opioid_crisis/fentanyl/poisoned-pills-phoenix-firefighter-war-hero-dies-after-taking-fentanyl/article_641128a2-3dfb-11e9-aa01-ef9d2c536fef.html
Juston Doherty died after an accidental mixed drug overdose involving fentanyl.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - It can be called a silent killer, and to say it's scary understates what is happening in neighborhoods across the Valley.
One Phoenix family knows all too well the power of this. He was a firefighter, a war hero and a father
who was taken down by something so small but so deadly.
It only takes something as small as two grains of sand to take a life and most people have no idea what they're taking.
[RELATED: AZ police assuming every pill sold on the street laced with deadly drug]
"This was a guy who protected me. I didn't know how to feel safe in the world," says Nicole Elinski,
as she tearfully remembers her brother, Juston Doherty.
He was a highly decorated Army Ranger and military veteran.
He continued to serve his country as a training instructor for the Army National Guard and as a Phoenix Fire captain.
"He dedicated his life to saving people," said Elinski.
At 45 years old, Doherty was at the peak of his life, when it suddenly came to an end.
"I fell to the ground and I was like there's just no way," said Elinski.
Last July, while on duty at the National Guard base in Phoenix, Doherty was found dead.
"When the (Medical Examiner's) report came out, we were completely blindsided," said Elinski.
That report stated Doherty died of an accidental mixed drug overdose.
"On the day that he passed, he was at drill working with a broken hand, awaiting surgery.
He was under a doctor's care," said Elinski.
Doherty's sister says the "substances" in his system were prescribed medications taken as directed, except for one, fentanyl.
[RELATED: What is fentanyl and why is it 'the deadliest drug in the world'?]
"He knew more than the average person what that drug could do so there's just no way
that my brother would willingly take something knowing that it had fentanyl in it," said Elinski.
She says authorities told them the fentanyl in his system came from a pressed pill.
"What they're doing is they're putting together pills that look, this was confirmed by an undercover cop,
that they look identical to regular Percocet," said Elinski.
"Four years ago, we seized zero fentanyl in Arizona.
Last year, we seized enough Fentanyl to kill 75 to 80 million people"
said Arizona Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Fentanyl's fatal fallout]
He says this is the worst and most potent drug crisis he's ever seen.
"So the cartels realized that they could manufacture these pressed pills that look like oxycodone pills
here in the United States. They're fentanyl-laced pills," said Coleman.
He says Arizona is being hit especially hard because it's a main smuggling hub.
"We still see some smaller quantities coming in from China but the major production, the mass quantities,
those are coming in along southern borders specifically mainly through Arizona," Coleman said.
[RELATED: Americans more likely to die by opioid overdose than in a car crash]
And he says it only takes the smallest amount to be lethal.
"Two milligrams is like, it's literally like a grain of sand," said Coleman.
Elinski believes her brother was in so much pain and trying to work through it that he took what he thought was just a pain pill.
"I think somebody said, 'I see you struggling,' and I don't believe they even knew that there was fentanyl
or that there was the amount of fentanyl in the pill.
I don't think anybody did something to him on purpose.
I believe that they gave it to him thinking they were helping him," Elinski said.
[TIMELINE: Emergence of the opioid crisis]
It turned out to be one laced pill that ended it all.
"I miss my brother every day and if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone," said Elinski.
One law enforcement official said that pretty much any pain pill bought off the street or purchased without a prescription
will likely have fentanyl.
These pills are coming from Mexico, and the reason for the fentanyl comes down to money.
"One hundred ninety people are dying every day," Coleman said.
The body count behind the fentanyl crisis is devastating.
"We're losing entire pieces of a generation of young America to this epidemic," says Coleman.
A death sweep is continuing to spread across the U.S.
"We're seizing heroin or fentanyl powder or fentanyl pills just about every single day," said Coleman.
So, what brought on this drug's infectious killing spree? Demand and greed, according to Coleman.
"Initially, it came in from foreign sources, mainly the Chinese.
The Mexican cartel realized that someone was cutting in on their business
and so they started ordering the precursor chemicals,
the chemicals you need to actually make fentanyl and they started manufacturing it themselves," said Coleman.
(From China?)
He says it comes down to basic economics.
"If you make a kilogram of fentanyl well, that's a million milligrams. So if you split that all the way up to 2 milligrams per pill,
you've just made 500,000 pills from that 1 kilogram of pure fentanyl," said Coleman.
And he says the return on investment is huge.
"Well, you can spend $2,500 and because you can sell it in such small quantities,
you can make millions of dollars off of that $2,500 investment," said Coleman.
It's a money machine that's turned into a death trap.
"This is not [done] in a chemical laboratory.
This is in somebody's garage, so when they mix everything up to start your pill press,
you don't know if that pill has 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which you might be able to survive,
or 8 milligrams of fentanyl and that's the end of their life," said Coleman.
The average pill in the Valley costs about $10 to $15 per pill.
But to manufacture that one pill in Mexico, it costs mere pennies.
End
Re: AZMEX UPDATE 4-3-19
Mesa, AZ homes searched map at link.
https://www.azfamily.com/map-mesa-homes-searched-as-part-of-drug-bust/html_9fc3fb6a-3ec6-11e9-a1fc-17b961c38a4d.html
DEA officials bust drug ring operation involving MS-13
DEA officials say six people, including a member of MS-13, have been arrested after a lengthy multi-agency investigation.
End
AZMEX UPDATE 4-3-19
AZMEX UPDATE 4 MAR 2019
Note: mug shots at links. No info on immigration status of the several below, if any.
Thx
DEA: Six arrested in East Valley drug bust
Posted: 2:14 PM, Mar 04, 2019 Updated: 2:21 PM, Mar 04, 2019
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-northeast-valley/scottsdale/dea-six-arrested-in-east-valley-drug-bust
Photo by: Courtesy Drug Enforcement Agency
SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Authorities have arrested six people in connection with a drug investigation in the East Valley.
The Drug Enforcement Agency said it worked with the Scottsdale Police Department to investigate narcotics activity by an organization last year.
The case led authorities to search four homes on March 1. Investigators say they collectively found two kilograms of cocaine,
1,000 suspected fentanyl pills, $28,000 in cash and 16 weapons, some of which had been reported as stolen.
Authorities also found body armor and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
One of those arrested, Jose Gonzalez-Ramos, admitted to being a member of the MS-13 gang, the DEA said.
The five others arrested were Yasary Bejarano, Luis Adrian Gonzalez Perez, Carlos Daniel Pineda Martinez,
Jorge Marin Cuevas, and John Hernandez Vera.
All will face various state drug and weapons charges, according to a news release.
End
Also:
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/03/04/dea-arrests-six-drug-charges-including-ms-gang-member/
https://www.12news.com/article/news/crime/dea-busts-phoenix-drug-operation-arrests-six-including-ms-13-member-agency-says/75-4fec68b5-273e-4c7b-88bf-8caf478c7b12
More:
Truck driver charged; caught with 40 pounds of meth in Eloy
Staff Reports Mar 4, 2019 Updated 7 min ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/eloy_enterprise/news/truck-driver-charged-caught-with-pounds-of-meth-in-eloy/article_ceae003e-cb40-5e61-b7ca-e2853997aaba.html
ELOY — A truck driver is facing criminal charges after authorities allegedly found about 40 pounds of methamphetamine
among his cargo during a traffic stop in Eloy.
According to a criminal complaint filed last week in Pinal County Superior Court, 30-year-old Juan Felix-Sotelo
has been charged with possessing and transporting dangerous drugs, a Class 2 felony.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety officer stopped a commercial vehicle driven by Felix-Sotelo on Feb. 21
for speeding through a construction zone on Interstate 10. The driver exited at Sunland Gin Road and stopped at the Petro Truck Stop.
The driver told the DPS officer he was transporting produce from California to Texas.
The officer was given consent to search the truck and uncovered an ice chest containing 39 bundles of crystal meth.
According to DPS, the narcotics was concealed with a towel and bottles of water.
Felix-Sotelo and a passenger, Raymundo Felix, were arrested and taken to the Pinal County jail.
They're both being held on $75,000 bonds and were arraigned on Friday in Superior Court.
End
Still more:
Feds: Arizona smuggling ring used US banks to transfer $1M
10 hrs ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/arizona_news/feds-arizona-smuggling-ring-used-us-banks-to-transfer-m/article_ad1e9a20-9c1c-5384-a2ac-460b81641336.html
TUCSON (AP) — Federal authorities say a southern Arizona smuggling ring used the U.S. banking system
to transfer more than $1 million.
The Arizona Daily Star reports it found sworn affidavits filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson that described the money being deposited
into 22 bank accounts controlled by alleged ringleader Audias Sanchez Colin.
He was one of 27 people accused of conspiring to transport and harbor people who were in the country illegally
and launder the proceeds of that conspiracy.
The 38-year-old Sanchez faces between eight and 10 years in federal prison when he's sentenced.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 12.
Authorities say the operation allegedly moved thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America to the United States
and then to various destinations around the country.
End
Note: mug shots at links. No info on immigration status of the several below, if any.
Thx
DEA: Six arrested in East Valley drug bust
Posted: 2:14 PM, Mar 04, 2019 Updated: 2:21 PM, Mar 04, 2019
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-northeast-valley/scottsdale/dea-six-arrested-in-east-valley-drug-bust
Photo by: Courtesy Drug Enforcement Agency
SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Authorities have arrested six people in connection with a drug investigation in the East Valley.
The Drug Enforcement Agency said it worked with the Scottsdale Police Department to investigate narcotics activity by an organization last year.
The case led authorities to search four homes on March 1. Investigators say they collectively found two kilograms of cocaine,
1,000 suspected fentanyl pills, $28,000 in cash and 16 weapons, some of which had been reported as stolen.
Authorities also found body armor and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
One of those arrested, Jose Gonzalez-Ramos, admitted to being a member of the MS-13 gang, the DEA said.
The five others arrested were Yasary Bejarano, Luis Adrian Gonzalez Perez, Carlos Daniel Pineda Martinez,
Jorge Marin Cuevas, and John Hernandez Vera.
All will face various state drug and weapons charges, according to a news release.
End
Also:
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/03/04/dea-arrests-six-drug-charges-including-ms-gang-member/
https://www.12news.com/article/news/crime/dea-busts-phoenix-drug-operation-arrests-six-including-ms-13-member-agency-says/75-4fec68b5-273e-4c7b-88bf-8caf478c7b12
More:
Truck driver charged; caught with 40 pounds of meth in Eloy
Staff Reports Mar 4, 2019 Updated 7 min ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/eloy_enterprise/news/truck-driver-charged-caught-with-pounds-of-meth-in-eloy/article_ceae003e-cb40-5e61-b7ca-e2853997aaba.html
ELOY — A truck driver is facing criminal charges after authorities allegedly found about 40 pounds of methamphetamine
among his cargo during a traffic stop in Eloy.
According to a criminal complaint filed last week in Pinal County Superior Court, 30-year-old Juan Felix-Sotelo
has been charged with possessing and transporting dangerous drugs, a Class 2 felony.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety officer stopped a commercial vehicle driven by Felix-Sotelo on Feb. 21
for speeding through a construction zone on Interstate 10. The driver exited at Sunland Gin Road and stopped at the Petro Truck Stop.
The driver told the DPS officer he was transporting produce from California to Texas.
The officer was given consent to search the truck and uncovered an ice chest containing 39 bundles of crystal meth.
According to DPS, the narcotics was concealed with a towel and bottles of water.
Felix-Sotelo and a passenger, Raymundo Felix, were arrested and taken to the Pinal County jail.
They're both being held on $75,000 bonds and were arraigned on Friday in Superior Court.
End
Still more:
Feds: Arizona smuggling ring used US banks to transfer $1M
10 hrs ago
https://www.pinalcentral.com/arizona_news/feds-arizona-smuggling-ring-used-us-banks-to-transfer-m/article_ad1e9a20-9c1c-5384-a2ac-460b81641336.html
TUCSON (AP) — Federal authorities say a southern Arizona smuggling ring used the U.S. banking system
to transfer more than $1 million.
The Arizona Daily Star reports it found sworn affidavits filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson that described the money being deposited
into 22 bank accounts controlled by alleged ringleader Audias Sanchez Colin.
He was one of 27 people accused of conspiring to transport and harbor people who were in the country illegally
and launder the proceeds of that conspiracy.
The 38-year-old Sanchez faces between eight and 10 years in federal prison when he's sentenced.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 12.
Authorities say the operation allegedly moved thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America to the United States
and then to various destinations around the country.
End
AZMEX I3 4-3-19
AZMEX I3 4 MAR 2019
Note: Fined a whole $280 ! Yet another federal fail?
Thx
"No More Deaths" volunteers plead guilty to civil violations on the Cabeza Prieta national wildlife refuge
pic of jail cell (Source: KAIT-TV)
March 4, 2019 at 3:44 PM MST - Updated March 4 at 3:44 PM
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/03/04/no-more-deaths-volunteers-plead-guilty-civil-violations-cabeza-prieta-national-wildlife-refuge/
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD News 13) - On Mar. 4, 2019, Caitlin Persis Deighan, Zoe E. Anderson, Logan Thomas Hollarsmith, and Rebecca Kate Grossman-Richeimer entered into a plea agreement in which the defendants pled guilty to a civil infraction, and the United States agreed to dismiss the criminal charges against them.
Each defendant was also ordered to pay a $280 fine.
On Aug. 19, 2017, United States Fish and Wildlife Service officers encountered the defendants on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Ajo, Arizona. The defendants did not have a valid permit to enter the refuge. Deighan admitted to driving the group to an area known as Charlie Bell Well, which is located in a congressionally designated wilderness refuge.
"Our office is pleased that this matter was resolved through civil enforcement in which the defendants fully accepted responsibility for their illegal actions on a wilderness refuge specifically safeguarded by Congress,"
stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange.
"Our office will continue to review violations of federal law occurring within protected federal lands on a case-by-case basis."
END
Note: Fined a whole $280 ! Yet another federal fail?
Thx
"No More Deaths" volunteers plead guilty to civil violations on the Cabeza Prieta national wildlife refuge
pic of jail cell (Source: KAIT-TV)
March 4, 2019 at 3:44 PM MST - Updated March 4 at 3:44 PM
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/03/04/no-more-deaths-volunteers-plead-guilty-civil-violations-cabeza-prieta-national-wildlife-refuge/
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD News 13) - On Mar. 4, 2019, Caitlin Persis Deighan, Zoe E. Anderson, Logan Thomas Hollarsmith, and Rebecca Kate Grossman-Richeimer entered into a plea agreement in which the defendants pled guilty to a civil infraction, and the United States agreed to dismiss the criminal charges against them.
Each defendant was also ordered to pay a $280 fine.
On Aug. 19, 2017, United States Fish and Wildlife Service officers encountered the defendants on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Ajo, Arizona. The defendants did not have a valid permit to enter the refuge. Deighan admitted to driving the group to an area known as Charlie Bell Well, which is located in a congressionally designated wilderness refuge.
"Our office is pleased that this matter was resolved through civil enforcement in which the defendants fully accepted responsibility for their illegal actions on a wilderness refuge specifically safeguarded by Congress,"
stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange.
"Our office will continue to review violations of federal law occurring within protected federal lands on a case-by-case basis."
END
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
AZMEX UPDATE 26-2-19
AZMEX UPDATE 26 FEB 2019
CBP officers seized nearly 349 pounds of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and possible fentanyl
Posted: 9:38 PM, Feb 25, 2019 Updated: 5:53 AM, Feb 26, 2019
By: Maria Arey
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/cbp-officers-seized-nearly-349-pounds-of-heroin-methamphetamine-cocaine-and-possible-fentanyl
TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized drugs estimated to be worth over $4.3 million.
A 67-year-old Rio Rico man tried entering the U.S. from Mexico carrying more than 349 pound of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and possible fentanyl.
A the Dennis DeConcini Crossing, CBP officers and K-9 found close to 21 pounds of heroin, 103 pounds of cocaine, 116 pounds of meth, and 1.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl inside the vehicle, a Jeep SUV.
The fentanyl estimated to be worth $20,000, the meth estimated to be $347,000, the heroin estimated to be $560,000, and the cocaine was estimated to be worth $2.5 million,
Later, CBP officer stopped and questioned another man.
A 21-year-old Phoenix man tried entering into the U.S. in a Honda sedan.
CBP officers and K-9 found close 15 pounds of methamphetamine estimated to be worth $20,000.
That evening, officers stopped a woman at Mariposa Crossings.
A 24-year-old Mexican national woman was stopped in her Ford sedan.
CBP officials and K-9 detected more than 18 pound of cocaine estimated to be worth $343,000, over 64 pounds of methamphetamine worth $192,456, nearly 9 pounds of heroin worth close to $245,000, and almost 2 pounds of possible fentanyl pills worth nearly $27,000.
The drugs and the vehicle have been seized.
The two men and the woman were taken into custody and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
Customs and Border Protection examine all individuals, all vehicles, and items entering the U.S.
Individuals can be charged by complaint, allowed by Federal law.
END
Note: From Phoenix Ch. 12 KPNX Originally in Spanish . Mug shots at link.
A Phoenix man and 2 Mexicans arrested in a drug seizure worth more than $ 1 million
The men transported marijuana with a value of more than $ 1 million and methamphetamine with a value of more than $ 300,000, authorities say.
Author: 12 News
Published: 3:32 PM MST February 26, 2019
Updated: 3:33 PM MST February 26, 2019
https://www.12news.com/article/syndication/spanish/un-hombre-de-phoenix-y-2-mexicanos-arrestados-en-un-decomiso-de-droga-con-valor-de-mas-de-1-millon/75-1b35177b-20a6-466c-a123-e770941907cf
Arizona officials tracked down three men in a stolen pickup with marijuana with a value of more than $ 1 million last month.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the Department of Public Safety and Border Protection Customs
detained two Mexican men and one from Phoenix on January 30.
They were trying to go around the interstate 85 immigration checkpoint in a desert area, according to the Arizona Attorney General's statement.
Researchers found 3,515 pounds of marijuana and more than 220 pounds of methamphetamine in the vehicle, which was stopped with a spiked line.
Detectives arrested Yony Ontiveros-Torres, 48, Rubén Jiménez Espericueta, also 48 years old,
and Jaime García López, 30, from Phoenix.
Both face charges of conspiracy to transport dangerous drugs and charges of theft of a car.
End
CBP officers seized nearly 349 pounds of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and possible fentanyl
Posted: 9:38 PM, Feb 25, 2019 Updated: 5:53 AM, Feb 26, 2019
By: Maria Arey
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/cbp-officers-seized-nearly-349-pounds-of-heroin-methamphetamine-cocaine-and-possible-fentanyl
TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized drugs estimated to be worth over $4.3 million.
A 67-year-old Rio Rico man tried entering the U.S. from Mexico carrying more than 349 pound of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and possible fentanyl.
A the Dennis DeConcini Crossing, CBP officers and K-9 found close to 21 pounds of heroin, 103 pounds of cocaine, 116 pounds of meth, and 1.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl inside the vehicle, a Jeep SUV.
The fentanyl estimated to be worth $20,000, the meth estimated to be $347,000, the heroin estimated to be $560,000, and the cocaine was estimated to be worth $2.5 million,
Later, CBP officer stopped and questioned another man.
A 21-year-old Phoenix man tried entering into the U.S. in a Honda sedan.
CBP officers and K-9 found close 15 pounds of methamphetamine estimated to be worth $20,000.
That evening, officers stopped a woman at Mariposa Crossings.
A 24-year-old Mexican national woman was stopped in her Ford sedan.
CBP officials and K-9 detected more than 18 pound of cocaine estimated to be worth $343,000, over 64 pounds of methamphetamine worth $192,456, nearly 9 pounds of heroin worth close to $245,000, and almost 2 pounds of possible fentanyl pills worth nearly $27,000.
The drugs and the vehicle have been seized.
The two men and the woman were taken into custody and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
Customs and Border Protection examine all individuals, all vehicles, and items entering the U.S.
Individuals can be charged by complaint, allowed by Federal law.
END
Note: From Phoenix Ch. 12 KPNX Originally in Spanish . Mug shots at link.
A Phoenix man and 2 Mexicans arrested in a drug seizure worth more than $ 1 million
The men transported marijuana with a value of more than $ 1 million and methamphetamine with a value of more than $ 300,000, authorities say.
Author: 12 News
Published: 3:32 PM MST February 26, 2019
Updated: 3:33 PM MST February 26, 2019
https://www.12news.com/article/syndication/spanish/un-hombre-de-phoenix-y-2-mexicanos-arrestados-en-un-decomiso-de-droga-con-valor-de-mas-de-1-millon/75-1b35177b-20a6-466c-a123-e770941907cf
Arizona officials tracked down three men in a stolen pickup with marijuana with a value of more than $ 1 million last month.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the Department of Public Safety and Border Protection Customs
detained two Mexican men and one from Phoenix on January 30.
They were trying to go around the interstate 85 immigration checkpoint in a desert area, according to the Arizona Attorney General's statement.
Researchers found 3,515 pounds of marijuana and more than 220 pounds of methamphetamine in the vehicle, which was stopped with a spiked line.
Detectives arrested Yony Ontiveros-Torres, 48, Rubén Jiménez Espericueta, also 48 years old,
and Jaime García López, 30, from Phoenix.
Both face charges of conspiracy to transport dangerous drugs and charges of theft of a car.
End
AZMEX SPECIAL 26-2-19
AZMEX SPECIAL 26 FEB 2019
Note: MA, not AZ.
Mass. woman charged with assaulting man in 'MAGA' hat now faces deportation
Rosiane Santos, 41, is charged with assaulting 23-year-old Bryton Turner, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat at a restaurant last week in Falmouth.
By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times - Tuesday, February 26, 2019
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/26/rosiane-santos-woman-charged-assaulting-man-maga-h/
A Brazilian woman who made headlines this week after she was charged with assaulting a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat inside a Massachusetts restaurant has been taken into ICE custody, officials said Tuesday.
Rosiane Santos, 41, was charged this month with disorderly conduct and assault and battery after police said she admitted to attacking a man because he supported President Trump.
Video submitted by 23-year-old Bryton Turner showed Ms. Santos yelling at him and knocking the red, "Make America Great Again" hat off his head at the Casa Vallarta restaurant in Falmouth. Ms. Santos told local media at the time that she was the victim in the situation, even though a bartender at the restaurant said Mr. Turner did nothing to provoke the alleged attack.
On Tuesday, ICE officials took Ms. Santos into custody after determining that she was in the country illegally.
"Deportation officers with ICE's Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosiane Santos,
an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil, today near Falmouth, Massachusetts,"
said ICE spokesman John Mohan, a local CBS affiliate reported.
"Santos is currently facing local charges for assault and other offenses.
She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts."
End
Note: MA, not AZ.
Mass. woman charged with assaulting man in 'MAGA' hat now faces deportation
Rosiane Santos, 41, is charged with assaulting 23-year-old Bryton Turner, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat at a restaurant last week in Falmouth.
By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times - Tuesday, February 26, 2019
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/26/rosiane-santos-woman-charged-assaulting-man-maga-h/
A Brazilian woman who made headlines this week after she was charged with assaulting a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat inside a Massachusetts restaurant has been taken into ICE custody, officials said Tuesday.
Rosiane Santos, 41, was charged this month with disorderly conduct and assault and battery after police said she admitted to attacking a man because he supported President Trump.
Video submitted by 23-year-old Bryton Turner showed Ms. Santos yelling at him and knocking the red, "Make America Great Again" hat off his head at the Casa Vallarta restaurant in Falmouth. Ms. Santos told local media at the time that she was the victim in the situation, even though a bartender at the restaurant said Mr. Turner did nothing to provoke the alleged attack.
On Tuesday, ICE officials took Ms. Santos into custody after determining that she was in the country illegally.
"Deportation officers with ICE's Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosiane Santos,
an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil, today near Falmouth, Massachusetts,"
said ICE spokesman John Mohan, a local CBS affiliate reported.
"Santos is currently facing local charges for assault and other offenses.
She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts."
End
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
AZMEX POLICY 25-2-19
AZMEX POLICY 25 FEB 2019
Mexico to help "El Chapo" family seek US humanitarian visas
By: Associated Press
Posted: Feb 25, 2019 10:59 AM MST
Updated: Feb 25, 2019 10:59 AM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/mexico-to-help-el-chapo-family-seek-us-humanitarian-visas/1039598675
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday
that he has instructed his government to assist the family of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman
in seeking humanitarian visas to visit the convicted drug trafficker in the United States.
During a visit last week to Guzman's hometown of Badiraguato in Sinaloa state,
a lawyer passed Lopez Obrador a letter from Guzman's mother.
"Like any mother asking me for support for her son," Lopez Obrador said.
Later in the afternoon, the president published via Twitter
Consuelo Loera's letter in which she asks for his help in obtaining humanitarian visas
for herself and two of her daughters.
Lopez Obrador was in Sinaloa last week to announce a highway construction project in the area.
In the letter dated Feb. 14, Loera described herself as "suffering and desperate"
and wrote that she had not seen her son in more than five years.
She called his extradition illegal and asked that Guzman be brought back to Mexico.
Lopez Obrador said legal questions would have to be dealt with by Mexico's Interior Ministry,
Attorney General's Office and judiciary.
U.S. support for such a request would be extremely unlikely considering Guzman has escaped from two prisons.
But on the humanitarian front, Lopez Obrador said:
"I gave instructions that they facilitate (soliciting the visas) and that the sisters be able to go to the United States
and to help them according to the laws, regulations that country has, so that they can visit him or have communication."
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, such permission,
known as humanitarian parole, is reserved for people with a compelling emergency, but anyone can apply.
Those who could be considered eligible should have an
"emergent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit" to temporarily entering the U.S.
Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.
Guzman was convicted Feb. 12 in federal court in New York on multiple drug trafficking and conspiracy charges
and likely faces a life sentence.
On Friday, his defense team said it wanted a new trial based on reports of jury misconduct.
END
Mexico to help "El Chapo" family seek US humanitarian visas
By: Associated Press
Posted: Feb 25, 2019 10:59 AM MST
Updated: Feb 25, 2019 10:59 AM MST
https://www.kyma.com/news/mexico-to-help-el-chapo-family-seek-us-humanitarian-visas/1039598675
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday
that he has instructed his government to assist the family of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman
in seeking humanitarian visas to visit the convicted drug trafficker in the United States.
During a visit last week to Guzman's hometown of Badiraguato in Sinaloa state,
a lawyer passed Lopez Obrador a letter from Guzman's mother.
"Like any mother asking me for support for her son," Lopez Obrador said.
Later in the afternoon, the president published via Twitter
Consuelo Loera's letter in which she asks for his help in obtaining humanitarian visas
for herself and two of her daughters.
Lopez Obrador was in Sinaloa last week to announce a highway construction project in the area.
In the letter dated Feb. 14, Loera described herself as "suffering and desperate"
and wrote that she had not seen her son in more than five years.
She called his extradition illegal and asked that Guzman be brought back to Mexico.
Lopez Obrador said legal questions would have to be dealt with by Mexico's Interior Ministry,
Attorney General's Office and judiciary.
U.S. support for such a request would be extremely unlikely considering Guzman has escaped from two prisons.
But on the humanitarian front, Lopez Obrador said:
"I gave instructions that they facilitate (soliciting the visas) and that the sisters be able to go to the United States
and to help them according to the laws, regulations that country has, so that they can visit him or have communication."
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, such permission,
known as humanitarian parole, is reserved for people with a compelling emergency, but anyone can apply.
Those who could be considered eligible should have an
"emergent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit" to temporarily entering the U.S.
Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.
Guzman was convicted Feb. 12 in federal court in New York on multiple drug trafficking and conspiracy charges
and likely faces a life sentence.
On Friday, his defense team said it wanted a new trial based on reports of jury misconduct.
END
AZMEX I3 26-2-19
AZMEX I3 26 FEB 2019
Local shelter houses thousands of migrant asylum seekers
POSTED 7:16 PM, FEBRUARY 25, 2019, BY MISHA DIBONO,
UPDATED AT 08:39PM, FEBRUARY 25, 2019
https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/02/25/local-shelter-houses-thousands-of-migrant-asylum-seekers/
First Look Inside Migrant Shelter For Asylum Seekers
SAN DIEGO – Somewhere in southern San Diego County is a temporary migrant shelter that is home for thousands of people
who have come to the U.S. to ask for asylum.
FOX 5 toured the shelter for the first time Monday. We agreed to keep the location secret for the safety of the families who as staying there.
The sound of children playing and the giggles of babies contrast with the rows of small cots where travel-weary parents
are trying to get some rest in the temporary shelter. One man at the shelter traveled from Guatemala with his 4-year-old son.
He described the dangers of the journey. "There's a lot of bad guys.
The mafia, they pulled guns on us and they took money from us," he said.
The shelter is run by the San Diego Rapid Response Network.
This is the fifth location they have used since they took over sheltering asylum seekers from the federal government.
RELATED STORY
House leader says 'no justification' for emergency declaration during border visit
Back in October, ICE halted its Safe Release Program, which provided help with travel plans for migrants with asylum claims.
Since then, the network, in collaboration with Jewish Family Services, has help around 7,400 people, mostly women and children.
Norma Chavez is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego.
She said migrants are given medical checkups, food and assigned a volunteer to help with travel plans.
They are also given a cot to sleep on until they have somewhere else to go.
The stories of why these people would risk everything to come to America are grim.
"There a lot of crimes. People kidnap other people, and you a have to pay so they don't kill you," one migrant said.
And while the issue has become politically charged, the people who run the shelter hope that when Americans see these vulnerable families,
they will empathize with their plight.
"A lot of what you hear is they are all criminals! Well, that is not true," Chavez said. "If you come here, you will see they are children.
How can a child and a mother who is seeking some safety because her husband was murdered, how could that person be criminal?"
END
Local shelter houses thousands of migrant asylum seekers
POSTED 7:16 PM, FEBRUARY 25, 2019, BY MISHA DIBONO,
UPDATED AT 08:39PM, FEBRUARY 25, 2019
https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/02/25/local-shelter-houses-thousands-of-migrant-asylum-seekers/
First Look Inside Migrant Shelter For Asylum Seekers
SAN DIEGO – Somewhere in southern San Diego County is a temporary migrant shelter that is home for thousands of people
who have come to the U.S. to ask for asylum.
FOX 5 toured the shelter for the first time Monday. We agreed to keep the location secret for the safety of the families who as staying there.
The sound of children playing and the giggles of babies contrast with the rows of small cots where travel-weary parents
are trying to get some rest in the temporary shelter. One man at the shelter traveled from Guatemala with his 4-year-old son.
He described the dangers of the journey. "There's a lot of bad guys.
The mafia, they pulled guns on us and they took money from us," he said.
The shelter is run by the San Diego Rapid Response Network.
This is the fifth location they have used since they took over sheltering asylum seekers from the federal government.
RELATED STORY
House leader says 'no justification' for emergency declaration during border visit
Back in October, ICE halted its Safe Release Program, which provided help with travel plans for migrants with asylum claims.
Since then, the network, in collaboration with Jewish Family Services, has help around 7,400 people, mostly women and children.
Norma Chavez is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego.
She said migrants are given medical checkups, food and assigned a volunteer to help with travel plans.
They are also given a cot to sleep on until they have somewhere else to go.
The stories of why these people would risk everything to come to America are grim.
"There a lot of crimes. People kidnap other people, and you a have to pay so they don't kill you," one migrant said.
And while the issue has become politically charged, the people who run the shelter hope that when Americans see these vulnerable families,
they will empathize with their plight.
"A lot of what you hear is they are all criminals! Well, that is not true," Chavez said. "If you come here, you will see they are children.
How can a child and a mother who is seeking some safety because her husband was murdered, how could that person be criminal?"
END
AZMEX I3 21 FEB 2019
AZMEX I3 21 FEB 2019
Note: as always in the media, "immigrant" means illegal alien.
Thx
Immigrants rally for better education in New Mexico
Kai Porter
February 20, 2019 05:11 PM
https://www.kob.com/politics-news/immigrants-rally-for-better-education-in-new-mexico/5253260/?cat=500
SANTA FE, N.M.- Hundreds of young immigrants and their supporters held a rally at the Roundhouse Wednesday afternoon.
They were advocating for more bilingual and multicultural inclusivity
and more state funding for the state's education system.
18-year-old Blanca Bañuelos, who is a DACA recipient, said faced the challenges while trying to pursue a higher education.
Immigrants rally for better education in New Mexico
"A lot of the college career counselors do not give you the same resources that they give a person who lives here,
a citizen,"
Bañuelos said.
"Most of the time they don't offer you the same scholarships
or they simply feel like they shouldn't share their resources with you."
The rally, organized by the New Mexico Dream Team, was about delivering a message to lawmakers
to improve education for all students – not just immigrant students.
"We want our students to have the best education possible.
Sadly, our state is at the bottom of the national rankings when it comes to education and that's not OK,"
said Luis Leyva of the New Mexico Dream Team.
Leyva said the rally was also about protesting President Trump's declaration of a national emergency to fund a border wall.
"The actual emergency that we have here in our state is that we're rock bottom when it comes to education," Leyva said.
Several elected officials also spoke during the rally, supporting the group and their cause.
End
More:
Immigration bill passes first test in Senate
BY DAN MCKAY / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, January 25th, 2019 at 5:10pm
Updated: Friday, January 25th, 2019 at 9:56pm
https://www.abqjournal.com/1272962/immigration-bill-passes-first-test-in-senate.html
SANTA FE – A proposal moving through the Senate would bar public agencies in New Mexico from spending money or using other resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
The bill to make New Mexico a "sanctuary" state narrowly cleared its first committee Friday after senators heard emotional testimony about immigrants who fear going to police, even when they're a crime victim or witness.
One woman described calling 911, only to have sheriff's deputies arrive with federal immigration agents. Her husband was deported, she told lawmakers, speaking through an interpreter.
Senate Bill 196 would prohibit state and local governments, including sheriffs' offices, from using their resources to try to detect or detain people they suspect are in the country illegally, or from helping federal agents do so.
Sen. Linda Lopez, an Albuquerque Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said the proposal would improve public safety by ensuring that immigrants – regardless of their legal status – feel comfortable reporting crime and helping local police officers.
"These are my neighbors," she said. "They are community members."
Blanca Banuelos, an 18-year-old from Albuquerque, said immigrants have been treated as "bargaining chips" in national political debates. She herself is an immigrant temporarily protected from deportation because she was brought to the United States as a child, 17 years ago.
"Our lawmakers must focus on protecting our immigrant community," Banuelos said. "Our lives depend on it."
No one spoke against the bill.
It passed the Senate Public Affairs Committee on a 4-3 party-line vote, with Democrats in support. The bill now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee, potentially its last stop before the Senate floor.
The proposal would restrict the authority of sheriffs and jail administrators to hold federal immigration detainees, though any existing arrangements could continue. New contracts couldn't be entered into.
Senate Bill 196 is sponsored by three Democrats – Lopez, Sen. Richard Martinez of Española and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero of Albuquerque.
Democrats hold majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature and swept every statewide office – including governor – in last year's election.
End
More:
Pollster: NM a 'welcoming community' for immigrants
BY DAN MCKAY / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Monday, February 18th, 2019 at 6:46pm
https://www.abqjournal.com/1282285/pollster-nm-a-welcoming-community-for-immigrants.html
SANTA FE — New Mexico's registered voters have a welcoming attitude toward immigrants and support a variety of immigrant-friendly policies, according to a poll released Monday by Somos Acción and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.
The telephone and online survey was conducted by Gabriel Sanchez, a pollster for Latino Decisions and a professor at the University of New Mexico.
Among the findings, he said, are that 57 percent of registered voters say lawmakers should prohibit New Mexico government agencies from using state and local government resources to enforce federal immigration law and leave that work instead to federal authorities.
The groups that released the poll support similar legislation that's moving forward in the state Senate. Senate Bill 196, sponsored by five Democratic lawmakers, would bar public agencies in New Mexico from spending money or using other resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
Sanchez said the poll included a sample of 732 registered voters who were interviewed from Jan. 3-16, he said. The margin of error is 3.7 percentage points.
The poll asked whether the voter believed the state should pass "a law that would prohibit New Mexico government agencies from using state and local resources to enforce federal immigration law and instead leave all immigration matters to the federal immigration authorities."
The poll also found that voters agree that "long-time immigrant residents of New Mexico" should be able to have access to courthouses, legal services, and police and fire services.
"New Mexicans are a welcoming community," Sanchez said.
Somos Acción is a sister organization of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrant and workers' rights group.
End
Note: as always in the media, "immigrant" means illegal alien.
Thx
Immigrants rally for better education in New Mexico
Kai Porter
February 20, 2019 05:11 PM
https://www.kob.com/politics-news/immigrants-rally-for-better-education-in-new-mexico/5253260/?cat=500
SANTA FE, N.M.- Hundreds of young immigrants and their supporters held a rally at the Roundhouse Wednesday afternoon.
They were advocating for more bilingual and multicultural inclusivity
and more state funding for the state's education system.
18-year-old Blanca Bañuelos, who is a DACA recipient, said faced the challenges while trying to pursue a higher education.
Immigrants rally for better education in New Mexico
"A lot of the college career counselors do not give you the same resources that they give a person who lives here,
a citizen,"
Bañuelos said.
"Most of the time they don't offer you the same scholarships
or they simply feel like they shouldn't share their resources with you."
The rally, organized by the New Mexico Dream Team, was about delivering a message to lawmakers
to improve education for all students – not just immigrant students.
"We want our students to have the best education possible.
Sadly, our state is at the bottom of the national rankings when it comes to education and that's not OK,"
said Luis Leyva of the New Mexico Dream Team.
Leyva said the rally was also about protesting President Trump's declaration of a national emergency to fund a border wall.
"The actual emergency that we have here in our state is that we're rock bottom when it comes to education," Leyva said.
Several elected officials also spoke during the rally, supporting the group and their cause.
End
More:
Immigration bill passes first test in Senate
BY DAN MCKAY / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, January 25th, 2019 at 5:10pm
Updated: Friday, January 25th, 2019 at 9:56pm
https://www.abqjournal.com/1272962/immigration-bill-passes-first-test-in-senate.html
SANTA FE – A proposal moving through the Senate would bar public agencies in New Mexico from spending money or using other resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
The bill to make New Mexico a "sanctuary" state narrowly cleared its first committee Friday after senators heard emotional testimony about immigrants who fear going to police, even when they're a crime victim or witness.
One woman described calling 911, only to have sheriff's deputies arrive with federal immigration agents. Her husband was deported, she told lawmakers, speaking through an interpreter.
Senate Bill 196 would prohibit state and local governments, including sheriffs' offices, from using their resources to try to detect or detain people they suspect are in the country illegally, or from helping federal agents do so.
Sen. Linda Lopez, an Albuquerque Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said the proposal would improve public safety by ensuring that immigrants – regardless of their legal status – feel comfortable reporting crime and helping local police officers.
"These are my neighbors," she said. "They are community members."
Blanca Banuelos, an 18-year-old from Albuquerque, said immigrants have been treated as "bargaining chips" in national political debates. She herself is an immigrant temporarily protected from deportation because she was brought to the United States as a child, 17 years ago.
"Our lawmakers must focus on protecting our immigrant community," Banuelos said. "Our lives depend on it."
No one spoke against the bill.
It passed the Senate Public Affairs Committee on a 4-3 party-line vote, with Democrats in support. The bill now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee, potentially its last stop before the Senate floor.
The proposal would restrict the authority of sheriffs and jail administrators to hold federal immigration detainees, though any existing arrangements could continue. New contracts couldn't be entered into.
Senate Bill 196 is sponsored by three Democrats – Lopez, Sen. Richard Martinez of Española and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero of Albuquerque.
Democrats hold majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature and swept every statewide office – including governor – in last year's election.
End
More:
Pollster: NM a 'welcoming community' for immigrants
BY DAN MCKAY / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Monday, February 18th, 2019 at 6:46pm
https://www.abqjournal.com/1282285/pollster-nm-a-welcoming-community-for-immigrants.html
SANTA FE — New Mexico's registered voters have a welcoming attitude toward immigrants and support a variety of immigrant-friendly policies, according to a poll released Monday by Somos Acción and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.
The telephone and online survey was conducted by Gabriel Sanchez, a pollster for Latino Decisions and a professor at the University of New Mexico.
Among the findings, he said, are that 57 percent of registered voters say lawmakers should prohibit New Mexico government agencies from using state and local government resources to enforce federal immigration law and leave that work instead to federal authorities.
The groups that released the poll support similar legislation that's moving forward in the state Senate. Senate Bill 196, sponsored by five Democratic lawmakers, would bar public agencies in New Mexico from spending money or using other resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
Sanchez said the poll included a sample of 732 registered voters who were interviewed from Jan. 3-16, he said. The margin of error is 3.7 percentage points.
The poll asked whether the voter believed the state should pass "a law that would prohibit New Mexico government agencies from using state and local resources to enforce federal immigration law and instead leave all immigration matters to the federal immigration authorities."
The poll also found that voters agree that "long-time immigrant residents of New Mexico" should be able to have access to courthouses, legal services, and police and fire services.
"New Mexicans are a welcoming community," Sanchez said.
Somos Acción is a sister organization of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrant and workers' rights group.
End
Monday, February 25, 2019
AZMEX I3 25-2-19
AZMEX I3 25 FEB 2019
Note: As always, "migrant" means illegal immigrant.
Thx
AP - ARIZONA NEWS, LOCAL NEWS, NEWS, NEWSLETTER
Border agents drop migrant families at Phoenix bus station
Associated Press
5:13 am
February 25, 2019
https://kvoa.com/news/local-news/2019/02/25/border-agents-drop-migrant-families-at-phoenix-bus-station/
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dropped off at least two busloads of migrant families
during the weekend at a Greyhound bus station in Phoenix.
The Arizona Republic reports that members of a local church offered soup, muffins and fruit to the families
and began finding places for them to stay after they arrived Saturday morning and afternoon at a Greyhound station near downtown.
The newspaper says church volunteers asked not to be identified.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe
told the newspaper the bus station drop-offs came because organizations the agency normally works with couldn't accommodate the groups.
O'Keefe didn't say how many people were released in Phoenix.
The Republic says a Greyhound security official prevented reporters from interviewing those who arrived.
END
ALSO:
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/border-agents-drop-migrant-families-at-phoenix-bus-station
END
Note: As always, "migrant" means illegal immigrant.
Thx
AP - ARIZONA NEWS, LOCAL NEWS, NEWS, NEWSLETTER
Border agents drop migrant families at Phoenix bus station
Associated Press
5:13 am
February 25, 2019
https://kvoa.com/news/local-news/2019/02/25/border-agents-drop-migrant-families-at-phoenix-bus-station/
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dropped off at least two busloads of migrant families
during the weekend at a Greyhound bus station in Phoenix.
The Arizona Republic reports that members of a local church offered soup, muffins and fruit to the families
and began finding places for them to stay after they arrived Saturday morning and afternoon at a Greyhound station near downtown.
The newspaper says church volunteers asked not to be identified.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe
told the newspaper the bus station drop-offs came because organizations the agency normally works with couldn't accommodate the groups.
O'Keefe didn't say how many people were released in Phoenix.
The Republic says a Greyhound security official prevented reporters from interviewing those who arrived.
END
ALSO:
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/border-agents-drop-migrant-families-at-phoenix-bus-station
END
AZMEX SPECIAL 24-2-19
AZMEX SPECIAL 24 FEB 2019
They treat 900 cases of respiratory infections
Acute Respiratory Infections (IRAs) are the main cause of consultation at the Red Cross Clinics.
By: Nicolle De León | 2/24/2019 10:08 AM
https://www.lacronica.com/News/2019/02/24/1411319-Atienden-900-instituciones-de-infecciones-respiratorias.html
MEXICALI, Baja California (GH)
Acute Respiratory Infections (IRAs) are the main cause of consultation at the Red Cross Clinics.
Only in the month of February have been more than 900 people for this condition.
From January 28 to February 3, there were 335 cases, of which 80 were in the lower respiratory tract, that is, a more complex condition such as pneumonia or bronchopneumonia.
The area of the Mexicali Valley is the one that most contributes patients with complications due to IRAs, since in that period, 142 inhabitants of the rural area attended, said the coordinator of the Mexican Red Cross in Mexicali.
José Espinoza Astorga, detailed that the incidence is maintained, since in the period from 4 to 10 February there were 325 cases, a slightly larger amount than the same date of the year 2018.
The last cut from February 11 to 17, there were 320 cases, in the same way, the clinic in the Valley of Mexicali, highlighted by the greater number of patients attended, with 99 by IRAs in highways and 23 in low ways.
"You have to protect yourself in general, especially your breathing, you have to avoid breathing the cold air, if there are heaters in the house you should be careful letting the water circulate, because it can cause poisoning or an accident," he explained.
END
They treat 900 cases of respiratory infections
Acute Respiratory Infections (IRAs) are the main cause of consultation at the Red Cross Clinics.
By: Nicolle De León | 2/24/2019 10:08 AM
https://www.lacronica.com/News/2019/02/24/1411319-Atienden-900-instituciones-de-infecciones-respiratorias.html
MEXICALI, Baja California (GH)
Acute Respiratory Infections (IRAs) are the main cause of consultation at the Red Cross Clinics.
Only in the month of February have been more than 900 people for this condition.
From January 28 to February 3, there were 335 cases, of which 80 were in the lower respiratory tract, that is, a more complex condition such as pneumonia or bronchopneumonia.
The area of the Mexicali Valley is the one that most contributes patients with complications due to IRAs, since in that period, 142 inhabitants of the rural area attended, said the coordinator of the Mexican Red Cross in Mexicali.
José Espinoza Astorga, detailed that the incidence is maintained, since in the period from 4 to 10 February there were 325 cases, a slightly larger amount than the same date of the year 2018.
The last cut from February 11 to 17, there were 320 cases, in the same way, the clinic in the Valley of Mexicali, highlighted by the greater number of patients attended, with 99 by IRAs in highways and 23 in low ways.
"You have to protect yourself in general, especially your breathing, you have to avoid breathing the cold air, if there are heaters in the house you should be careful letting the water circulate, because it can cause poisoning or an accident," he explained.
END
AZMEX EXTRA 24-2-19
AZMEX EXTRA 24 FEB 2019
Note: A whole eight months !
Thx
Second man sentenced in local gun case
Two additional defendants to learn fates in March
Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro - February 23, 2019
https://www.themonitor.com/2019/02/23/second-man-sentenced-local-gun-case/
McALLEN — The second of four suspects in a straw purchase scheme involving firearms was sentenced earlier this week.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Gerardo Figueroa to eight months in federal prison during a sentencing hearing Wednesday, records show.
Figueroa is one of four to plead guilty in connection with a gun manufacturing case, court records show.
Figueroa pleaded true in November to one count of an indictment filed in August 2017, related to a gun trafficking and manufacturing ring involving the man and three others.
He is the second person sentenced in connection with the case. Brandon "Viper" Baźan-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the smuggling charge in November 2017 and was sentenced in March 2018 to 60 months in federal prison, records show.
Baźan-Rodriguez, Carlos Ramzel Maldonado, Rachel Alene Soto and Figueroa were all named in the original indictment on a variety of charges, including smuggling goods, import and manufacturing charges, as well as for their individual roles in purchasing four semi-automatic rifles and two pistols before attempting to smuggle them into Mexico, court records show.
Soto and Ramzel Maldonado, who also pleaded guilty to the smuggling charge in November 2017, are scheduled for sentencing in March, records show.
Government prosecutors allege that Figueroa, who faced the import charge, lied on a federal form when he stated that a semi-automatic weapon he purchased at a Pharr sporting goods store was for him, and that he was going to the owner of the Century Arms, model RAS47 rifle, the court document read. ( A semiautomatic AK clone )
"(Figueroa) knowingly made and aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, or induced, or procured the commission of the making of a false and fictitious written statement to Academy Sports & Outdoors, which statement was intended and likely to deceive Academy Sports & Outdoors as a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearms…," the record states.
Prosecutors allege the purchase took place on April 11, 2017, in Pharr.
Ramzel Maldonado and Soto were also accused of lying on the federal form when they purchased the same model semi-automatic rifle, on different dates between April and May 26, 2017, records show.
Weapons and ammunition, like the ones involved in this case, purchased legally and illegally in the U.S. are often times smuggled into Mexico, and end up in the hands of criminals, exacerbating the violence perpetrated by drug cartel organizations as a result of the drug trade.
Figueroa will also be required to serve two years of supervised release, as well as participate in a drug and alcohol treatment program, court notes show.
END
Note: A whole eight months !
Thx
Second man sentenced in local gun case
Two additional defendants to learn fates in March
Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro - February 23, 2019
https://www.themonitor.com/2019/02/23/second-man-sentenced-local-gun-case/
McALLEN — The second of four suspects in a straw purchase scheme involving firearms was sentenced earlier this week.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Gerardo Figueroa to eight months in federal prison during a sentencing hearing Wednesday, records show.
Figueroa is one of four to plead guilty in connection with a gun manufacturing case, court records show.
Figueroa pleaded true in November to one count of an indictment filed in August 2017, related to a gun trafficking and manufacturing ring involving the man and three others.
He is the second person sentenced in connection with the case. Brandon "Viper" Baźan-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the smuggling charge in November 2017 and was sentenced in March 2018 to 60 months in federal prison, records show.
Baźan-Rodriguez, Carlos Ramzel Maldonado, Rachel Alene Soto and Figueroa were all named in the original indictment on a variety of charges, including smuggling goods, import and manufacturing charges, as well as for their individual roles in purchasing four semi-automatic rifles and two pistols before attempting to smuggle them into Mexico, court records show.
Soto and Ramzel Maldonado, who also pleaded guilty to the smuggling charge in November 2017, are scheduled for sentencing in March, records show.
Government prosecutors allege that Figueroa, who faced the import charge, lied on a federal form when he stated that a semi-automatic weapon he purchased at a Pharr sporting goods store was for him, and that he was going to the owner of the Century Arms, model RAS47 rifle, the court document read. ( A semiautomatic AK clone )
"(Figueroa) knowingly made and aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, or induced, or procured the commission of the making of a false and fictitious written statement to Academy Sports & Outdoors, which statement was intended and likely to deceive Academy Sports & Outdoors as a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearms…," the record states.
Prosecutors allege the purchase took place on April 11, 2017, in Pharr.
Ramzel Maldonado and Soto were also accused of lying on the federal form when they purchased the same model semi-automatic rifle, on different dates between April and May 26, 2017, records show.
Weapons and ammunition, like the ones involved in this case, purchased legally and illegally in the U.S. are often times smuggled into Mexico, and end up in the hands of criminals, exacerbating the violence perpetrated by drug cartel organizations as a result of the drug trade.
Figueroa will also be required to serve two years of supervised release, as well as participate in a drug and alcohol treatment program, court notes show.
END
Thursday, February 21, 2019
AZVEN UPDATE 21-2-19
AZVEN UPDATE 21 FEB 2019
Comment: El Burro Maduro, in the long standing communist tradition. Don't let the people escape!
Although an estimated 2 million have already.
Some of us still remember the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. The guns were pointed IN.
THX
Maduro announces total closure of land border with Brazil
Afp and Reuters | Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 11:26
https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2019/02/21/maduro-anuncia-cierre-total-de-frontera-terrestre-con-brasil-258.html
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the total closure of the land border with Brazil,
two days after the entry of humanitarian aid requested by opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Photo Marcelo García / Presidency of Venezuela / Afp
Caracas.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Thursday the total closure of the land border with Brazil,
two days after the entry of humanitarian aid requested by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
"I have decided, in the south of Venezuela, from 20:00 hours (00:00 GMT)
on this February 21 is completely and absolutely closed, until further notice, the land border with Brazil,"
said the president in a meeting with the military high command at Fort Tiuna.
He indicated that he is also evaluating a total closure of the Colombian border.
He indicated that the collection of aid in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta was a provocation
and asked the Colombian Armed Forces not to accept pressure to act against Venezuela.
End
Comment: El Burro Maduro, in the long standing communist tradition. Don't let the people escape!
Although an estimated 2 million have already.
Some of us still remember the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. The guns were pointed IN.
THX
Maduro announces total closure of land border with Brazil
Afp and Reuters | Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 11:26
https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2019/02/21/maduro-anuncia-cierre-total-de-frontera-terrestre-con-brasil-258.html
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the total closure of the land border with Brazil,
two days after the entry of humanitarian aid requested by opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Photo Marcelo García / Presidency of Venezuela / Afp
Caracas.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Thursday the total closure of the land border with Brazil,
two days after the entry of humanitarian aid requested by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
"I have decided, in the south of Venezuela, from 20:00 hours (00:00 GMT)
on this February 21 is completely and absolutely closed, until further notice, the land border with Brazil,"
said the president in a meeting with the military high command at Fort Tiuna.
He indicated that he is also evaluating a total closure of the Colombian border.
He indicated that the collection of aid in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta was a provocation
and asked the Colombian Armed Forces not to accept pressure to act against Venezuela.
End
AZMEX EXTRA2 21-2-19
AZMEX EXTRA2 21 FEB 2019
Note: photo at link.
FGR gets pre-trial detention against seven men after securing arsenal in Sonora
Statement FGR 52/19.
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/78382
The agent of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) in Sonora, obtained from a Judge,
a right to a trial and justified detention against seven men after securing an arsenal.
The foregoing, due to its probable responsibility in the commission of the crimes of carrying a firearm without a license,
as well as the collection and carrying of firearms, as well as the possession of cartridges and magazines for the exclusive use of the armed forces,
with the aggravating circumstance of being a gang.
According to the investigation file initiated on the occasion of the reception of the Homologated Police Report
presented by personnel of the Ministry of National Defense and elements of the Federal Police,
in the vicinity of the Ejido called "47 frontera de Sonora" municipality of Agua Prieta , they seized;
15 long firearms,
3,400 cartridges,
three grenades,
77 magazines of various calibers,
three vehicles and
Seven men were arrested.
They remained at the disposal of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) in Sonora,
while the seven detainees are inmates at the Federal Center for Social Re-adaptation (CEFERESO) number 11, based in Hermosillo, Sonora.
END
Note: photo at link.
FGR gets pre-trial detention against seven men after securing arsenal in Sonora
Statement FGR 52/19.
http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/78382
The agent of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) in Sonora, obtained from a Judge,
a right to a trial and justified detention against seven men after securing an arsenal.
The foregoing, due to its probable responsibility in the commission of the crimes of carrying a firearm without a license,
as well as the collection and carrying of firearms, as well as the possession of cartridges and magazines for the exclusive use of the armed forces,
with the aggravating circumstance of being a gang.
According to the investigation file initiated on the occasion of the reception of the Homologated Police Report
presented by personnel of the Ministry of National Defense and elements of the Federal Police,
in the vicinity of the Ejido called "47 frontera de Sonora" municipality of Agua Prieta , they seized;
15 long firearms,
3,400 cartridges,
three grenades,
77 magazines of various calibers,
three vehicles and
Seven men were arrested.
They remained at the disposal of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) in Sonora,
while the seven detainees are inmates at the Federal Center for Social Re-adaptation (CEFERESO) number 11, based in Hermosillo, Sonora.
END
AZMEX EXTRA 21-2-19
AZMEX EXTRA 21 FEB 2019
German gunmaker fined €3.7m over illegal arms exports to Mexico
AFP
news@thelocal.de
@thelocalgermany
21 February 2019
11:27 CET+01:00
gunsmexicoexportsrifles
https://www.thelocal.de/20190221/german-gunmaker-convicted-for-illegal-arms-exports-to-mexico
German gunmaker fined €3.7m over illegal arms exports to Mexico
Firearms of the German manufacturer Heckler & Koch. Photo: DPA
A German court Thursday fined gunmaker Heckler & Koch €3.7 million and gave suspended jail terms to two of its ex-employees for illegally exporting thousands of rifles to violence-torn Mexican states.
A former worker was given a suspended sentence of 17 months in prison and ordered to do 250 hours of social work, while the other person convicted got an €80,000 fine and a 22-month suspended jail term.
Three other former employees were cleared of charges. The firm is based in Baden-Württemberg and the case was heard at a court in Stuttgart.
Germany is among the world's top arms exporters, along with the United States, Russia, China and France, and all its defence equipment sales abroad are subject to government approval.
Prosecutors had charged that 15 shipments of the military-style weapons between 2006 and 2009 breached Germany's so-called war weapons control law because they ended up in especially violence-torn Mexican states in breach of the export licence.
The Mexican defence ministry, which is in charge of gun imports, had approved the import of 9,652 H&K rifles, of which 4,796 went to states with particular human rights concerns, including Guerrero, German newspapers have reported.
Activists say that G36 rifles were also sent to police in Iguala, Guerrero state, where the 43 students disappeared at the hands of corrupt police and were feared killed by a narco-gang in September 2014 in a case that sparked international condemnation.
A driving force in the investigation leading to the trial was German rights activist Juergen Graesslin, who first issued a criminal complaint against H&K staff over the Mexico sales in 2010.
The campaigner said it was well known that in the most conflict-torn Mexican states both police and narco-gangsters used the G36, and that "often the two groups cooperate".
SEE ALSO: Five things to know about guns in Germany
https://www.thelocal.de/20160616/five-things-to-know-about-guns-in-germany-us-gun-control-laws
END
German gunmaker fined €3.7m over illegal arms exports to Mexico
AFP
news@thelocal.de
@thelocalgermany
21 February 2019
11:27 CET+01:00
gunsmexicoexportsrifles
https://www.thelocal.de/20190221/german-gunmaker-convicted-for-illegal-arms-exports-to-mexico
German gunmaker fined €3.7m over illegal arms exports to Mexico
Firearms of the German manufacturer Heckler & Koch. Photo: DPA
A German court Thursday fined gunmaker Heckler & Koch €3.7 million and gave suspended jail terms to two of its ex-employees for illegally exporting thousands of rifles to violence-torn Mexican states.
A former worker was given a suspended sentence of 17 months in prison and ordered to do 250 hours of social work, while the other person convicted got an €80,000 fine and a 22-month suspended jail term.
Three other former employees were cleared of charges. The firm is based in Baden-Württemberg and the case was heard at a court in Stuttgart.
Germany is among the world's top arms exporters, along with the United States, Russia, China and France, and all its defence equipment sales abroad are subject to government approval.
Prosecutors had charged that 15 shipments of the military-style weapons between 2006 and 2009 breached Germany's so-called war weapons control law because they ended up in especially violence-torn Mexican states in breach of the export licence.
The Mexican defence ministry, which is in charge of gun imports, had approved the import of 9,652 H&K rifles, of which 4,796 went to states with particular human rights concerns, including Guerrero, German newspapers have reported.
Activists say that G36 rifles were also sent to police in Iguala, Guerrero state, where the 43 students disappeared at the hands of corrupt police and were feared killed by a narco-gang in September 2014 in a case that sparked international condemnation.
A driving force in the investigation leading to the trial was German rights activist Juergen Graesslin, who first issued a criminal complaint against H&K staff over the Mexico sales in 2010.
The campaigner said it was well known that in the most conflict-torn Mexican states both police and narco-gangsters used the G36, and that "often the two groups cooperate".
SEE ALSO: Five things to know about guns in Germany
https://www.thelocal.de/20160616/five-things-to-know-about-guns-in-germany-us-gun-control-laws
END
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
AZMEX POLICY 20-2-19
AZMEX POLICY 20 FEB 2019
Note: photo, etc. at link.
Comment: the commie left in action. Ultimate goal? Destroy the USA.
THX
People's Defense Initiative holds meeting to challenge City Attorney's memo
Posted: 9:25 PM, Feb 19, 2019 Updated: 6:04 AM, Feb 20, 2019
By: Veronika Vernachio
items.[0].image.alt
Tucson sanctuary city initiative
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/peoples-defense-initiative-holds-meeting-to-challenge-leaked-city-attorneys-memoir
TUCSON, Ariz. — The People's Defense Initiative held a meeting Tuesday night at the YWCA to further discuss their petition with the community to make Tucson the first sanctuary city.
The "Tucson Families Free and Together" petition would create a ballot initiative that could make Tucson a sanctuary city -- a nonlegal term describing cities, counties or even states where local law enforcement limit their cooperation with federal authorities' attempts to enforce immigration law.
The Director of People's Defense Initiative Zaira Livier said they held this meeting to clear up their initiative.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there and folks aren't exactly sure what it does exactly," Livier said. "This is really just a community conversation about what are initiative does and doesn't do."
A memoir leaked from City Attorney Mike Rankin was released on January 16th showing the legal opinion towards their bill to make this a sanctuary city. In the memo, Rankin said, "It is my opinion that several of the provisions included in the petition are in conflict with Arizona Law."
He goes on to say a lot of the petition conflicts with the "obligations imposed under SB 1070, and are contrary to the concept of reasonable suspicion under legal precedent."
SB 1070 prohibits officers from attempting to determine a subject's immigration status. (?)
According to Livier, the People's Defense Initiative completely disagree with the memo.
"We disagree that we crossed into SB 1070 territory, because we wrote this bill specifically so that we would push next to the boundary without crossing it," Livier said. "We are confident that if we were to be sued that we would stand up to the test."
Mike Piccarreta, a Tucson Lawyer, explains how a local and state law can conflict, but still work under the law.
"Many times when there is conflicts between state and local law... what the courts try to do is render them so that they can both coexist with each other," Piccarreta said.
He adds that the legal opinion from Rankin highlights only the legal opinion, but does not "analyze the political issues that lead to the need for the initiative."
The People's Defense Initiative has until July 5th to get at least 9,241signatures, but they said their goal is to get 21,000 signatures, so they can have a cushion in case their signatures are challenged.
Currently, the group has 3,000 signatures and counting.
If this initiative passes, they will be subject to legal challenges, but Piccarreta most initiatives do.
"With any initiative there are always subject to legal challenges and that's why you have court," Piccarreta said. "One side brings it to court, other side makes there arguments and judges decides were current initiatives can exist in current law."
For the People's Defense Initiative, they're not just asking for a sanctuary city.
"We're asking for real policies, with teeth, that have to come back to the voters. To ever be changed again and that's exactly what we're doing," Livier said.
You can read more about the memo here , and What the People's Defense Initiative is doing here.
End
Note: photo, etc. at link.
Comment: the commie left in action. Ultimate goal? Destroy the USA.
THX
People's Defense Initiative holds meeting to challenge City Attorney's memo
Posted: 9:25 PM, Feb 19, 2019 Updated: 6:04 AM, Feb 20, 2019
By: Veronika Vernachio
items.[0].image.alt
Tucson sanctuary city initiative
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/peoples-defense-initiative-holds-meeting-to-challenge-leaked-city-attorneys-memoir
TUCSON, Ariz. — The People's Defense Initiative held a meeting Tuesday night at the YWCA to further discuss their petition with the community to make Tucson the first sanctuary city.
The "Tucson Families Free and Together" petition would create a ballot initiative that could make Tucson a sanctuary city -- a nonlegal term describing cities, counties or even states where local law enforcement limit their cooperation with federal authorities' attempts to enforce immigration law.
The Director of People's Defense Initiative Zaira Livier said they held this meeting to clear up their initiative.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there and folks aren't exactly sure what it does exactly," Livier said. "This is really just a community conversation about what are initiative does and doesn't do."
A memoir leaked from City Attorney Mike Rankin was released on January 16th showing the legal opinion towards their bill to make this a sanctuary city. In the memo, Rankin said, "It is my opinion that several of the provisions included in the petition are in conflict with Arizona Law."
He goes on to say a lot of the petition conflicts with the "obligations imposed under SB 1070, and are contrary to the concept of reasonable suspicion under legal precedent."
SB 1070 prohibits officers from attempting to determine a subject's immigration status. (?)
According to Livier, the People's Defense Initiative completely disagree with the memo.
"We disagree that we crossed into SB 1070 territory, because we wrote this bill specifically so that we would push next to the boundary without crossing it," Livier said. "We are confident that if we were to be sued that we would stand up to the test."
Mike Piccarreta, a Tucson Lawyer, explains how a local and state law can conflict, but still work under the law.
"Many times when there is conflicts between state and local law... what the courts try to do is render them so that they can both coexist with each other," Piccarreta said.
He adds that the legal opinion from Rankin highlights only the legal opinion, but does not "analyze the political issues that lead to the need for the initiative."
The People's Defense Initiative has until July 5th to get at least 9,241signatures, but they said their goal is to get 21,000 signatures, so they can have a cushion in case their signatures are challenged.
Currently, the group has 3,000 signatures and counting.
If this initiative passes, they will be subject to legal challenges, but Piccarreta most initiatives do.
"With any initiative there are always subject to legal challenges and that's why you have court," Piccarreta said. "One side brings it to court, other side makes there arguments and judges decides were current initiatives can exist in current law."
For the People's Defense Initiative, they're not just asking for a sanctuary city.
"We're asking for real policies, with teeth, that have to come back to the voters. To ever be changed again and that's exactly what we're doing," Livier said.
You can read more about the memo here , and What the People's Defense Initiative is doing here.
End
AZMEX SPECIAL 20-2-19
Interesting story of migrants in public schools in Yuma, AZ and CA.
At the link:
https://www.kyma.com/news/program-to-help-migrant-students-is-a-success/1029781492
end
At the link:
https://www.kyma.com/news/program-to-help-migrant-students-is-a-success/1029781492
end
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